Sequence-defined positioning of amine and amide residues to control catechol driven wet adhesion

Catechol and amine residues, both abundantly present in mussel adhesion proteins, are known to act cooperatively by displacing hydration barriers before binding to mineral surfaces. In spite of synthetic efforts toward mussel-inspired adhesives, the effect of positioning of the involved functional groups along a polymer chain is not well understood. By using sequence-defined oligomers grafted to soft hydrogel particles as adhesion probes, we study the effect of catechol–amine spacing, as well as positioning relative to the oligomer terminus. We demonstrate that the catechol–amine spacing has a significant effect on adhesion, while shifting their position has a small effect. Notably, combinations of non-charged amides and catechols can achieve similar cooperative effects on adhesion when compared to amine and catechol residues. Thus, these findings provide a blueprint for the design of next generation mussel-inspired adhesives.

The catechol driven adhesion of precision macromolecules on glass surfaces is quantified by soft colloidal probe readout. Catechol moieties are shown to synergize with amine and amide residues depending on residue spacing and residue order.     

Ruthenium carbene complexes with N,N'-bis(mesityl)imidazol-2-ylidene ligands: RCM catalysts of extended scope

The ruthenium carbene complexes 3a,b bearing imidazol-2-ylidene ligands constitute excellent precatalysts for ring-closing metathesis (RCM) reactions allowing the formation of tri- and tetrasubstituted cycloalkenes. They also apply to annulations that are beyond the scope of the standard Grubbs carbene 1 as well as to ring-closing reactions of acrylic acid derivatives even if the resulting alpha,beta-unsaturated lactones (or lactams) are tri- or tetrasubstituted. The reactivity of 3a was found to be highly dependent on the reaction medium: particularly high reaction rates are observed in toluene, although this solvent also leads to an increased tendency of the catalyst to isomerize the double bonds of the substrates.     

Finite element investigation of the ground states of the helium trimers 4He3 and 4He2–3He

A three‐dimensional finite element method is applied to the ground states of the symmetric and asymmetric atomic helium trimers ⁴He₃ and ⁴He₂–³He. Three different He–He interaction potentials of hard‐core nature were studied. Two extrapolation procedures based on the convergence properties of the finite element method are investigated. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2007     

Sign of nuclear electric quadrupole coupling constants in solids fromγ-ray anisotropy measurements after capture of polarized neutrons

An experimental method is presented which allows the determination of the sign of nuclear electric quadrupole interactions in solids. Activated target nuclei with a purely dipolar spin polarization are produced by capture of polarized thermal neutrons. The quadrupole coupling of the nuclei to the electric field gradient tensor in the target crystal converts this (dipolar) polarization partly into a (quadrupolar) alignment, which can be measured by the anisotropy of the-ray emission in a succeeding nuclear transition. The sign of the alignment created in this reorientation process depends on the sign of the electric quadrupole interaction. The reorientation effect can be enhanced by selective induction of nuclear magnetic resonance transitions. The method has been applied to measure the sign of the crystal electric field gradient (efg) in tetragonal MgF₂. Further, the sign of an efg in cubic CaF₂ originating from a¹⁹F interstitial adjacent to the activated²⁰F probe nucleus has been determined. The method is in principle applicable to a considerable number of nuclides.     

Tuning Ruthenium Carbene Complexes for Selective P−H Activation through Metal-Ligand Cooperation

The use of iminophosphoryl-tethered ruthenium carbene complexes to activate secondary phosphine P−H bonds is reported. Complexes of type [(p-cymene)-RuC(SO₂Ph)(PPh₂NR)] (with R = SiMe₃ or 4-C₆H₄−NO₂) were found to exhibit different reactivities depending on the electronics of the applied phosphine and the substituent at the iminophosphoryl moiety. Hence, the electron-rich silyl-substituted complex undergoes cyclometallation or shift of the imine moiety after cooperative activation of the P−H bond across the M=C linkage, depending on the electronics of the applied phosphine. Deuteration experiments and computational studies proved that cyclometallation is initiated by the activation process at the M=C bond and triggered by the high electron density at the metal in the phosphido intermediates. Consistently, replacement of the trimethylsilyl (TMS) group by the electron-withdrawing 4-nitrophenyl substituent allowed the selective cooperative P−H activation to form stable activation products.