Complexity of coordinative bonding in thallium(I) anthranilates and salicylates

An inventory of the structural chemistry of thallium(I) shows many unexpected, almost random coordination numbers and coordination geometries that appear erratic and inconsistent. This nonstandard behavior is often ascribed to the specific lone-pair characteristics originating from relativistic effects. To provide data on a set of closely related compounds from which simple general rules of coordinative bonding at Tl(+) can be established, three thallium(I) anthranilates and three thallium(I) salicylates have been prepared from Tl(2)CO(3) and the corresponding 2-amino- and 2-hydroxy-benzoic acids and crystallized from aqueous solutions. All six compounds, the simple anthranilate (1) and salicylate (4) and the 3- and 4-methyl-substituted homologues (2, 3 and 5, 6) show different structures with large variations in the coordination motif. The coordination by oxygen in a geometry which covers less than a coordination hemisphere is the only common feature, complemented (only in 1) by a nitrogen coordination and by eta(6)-coordination of one (in 1, 2, 3, 6) or two phenyl rings (in 4). Tl-Tl contacts for which "thallophilic" bonding between closed shell metal atoms could be invoked, are generally very long (close to 4.0 A) or even well beyond the limit of standard van der Waals contacts. Hydrogen bonding is only obvious for the internal contacts of the amino- or hydroxy-benzoate ligands and does not contribute significantly to the assembly of the supramolecular structure which is dominated by oxygen bridges between thallium atoms. With the exception of 5, the formula units Tl[O(2)C(2-R)(3-R')(4-R')C(6)H(2)] are generally aggregated into dimers of various configurations depending on the relative orientation of the edge-sharing four-membered rings, and these dimers are further linked into strings or columns establishing N-Tl or Tl-O contacts and arene coordination. The drastic changes induced in the structures upon only small variations such as methyl substitution in 3- or 4-position of the ligand suggest that thallium(I) coordination is generally restricted to one hemisphere of nearest neighbors, but is extremely flexible in this realm. The open hemisphere may be partially capped by arene coordination (which is weak at a distance of ca. 3.1 A to the centroid of the ring) or feature very weak thallophilic contacts.     

Protein adsorption in static microsystems: effect of the surface to volume ratio

A numerical model for the adsorption kinetics of proteins on the walls of a microchannel has been developed using the finite element method (FEM) to address the coupling with diffusion phenomena in the restricted microchannel volume. Time evolutions of the concentration of one species are given, both in solution and on the microchannel walls. The model illustrates the adsorption limitation sometimes observed when the microdimensions of these systems induce a global depletion of the bulk solution. A new non-dimensional parameter is introduced to predict the final value of the coverage of any microsystem under static adsorption. A working curve and a criteria (h/K[Gamma](max) > 10) are provided in order to choose, for given adsorption characteristics, the value of the volume-to-surface ratio (i.e. the channel height h) avoiding depletion effects on the coverage (relative coverage greater than 90% of the theoretical one). Simulations were compared with confocal microscopy measurements of IgG antibody adsorption on the walls of a PET microchannel. The fit of the model to the experimental data show that the adsorption is under apparent kinetic control.     

Synthesis of phosphonocinnamic thioesters, substrate analogues of cinnamoyl-CoA reductase, a key enzyme in the lignification process

The one-pot transesterification of diethylarylvinylphosphonates with N-acetylcysteamine has been achieved using phosphonochloridates as intermediates. Reaction of phosphonodiesters with (COCl)₂ gave the corresponding chlorinated compounds, which were coupled with N-acetylcysteamine in presence of Et₃N.     

Exploiting C3-symmetry in the dynamic coordination of a chiral trisoxazoline to copper(II): improved enantioselectivity, and catalyst stability in asymmetric lewis acid catalysis

Chiral C3-symmetric trisoxazolines are highly efficient stereodirecting ligands in enantioselective Cu(II) Lewis acid catalysis which is based on the concept of a stereoelectronic hemilability of the divalent copper; in direct comparison with the analogous bisoxazoline systems they are more efficient in the enantioselective alpha-amination as well as the enantioselective Mannich reaction of prochiral beta-ketoesters.     

Thin chip microsprayer system coupled to quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer for glycoconjugate analysis

A thin chip polymer-based microsprayer has been coupled to a hybrid quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer (QTOF MS) and introduced in carbohydrate research. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated for mapping, sequencing and structural elucidation of glycoconjugates originating from human body fluids and tissues such as a glycopeptide mixture from normal human urine and an isolated and purified GT1 ganglioside fraction from normal adult human brain. The optimization procedure required by each glycoconjugate category is described and the advantages of the system in terms of flexibility and adaptability to QTOF MS, stability of the ESI MS signal, carbohydrate ionization and sequencing, sensitivity, speed of analysis and sample consumption are discussed.     

