The triplet state of photosynthetic pigments. I. Pheophytins

ZFS constants (in cm^?1) and decay rate constants for the lowest triplet state of pheophytins have been determined by ESR: pheophytin a: D = 341 ± 3,E = 33 ± 3, K_T = 1050 s^?1; pheophytin b: D = 358 ± 8, E = 46 ± 5, K_T = 630 s^?1; bacteriopheophytin: D = 256 ± 4, E = 54 ± 5/37 ± 5, K_T ≈ 4000 s^?1. In addition values for the decay rate constants and relative populating rates of the individual spin levels have been obtained; these numbers turn out to be appreciably different from those for the corresponding chlorophylls. For the series pheophytin a, b and bacteriopheophytin we find parallel behaviour with the corresponding chlorophylls. The effects of side group substitution and pyrrole ring reduction on the ZFS constant D can be understood by including configuration interaction between the excited states using the 4-orbital model. The change of the mean triplet decay constant K_T upon side group substitution and pyrrole ring reduction follows an energy gap law. Substitution of the central Mg-ion by two protons, however, causes K_T to increase; this is attributed to the introduction of an extra promoting mode - of the NH-group - and/or to the presence of low lying nπ^* states in pheophytins.     

The first total synthesis of lamellarin α 20-sulfate, a selective inhibitor of HIV-1 integrase

The first total synthesis of lamellarin α 20-sulfate (1), a selective inhibitor of HIV-1 integrase, has been completed. The lamellarin α core in which 13-OH and 20-OH were differentially protected by isopropyl and benzyl groups, respectively, was constructed by using Hinsberg-type pyrrole synthesis and Suzuki-Miyaura coupling as the key reactions. The 20-sulfate was prepared by a sequence including debenzylation of 20-OBn, 2,2,2-trichloroethylsulfation of the resulting 20-OH, deprotection of 13-Oi-Pr, and final reductive cleavage of the 2,2,2-trichloroethyl ester.     

Formation of the 5-Azoniafulvene Ion and its Benzo-annellated Analogue from N-Mannich Bases of Pyrrole and Indole

1-Dialkylaminomethylpyrroles are shown to behave in many respects like aminals. Acylation by an acid chloride, for instance, occurs normally at the amine-type N-atom rather than at the pyrrole ring. Spontaneous cleavage of the resulting quaternary acylammonium salts affords the 5-azoniafulvene ion ( 3 ). This higly reactive iminium ion, and its benzo-annellated analogue ( 4 ) can be trapped by electron rich aromatic compounds such as N-methylpyrrole or N,N-dimethylaniline. More elaborate N-Mannich bases are accessible by addition of indoles to enamines.     

N‐(o‐Chloro­phenyl)‐2,5‐di­methyl­pyrrole‐3‐carb­aldehyde

Crystal structure analysis of the title compound, C₁₃H₁₂ClNO, reveals three crystallographically independent mol­ecules in the asymmetric unit. The main conformational difference between these mol­ecules is the orientation of the phenyl rings with respect to the pyrrole rings. The coplanar arrangement of the aldehyde groups attached to the pyrrole rings influences the pyrrole‐ring geometry. The C2—C3 and N1—C5 bonds are noticeably longer than the C4—C5 and N1—C2 bonds. Two independent mol­ecules of the title compound form dimers via intermolecular C—H⃛O hydrogen bonds [D⃛A = 3.400 (3) Å and D—H⃛A = 157°]. The perpendicular orientation of the phenyl and pyrrole rings of one independent mol­ecule and its symmetry‐related mol­ecule allows C—H⃛π interactions, with an H⃛centroid distance of 2.85 Å and a C—H⃛π angle of 155°. The distances between the H atom and the pyrrole‐ring atoms indicate that the C—H bond points towards one of the bonds in the pyrrole ring.     

