Structural Properties and Stereochemically Distinct Folding Preferences of 4,5‐cis and trans‐Methano‐L‐Proline Oligomers: The Shortest Crystalline PPII‐Type Helical Proline‐Derived Tetramer

The synthesis, structural properties, and folding patterns of a series of L ‐proline methanologues represented by cis‐ and trans‐4,5‐methano‐L ‐proline amides and their oligomers are reported as revealed by X‐ray crystallography, circular dichroism measurements, and DFT calculations. We disclose the first example of a crystalline tetrameric proline congener to exhibit a polyproline II helical conformation. Experimental evidence of PPII‐type helical arrangement (both in solution and in the solid state) of cis‐4,5‐methano‐L ‐proline oligomers is supported by theoretical calculations reflecting the extent of n→π* stabilization of the trans‐amide conformation.     

A theoretical study on the conformation of 3‐phosphinoxido‐ and 3‐phosphono‐1,2,3,4,5,6‐hexahydrophosphinine 1‐oxides

The title compounds ( 2 and 4 ) obtained by the diastereoselective hydrogenation of the corresponding 1,2,3,6‐tetrahydrophosphinine oxides ( 1 and 3 ) were subjected to a detailed quantum chemical study. The possible chair conformers were calculated at the HF/6‐31G* level of theory, according to which, the 1‐phenyl‐3‐P(O)Y₂‐substituted products ( 2 ) exist in the trans₁ form, in which all substituents are equatorial. At the same time, the 1‐ethoxy‐3‐dialkylphosphono compounds ( 4 ) adopt the cis conformations, in which the 1‐ethoxy group is axial and the 3‐P(O)(OR)₂ moiety is equatorial. The major diastereomer ( 4–1 ) is cis₃, in which the 5‐methyl group is axial, while the minor one is cis₁ with an equatorial methyl substituent. It is noteworthy that the rotational position of the exocyclic P(O)Z₂ function affected the energy content of the chair conformer to a high extent. The possibility of the involvement of the twist conformers was also considered. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heteroatom Chem 16:520–524, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/hc.20148     

Protonenresonanz- und Röntgenstrukturuntersuchungen an unsymmetrisch substituierten Aminoboranen. III—Substituentenabhängigkeit der Struktur

A number of unsymmetrically substituted N-methylaminoboranes, each with a phenyl ring at nitrogen and boron, were synthesized. The ratio of the cis-trans isomers has been investigated by means of ¹H NMR spectroscopy and its dependence on the size of the aromatic moieties and the second substituent on boron is discussed. The structures of the compounds were established from the position of the N-methyl signal and were based on X-ray structure determinations of (4-bromophenylmethylamino) chlorophenylborane and (4-bromo-2-methylphenylmethylamino)chloro(2-methylphenyl)borane. In the case of (methylphenylamino)chlorophenylborane, the isomer with the phenyl group in cis position is highly favoured (90%) in the thermal equilibrium. Substitution of one of the phenyl groups by a 2-methyl- or 2,6-dimethylphenyl group decreases the fraction of the cis isomer. The same occurs when the chlorine substituent at boron is replaced by bromine or the methyl group. In absolute terms, the trans isomers are energetically more stable than the cis isomers only if one of the substituents at boron is a methyl or a 2,6-dimethylphenyl group or if there is a 2-methylphenyl substituent both at the nitrogen and the boron atom. Steric hindrance and electronic repulsion are probably responsible for the observed substitution effects. In addition, these experiments show that the isomer favoured in the crystal also predominates in solution.     

cis‐trans Peptide‐Bond Isomerization in α‐Methylproline Derivatives

α‐Methyl‐L ‐proline is an α‐substituted analog of proline that has been previously employed to constrain prolyl peptide bonds in a trans conformation. Here, we revisit the cis‐trans prolyl peptide bond equilibrium in derivatives of α‐methyl‐L ‐proline, such as N‐Boc‐protected α‐methyl‐L ‐proline and the hexapeptide H‐Ala‐Tyr‐αMePro‐Tyr‐Asp‐Val‐OH. In Boc‐α‐methyl‐L ‐proline, we found that both cis and trans conformers were populated, whereas, in the short peptide, only the trans conformer was detected. The energy barrier for the cis‐trans isomerization in Boc‐α‐methyl‐L ‐proline was determined by line‐shape analysis of NMR spectra obtained at different temperatures and found to be 1.24 kcal/mol (at 298 K) higher than the corresponding value for Boc‐L ‐proline. These findings further illuminate the conformationally constraining properties of α‐methyl‐L ‐proline.     

