Solution NMR techniques for large molecular and supramolecular structures

Transverse relaxation-optimized spectroscopy (TROSY) or generation of heteronuclear multiple quantum coherences during the frequency labeling period and TROSY during the acquisition period have been combined either with cross-correlated relaxation-induced polarization transfer (CRIPT) or cross-correlated relaxation-enhanced polarization transfer (CRINEPT) to obtain two-dimensional (2D) solution NMR correlation spectra of (15)N,(2)H-labeled homo-oligomeric macromolecules with molecular weights from 110 to 800 kDa. With the experimental conditions used, the line widths of the TROSY-components of the (1)H- and (15)N-signals were of the order of 60 Hz at 400 kDa, whereas, for structures of size 800 kDa, the line widths were about 75 Hz for (15)N and 110 Hz for (1)H. This paper describes the experimental schemes used and details of their setup for individual measurements. The performance of NMR experiments with large structures depends critically on the choice of the polarization transfer times, the relaxation delays between subsequent recordings, and the water-handling routines. Optimal transfer times for 2D [(15)N,(1)H]-CRIPT-TROSY experiments in H(2)O solutions were found to be 6 ms for a molecular weight of approximately 200 kDa, 2.8 ms for 400 kDa, and 1.4 ms for 800 kDa. These data validate theoretical predictions of inverse proportionality between optimal transfer time and size of the structure. The proton longitudinal relaxation times in H(2)O solution were found to be of the order of 0.8 s for structure sizes around 200 kDa, 0.4 s at 400 kDa, and 0.3 s at 800 kDa, which enabled the use of recycle times below 1 s. Since improper water handling results in severe signal loss, the water resonance was kept along the z-axis during the entire duration of the experiments by adjusting each water flip-back pulse individually.     

A facile retro-ene reaction of 5-(methoxyamino)-3-aryl-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2(3H)-ones

5-(N-Methoxy-N-methyl)amino-3-aryl-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2(3H)-ones 3 undergo a heteroretro-ene reaction in refluxing methanol in which the leaving enophile is formaldehyde. The resulting 5-(methylimino)-3-aryl-1,3,4-oxadiazolidin-2-one 4 may be viewed as a kinetic product which tautomerizes to the more stable 5-(methylamino)-3-aryl-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2(3H)-one 5 as the thermodynamic product. Comparison of calculated reaction energies reveals that the presence of the heterocyclic ring facilitates the retro-ene reaction, but the expulsion of formaldehyde is predicted to be highly exothermic even in its absence.     

Bromination of 2,1,3-benzothiadiazoles

The bromination of 2,1,3-benzothiadiazoles in 47% hydrobromic acid at elevated temperature has led to a general preparative method for the synthesis in high yield of otherwise difficulty accessible brominated 2,1,3-benzothiadiazoles. The typical addition reaction is apparently eliminated under these reaction conditions and substitution takes place exclusively. Bromination of 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole occurs successively at positions 4 and 7. 4-Substituted 2,1,3-benzothia-diazoles are selectively brominated at position 7. 5-Bromo- and 5-methyl-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole are brominated consecutively at positions 4 and 7.     

Ab-initio-Berechnungen des π-Bindungsbeitrages in BF3 und BCl3

Ab initio gradient calculations were performed on BF₃ and BCl₃ to evaluate the -contribution in these compounds. The influence of the basis set on the results is studied for borontrifluoride. For the chlorine compound the -contribution is smaller than for the fluorine compound.

     

Development of an ethanol-selective optode membrane based on a reversible chemical recognition process

Lipophilic trifluoroacetophenone derivatives incorporated in plasticized PVC membranes are able to selectively extract water and alcohols from the sample solution into the organic membrane phase, reversibly forming hydrates and hemi-acetals, respectively. Since this is accompanied by a change in the absorption spectrum of the acetophenone isologue, the chemical recognition process can directly be translated into an optical signal. With N-acetyl-N-dodecyl-4-trifluoroacetylaniline (ETH 6022) as the electrically neutral, lipophilized carrier ethanol can be determined from 0.5 to 35% (v/v) in aqueous solutions. The calibration curve for different ethanol-water mixtures shows a good correlation with the mathematically derived formalism and thus confirms the theoretically expected behavior. Besides high reproducibility of the optical signals, very short response times of less than 30 s were realized. The optode membrane presented exhibits a preference for ethanol compared to water by a factor greater than 11. The selectivities for several primary alcohols, such as methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol and 1-n-butanol, are comparable, but isopropanol and tert.-butanol are rejected by a factor of about 10. The alcohol concentration in different beverages was determined to evaluate the reliability of the system. The values obtained for wine, beer and different spirits show an excellent correlation with those obtained by a conventional approach involving distillation and density measurements. A residual standard deviation of ± 0.27% (v/v) over the 0.7–40% (v/v) range was found.     