Amino acid-pyrrole N-conjugates; a new class of antioxidants II. Effectiveness of singlet oxygen quenching by luminescence measurements

The pyrrole-amino acid and peptide N-conjugates synthesized from tyrosine, histidine and glutathione very effectively quench the 1270 nm singlet oxygen luminescence, at rates ranging from 10⁸ to 10⁹ M⁻¹ s⁻¹. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy suggests that the electron-donating properties of the methyl groups after 2,5-dimethyl substitution on the pyrrole ring are probably an important determinant of the reactivity of singlet oxygen with the N-conjugate of glutathione. However, intramolecular interactions between the pyrrole ring and the side chain may also modulate the reactivity of the antioxidant as suggested by absorption and fluorescence spectroscopies carried out on tyrosine derivatives. Efficient fluorescence quenching of the phenol ring by the pyrrole ring occurs in the tyrosine derivatives. The reactivities of these antioxidants with ¹O₂ are comparable in methanol, ethanol and D₂O.     

Efficient asymmetric hydrogenation of the C–C double bond of 2-methyl- and 2,3-dimethyl-N-phenylalkylmaleimides by Aspergillus fumigatus

Eight N-phenylalkylmaleimides (four 2-methyl-N-phenylalkylmaleimides and four 2,3-dimethyl-N-phenylalkylmaleimides with an alkyl chain (CH₂)_n (n = 1–4) between the imide N and the benzene ring) were subjected to biotransformation using the fungal strain Aspergillus fumigatus ATCC 26934. All compounds were reduced enantioselectively to their respective succinimides: (R)-2-methyl-N-phenylalkylsuccinimides and (2R,3R)-2,3-dimethyl-N-phenylalkylsuccinimides, with satisfactory conversion rates and high stereoisomeric excesses. NMR analysis using the chiral shift reagent Eu(hfc)₃ showed that enantiomeric excesses were >99%.     

The application of vinylogous iminium salt derivatives to efficient formal syntheses of the marine alkaloids lamellarin G trimethyl ether and ningalin B

Studies directed at the synthesis of lamellarin G trimethyl ether and ningalin B via vinylogous iminium salt derivatives are described. The successful strategy relies on the formation of a 2,4-disubstituted pyrrole or a 1,2,3,4-tetrasubstituted pyrrole from a vinylogous iminium salt or vinylogous iminium salt derivative. Subsequent transformations of these highly substituted pyrroles lead to efficient and regiocontrolled formal syntheses of the respective pyrrole containing natural products.     

The anisotropy of the spin-lattice relaxation rate in the excited triplet state of quinoxaline

The anisotropy of the spin-lattice relaxation has been investigated at T = 2.6°K for the triplet state of quinoxaline in durene and in perdeuterated naphthalene (N-d₈) with the pulse saturation method. In the N-d₈ host crystal the anisotropy is identical for both molecular orientations A and B.     

Synthesis of Hydrodipyrrins Tailored for Reactivity at the 1- and 9-Positions

A collection of 33 hydrodipyrrins (9 targets, 21 intermediates, and 3 byproducts) has been prepared. The hydrodipyrrins (dihydrodipyrrins, tetrahydrodipyrrins, and hexahydrodipyrrins) contain a pyrrole ring and a geminal-dimethyl substituted 1-pyrroline (or pyrrolidine) ring. The α-substituents on the pyrrole ring (H, Br, CHO) and pyrroline ring (H, CH₃, CH(OR)₂, OMe, SMe) provide different reactivity combinations (Nu⁻, E⁺) and 0, 1, or 2 carbon atoms (which can give rise to the bridging meso-carbons in hydroporphyrins). Straightforward access to various hydrodipyrrins should facilitate development of syntheses of diverse hydroporphyrins.     

