The sublimation enthalpy of dimethyl oxalate

The sublimation enthalpy of dimethyl oxalate has been measured by calorimetric and head space analysis. These results along with vaporization enthalpy measured by correlation gas chromatography and fusion enthalpy measurements are compared to results predicted by two estimation techniques. A previous experimental measurement was found to be in error. A mean value of (75.2±0.5) kJ/mol was obtained which results in a corrected molar value of (–681.5±0.8) kJ/mol for the enthalpy of formation of gaseous dimethyl oxalate, _f H _m ^o (g, 298.15 K). This new value of _f H _m ^o (g, 298.15 K) for dimethyl oxalate, in combination with other enthalpies of formation, suggests that the ground state of oxalates are destabilized relative to -diketones by approximately 25 kJ/mol.     

Protein fluorescence measurements within electrospray droplets

The conformation of cytochrome c molecules within electrospray droplets is investigated by monitoring the laser induced fluorescence of its single tryptophan residue (Trp-59). By increasing the alcohol concentration of the electrosprayed solutions, protein denaturation is induced, giving rise to significant changes in the intensity of the detected fluorescence. Comparison with analogous denaturation experiments in solution provides information about the relative protein conformations and differences between the bulk-solution and droplet environments. Both electrospray-plume and bulk-solution fluorescence measurements using low methanol concentration solutions indicate the presence of folded protein structures. At high methanol content, fluorescence measurements are consistent with the presence of partly denatured or unfolded conformations. At intermediate methanol content, differences are observed between the extent of denaturation in solution and that within the droplets, suggesting electrosprayed proteins have more compact structures than those detected in bulk measurements using solutions of similar composition. This infers that some fraction of the proteins within the droplets have refolded relative to their bulk-solution conformation. Protein denaturation experiments using the low vapor pressure solvent 1-propanol indicate that differences between the droplet and solution measurements are not due to solvent evaporation effects. It is suggested that different droplet conformations are more likely the result of protein diffusion to the droplet surface and effects of the droplet/air interface. To our knowledge, these are the first reported measurements of protein fluorescence within electrospray droplets.     

Analysis of the 4800-Å absorption band of Cs2 by the classical method

The broad absorption band in Cs₂ having peak intensity near 4800 Å is analyzed through computational simulation of the experimental spectrum using the classical method. The absorption, which terminates in a weak satellite at 5223 Å, can be interpreted in terms of a single transition from the ground state (R_e = 4.65 Å, ω_e = 42 cm⁻¹) to an upper state having T_e = 20 470 cm⁻¹, ω_e = 33 cm⁻¹ and R_e = 5.28 Å. The absolute absorption strength is roughly consistent with published lifetime data, but its reliability is limited by thermodynamic uncertainties stemming from the remaining uncertainty in the Cs₂ ground state dissociation enegy. The paper includes a summary of diatomic radiation relations pertinent to the analysis of low-resolution spectra, and a brief discussion of the reduced potential method applied to the alkali dimer ground states.     

Hadamard Transform Time‐of‐Flight Mass Spectrometry: More Signal,More of the Time

Hadamard transform time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (HT‐TOF MS) is a type of mass analysis that was developed to couple continuous ion sources to the inherently pulsed nature of time‐of‐flight measurements. Unlike conventional TOF MS, the Hadamard transform method offers a duty cycle of 50 %, with the possibility of extending it to 100 %. Because it is a multiplexing technique, the attainable signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) is also significantly higher than that of conventional TOF MS. This review covers the basic principles behind HT‐TOF MS. We illustrate, through examples, the source of the high‐duty cycle and the increase in SNR. These features translate to a mass spectral storage rate that is the fastest among similar instruments, which enables its use as a detector for high‐speed separations.     

Zur Dismutierung von C1-Fluorchlorkohlenwasserstoffen an Metalloxid- und Halogenidoberflächen

Dismutation of C₁ – Fluorine Chlorine Hydro Carbons at Surfaces of Metal Oxides and halides Dismutation of C₁-fluorine chlorine hydro carbons has been investigated at surfaces of aluminium and chromium chlorides respectively fluorides. Dismutation reactions have been observed only after halogen exchange at such surfaces of solids which contain both, chloride and fluoride. A mechanism of dismutation is suggested which underlies a concerted chlorine/fluorine and fluorine/chlorine exchange between the solid and the gas phase. The results are discussed in connection with thermodynamically considerations.     

Metallurgy in a beaker: nanoparticle toolkit for the rapid low-temperature solution synthesis of functional multimetallic solid-state materials

Intermetallic compounds and alloys are traditionally synthesized by heating mixtures of metal powders to high temperatures for long periods of time. A low-temperature solution-based alternative has been developed, and this strategy exploits the enhanced reactivity of nanoparticles and the nanometer diffusion distances afforded by binary nanocomposite precursors. Prereduced metal nanoparticles are combined in known ratios, and they form nanomodulated composites that rapidly transform into intermetallics and alloys upon heating at low temperatures. The approach is general in terms of accessible compositions, structures, and morphologies. Multiple compounds in the same binary system can be readily accessed; e.g., AuCu, AuCu3, Au3Cu, and the AuCu-II superlattice are all accessible in the Au-Cu system. This concept can be extended to other binary systems, including the intermetallics FePt3, CoPt, CuPt, and Cu3Pt and the alloys Ag-Pt, Au-Pd, and Ni-Pt. The ternary intermetallic Ag2Pd3S can also be rapidly synthesized at low temperatures from a nanocomposite precursor comprised of Ag2S and Pd nanoparticles. Using this low-temperature solution-based approach, a variety of morphologically diverse nanomaterials are accessible: surface-confined thin films (planar and nonplanar supports), free-standing monoliths, nanomesh materials, inverse opals, and dense gram-scale nanocrystalline powders of intermetallic AuCu. Importantly, the multimetallic materials synthesized using this approach are functional, yielding a room-temperature Fe-Pt ferromagnet, a superconducting sample of Ag2Pd3S (Tc = 1.10 K), and a AuPd4 alloy that selectively catalyzes the formation of H2O2 from H2 and O2. Such flexibility in the synthesis and processing of functional intermetallic and alloy materials is unprecedented.     

