Nobel Prize and structural chemistry II

During the past six decades, most discoveries in chemistry had structural aspects. Our brief overview selected some of the most conspicuous cases that were recognized by Nobel Prizes. They include studies of the chemical bond and stereochemical aspects, new methodologies of structure determination, and the structure of new materials.     

Improved model for the analysis of back corona in pulse energised electrostatic precipitators

Formation of back corona and its effect on the voltage–current characteristics, etc., have been analysed by several authors. It has also been examined how the harmful effect of back corona can be reduced, for example by the application of pulse energisation. However, to find an optimal solution, modelling of the back corona effect is necessary. Different back corona models were created to estimate the time of its development, the change in current–voltage characteristics, the decrease in particle charge and finally, the collection efficiency of the ESP with back corona. In this paper the authors present an improved numerical ESP model that is capable of determining the parameters of back corona in such cases, when pulse energisation is applied for the power supply of the electrostatic precipitator. Based on the modular structure of the model, different modules calculate the distribution of gas velocity, electric field intensity, particle charging and particle movement. All these parameters are important to determine the properties of back corona while it feeds back on these parameters; therefore iteration is necessary to obtain reliable result. The harmful effects of back corona can be characterised with the help of the evaluation of calculated results.     

Connective synthesis of polysubstituted tetrahydropyrans by a novel and stereocontrolled metallo-ene/Intramolecular Sakurai Cyclization sequence

A novel methodology based upon the allylmetalation step followed by an Intramolecular Sakurai Cyclization (IMSC) provides an efficient access to a variety of tetrahydropyran derivatives. This new strategy nicely complements our initial protocol that embodied a tandem ene reaction/IMSC sequence. Both mono- and dihydroxy-tetrahydropyrans could be easily assembled with complete stereocontrol at the various chiral centers.     

Noise-enhanced phase synchronization of chaotic oscillators

The effects of noise on phase synchronization (PS) of coupled chaotic oscillators are explored. In contrast to coupled periodic oscillators, noise is found to enhance phase synchronization significantly below the threshold of PS. This constructive role of noise has been verified experimentally with chaotic electrochemical oscillators of the electrodissolution of Ni in sulfuric acid solution.     

On Extensive Subsets of Convex Bodies

A subset S of a d-dimensional convex body K is extensive if S ∂K and for any p, q ∈ S the distance between p and q is at least one-half of the maximum length of chords of K parallel to the segment pq. In this paper we establish the general upper bound |S| ≤ 3 ^d — 1. We also find an upper bound for a certain class of 3-polytopes, which leads to the determination of the maximum cardinalities of extensive subsets and their extremal configurations for tetrahedra, octahedra and some other 3-polytopes. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Ring transformation of 4-oxo-1,6,7,8-tetrahydro-4H-pyrido[1,2-a]-pyrimidine-3-carboxamide

The title compound /$\text{3}$/ may be transformed into the 3-/methylaminomethylene/--2,3,6,7,8,9-hexahydro-4H-pyrido[1,2-a]pyrimidine-2,4-dione /$\text{5}$E, $\text{5}$Z/ which is in equilibrium with the 1,2,3,6,7,8-hexahydro tautomer /$\text{8}$E, $\text{8}$Z/ in DMSO-d₆.     

Atomistic and lattice model of a grain boundary defaceting phase transition

Recent calculations have shown that grain boundary (GB) stress is too small to stabilize finite GB facets, suggesting that the existing theory of GB defaceting phase transitions is incomplete. We perform molecular dynamics calculations, which show a reversible phase transition at approximately 400 K with a concerted shuffle of two atoms at the facet junction as the elementary excitation. Based on this excitation we formulate an appropriate lattice model, perform Monte Carlo simulations, and establish an analytical relationship between the elementary excitation energy and the transition temperature.     

Design of a functional protein for molecular recognition: specificity of ligand binding in a metal-assembled protein cavity probed by 19f NMR

A metal-assembled homotrimeric coiled coil based on the GCN4-p1 sequence has been designed that noncovalently binds hexafluorobenzene and other similar ligands in a hydrophobic cavity, created by making the core substitution Asn16Ala ([Fe(bpyGCN4-N16A)3]2+). The KD of binding of hexafluorobenzene with [Fe(bpyGCN4-N16A)3]2+ was observed to be 1.1(9) x 10(-4) M by diffusion NMR experiments. A control coiled coil with the core substitution Asn16Val ([Fe(bpyGCN4-N16V)3]2+) exhibited a significantly weaker association with hexafluorobenzene, providing evidence that even in the absence of structural data, benzene-like ligands bind in the cavity created by the Asn16Ala substitution. 19F NMR was employed to observe hexafluorobenzene binding and to monitor titrations with competing hydrophobic and polar ligands similar in size and shape to hexafluorobenzene. All hydrophobic ligands bound with greater affinity than the polar ligands in the hydrophobic core, although the cavity seems to be somewhat flexible in terms of the sizes of molecules it can accommodate. Thus 19F NMR has proved to be a useful spectral tool to probe molecular recognition in a hydrophobic cavity of a metal-assembled coiled coil.