The NMR spectra of porphyrins—19: 13C and proton NMR spectra of metal-free porphyrins with the Type-IX substituent orientation,and of their zinc(II) complexes

The ¹³C and proton NMR spectra of six porphyrins bearing the substituent orientation characteristic of the natural “Type-IX” arrangement are reported and assigned. Significant concentration effects in the spectra of the free base porphyrins, together with the broadening of the C_α (and occasionally C_β) carbon resonances due to NH tautomerism caused a significant loss of data in these spectra. However, the spectra of the corresponding zinc(II) porphyrins (with addition of excess pyrrolidine) show that both these extraneous effects are completely removed to give well-resolved spectra with accurately reproducible chemical shifts. These spectra are assigned and an analysis of the chemical shifts allows the deduction of substituent chemical shift (SCS) parameters for the peripheral substituents at the beta and meso carbons. There is no global effect of these beta substituents, the beta carbon SCS being confined to the immediate pyrrole ring, and the meso carbon SCS to the two adjacent pyrrole rings. The SCS parameters are analyzed and it is shown how they can be used to predict the peripheral and meso carbon chemical shifts of any porphyrin bearing the substituents discussed.     

Protonation of isomeric angular pyrroloquinolines

The protonation (deuteration) rate, K_D, for the β-position of the pyrrole ring has been measured for several angular pyrroloquinolines. A relationship has been found between the K_D values and the PMR spectral parameters characterizing the structural features of the isomers, enabling the relative reactivities of the latter towards electrophilic substitution reactions to be determined.     

Transition-metal mediated heteroatom removal by reactions of FeL+ [L=O,C4H6, c-C5H6, c-C5H5, C6H6, C5H4(=CH2)] with furan,thiophene, and pyrrole in the gas phase

Reactions of Fe⁺ and FeL⁺ [L=O, C₄H₆, c-C₅H₆, C₅H₅, C₆H₆, C₅H₄(=CH₂)] with thiophene, furan, and pyrrole in the gas phase by using Fourier transform mass spectrometry are described. Fe⁺, Fe(C₅H₅)⁺, and FeC₆H ₆ ⁺ yield exclusive rapid adduct formation with thiophene, furan, and pyrrole. In addition, the iron-diene complexes [FeC₄H ₆ ⁺ and Fe(c-C₅H₆)⁺], as well as FeC₅H₄(=CH₂)⁺ and FeO⁺, are quite reactive. The most intriguing reaction is the predominant direct extrusion of CO from furan by FeC₄H₆ ⁺, Fe(c-C₅H₆)⁺, and FeC₅H₄(=CH₂)⁺. In addition, FeC₄H ₆ ⁺ and Fe(c-C₅H₆)⁺ cause minor amounts of HCN extrusion from pyrrole. Mechanisms are presented for these CO and HCN extrusion reactions. The absence of CS elimination from thiophene may be due to the higher energy requirements than those for CO extrusion from furan or HCN extrusion from pyrrole. The dominant reaction channel for reaction of Fe(c-C₅H₆)⁺ with pyrrole and thiophene is hydrogen-atom displacement, which implies D^O(Fa(N₅H₅)⁺-C₄H₄X)>D^O(Fe(C₅H₅)⁺-H)=46±5 kcal mol^?1. D^O(Fe⁺-C₄H₄S) and D^O(Fe⁺-C₄H₅N)=D^O(Fe⁺-C₄H₆)=48±5 kcal mol^?1. Finally, 55±5 kcal mol^?1=D^O(Fe⁺-C₆H₆)>D^O(Fe⁺-C₄H₄O)>D^O(Fe⁺-C₂H₄)=39.9±1.4 kcal mol^?1. FeO⁺ reacts rapidly with thiophene, furan, and pyrrole to yield initial loss of CO followed by additional neutral losses. D^O(Fe⁺-CS)>D^O(Fe⁺-C₄H₄S)≈48±5 kcal mol^?1 and D^O(Fe⁺-C₄H₅N)≈48±5 kcal mol^?1>D^O(Fe⁺-HCN)>D^O(Fe⁺-C₂H₄)=39.9±1.4 kcal mil^?1.     

