Towards the Synthesis of Azoacetylenes

The synthesis of azoacetylenes (=dialkynyldiazenes) 1 and 2 has been investigated. They represent a still elusive class of chromophores with potentially very interesting applications as novel bistable photochemical molecular switches or as antitumor agents (Fig. 1). Our synthetic efforts have led us alongside three different approaches (Scheme 1). In a first route, it was envisioned to generate the azo (=diazene) bond by photolysis of N,N′‐dialkynylated 1,3,4‐thiadiazolidine‐2,5‐diones that are themselves challenging targets (Scheme 2). Attempts are described to obtain the latter by alkynylation of the parent heterocycle with substituted alkynyliodonium salts. In a conceptually similar approach, the no‐less‐challenging dialkynylated 9,10‐dihydro‐9,10‐diazanoanthracene ( 29 ) was to be generated by alkynylation of the unsubstituted hydrazine 28 (Scheme 6). In a second route, the generation of the N?N bond from Br‐substituted divinylidenehydrazines (ketene‐azines) 35 was attempted in a synthetic scheme involving an aza‐Wittig reaction between azinobis(phosphorane) 36 and (triisopropylsilyl)ketene 37 (Scheme 7). Finally, a third approach, based on the formation of the central azo bond as the key step, was explored. This route involved the extrapolation of a newly discovered condensation reaction of N,N‐disilylated anilines with nitroso compounds (Scheme 11, and Tables 1 and 2) to the transformation of N,N‐disilylated ynamine 55 and nitroso‐alkyne 54 (Scheme 13).     

Reactions of azirines with sulfur nucleophiles. 2. Reactions of 2H-azirine with β,γ-dihydroxy thiols and β-dithiols. a new route to the synthesis of cyclic sulfides

The reaction of 2H-azirine with a number of dihydroxy thiols and dithiols leads to aziridin-2-yl alkyl sulfides. The latter readily isomerize to cyclic sulfides the size of the ring of which is determined by the length of the alkyl sulfide chain.For Communication 1, see [1].Translated from Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 5, pp. 623–627, May, 1985.     

Radical cyclization cascade involving ynamides: an original access to nitrogen-containing heterocycles

A radical cascade involving a 5-exo-dig cyclization followed by a 6-endo-trig radical trapping transforms ynamides into heterogeneous polycyclic compounds in good yields. This leads interestingly to the formation of isoindols, isoindolinones, and pyridoisoindolones. [reaction: see text]     

Selective suppression of some radical reactions by iron pentacarbonyl

Conclusions On the example of the homolytic reaction of methallyl chloride with CCl₄ it was found that iron pentacarbonyl in catalytic amounts can selectively suppress the radical process involving chlorine atoms, and at the same time it catalyzes the chain reaction with trichloromethyl radicals, which act as carriers of the kinetic chain.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 10, pp. 2320–2322, October, 1972.     

Unprecedented hour-long residence time of a cation in a left-handed G-quadruplex

Cations are critical for the folding and assembly of nucleic acids. In G-quadruplex structures, cations can bind between stacked G-tetrads and coordinate with negatively charged guanine carbonyl oxygens. They usually exchange between binding sites and with the bulk in solution with time constants ranging from sub-millisecond to seconds. Here we report the first observation of extremely long-lived K⁺ and NH₄⁺ ions, with an exchange time constant on the order of an hour, when coordinated at the center of a left-handed G-quadruplex DNA. A single-base mutation, that switched one half of the structure from left- to right-handed conformation resulting in a right–left hybrid G-quadruplex, was shown to remove this long-lived behaviour of the central cation.

An extremely long-lived cation has been detected in left-handed G-quadruplexes.     

Evaluation of cyclodextrin polymer as a disintegrating agent

Cyclodextrin polymer was compared to other well known disintegrants concerning the swelling properties /water uptake, moisture uptake, hydration capacity, sedimentation volume in water/. Its high disintegrating effect was proved in directly compressed tablets as well as in tablets made by wet granulation. A remarkable improvement in tablet properties was observed. Not only the disintegration of tablets and the dissolution of the drug was accelerated but also the hardness increased when CDP was used as disintegrant.