trans–cis Photoisomerization of Azobenzene‐Conjugated Dithiolato‐Bipyridine Platinum(II) Complexes: Extension of Photoresponse to Longer Wavelengths and Photocontrollable Tristability

Azobenzene derivatives modified with dithiolato‐bipyridine platinum(II) complexes were synthesized, revealing their highly extended photoresponses to the long wavelength region as well as unique photocontrollable tristability. The absorptions of trans‐ 1 and trans‐ 2 with one azobenzene group on the dithiolene and bipyridine ligands, respectively, cover the range from 300 to 700 nm. These absorptions are ascribed, by means of time‐dependent (TD)DFT calculations, to transitions from dithiolene(π) to bipyridine(π*), namely, interligand charge transfer (CT), π–π*, and n–π* transitions of the azobenzene unit, and π–π* transitions of the bipyridine ligand. In addition, only trans‐ 1 shows distinctive electronic bands, assignable to transitions from the dithiolene(π) to azobenzene(π*), defined as intraligand CT. Complex 1 shows photoisomerization behavior opposite to that of azobenzene: trans‐to‐cis and cis‐to‐trans conversions proceed with 405 and 312 nm irradiation, which correspond to excitation with the intraligand CT, and π–π* bands of the azobenzene and bipyridine units, respectively. In contrast, complex 2 shows photoisomerization similar to that of azobenzene: trans‐to‐cis and cis‐to‐trans transformations occur with 365 and 405 nm irradiation, respectively. Irradiation at 578 nm, corresponding to excitation of the interligand CT transitions, results in cis‐to‐trans conversion of both 1 and 2 , which is the longest wavelength ever reported to effect the photoisomerization of the azobenzene group. The absorption and photochromism of 4 , which has azobenzene groups on both the dithiolato and bipyridine ligands, have characteristics quite similar to those of 1 and 2 , which furnishes 4 with photocontrollable tristability in a single molecule using light at 365, 405, and 578 nm. We also clarified that 1 and 2 have high photoisomerization efficiencies, and good thermal stability of the cis forms. Complexes 3 and 5 have almost the identical photoresponse to those of their positional isomers, complexes 2 and 4 .     

Computational study of sulfoxides of thiacyclohexane, 4‐silathiacyclohexane, 4‐fluoro‐4‐silathiacyclohexane,and 4,4‐difluoro‐4‐silathiacyclohexane: Relative energies of conformations and sulfinyl oxygen stabilized pentacoordinate silicon in boat and twist structures

