On the electron-induced isotope fractionation in low temperature (32)O(2)/(36)O(2) ices--ozone as a case study

The formation of six ozone isotopomers and isotopologues, (16)O(16)O(16)O, (18)O(18)O(18)O, (16)O(16)O(18)O, (18)O(18)O(16)O, (16)O(18)O(16)O, and (18)O(16)O(18)O, has been studied in electron-irradiated solid oxygen (16)O(2) and (18)O(2) (1?∶?1) ices at 11 K. Significant isotope effects were found to exist which involved enrichment of (18)O-bearing ozone molecules. The heavy (18)O(18)O(18)O species is formed with a factor of about six higher than the corresponding (16)O(16)O(16)O isotopologue. Likewise, the heavy (18)O(18)O(16)O species is formed with abundances of a factor of three higher than the lighter (16)O(16)O(18)O counterpart. No isotope effect was observed in the production of (16)O(18)O(16)O versus(18)O(16)O(18)O. Such studies on the formation of distinct ozone isotopomers and isotopologues involving non-thermal, non-equilibrium chemistry by irradiation of oxygen ices with high energy electrons, as present in the magnetosphere of the giant planets Jupiter and Saturn, may suggest that similar mechanisms may contribute to the (18)O enrichment on the icy satellites of Jupiter and Saturn such as Ganymede, Rhea, and Dione. In such a Solar System environment, energetic particles from the magnetospheres of the giant planets may induce non-equilibrium reactions of suprathermal and/or electronically excited atoms under conditions, which are quite distinct from isotopic enrichments found in classical, thermal gas phase reactions.     

Hyperpolarizability,Hirshfeld, and density functional theory computations of a nonlinear optical picrate

bis(2-nitroaniline) picrate (BNP) single crystals was grown by slow evaporation growth technique using mixed solvent system with methanol–acetone (1:1, v/v) at a constant temperature, and the structure was interpreted by single crystal X-ray, Power Diffraction (XRD) analysis. Inter- and intramolecular hydrogen bonding interactions were interpreted, and crystal cohesion was architectured by N-H···O, O-H···O, C-H···N, H···H, O···O, and π···π staking interactions. All intermolecular interactions occurring in the crystal lattice were calculated using fingerprint analysis. Interaction strengths were graphically illustrated by the Hirshfeld surface analysis. The band gap energy of BNP was estimated by the application of the Kubelka–Munk algorithm. Nonlinear optical behavior was confirmed by the Kurtz–Perry technique. Optimized geometry was derived by the density functional theory calculations. The first-order molecular hyperpolarizability (β) and excited state energies were estimated by the time-dependent density functional theory analysis.     

Weinreb amide based building blocks for convenient access to 1,1-diarylethenes and isocombretastatin analogues

A successful strategy based on the synthetic equivalent containing Weinreb amide functionality for the convenient access to 1,1-diarylethenes in general and for the isocombretastatin analogues in particular has been developed from the commercially available glyoxalic acid. The convenience with which the structural variations can be made in assembling the aryl residues shows generality associated with the developed strategy. The intermediates also provide access to 1,2,2-triarylethanones, represented by the synthesis of advanced intermediate of tamoxifen.     

Practical asymmetric synthesis of β-hydroxy γ-amino acids via complimentary aldol reactions

Orthogonally protected chiral β-hydroxy-γ-amino acids can be accessed in >100 g quantities from readily available starting materials and reagents in three to four steps. These chiral synthons contain two adjacent stereocenters along with suitably protected functional groups (O-TBS, N-Boc) for downstream reactivity. Implementation of two existing aldol technologies allows rapid access to all possible stereoisomers of 1. The guiding principles during reaction optimization were reaction scalability and operational efficiency. Conversion of the amino acids to a variety of chiral building blocks in one to two steps demonstrates their synthetic utility.     

An informatic pipeline for managing high-throughput screening experiments and analyzing data from stereochemically diverse libraries

Integration of flexible data-analysis tools with cheminformatics methods is a prerequisite for successful identification and validation of “hits” in high-throughput screening (HTS) campaigns. We have designed, developed, and implemented a suite of robust yet flexible cheminformatics tools to support HTS activities at the Broad Institute, three of which are described herein. The “hit-calling” tool allows a researcher to set a hit threshold that can be varied during downstream analysis. The results from the hit-calling exercise are reported to a database for record keeping and further data analysis. The “cherry-picking” tool enables creation of an optimized list of hits for confirmatory and follow-up assays from an HTS hit list. This tool allows filtering by computed chemical property and by substructure. In addition, similarity searches can be performed on hits of interest and sets of related compounds can be selected. The third tool, an “S/SAR viewer,” has been designed specifically for the Broad Institute’s diversity-oriented synthesis (DOS) collection. The compounds in this collection are rich in chiral centers and the full complement of all possible stereoisomers of a given compound are present in the collection. The S/SAR viewer allows rapid identification of both structure/activity relationships and stereo-structure/activity relationships present in HTS data from the DOS collection. Together, these tools enable the prioritization and analysis of hits from diverse compound collections, and enable informed decisions for follow-up biology and chemistry efforts.     

Novel measurements of refractive index, density and mid-infrared integrated band strengths for solid O2, N2O and NO2:N2O4 mixtures

We present novel measurements of the refractive index, density and integrated band strengths of mid-infrared features of solid N₂O at 16 K and of NO₂ and N₂O₄ in two frozen NO₂:N₂O₄ mixtures deposited at 16 and 60 K. The refractive index and density measurements were performed also for frozen O₂ deposited at 16 K. In this case, the integrated band strength values could not be determined since O₂ is a homonuclear molecule and therefore its fundamental mode is not infrared active. The solid samples were analysed by infrared spectroscopy in the 8000÷800 cm⁻¹ range. The sample thickness was measured by the interference curve obtained using a He–Ne laser operating at 543 nm. The refractive index at this laser wavelength was obtained, by numerical methods, from the measured amplitude of the interference curve. The density values were obtained using the Lorentz–Lorenz relation. Integrated band strength values were then obtained by a linear fit of the integrated band intensities plotted versus column density values. The astrophysical relevance of these novel measurements is briefly discussed.