Redox-switchable direction of photoinduced electron transfer in an Ru(bpy)3(2+)-viologen dyad

Quenching of the 3MLCT excited state of [Ru(bpy)3]2+ (bpy=bipyridine) by the reduction products (MV*+ and MV0) of methyl viologen (MV2+) was studied by a combination of electrochemistry with laser flash photolysis or femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy. Both for the bimolecular reactions and for the reactions in an Ru(bpy)3(2+)-MVn+ dyad, quenching by MV*+ and MV0 is reductive and gives the reduced ruthenium complex [Ru(bpy)3]+, in contrast to the oxidative quenching by MV2+. Rate constants of quenching (kq), and thermal charge recombination (krec) and cage escape yields (phi(ce)) were determined for the bimolecular reactions, and rates of forward (kf) and backward (kb) electron transfer in the dyad were measured for quenching by MV2+, MV*+, and MV0. The reactions in the dyad are very rapid, with values up to kf = 1.3 x 10(12) s(-1) for *Ru(bpy)3(2+)-MV*+. In addition, a long-lived (tau = 15 ps) vibrationally excited state of MV*+ with a characteristically structured absorption spectrum was detected; this was generated by direct excitation of the MV*+ moiety both at 460 and 600 nm. The results show that the direction of photoinduced electron transfer in a Ru(bpy)3-MV molecule can be switched by an externally applied bias.     

An intercomparison of sampling techniques for measurements of radiocaesium in upland pasture and soil

An intercomparison of sampling procedures used by five laboratories for the determination of radiocaesium in vegetation and peaty soil was carried out at two locations in Cumbria. The multiple sampling has given information on the homogeneity of the parameters studied at each location. The parameters comprise soil bulk densities, total deposition of¹³⁷Cs, deposition of¹³⁷Cs in three soil layers, biomass densities, concentrations of¹³⁷Cs in pasture, and activity ratios (¹³⁴Cs/¹³⁷Cs) in soil and vegetation. The determination of total deposition of¹³⁷Cs gave no indication of differences between the laboratories. The results from the soil profiles do indicate significant differences between laboratories. One laboratory using a coring technique observed difficulties during sampling due to compression of the soil. The coring technique should thus be avoided or applied with extreme care for the sampling of depth profiles in peaty soil. The results from the sampling of pasture show no indication of differences between the laboratories. For the parameters studied the observed variabilities across soil depths and locations range from 10% to 81% in terms of relative standard deviations. A comparison across all results at the two locations indicate a 50% higher field variability at one of the sites relative to the other.     

Capillary electrophoresis-atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometry for the characterization of peptides. Instrumental considerations for mass spectrometric detection.

On-line capillary electrophoresis (CE) separations are shown for a synthetic peptide mixture and a tryptic digest of human hemoglobin in an uncoated fused-silica capillary with detection using atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometry (API-MS). The CE system utilized a 1-m capillary column of either 75- or 100-microns I.D. These somewhat larger inside diameters allow higher sample capacities for MS detection and the 1-m length facilitates connecting the CE column to the liquid junction-ion spray interface and MS system. Low volatile buffer concentrations (15-20 mM) of ammonium acetate or ammonium formate, and high organic modifier content (5-50%) of methanol or acetonitrile facilitates ionization under electrospray conditions. This study shows that peptides separated by CE may be transferred to the API-MS system through a liquid junction coupling to the pneumatically assisted electrospray (ion spray) interface at low buffer pH when the electroosmotic flow is low (0-0.04 microliter/min). CE-MS as described herein is facilitated by features in modern CE instrumentation including robotic cleaning and pressurization of the capillary inlet. The latter is particularly useful for repetitive rinsing and conditioning of the capillary column between analyses in addition to continuous 'infusion' of sample to the mass spectrometer for tuning purposes. In addition to facile molecular weight determination, amino acid sequence information for peptides may be obtained by utilizing on-line tandem MS. After the tryptic digest sample components enter the API-MS system, the molecular ion species of individual peptides may be focussed and transmitted into the collision cell of the tandem triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. Collision-induced dissociation of protonated peptide molecules yielded structural information for their characterization following injection of 10 pmol of a tryptic digest from human hemoglobin.     

Kinetics of the Zn(II)/Zn(Hg) electrode reactions in DMSO solutions of halide ions

The electrode reaction Zn(II)/Zn(Hg) in complex chloride, bromide, and iodide solutions with DMSO as solvent and ammonium perchlorate as supporting electrolyte has been studied at the equilibrium potential by the faradaic impedance method and a square-wave method. Furthermore, double-layer data have been determined by electrocapillary measurements. The results indicate that the zinc chloride and bromide complexes do not contribute noticeably to the exchange current density, while in the iodide system both the solvated zinc ion and the first complex take part in the charge transfer. From the dissimilar results valid for water and DMSO solutions the conclusion is made that probably ligand bridging at the amalgam by the halide ions is operative in water solutions, whereas in DMSO the larger solvent molecules adsorbed can form a steric hindrance to ligand bridging by chloride or bromide ions.     

The Total Synthesis of (±)-Isocomene by an Intramolecular Ene Reaction. Preliminary communication

The racemic sesquiterpene isocomene ( 1 ) has been synthesized starting from 1,7-octadien-3-one ( 2 ) in a stereoselective manner (Scheme 2). In the key step 4 → 5 the C(7), C(8)-bond was formed by an intramolecular thermal ene reaction. Further elaboration of 5 involved the ring contraction 6 → 7 , the elimination 8 → 9 and the final olefin isomerization 9 → 1 .