Second‐order Møller‐Plesset theory (MP2) has been used to calculate the equilibrium geometries and relative energies of the chair, 1,4‐twist, 2,5‐twist, 1,4‐boat, and 2,5‐boat conformations of thiacyclohexane 1‐oxide (tetrahydro‐2H‐thiopyran 1‐oxide), 4‐silathiacyclohexane 1‐oxide, cis‐ and trans‐4‐fluoro‐4‐silathiacyclohexane 1‐oxide, and 4,4‐difluoro‐4‐silathiacyclohexane 1‐oxide. At the MP2/6‐311+G(d,p) level of theory, the chair conformer of axial thiacyclohexane 1‐oxide is 0.99, 5.61, 5.91, 8.57, and 7.43 kcal/mol more stable (ΔE) than its respective equatorial chair, 1,4‐twist, and 2,5‐twist conformers and 1,4‐boat and 2,5‐boat transition states. The chair conformer of equatorial thiacyclohexane 1‐oxide is 4.62, 6.31, 7.56, and 7.26 kcal/mol more stable (ΔE) than its respective 1,4‐twist and 2,5‐twist conformers and 1,4‐boat and 2,5‐boat transition states. The chair conformer of axial 4‐silathiacyclohexane 1‐oxide is 1.79, 4.26, 3.85, and 5.71 kcal/mol more stable (ΔE) than its respective equatorial chair, 1,4‐twist, and 2,5‐twist conformers and 2,5‐boat transition state. The 2,5‐twist conformer of axial 4‐silathiacyclohexane 1‐oxide is stabilized by a transannular interaction between the sulfinyl oxygen and silicon, to give trigonal bipyramidal geometry at silicon. The chair conformer of equatorial 4‐silathiacyclohexane 1‐oxide is 2.47, 7.90, and 8.09 kcal/mol more stable (ΔE) than its respective 1,4‐twist, and 2,5‐twist conformers and 2,5‐boat transition state. The chair conformer of axial cis‐4‐fluoro‐4‐silathiacyclohexane 1‐oxide is 4.18 and 5.70 kcal/mol more stable than its 1,4‐twist conformer and 2,5‐boat transition state and 1.51 kcal/mol more stable than the chair conformer of equatorial cis‐4‐fluoro‐4‐silathiacyclohexane 1‐oxide. The chair conformer of axial trans‐4‐fluoro‐4‐silathiacyclohexane 1‐oxide is 5.02 and 6.11 kcal/mol more stable than its respective 1,4‐twist conformer and 2,5‐boat transition state, but is less stable than its 2,5‐twist conformer (ΔE = ?1.77 kcal/mol) and 1,4‐boat transition state (ΔE = ?1.65 kcal/mol). The 2,5‐twist conformer and 1,4‐boat conformer of axial trans‐4‐fluoro‐4‐silathiacyclohexane 1‐oxide are stabilized by intramolecular coordination of the sulfinyl oxygen with silicon that results in trigonal bipyramidal geometry at silicon. The chair conformer of axial 4,4‐difluoro‐4‐silathiacyclohexane 1‐oxide is 3.02, 5.16, 0.90, and 6.21 kcal/mol more stable (ΔE) than its respective equatorial chair, 1,4‐twist, and 1,4‐boat conformers and 2,5‐boat transition state. The 1,4‐boat conformer of axial 4,4‐difluoro‐4‐silathiacyclohexane 1‐oxide is stabilized by a transannular coordination of the sulfinyl oxygen with silicon that results in a trigonal bipyramidal geometry at silicon. The relative energies of the conformers and transition states are discussed in terms of hyperconjugation, orbital interactions, nonbonded interactions, and intramolecular sulfinyl oxygen–silicon coordination. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2005     

Double Stereodifferentiation in the Catalytic Asymmetric Aziridination of Imines Prepared from α‐Chiral Amines

The catalytic asymmetric aziridination of imines and diazo compounds (AZ reaction) mediated by boroxinate catalysts derived from the VANOL and VAPOL ligands was investigated with chiral imines derived from five different chiral, disubstituted, methyl amines. The strongest matched and mismatched reactions with the two enantiomers of the catalyst were noted with disubstituted methyl amines that had one aromatic and one aliphatic substituent. The synthetic scope for the AZ reaction was examined in detail for α‐methylbenzyl amine for cis‐aziridines from α‐diazo esters and for trans‐aziridines from α‐diazo acetamides. Optically pure aziridines could be routinely obtained in good yields and with high diastereoselectivity and the minor diastereomer (if any) could be easily separated. The matched case for cis‐aziridines involved the (R)‐amine with the (S)‐ligand, but curiously, for trans‐aziridines the matched case involved the (R)‐amine with the (R)‐ligand for imines derived from benzaldehyde and n‐butanal, and the (R)‐amine with the (S)‐ligand for imines derived from the bulkier aliphatic aldehydes pivaldehyde and cyclohexane carboxaldehyde.     

Application of the indo molecular orbital method to ortho effects in mass spectra. Cleavage of cis-β-methoxystyrene

The principal fragmentation of the cis-β-methoxystyrene molecular ion is loss of the methyl group. Although this compound has a π system similar to that of phenyl acetate, the substituent effect of a strongly electronegative ortho substituent is insignificant for this fragmentation; but for the same substitution in phenyl acetate, it had been shown to be important. The INDO method was used to show that bond orders confirm the lack of the substituent effect in the cis-β-methoxystyrene system.     

