Entropy-driven population distributions in a prototypical molecule with two flexible side chains: O-(2-acetamidoethyl)-N-acetyltyramine

Resonant two-photon ionization (R2PI), resonant ion-dip infrared (RIDIR), and UV-UV hole-burning spectroscopies have been employed to obtain conformation-specific infrared and ultraviolet spectra under supersonic expansion conditions for O-(2-acetamidoethyl)-N-acetyltyramine (OANAT), a doubly substituted aromatic in which amide-containing alkyl and alkoxy side chains are located in para positions on a phenyl ring. For comparison, three single-chain analogs were also studied: (i) N-phenethyl-acetamide (NPEA), (ii) N-(p-methoxyphenethyl-acetamide) (NMPEA), and (iii) N-(2-phenoxyethyl)-acetamide (NPOEA). Six conformations of OANAT have been resolved, with S(0)-S(1) origins ranging from 34,536 to 35,711 cm(-1), denoted A-F, respectively. RIDIR spectra show that conformers A-C each possess an intense, broadened amide NH stretch fundamental shifted below 3400 cm(-1), indicative of the presence of an interchain H bond, while conformers D-F have both amide NH stretch fundamentals in the 3480-3495 cm(-1) region, consistent with independent-chain structures with two free NH groups. NPEA has a single conformer with S(0)-S(1) origin at 37,618 cm(-1). NMPEA has three conformers, two that dominate the R2P1 spectrum, with origin transitions between 35,580 and 35,632 cm(-1). Four conformations, one dominate and three minor, of NPOEA have been resolved with origins between 35,654 and 36,423 cm(-1). To aid the making of conformational assignments, the geometries of low-lying structures of all four molecules have been optimized and the associated harmonic vibrational frequencies calculated using density functional theory (DFT) and RIMP2 methods. The S(0)-S(1) adiabatic excitation energies have been calculated using the RICC2 method and vertical excitation energies using single-point time-dependent DFT. The sensitivity of the S(0)-S(1) energy separation in OANAT and NPOEA primarily arises from different orientations of the chain attached to the phenoxy group. Using the results of the single-chain analogs, tentative assignments have been made for the observed conformers of OANAT. The RIMP2 calculations predict that interchain H-bonded conformers of OANAT are 25-30 kJ/mol more stable than the extended-chain structures. However, the free energies of the interchain H-bonded and extended structures calculated at the preexpansion temperature (450 K) differ by less than 10 kJ/mol, and the number of extended structures far outweighs the number of H-bonded conformers. This entropy-driven effect explains the presence of the independent-chain conformers in the expansion, and cautions future studies that rely solely on relative energies of conformers in considering possible assignments.     

Reaction site diversity in the reactions of titanium hydrazides with organic nitriles, isonitriles and isocyanates: Ti=N(α) cycloaddition, Ti=N(α) insertion and N(α) -N(β) bond cleavage

We report a range of new transformations of the diamide–amine supported Ti?NNPh₂ functional group with a variety of unsaturated substrates, along with DFT studies of the key mechanisms. Reaction of [Ti(N₂N^py)(NNPh₂)(py)] ( 4 , N₂N^py=(2‐NC₅H₄)CMe(CH₂NSiMe₃)₂; py=pyridine) with MeCN gave the dimeric species [Ti₂(N₂N^py)₂{μ‐NC(Me)(NNPh₂)}₂] through a [2+2] cycloaddition process. Reaction of 4 or [Ti(N₂N^Me)(NNPh₂)(py)] ( 5 , N₂N^Me=MeN(CH₂CH₂NSiMe₃)₂) with fluorinated benzonitriles gave the terminal hydrazonamide complexes [Ti(N₂N^R){NC(Ar)NNPh₂}(py)] (R=py or Me; Ar=2,6‐C₆H₃F₂ or C₆F₅). DFT studies showed that this proceeds through an overall [2+2] cycloaddition–reverse cycloaddition, resulting in net insertion of ArCN into the Ti?N_α bonds of the respective hydrazides. Reaction of 4 with a mixture of MeCN and PhCCMe gave the metallacycle [Ti(N₂N^py){NC(Me)C(Ph)C(Me)NNPh₂}] by sequential coupling of Ti?NNPh₂ with PhCCMe and then MeCN. A related product, [Ti(N₂N^py){NC(Me)C(Ar^F)C(H)NNPh₂}], was formed by insertion of MeCN into the Ti? C bond of the isolated azatitanacyclobutene [Ti(N₂N^py){N(NPh₂)C(H)C(Ar^F)}] (Ar^F=3‐C₆H₄F). Reaction of 4 with two equivalents of B(Ar)₃ (Ar=C₆F₅) formed the zwitterionic borate [Ti(N₂N^py){η²‐N(NPh₂)B(Ar)₃}] by electrophilic attack at N_α. Compounds 4 and 5 reacted with tBuNC and/or XylNC (Xyl=2,6‐C₆H₃Me₂) to give the N_α? N_β bond cleavage products, [Ti(N₂N^R)(NCNR′)(NPh₂)] (R=py or Me; R′=tBu or Xyl), containing metallated carbodiimide ligands. DFT studies of these reactions found an initial addition of RNC across Ti?N_α followed by N_β coordination, and finally complete N_α transfer from the NNPh₂ to the RNC fragment. Reaction of 5 with Ar′NCE (E=O, S, Se; Ar′=2,6‐C₆H₃iPr₂) gave the [2+2] cycloaddition products [Ti(N₂N^Me){N(NPh₂)C(NAr′)O}(py)] and [Ti(N₂N^Me){N(NPh₂)C(NAr′)E}] (E=S or Se), which did not undergo further transformation of the Ti? N? NPh₂ moiety.     