Scrambling of autoinducing precursor peptides investigated by infrared multiphoton dissociation with electrospray ionization and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry

Two synthetic precursor peptides, H₂N-CVGIW and H₂N-LVMCCVGIW, involved in the quorum sensing of Lactobacillus plantarum WCFS1, were characterized by mass spectrometry (MS) with electrospray ionization and 7-T Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (ESI-FTICR) instrument. Cell-free bacterial supernatant solutions were analyzed by reversed-phase liquid chromatography with ESI-FTICR MS to verify the occurrence of both pentapeptide and nonapeptide in the bacterial broth. The structural characterization of both protonated peptides was performed by infrared multiphoton dissociation using a continuous CO₂ laser source at a wavelength of 10.6 μm. As their fragmentation behavior cannot be directly derived from the primary peptide structure, all anomalous fragments were interpreted as neutral loss of amino acids from the interior of both peptides, i.e., loss of V, G, VG and M, MC, V, CC, from H₂N-CVGIW and H₂N-LVMCCVGIW, respectively. Mechanisms of this scrambling are proposed. FTICR MS provides accurate masses of all fragment ions with very low absolute mass errors (<1.6 ppm), which facilitated the reliable assignment of their elemental compositions. The resolving power was more than sufficient to resolve closely isobaric product ions with routine subparts per million mass accuracies. Only the occurrence of pentapeptide was found in the cell-free culture of L. plantarum, grown in Waymouth’s medium broth, with a low content of 5.2?±?2.6 μM by external calibration. Most of it was present as oxidized H₂N-CVGIW, that is, the soluble disulfide pentapeptide with a level tenfold higher (i.e., 50?±?4 μM, n?=?3).

Xenocladoniamide F,minimal indolotryptoline from the cladoniamide pathway

The isolation and structure elucidation of indolotryptoline alkaloid xenocladoniamide F (8) from a cladoniamide heterologous production system is reported. The structure of 8 is determined by NMR and X-ray crystallography. Relative to the parent cladoniamides, 8 lacks any remnant of an N-methylsuccinimide ring. This pentacyclic alkaloid is the most minimal indolotryptoline natural product yet reported.     

Shock tube pyrolysis of pyrrole and kinetic modeling

The kinetics of pyrolysis of pyrrole dilute in argon have been studied in a single pulse shock tube, using capillary column GC, together with GC/MS and FTIR for product identification, over the temperature range 1200–1700 K, total pressures of 7.5–13.5 atm and nominal mixture compositions of pyrrole of 5000 and 700 ppm (nominal concentrations of 5 × 10^?7 and 7 × 10^?8 mol cm^?3). Time-resolved measurements of the rate of disappearance of pyrrole behind reflected shock waves have been made by absorption spectroscopy at 230 nm, corresponding to the lowest ¹π* ← ¹π transition of pyrrole at pressures of 20 atm and mixture compositions between 1000–2000 ppm pyrrole (1.7–3.0 × 10^?7 mol cm^?3) over the temperature range of 1300 to 1700 K. At the lower end of the studied temperature range, the isomers of pyrrole, allyl cyanide and cis- and trans-crotononitrile, were the principal products, together with hydrogen cyanide and propyne/allene. At elevated temperatures, acetylene, acetonitrile, cyanoacetylene, and hydrogen became important products. The rate of overall disappearance of pyrrole, as measured by absorption spectrometry, was found to be first order in pyrrole concentration, with a rate constant k_dis(pyrrole) = 10^14.1±0.7 exp(?74.1 ± 3.0 kcal mol^?1/RT) s^?1 between 1350–1600 K and at a pressure of 20 atm. First order dependence of pyrrole decomposition and major product formation was also observed in the single pulse experiments over the range of mixture compositions studied. A 75-step reaction model is presented and shown to substantially fit the observed temperature profiles of the major product species and the reactant profile. In the model the initiation reaction is postulated to be the reversible formation of pyrrolenine, (2H-pyrrole). Pyrrolenine can undergo ring scission at the C2? N bond forming a biradical which can rearrange to form allyl cyanide and crotononitrile or undergo decomposition to form HCN and C₃H₄ or acetylene and a precursor of acetonitrile. The model predicts an overall rate of disappearance of pyrrole in agreement with the experimental measurements.     