Internal Rotation of Ester Linkage in Phenyl Benzoate and Hydroxybenzoic Acid Dimer as Models of Aromatic Polyesters Using Density Functional Theory

The internal rotation of the ester linkage was reinvestigated more quantitatively by using the density functional theory (DFT) in order to understand the characteristic stiffness and extendedness of polymer chain found in aromatic polyesters. Phenyl benzoate ( PB ) and p‐hydroxybenzoic acid (HBA) dimer ( HB ) were selected as models of aromatic polyesters. The relaxed potential energy surface (PES) scan was carried out along the internal rotation of three bonds (denoted as R, S and T, respectively) of the aromatic esters by using the hybrid DFT (B3LYP) with 6‐31G* basis set. The rotation of S bond, which mainly determines the linearity of the molecule, leads to the trans‐ and cis‐conformers of PB . Since the cis‐conformer of PB is 7.69 kcal·mol^–1 higher than the trans‐conformer, the cis‐conformer has little population at standard condition. HB does not have the cis‐conformer. In addition, the chain persistence length of 364 Å is obtained by the rotation matrix formalism using the structural parameters of HB . These agree with the experimental understanding that poly(p‐hydroxybenzoic acid) is the class of stiff and extended polymer.     

Conformational analysis,part 43. A theoretical and LIS/NMR investigation of the conformations of substituted benzamides

A refined Lanthanide‐Induced‐Shift Analysis (LISA) is used with molecular mechanics and ab initio calculations to investigate the conformations of benzamide ( 1 ), N‐methylbenzamide ( 2 ), N,N‐dimethylbenzamide ( 3 ) and the conformational equilibria of 2‐fluoro ( 4 ), 2‐chloro ( 5 ) and N‐methyl‐2‐methoxy benzamide ( 6 ). The amino group in 1 is planar in the crystal but is calculated to be pyramidal with the CO/phenyl torsional angle (ω) of 20–25°. The LISA analysis gave acceptable agreement factors (Rcryst ≤ 1%) for the ab initio geometries when ω was decreased to 0°, the other geometries were not as good. In 2 , the N‐methyl is coplanar with the carbonyl group in all the geometries. Good agreement was obtained for the RHF geometries, with ω 25°, the other geometries were only acceptable with increased values of ω. In 3 , good agreement for the RHF and PCModel geometries was found when ω was changed from the calculated values of 40° (RHF) and 90° (PCModel) to ca. 60°, the X‐ray and B3LYP geometries were not as good. The two substituted compounds 4 , 5 and 6 are interconverting between the cis (O,X) and trans (O,X) conformers. The more stable trans conformer is planar in 4 and 6 but the cis form non‐planar. Both the cis and trans conformers of 5 are non‐planar. There is an additional degree of freedom in 6 due to the 2‐methoxy group, which can be either planar or orthogonal to the phenyl ring in both conformers. The conformer ratios were obtained from the LISA analysis to give Ecis‐Etrans in 4 > 2.3 kcal/mol (CDCl₃) and 1.7 kcal/mol (CD₃CN), in 5 0.0 kcal/mol (CD₃CN) and in 6 > 2.5 kcal/mol (CDCl₃) and 2.0 kcal/mol (CD₃CN). These values were used with the observed versus calculated ¹H shifts to determine the conformer ratios and energies in DMSO solvent to give Ecis‐Etrans 1.1, ?0.1 and 1.8 kcal/mol for ( 4 ), ( 5 ) and ( 6 ). Comparison of the observed versus calculated conformer energies show that both the MM and ab initio calculations overestimate the NH..F hydrogen bond in ( 4 ) by ca. 2 kcal/mol. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A CASSCF study on the lowest π→π* excitation of urocanic acid

The photochemical cis/trans isomerization of urocanic acid (UCA, (E)‐3‐(1′H‐imidazol‐4′‐yl)propenoic acid) was investigated using complete active space SCF (CASSCF) ab initio calculations. The singlet ground state and the triplet and the singlet manifolds of the lowest‐lying π→π* (HOMO→LUMO) excitation of the neutral and the anionic UCA were calculated using the 6‐31G* and the 6‐31+G* basis sets, respectively. The torsional barrier of the double bond of the propenoic acid moiety in UCA is observed to be considerably lower in the T₁ and S₁ excited states of the neutral UCA and in the T₁ but not in the S₁ excited state of the anionic UCA, as compared to the S₀ state of the respective protonation form. The cis‐isomer of both the neutral and the anionic UCA is lower in energy than the trans‐isomer in the S₀, T₁, and S₁ states. This energy difference is larger in the excited states than in the ground state, probably due to strengthening of the intramolecular hydrogen bond of cis‐UCA as the molecule is excited. The results of the calculations, interpreted in terms of the idea that UCA is deprotonated upon electronic excitation, led to construction of a new model for the photoisomerization mechanisms of UCA. According to this model, the trans‐to‐cis isomerization proceeds via both the triplet and the singlet manifolds in the deprotonated form of UCA. This isomerization may occur in the S₀ state of the neutral UCA as well. The cis‐to‐trans isomerization is suggested to proceed only in the S₀ state of the neutral UCA. ©1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 72: 25–37, 1999     