Length and substituent-scrambling energies of parent and halogen-substituted conjugated polyynes

Conjugated polyynes are a class of species of diverse and increasing interest. Length-scrambling and substituent scrambling reaction energies were examined using ab initio quantum chemistry calculations to investigate issues concerning the energetic effects of the molecular ends (substituent communication). Computations were performed for the parent, monohalogenated, and dihalogenated (F, Cl, Br, I) polyynes of up to 60 carbon atoms. A study of resonance effects using natural resonance theory and bond lengths demonstrates lone-pair-donating effects that increase in the series F < Cl < Br < I, but run counter to the halogen inductive effects which decrease in this series and dominate energetic effects.     

Infrared absorption features of gaseous isopropyl carbocations.

C3H7+ ions were formed in the cell of a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer and assayed by their multi-photon dissociation (MPD) behavior, triggered by the absorption of tunable IR radiation from a free-electron laser source providing a high fluence. The derived experimental IRMPD spectrum, which reflects the active vibrational modes of the ion, was compared with the IR spectra calculated for the optimized structures of the most-stable species on the C3H7+ potential energy surface, namely, a chiral iC3H7+ ion of C2 symmetry and an asymmetric corner-protonated cyclopropane, cC3H7+. The significant features in the IRMPD spectra of both the unlabeled and the perdeuterated ions obtained by ionization and fragmentation of isobutane or 2-chloro[D7]propane confirm the presence of the isopropyl cation, the ground-state isomer, whose IR spectroscopic features can thus be comparatively checked in the gas phase and in condensed superacid media. Details of the IRMPD features are suggested to result from the nearly barrierless interconversion of the two C2 enantiomers.     

Conformationally homogeneous cyclic tetrapeptides: useful new three-dimensional scaffolds

The most commonly recognized motifs in protein-protein interactions are gamma and beta turns, which are defined by three to four contiguous amino acids in a peptide sequence. Cyclic tetrapeptides thus represent minimalist turn mimetics, but their usefulness is compromised by strain in their 12-membered rings, making them difficult to cyclize, unstable to hydrolysis/metabolism, and conformationally heterogeneous in polar solvents. Appropriate placement of a beta amino acid in a tetrapeptide creates a 13-membered ring that is shown to be easier to cyclize, hydrolytically more stable, and conformationally homogeneous in polar solvents such as DMSO and water. Three-dimensional structures reveal that these cyclic tetrapeptides are novel rigid scaffolds, their unique side-chain projections matching a structurally diverse range of useful nonpeptidic templates, including sugars and spirocyclic compounds, found as components of natural products. The results provide a potentially useful link between protein architecture and organic natural products. On the basis of protein turn sequences (not protein structures) alone simple cyclic tetrapeptide libraries with a beta amino acid can be rationally designed as conformationally restricted, easily synthesized, and stereochemically controlled screening tools for rapidly identifying pharmacophore space that can then be computer-matched to more complex known natural product templates for drug development.     

Design and application of basic amino acids displaying enhanced hydrophobicity

Three noncoding basic amino acids, mono-, di-, and trimethyldiaminopropionic acid (mmdap, dmdap, and tmdap), have been synthesized for use in protein design. Covalent modification of a diaminopropionic acid (dap) side chain with an increasing number of methyl moieties results in a family of residues displaying short basic side chains with varying degrees of enhanced hydrophobic character. These residues may be used to introduce charged/polar interactions into the confining hydrophobic interior or interfacial spaces of proteins. As a demonstration of their utility, the ability of these residues to promote interior salt bridge formation at the helix/helix interface of GCN4-p1, a dimeric two-stranded coiled coil, was assessed. Heterodimerization mediated by buried salt bridge formation between a GCN4-based peptide containing either mmdap, dmdap, or tmdap at position 16 and an analogous peptide containing aspartic acid at the same position was studied. Mmdap-derived heterodimers are 0.5 kcal/mol more stable than the corresponding dap-derived heterodimers. This result indicates that the addition of one methyl group to the dap side chain can stabilize the heterodimeric fold. The stabilization can most likely be attributed to a decrease in the desolvation penalty incurred upon folding as well as enhanced van der Waals contacts in the folded state. The addition of three methyl groups to the dap side chain results in heterodimers that are significantly less stable than the corresponding dap-derived heterodimers, suggesting that increased steric bulk is not well accommodated in the interior of this protein. Unexpectedly, the addition of two methyl groups leads to homotrimerization of the dmdap-peptide. The resulting trimer is relatively stable (DeltaG(37)( degrees )(C) degrees = 11.8 kcal/mol) and undergoes cooperative thermal unfolding. The GCN4-p1 system exemplifies how small incremental changes in size and hydrophobicity can alter the folding preferences of a protein. Generally, this versatile suite of residues can be utilized in any protein and offer new options to the protein chemist.