Synthesis and directed self-assembly of patterned anisometric polymeric particles

A simple and versatile method for making chemically patterned anisotropic colloidal particles is proposed and demonstrated for two different types of patterning. Using a combination of thermo/mechanical stretching followed by a wet chemical treatment of a sterically stabilized latex, both patchy ellipsoidal particles with sticky interactions near the tips as well as particles with tunable fluorescent patterns could be easily produced. The potential of such model colloidal particles is demonstrated, specifically for the case of directed self-assembly.     

Electrochemical Nanoreactor Provides a Comprehensive View of Isocitrate Dehydrogenase Cancer-drug Kinetics

The ability to control enzyme cascades entrapped in a nanoporous electrode material (the “Electrochemical Leaf”, e-Leaf) has been exploited to gain detailed kinetic insight into the mechanism of an anti-cancer drug. Ivosidenib, used to treat acute myeloid leukemia, acts on a common cancer-linked variant of isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1 R132H) inhibiting its “gain-of-function” activity—the undesired reduction of 2-oxoglutarate (2OG) to the oncometabolite 2-hydroxyglutarate (2HG). The e-Leaf quantifies the kinetics of IDH1 R132H inhibition across a wide and continuous range of conditions, efficiently revealing factors underlying the inhibitor residence time. Selective inhibition of IDH1 R132H by Ivosidenib and another inhibitor, Novartis 224, is readily resolved as a two-stage process whereby initial rapid non-inhibitory binding is followed by a slower step to give the inhibitory complex. These kinetic features are likely present in other allosteric inhibitors of IDH1/2. Such details, essential for understanding inhibition mechanisms, are not readily resolved in conventional steady-state kinetics or by techniques that rely only on measuring binding. Extending the new method and analytical framework presented here to other enzyme systems will be straightforward and should rapidly reveal insight that is difficult or often impossible to obtain using other methods.     

Free energy landscape of protein-like chains with discontinuous potentials

In this article the configurational space of two simple protein models consisting of polymers composed of a periodic sequence of four different kinds of monomers is studied as a function of temperature. In the protein models, hydrogen bond interactions, electrostatic repulsion, and covalent bond vibrations are modeled by discontinuous step, shoulder, and square-well potentials, respectively. The protein-like chains exhibit a secondary alpha helix structure in their folded states at low temperatures, and allow a natural definition of a configuration by considering which beads are bonded. Free energies and entropies of configurations are computed using the parallel tempering method in combination with hybrid Monte Carlo sampling of the canonical ensemble of the discontinuous potential system. The probability of observing the most common configuration is used to analyze the nature of the free energy landscape, and it is found that the model with the least number of possible bonds exhibits a funnel-like free energy landscape at low enough temperature for chains with fewer than 30 beads. For longer proteins, the free landscape consists of several minima, where the configuration with the lowest free energy changes significantly by lowering the temperature and the probability of observing the most common configuration never approaches one due to the degeneracy of the lowest accessible potential energy.     

发光玻璃在X射线实时成像系统中的应用

介绍了以铽（Ｔｂ）激活的高密度发光玻璃和光导纤维发光玻璃的特性。它应用在Ｘ射线实时成像系统中,可大大改善空间分辨能力。用它做的转换屏比一般晶粒状荧光物质做的厚得多,特别适合用于高能Ｘ射线实时成像系统