A Model Study of Intramolecular Asymmetric Radical Cyclizations of α-Ester and α-Amide Radicals

Starting from malonate, a practical route was developed for the synthesis of α-phenylthio acid 3. Several chiral compounds including (-)-menthol, (-)-8-pbenylmenthol and a camphor based oxazolidinone 8 reacted with 3 to give α-phenylthio esters or amide. These sulfides cyclized efficiently when reacted with tributyltin hydride. Among the chiral auxiliaries used, 8-phenylmenthyl group displayed moderate asymmetric induction (64% ee for cis-product and 40% ee for trans-product). Based on this results, a transition state model was proposed to explain the observed stereoselectivity. In this model, due to π,π-orbital overlap of the phenyl ring and the carbonyl, the si-face of the most stable conformer of the radical was shielded. This controlled the carbon-carbon bond formation to occur from the re-face.     

Analogues of α‐Campholenal (= (1R)‐2,2,3‐Trimethylcyclopent‐3‐ene‐1‐acetaldehyde) as Building Blocks for (+)‐β‐Necrodol (= (1S,3S)‐2,2,3‐Trimethyl‐4‐methylenecyclopentanemethanol) and Sandalwood‐like Alcohols

To complete our panorama in structure–activity relationships (SARs) of sandalwood‐like alcohols derived from analogues of α‐campholenal (= (1R)‐2,2,3‐trimethylcyclopent‐3‐ene‐1‐acetaldehyde), we isomerized the epoxy‐isopropyl‐apopinene (?)‐ 2d to the corresponding unreported α‐campholenal analogue (+)‐ 4d (Scheme 1). Derived from the known 3‐demethyl‐α‐campholenal (+)‐ 4a , we prepared the saturated analogue (+)‐ 5a by hydrogenation, while the heterocyclic aldehyde (+)‐ 5b was obtained via a Bayer‐Villiger reaction from the known methyl ketone (+)‐ 6 . Oxidative hydroboration of the known α‐campholenal acetal (?)‐ 8b allowed, after subsequent oxidation of alcohol (+)‐ 9b to ketone (+)‐ 10 , and appropriate alkyl Grignard reaction, access to the 3,4‐disubstituted analogues (+)‐ 4f,g following dehydration and deprotection. (Scheme 2). Epoxidation of either (+)‐ 4b or its methyl ketone (+)‐ 4h , afforded stereoselectively the trans‐epoxy derivatives 11a,b , while the minor cis‐stereoisomer (+)‐ 12a was isolated by chromatography (trans/cis of the epoxy moiety relative to the C₂ or C₃ side chain). Alternatively, the corresponding trans‐epoxy alcohol or acetate 13a,b was obtained either by reduction/esterification from trans‐epoxy aldehyde (+)‐ 11a or by stereoselective epoxidation of the α‐campholenol (+)‐ 15a or of its acetate (?)‐ 15b , respectively. Their cis‐analogues were prepared starting from (+)‐ 12a . Either (+)‐ 4h or (?)‐ 11b , was submitted to a Bayer‐Villiger oxidation to afford acetate (?)‐ 16a . Since isomerizations of (?)‐ 16 lead preferentially to β‐campholene isomers, we followed a known procedure for the isomerization of (?)‐epoxyverbenone (?)‐ 2e to the norcampholenal analogue (+)‐ 19a . Reduction and subsequent protection afforded the silyl ether (?)‐ 19c , which was stereoselectively hydroborated under oxidative condition to afford the secondary alcohol (+)‐ 20c . Further oxidation and epimerization furnished the trans‐ketone (?)‐ 17a , a known intermediate of either (+)‐β‐necrodol (= (+)‐(1S,3S)‐2,2,3‐trimethyl‐4‐methylenecyclopentanemethanol; 17c ) or (+)‐(Z)‐lancifolol (= (1S,3R,4Z)‐2,2,3‐trimethyl‐4‐(4‐methylpent‐3‐enylidene)cyclopentanemethanol). Finally, hydrogenation of (+)‐ 4b gave the saturated cis‐aldehyde (+)‐ 21 , readily reduced to its corresponding alcohol (+)‐ 22a . Similarly, hydrogenation of β‐campholenol (= 2,3,3‐trimethylcyclopent‐1‐ene‐1‐ethanol) gave access via the cis‐alcohol rac‐ 23a , to the cis‐aldehyde rac‐ 24 .     

