Stereospecific solid-state NaBH4-promoted reduction of 1-methylpentacyclo[5.4.0.02,6.03,10.05,9]undecane-8,11-dione

NaBH₄ reduction of a cage dione proceeds in a stereospecific fashion to give theendo,endo-diol. This reactivity is related to the crystal structure.     

Uniqueness and continuous dependence on the initial data for a class of non-linear shallow shell problems

This note is concerned with the non-linear shallow shell model introduced in 1966 by W.T. Koiter, and later studied by M. Bernadou and J.T. Oden. We show the uniqueness of the solution to the dynamical model and that this solution is continuous with respect to the initial data. To cite this article: J. Cagnol et al., C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 342 (2006).     

Unprecedented hour-long residence time of a cation in a left-handed G-quadruplex

Cations are critical for the folding and assembly of nucleic acids. In G-quadruplex structures, cations can bind between stacked G-tetrads and coordinate with negatively charged guanine carbonyl oxygens. They usually exchange between binding sites and with the bulk in solution with time constants ranging from sub-millisecond to seconds. Here we report the first observation of extremely long-lived K⁺ and NH₄⁺ ions, with an exchange time constant on the order of an hour, when coordinated at the center of a left-handed G-quadruplex DNA. A single-base mutation, that switched one half of the structure from left- to right-handed conformation resulting in a right–left hybrid G-quadruplex, was shown to remove this long-lived behaviour of the central cation.

An extremely long-lived cation has been detected in left-handed G-quadruplexes.     

Phosphides with Zr2Fe12P7-type structure

Twenty-six ternary phosphides Ln₂T₁₂P₇ (Ln = lanthanoid, T = Fe, Co, Ni) were prepared for the first time by reaction of the elemental components in liquid tin or by reaction of the components in evacuated silica tubes. The analysis of their powder patterns indicates their isotypism with Zr₂Fe₁₂P₇. Their lattice constants are reported. Gd₂Ni₁₂As₇ also crystallizes with that structure.     

Thioacylation reactions for the surface functionalization of phosphorus-containing dendrimers

The functionalization of phosphorus-containing dendrimers was easily achieved through thioacylation reactions involving new dendrimers capped with dithioester end groups and various functionalized amines. These reactions were successfully applied to the first generation (12 end groups) and the third generation of the dendrimer (48 end groups) and allowed their functionalization by various primary or secondary amines, alcohols, glycols, and azides. [reaction: see text]     

Mise en evidence de la formation de R2MMR2 a partir de disila-1,2 et digerma-1,2 cyclohexenes-4

Intermediates with π-bonded Si or Ge are generated during gas phase pyrolysis of 1,2-disila- or 1,2-digerma-cyclohex-4-enes.Compounds such as R₂MMR₂ are successfully trapped by addition or [2 + 2] and [4 + 2] cycloadditions. These results were proved by mass spectrometry.