Aurophilicity-based one-dimensional arrays of gold(I) phenylene-1,3- and -1,4-dithiolates

Phenylene-1,3-dithiol is converted into a trinuclear gold complex by treatment with 1 equiv of [[(Ph(3)P)Au](3)O](+)BF(4)(-). In the product, the phenylene unit bears one gold thiolate and one di(gold)sulfonium function. These components aggregate into one-dimensional arrays through head-to-tail aurophilic contacts between the two functions. In the association process, the Au[bond]S[bond]Au angle of the sulfonium group is opened up to accommodate the incoming gold atom between its metal centers. A similar mode of aggregation is found for the triply aurated biphenylene-4,4'-dithiol obtained using the tri(gold)oxonium salt with tri(p-tolyl)phosphine ligands. Probably for steric reasons, in this oligomerization process, the gold(I) thiolate unit is attached side-on to the digold sulfonium unit with retention of the small Au[bond]S[bond]Au angle. Under similar reaction conditions, and with the same molar ratio of the components, phenylene-1,4-dithiol is converted into the bis-sulfonium salt: 1,4-[[(p-Tol)(3)PAu](2)S](2)C(6)H(4)(BF(4))(2), the dications of which also associate into chains. Along the chains, the phenylene spacers alternate with tetranuclear gold clusters which arise from intimate aggregation of pairs of gold atoms. Together with previous findings, the present results show that gold thiolate (-SAuL) and digold sulfonium functions [-S(AuL)(2)(+)] in proper orientation at an arene unit (alpha-omega) can be considered as "soldering" points which can be used for joining up the molecular units into one-dimensional arrays solely through metal-metal contacts, which appear to be operative even against Coulomb repulsion between cations. The reaction of biphenylene-4,4'-dithiol with 2 equiv of sodium methoxide and [tri(c-hexyl)phosphine]gold chloride gives only neutral digold dithiolate complex 4 which is not associated owing to the steric bulk of the tri(c-hexyl)phosphine ligands.     

Bacterial biosorption and retention of thorium and uranyl cations by Mycobacterium smegmatis

Biosorption of Th⁴⁺ and UO ₂ ²⁺ ions, both separately and in mixed equimolar ratio, was carried out using nitrate-buffered solutions of the cations at pH 1 in the presence of 5%w/w non-proliferative cell suspensions of Mycobacterium smegmatis. At equilibrium following a 3 h treatment, specific adsorption for 2 mM Th and U was, respectively, 102 and 115 mol g^–1 dry biomass for individual solutions and 102 and 42 mol g^–1 for the mixed 2/2 mM solution. Desorption studies of the cation-loaded biomass preparations in aqueous media and in soilbacterial suspensions within the pH range <1 to 11 showed that leaching of throium was generally less than 1% at pH 1–11 after 7 d, whereas uranium was leached to the extent of 2% at pH 1 and up to 10% under the same conditions in Th–U mixtures.     

Dynamic light scattering and cryogenic transmission electron microscopy investigations on metallo-supramolecular aqueous micelles: evidence of secondary aggregation

Metallo-supramolecular diblock copolymers consisting of a polystyrene (PS) block connected to a poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) block by a bis(terpyridine)ruthenium complex (PS₂₀-[Ru]-PEO _y ) were used to prepare aqueous micelles. The length of the PS block was kept constant, while two PEOs of different molecular weight were used. The resulting hydrated micelles and aggregates were characterized by a combination of cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) and dynamic light scattering measurements. The results were compared to those obtained for a covalent counterpart (PS₂₂-b-PEO₇₀). Cryogenic transmission electron microscopy allowed visualization of the PS core of the micelles. Moreover, the aggregates result from clustering of individual micelles.     

Ultrafast chemical interface scattering as an additional decay channel for nascent nonthermal electrons in small metal nanoparticles

The use of 4.2 nm gold nanoparticles wrapped in an adsorbates shell and embedded in a TiO2 metal oxide matrix gives the opportunity to investigate ultrafast electron-electron scattering dynamics in combination with electronic surface phenomena via the surface plasmon lifetimes. These gold nanoparticles (NPs) exhibit a large nonclassical broadening of the surface plasmon band, which is attributed to a chemical interface damping. The acceleration of the loss of surface plasmon phase coherence indicates that the energy and the momentum of the collective electrons can be dissipated into electronic affinity levels of adsorbates. As a result of the preparation process, gold NPs are wrapped in a shell of sulfate compounds that gives rise to a large density of interfacial molecules confined between Au and TiO2, as revealed by Fourier-transform-infrared spectroscopy. A detailed analysis of the transient absorption spectra obtained by broadband femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy allows separating electron-electron and electron-phonon interaction. Internal thermalization times (electron-electron scattering) are determined by probing the decay of nascent nonthermal electrons (NNEs) and the build-up of the Fermi-Dirac electron distribution, giving time constants of 540 to 760 fs at 0.42 and 0.34 eV from the Fermi level, respectively. Comparison with literature data reveals that lifetimes of NNEs measured for these small gold NPs are more than four times longer than for silver NPs with similar sizes. The surprisingly long internal thermalization time is attributed to an additional decay mechanism (besides the classical e-e scattering) for the energy loss of NNEs, identified as the ultrafast chemical interface scattering process. NNEs experience an inelastic resonant scattering process into unoccupied electronic states of adsorbates, that directly act as an efficient heat bath, via the excitation of molecular vibrational modes. The two-temperature model is no longer valid for this system because of (i) the temporal overlap between the internal and external thermalization process is very important; (ii) a part of the photonic energy is directly transferred toward the adsorbates (not among "cold" conduction band electrons). These findings have important consequence for femtochemistry on metal surfaces since they show that reactions can be initiated by nascent nonthermal electrons (as photoexcited, out of a Fermi-Dirac distribution) besides of the hot electron gas.