Porosity Imaging in Porous Media Using Synchrotron Tomographic Techniques

This paper describes novel uses of synchrotron radiation in examining porosity distributions within porous media. Tomographic energy dispersive diffraction imaging and Tomographic X-ray fluorescence have been combined within one measurement method and used to highlight the porosity distribution in a typical sample of English Chalk.     

Diastereocontrol in open-chain nucleophilic attack on a double bond adjacent to a stereogenic centre carrying a silyl group

The bis[dimethyl(phenyl)silyl]cuprate reagent introduces a silyl group to the beta-position of three alpha,beta-unsaturated esters: methyl Z-4-dimethyl(phenyl)silylpent-2-enoate 11, and methyl Z- and E-(1'-dimethylphenylsilylbenzyl)but-2-enoates 14 and 15, diastereoselectively in the unexpected sense, syn to the silyl group in the conformation in which the hydrogen atom is 'inside'. The selectivity is low (58:42) in the first case 11, where the nucleophilic attack is adjacent to the stereogenic centre carrying the silyl group, and moderate (72:28) for both Z- and E-alpha,beta-unsaturated esters 14 and 15, where the nucleophilic attack is at the other end of the double bond from the stereogenic centre. It is conceivable that nucleophilic attack actually takes place in a conformation in which the donor substituent, the silicon-carbon bond, is out of conjugation with the double bond.     

Achieving conformational control over C-C, C-N and C-O bonds in biaryls, N,N'-diarylureas and diaryl ethers: advantages of a relay axis

The orientation of Ar-C, Ar-N and Ar-O bonds in biaryls, N,N'-diarylureas and diaryl ethers (whose conformers are distinguishable by NMR) may be controlled with a selectivity up to >95 : 5 by an adjacent stereogenic centre; the selectivity may be greater when a second stereogenic axis is inserted between the controlling centre and the slowly rotating bond.     

Kinetic and thermodynamic stereocontrol in the atroposelective formation of sulfoxides by oxidation of 2-sulfanyl-1-naphthamides

Atropisomeric aromatic amides bearing 2-sulfanyl groups are oxidised by m-CPBA to the corresponding sulfoxides apparently with very high diastereoselectivity. NMR studies and oxidations of chiral benzamides however indicate that the kinetic selectivity of the oxidation is in fact relatively poor, and that the final diastereoisomeric ratio (typically >99:1) is under thermodynamic control, with relatively unhindered Ar-CO rotation readily converting the less stable to the more stable product diastereoisomer. Molecular mechanics indicates that the thermodynamic diastereoselectivity results principally from electrostatic repulsion between the C=O and S-O dipoles.     

Conformational preference in aromatic amides bearing chiral ortho substituents: its origin and application to relayed stereocontrol

Tertiary aromatic amides bearing stereogenic centres ortho to the amide group may adopt two diastereoisomeric conformations which interconvert slowly on the NMR timescale at ambient temperature, and are therefore detectable by NMR. Certain classes of stereogenic centre--particularly sulfoxides, ephedrine-derived oxazolidines, and proline-derived imidazolidines--strongly bias the population of the two conformers. We propose a model, supported by molecular mechanics calculations, which rationalises the sense and magnitude of the conformational selectivity attained in terms of the steric and electronic properties of the controlling centre. The control over conformation may be exploited either by trapping the favoured conformer as an atropisomer, or by using it to relay information about the stereochemistry of the controlling centre.     

The Ireland-Claisen rearrangement as a probe for the diastereoselectivity of nucleophilic attack on a double bond adjacent to a stereogenic centre carrying a silyl group

The E- and Z-silyl enol ethers 4 derived from allyl 3-R-3-dimethyl(phenyl)silylpropanoate (R = Me, Pr(i) and Ph) and the Z-silyl enol ethers 7 derived from 4-R-4-dimethyl(phenyl)silylbut-2-enyl acetate (R = Me and Pr(i)) undergo Ireland-Claisen rearrangements largely in the same stereochemical sense, with C-C bond formation taking place anti to the silyl group in the conformations 22, 23 and 24 in which the hydrogen atom on the stereogenic centre is inside, more or less eclipsing the double bond. The E-silyl enol ether E-7a derived from 4-methyl-4-dimethyl(phenyl)silylbut-2-enyl acetate shows low diastereoselectivity in the alternative sense, probably because C-C bond formation takes place anti to the silyl group in the conformation 26 with the methyl group inside, but the silyl enol ether E-7b derived from 4-isopropyl-4-dimethyl(phenyl)silylbut-2-enyl acetate shows low diastereoselectivity in the normal sense. The E- and Z-silyl enol ethers 33 derived from cis-crotyl 3-phenyl-3-dimethyl(phenyl)silylpropanoate and the E-silyl enol ether 39 derived from trans-crotyl 3-phenyl-3-dimethyl(phenyl)silylpropanoate undergo Ireland-Claisen rearrangements largely in the same stereochemical sense as their allyl counterparts, but with moderately high levels of diastereocontrol in setting up the third stereogenic centre following from chair-like transition structures.     

Baseline isotopic data of polyhalogenated compounds

The δ²H- and δ¹³C-values of polyhalogenated compounds were determined by EA-IRMS. Most of the compounds were related to the chloropesticides DDT and its metabolites, hexachlorocyclohexanes, and toxaphene, as well as several polybrominated compounds such as bromophenols and -anisoles. δ²H-values ranged between −235‰ and +75‰ whereas δ¹³C-values were found in the range −22‰ to −38‰. No correlation between δ²H- and δ¹³C-values could be identified. Comparative analysis clarified that bromophenols and the corresponding bromoanisoles may vary in their isotopic distribution. ²H NMR was used to quantify abundances of ²H isotopomers. Quantification of isotopomers of 2,4-dibromophenol and 2,4-dibromoanisole proved that both compounds from different suppliers do not originate from the same source. Differences in the δ²H-values of two toxaphene products were further investigated by the synthesis of products of different degree of chlorination from camphene. It was shown that the δ¹³C-values remained mostly unaltered as was expected since no carbon is lost in this procedure. However, the reaction products became enriched in ²H with increasing degree of chlorination. Different δ²H-values of the starting material will also impact the δ²H-values of the chlorination products.