Synthesis and photoisomerization of an azobenzene derivative bearing two β-cyclodextrin units at both ends

An azobenzene derivative with two β-cyclodextrin units was synthesized as a novel photoswitchable host. It undergoes trans-to-cis photoisomerization in aqueous solution with 65.8% cis at the photostationary state and returns to the original trans from with half life of 54,8 h at 25°C. It exhibits circular dichroism bands in the π-π* and n-π* absorption regions of azobenzene in spite of the fact that the azobenzene unit cannot be included in the cyclodextrin cavity, and their absolute dichroism intensities of the cis form become much larger than those of trans one.     

Rapid relaxation pathway of the excited state of linear merocyanines in solutions

Excited‐state relaxation of linear merocyanine dyes in solution is investigated using time‐resolved spectroscopy techniques and quantum chemical calculations. The merocyanine L‐Mero4 and phenyl‐substituted P‐L‐Mero4 have a S‐trans and S‐cis structure, respectively, consisting of indole moiety as the donor, indandione as the acceptor, and the tetramethine as the bridge. The time‐correlated single‐photon counting (TCSPC) picosecond measurements after excitation at wavelength 515 nm to the ππ* state yield emission curves with a short component τ₁ in the range of 27–160 ps and a second component τ₂ of 200–780 ps for L‐Mero4. In P‐L‐Mero4, τ₁ lies in the range of 18–150 ps and τ₂ 220–520 ps. The subfemtosecond transient absorption measurements yield a short component around 0.4–1.4 ps, and the second/third components are similar to those in the TCPSC measurements. The analysis of the experimental data demonstrates that the ground state recovery exhibits a biexponential rise and rapidly indicates that the conversion back to the electronic ground state provides a fast, nonradiative pathway. Quantum chemical calculations on the electronic structures and their dependence on the molecular confirmation are performed. We identify the excited states and the relaxation path along the twist of the center double bonds in tetramethine that might be the nonradiative pathway. The C=C double bond is weakened in the ππ* state. The phenyl substitution in the conjugated double bond weakens this C=C bond, lowers the isomerization barrier, increases the nonradiative rate, and reduces the emission quantum yield. In polar solvents, the energy of the perpendicular conformer along the trans–cis isomerization path is increased to achieve less coupling to the ground state surface. Because of the small barrier to the trans form, these two conformers establish an equilibrium condition. The trans form, which lies at a lower energy, gains more population and thus has a higher emission yield.     

1H NMR spectra. Part 29§: proton chemical shifts and couplings in esters—the conformational analysis of methyl γ‐butyrolactones

The ¹H NMR spectra of 35 cyclic and acyclic esters are analysed to give the ¹H chemical shifts and couplings. The substituent chemical shifts of the ester group were analysed using three‐bond (γ) effects for near protons and the electric field, magnetic anisotropy and steric effect of the ester group for more distant protons. The electric field is calculated from the partial atomic charges on the O?C = O atoms, and the asymmetric magnetic anisotropy of the carbonyl group acts at the midpoint of the C = O bond. The values of the anisotropies Δχ_parl and Δχ_perp were for the aliphatic esters 10.35 and ?18.84 and for the conjugated esters 7.33 and ?15.75 (×10^?6 ų/molecule). The oxygen steric coefficients found were 104.4 (aliphatic C = O), 45.5 (aromatic C = O) and 16.0 (C–O) (×10^?6 Å⁶/molecule). After parameterisation, the overall RMS error for the data set of 280 entries was 0.079 ppm. The strongly coupled ¹H NMR spectra of the 2‐methyl, 3‐methyl and 4‐methyl γ‐butyrolactones were analysed and the methyl conformational equilibrium obtained from the observed couplings. The observed versus calculated density functional theory (DFT) ΔG(ax‐eq) was 1.0 (1.01), 0.34 (0.54) and 0.65 (0.71) kcal/mol res. The shielding effect of a methyl cis to a proton in the five‐membered lactone rings is ?0.40 ±0.05 ppm and deshielding trans effect 0.12 ±0.05 ppm, which is common to both five and six membered rings. The cis/trans isomerism in the vinyl esters methyl acrylate, crotonate and methacrylate and methyl furoate was examined using the ¹H chemical shifts. The calculated shifts of both the cis and trans isomers were in good agreement with the observed shifts. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Photoisomerization of cis‐1,2‐di(1‐Methyl‐2‐naphthyl)ethene at 77 K in Glassy Media