Mono and bimetallic nickel bromide complexes bearing azolate-imine ligands: Synthesis, structural characterization and ethylene polymerization studies

The synthesis of N-(1-(3,5-dimethylpyrazol-1-yl)ethylidene)-2,6-diisopropylaniline (1) and N-(1-(indazol-2-yl)ethylidene)-2,6-diisopropylaniline (2) allowed access to new transition metal complexes. When reacted with dibromo(2,2′-dimethoxyethylether)nickel(II) the complexes [NiBr₂{N-(1-(3,5-dimethylpyrazol-1-yl)ethylidene)-2,6-diisopropylaniline}] (3) and [Ni₂Br₂(μ-Br)₂{N-(1-(indazol-1-yl)ethylidene)-2,6-diisopropylaniline}₂] (4) are yielded, respectively. The addition of MAO generates catalytically active species for the homopolymerization of ethylene. The polymer products were low molecular weight (3-6 K) and a monomodal molecular weight distribution, consistent with the presence of a single active site. In addition, the catalyst was found to efficiently oligomerize higher olefins to high molecular weights with narrow PDIs.     

Synthesis of sphingomyelin difluoromethylene analogue

As a new sphingomyelinase inhibitor, a novel sphingomyelin CF₂ analogue was designed and synthesized. One key step of this synthesis is the very mild hydrolysis of the oxazolidinone ring, a suitable intermediate for the introduction of a diethyl difluoromethylphosphonate group, by utilizing the characteristic electron withdrawing nature of the nosyl group at the oxazolidinone ring in an alcoholic solvent to produce the corresponding carbonate attaching at the secondary hydroxy group. The synthesized CF₂ analogue inactivated toward B. cereus sphingomyelinase with nearly the same attitude as the nitrogen analogue that we previously reported.     

Synthesis of a 1α-C-methyl analogue of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3: interaction with a mutant vitamin D receptor Arg274Leu

Vitamin D₃ analogues have been developed for a mutant vitamin D receptor (VDR), Arg274Leu. The mutant VDR has a mutation at Arg274, which forms an important hydrogen bond with 1α-OH of 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D₃ to anchor the ligand tightly in the VDR ligand binding pocket. Stereoselective synthesis of the A-ring part of the novel vitamin D analogue, 2α-(3-hydroxypropyl)-1α-methyl-25-hydroxyvitamin D₃ (4), from d-galactose was accomplished with the key steps of the introduction of the methyl and allyl groups to the chiral building blocks. The new analogue 4 is ca. 7.3-fold more active than the natural hormone 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D₃ (1).     

Substituted 2,5-diazabicyclo[4.1.0]heptanes and their application as general piperazine surrogates: synthesis and biological activity of a Ciprofloxacin analogue

Piperazines and modified piperazines, such as homopiperazines and 2-methylpiperazines, are found in a wide range of pharmaceutical substances and biologically active molecules. In this study 2,5-diazabicyclo[4.1.0]heptanes, in which a cyclopropane ring is fused onto a piperazine ring, are described as modified piperazine analogues. Differentially N,N′-disubstituted and N-monosubstituted compounds can be readily prepared from 2-ketopiperazine in a few steps, using a Simmons-Smith reaction of 1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrazines with diethylzinc and diiodomethane for the key cyclopropane ring formation. An analogue of the fluoroquinolone antibacterial Ciprofloxacin was synthesized using a palladium-catalyzed Buchwald-Hartwig cross-coupling to attach the diazabicyclo[4.1.0]heptane core to the 7-position of the fluoroquinolone core. The resultant analogue was demonstrated to have similar antibacterial activity to the parent drug Ciprofloxacin. X-ray crystallographic analysis of this analogue reveals a distorted piperazine ring in the diazabicyclo[4.1.0]heptane core. The pK_a of the conjugate acid of N-Cbz-monoprotected 2,5-diazabicyclo[4.1.0]heptane was determined to be 6.74±0.05, which is 1.3 pK_a units lower than the corresponding N-Cbz-monoprotected piperazine compound. The lower basicity of diazabicyclo[4.1.0]heptanes is due to the electron-withdrawing character of the adjacent cyclopropane rings. The modified physicochemical and structural properties of diazabicyclo[4.1.0]heptanes relative to piperazines are expected to lead to interesting changes in the pharmacokinetic and biological activity profile of these molecules.