The effect of ion energy upon plasma polymerization deposition rate for acrylic acid

A novel technique, which allows the importance of ion energy in plasma polymer film growth to be investigated, without perturbation of any other plasma parameter (particle densities or temperatures) or, in principle, perturbation of particle (neutral or ion) fluxes is applied in the plasma polymerisation of acrylic acid and new insight into polymer formation is gleaned.     

Benzannelated analogs of phenanthro[1,2-b]- and [2,1-b]thiophene: Synthesis and structural characterization by two-dimensional NMR and X-ray techniques

Syntheses of benzo[3,4]phenanthro[1,2-b]thiophene, benzo[3,4]phenanthro[2,1-b]thiophene and their 1-methyl analogs are reported as potential constituents of solvent refined coal liquids and for mutagenicity testing. The attempted synthesis of the 13-methyl analogs which gave the 11-methyl isomers is also described. Total assignments of the ¹H- and ¹³C-nmr spectra based on long range optimized heteronuclear protoncarbon two-dimensional chemical shift correlation are reported. Carbon assignments obtained for benzo[3,4]-phenanthro[1,2-b]thiophene using this approach were confirmed with a 125 MHz ¹³C–¹³C INADEQUATE spectrum. X-Ray crystal structures were determined for benzo[3,4]phenanthro[1,2-b]thiophene and 1-methyl-benzo[3,4]phenanthro[2,1-b]thiophene. Both molecules were helically distorted from planarity. Close intramolecular contacts between the bay region H1–H13 and ClMe-H13 of 2.03 and 2.28 Å, respectively, were responsible for the distortions. There were no close intermolecular contacts of <3.5Å. both molecules refined to an R value of <0.05.     

A planning strategy for diversity-oriented synthesis

In contrast to target-oriented synthesis (TOS) and medicinal or combinatorial chemistry, which aim to access precise or dense regions of chemistry space, diversity-oriented synthesis (DOS) populates chemical space broadly with small-molecules having diverse structures. The goals of DOS include the development of pathways leading to the efficient (three- to five-step) synthesis of collections of small molecules having skeletal and stereochemical diversity with defined coordinates in chemical space. Ideally, these pathways also yield compounds having the potential to attach appendages site- and stereoselectively to a variety of attachment sites during a post-screening, maturation stage. The diverse skeletons and stereochemistries ensure that the appendages can be positioned in multiple orientations about the surface of the molecules. TOS as well as medicinal and combinatorial chemistries have been advanced by the development of retrosynthetic analysis. Although the distinct goals of DOS do not permit the application of retrosynthetic concepts and thinking, these foundations are being built on, by using parallel logic, to develop a complementary procedure known as forward-synthetic analysis. This analysis facilitates synthetic planning, communication, and teaching in this evolving discipline.     

Synthesis of the alkaloids julandine and ipalbidine-use of silicon (IV) chloride

Titanium (IV) chloride and silicon (IV) chloride with high oxygen affinity are the best Lewis acid catalysts, of a number tested, for cyclisation of an enamine-ketone (1) leading to the alkaloid, julandine (2); cyclisation of (6) in methanol solution without catalyst yields $\text{O}$-methylipalbidine (7) .     

Electrostatic free energy of weakly charged macromolecules in solution and intermacromolecular complexes consisting of oppositely charged polymers

When oppositely charged polyelectrolytes are mixed in water, attraction between oppositely charged groups may lead to the formation of polyelectrolyte complexes (associative phase separation, complex coacervation, interpolymer complexes). Theory is presented to describe the electrostatic free energy change when ionizable (annealed) (macro-)molecules form a macroscopic polyelectrolyte complex. The electrostatic free energy includes an electric term as well as a chemical term that is related to the dissociation of the ionic groups in the polymer. An example calculation for complexation of polyacid with polybase uses a cylindrical diffuse double layer model for free polymer in solution and electroneutrality within the complex and calculates the free energy of the system when the polymer is in solution or in a polyelectrolyte complex. Combined with a term for the nonelectrostatic free energy change upon complexation, a theoretical stability diagram is constructed that relates pH, salt concentration, and mixing ratio, which is in qualitative agreement with an experimental diagram obtained by Bungenberg de Jong (1949) for complex coacervation of arabic gum and gelatin. The theory furthermore explains the increased tendency toward phase separation when the polymer becomes more strongly charged and suggests that complexation of polyacid or polybase with zwitterionic polymer (e.g., protein) of the same charge sign (at the "wrong side" of the iso-electric point) may be due (in part) to an induced charge reversal of the protein.     