cis‐1,2‐Di(1‐methyl‐2‐naphthyl)ethene, c‐ 1,1 , undergoes photoisomerization in methylcyclohexane, isopentane and diethyl ether/isopentane/ethanol glasses at 77 K. On 313 nm excitation the fluorescence of c‐ 1,1 is replaced by fluorescence from t‐ 1,1 . Singular value decomposition reveals that the spectral matrices behave as two component systems suggesting conversion of a stable c‐ 1,1 conformer to a stable t‐ 1,1 conformer. However, the fluorescence spectra are λ_exc dependent. Analysis of global spectral matrices shows that c‐ 1,1 is a mixture of two conformers, each of which gives one of four known t‐ 1,1 conformers. The λ_exc dependence of the c‐ 1,1 fluorescence spectrum is barely discernible. Structure assignments to the resolved fluorescence spectra are based on the principle of least motion and on calculated geometries, energy differences and spectra of the conformers. The relative shift of the c‐ 1,1 conformer spectra is consistent with the shift of the calculated absorption spectra. The calculated structure of the most stable conformer of c‐ 1,1 agrees well with the X‐ray crystal structure. Due to large deviations of the naphthyl groups from the ethenic plane in the conformers of both c‐ and t‐ 1,1 isomers, minimal motion of these bulky substituents accomplishes cis → trans interconversion by rotation about the central bond.     

Semiempirical studies of ring twisting in cis‐stilbene and related biomolecules

The geometric and energetic predictions of the MNDO, AM1, and SAM1 models as they describe rotation of the dihedral angle between the plane of one of the phenyl rings and the plane of the olefin core of cis‐stilbene (cis‐1,2‐diphenylethylene) were tested for a variety of constraints. All three models predict that distortions away from the stable structure fixed by a compromise between π‐electron and steric repulsions lead to small (at most 1–2 kcal/mol) strain energies and geometry relaxations. Extensive peripheral substitution on the phenyl rings present in a prototype natural product having the cis‐stilbene structure, Combretastatin A‐4 (3,4,5‐trimethoxy‐3′‐hydroxy‐4′‐methoxy‐(Z)‐stilbene), distorted the shapes of the cis‐stilbene barriers to conformation change only minimally. It is concluded that natural products having the cis‐stilbene structure should be expected to interact with other biomolecules as if the phenyl twists are barrier free. ©1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 71: 57–62, 1999     

The Synthesis,Photophysical Characterization,and X‐Ray Structure Analysis of Two Polymorphs of 4,4′‐Diacetylstilbene

A palladium(II) acetate‐catalyzed synthesis of 1 that utilizes the novel triazene 1‐{4‐[(E)‐morpholin‐4‐yldiazenyl]phenyl}ethanone as a synthon is described. The room temperature absorption spectra of 1 in various solvents exhibited a π→π* transition in the range of 330–350 nm. Compound 1 was observed to be luminescent, with room‐temperature solution and solid‐state emission spectra that exhibited maxima in the range 400–500 nm. All room‐temperature absorption and emission spectra exhibited some degree of vibrational structure. The emission spectrum of 1 at 77 K in propanenitrile glass was broad and featureless with a maximum at 447 nm. Compound 1 crystallized as a yellow and colorless polymorph. X‐Ray structure analyses of both of these polymorphs and 1‐{4‐[(E)‐morpholin‐4‐yldiazenyl]phenyl}ethanone are presented.