Synthesis and anticholinesterase activity of some new fluorogenic analogues of organophosphorus nerve agents

Eighteen new fluorogenic analogues of organophosphorus nerve agents were synthesised and characterised. They included analogues of tabun, sarin, cyclosarin, soman, VX, and Russian VX, with the 7-oxy-4-methylcoumarin or 7-oxy-4-(trifluoromethyl)coumarin leaving group. These analogues inhibited acetylcholinesterase (AChE) effectively in vitro and therefore have potential as tools for the identification of novel organophosphatases in biological systems. Analogues of VX and Russian VX with the 7-amino-4-methylcoumarin group, although poor AChE inhibitors, may have utility for screening enzyme libraries for phosphoramidases capable of cleaving P-N bonds.     

Electrokinetic effects of adsorbed neutral polymers

On the basis of a previously developed hydrodynamic model for adsorbed polymers the charge flow along a charged interface with adsorbed (uncharged) polymer is calculated. An effective electrokinetic layer thickness is defined and its dependence on the characteristics of the adsorbed polymer and the ionic strength is studied. It is found that tails are very important for the hydrodynamic effects considered because they effectively screen the solvent flow from inner parts of the absorbed layer. The electrokinetic layer thickness increases with decreasing ionic strength, and tends to a limit equal to the hydrodynamic thickness at very low ionic strength.     

Capillary electrophoresis with wavelength-resolved laser-induced fluorescence detection

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) enables rapid separations with high separation efficiency and compatibility with small sample volumes. Laser-induced fluorescence detection can result in extremely low limits of detection in CE. Single-channel fluorescence detection, however, furnishes little qualitative information about a species being detected, except for its CE migration time. Use of multidimensional information often enables unambiguous identification of analytes. Combination of CE with information-rich wavelength-resolved fluorescence detection is analogous with ultraviolet-visible diode-array detection and furnishes both qualitative and quantitative chemical information about target species. This review discusses recent advances in wavelength-resolved laser-induced fluorescence detection coupled with CE, with an emphasis on instrument design.     

On the mechanism of negative differential resistance in ferrocenylundecanethiol self-assembled monolayers

Negative differential resistance (NDR) peaks in the current-voltage characteristics of ferrocenylundecanethiol self-assembled monolayers are not reversible. The peaks turn to smoothly increasing currents as oxygen is removed from the system, indicating that NDR arises from the reaction of an energetic charged species with ambient oxygen.     

Phosphorescence of thermally oxidised poly(butadiene) and model enones: temperature dependence

The temperature dependence of phosphorescence of model enone compounds in poly (methyl methacrylate) matrix and glassy methylcyclohexane/isopentane solution and of enones formed from thermal oxidation of poly (butadiene) has been studied over the temperature range 77–220°K. The single discontinuity in the plot for the model enone-glassy solvent is due to the freezing of a (solvent perturbed) barrier to rotation in the enone, and an analogous transition is also observed in the model enone poly (methyl methacrylate) samples and in thermally oxidised poly (butadiene). In the polymer matrices, a second transition corresponding to the γ-transition in poly (methyl methacrylate) and the glass transition temperature T_g in poly (butadiene) are also revealed in the Arrhenius plots. The results demonstrate that care must be taken in ascribing such discontinuities solely to polymer properties since intrinsic properties of the luminescence probe itself may exhibit similar features.