PtII-Catalyzed Hydroxylation of Terminal Aliphatic C(sp3)−H Bonds with Molecular Oxygen

The practical application of Shilov-type Pt catalysis to the selective hydroxylation of terminal aliphatic C−H bonds remains a formidable challenge, due to difficulties in replacing Pt^IV with a more economically viable oxidant, particularly O₂. We report the potential of employing FeCl₂ as a suitable redox mediator to overcome the kinetic hurdles related to the direct use of O₂ in the Pt reoxidation. For the selective conversion of butyric acid to γ-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), a significantly enhanced catalyst activity and stability (turnover numbers (TON)>30) were achieved under 20 bar O₂ in comparison to current state-of-the-art systems (TON<10). In this regard, essential reaction parameters affecting the overall activity were identified, along with specific additives to attain catalyst stability at longer reaction times. Notably, deactivation by reduction to Pt⁰ was prevented by the addition of monodentate pyridine derivatives, such as 2-fluoropyridine, but also by introducing varying partial pressures of N₂ in the gaseous atmosphere. Finally, stability tests revealed the involvement of Pt^II and FeCl₂ in catalyzing the non-selective overoxidation of GHB. Accordingly, in situ esterification with boric acid proved to be a suitable strategy to maintain enhanced selectivities at much higher conversions (TON>60). Altogether, a useful catalytic system for the selective hydroxylation of primary aliphatic C−H bonds with O₂ is presented.     

Improved customer choice predictions using ensemble methods

In this paper various ensemble learning methods from machine learning and statistics are considered and applied to the customer choice modeling problem. The application of ensemble learning usually improves the prediction quality of flexible models like decision trees and thus leads to improved predictions. We give experimental results for two real-life marketing datasets using decision trees, ensemble versions of decision trees and the logistic regression model, which is a standard approach for this problem. The ensemble models are found to improve upon individual decision trees and outperform logistic regression.     

Evaluation of a purge-and-trap injection system for capillary gas chromatography-microwave induced plasma-atomic emission spectrometry for the determination of volatile selenium compounds in water

A method is presented for the selective determination of the volatile selenium species dimethylselenide and dimethyldiselenide, using a commercially available purge-and-trap injection system coupled to capillary gas chromatography-microwave induced plasma-atomic emission spectrometry. The efficiency of the purging step was evaluated and the parameters affecting the purge and trap processes were optimized. The method was applied to the determination of volatile selenium compounds in lake water. Relative detection limits of 2ng/l for dimethylselenide and dimethyldiselenide, corresponding to an absolute detection limit of 10 pg, were achieved.     

Coherent anti-Stokes Raman Scattering Microscopy.

Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy is presented as a new nonlinear optical technique. The combination of vibrational spectroscopy and microscopy allows highly sensitive investigations of unlabelled samples. CARS is an ideal tool for studying a broad variety of samples. The main drawback of the technique is its non-zero-background nature, which implies that the signal has to be detected against a nonresonant background. The need to solve this problem is reflected in the rapid technological developments that have been observed during the last decade. Recent results show that CARS microscopy has the potential to become an important complementary technique that can be used with other well-established microscopic methods. Although it has some limitations, it offers unique access to many problems that cannot be tackled with conventional techniques. For this reason, it can be expected that the impressive growth of the field will continue.     

Development and validation of a glass-silicon microdroplet-based system to measure sulfite concentrations in beverages

Sulfite is often added to beverages as an antioxidant and antimicrobial agent. In fermented beverages, sulfite is also naturally produced by yeast cells. However, sulfite causes adverse health effects in asthmatic patients and accurate measurement of the sulfite concentration is therefore very important. Current sulfite analysis methods are time- and reagent-consuming and often require costly equipment. Here, we present a system allowing sensitive, ultralow-volume sulfite measurements based on a reusable glass-silicon microdroplet platform on which microdroplet generation, addition of enzymes through chemical-induced emulsion destabilization and pillar-induced droplet merging, emulsion restabilization, droplet incubation, and fluorescence measurements are integrated. In a first step, we developed and verified a fluorescence-based enzymatic assay for sulfite by measuring its analytical performance (LOD, LOQ, the dynamic working range, and the influence of salts, colorant, and sugars) and comparing fluorescent microplate readouts of fermentation samples with standard colorimetric measurements using the 5,5′-dithiobis-(2-nitrobenzoic acid) assay of the standard Gallery Plus Beermaster analysis platform. Next, samples were analyzed on the microdroplet platform, which also showed good correlation with the standard colorimetric analysis. Although the presented platform does not allow stable reinjection of droplets due to the presence of a tight array of micropillars at the fluidics entrances to prevent channel clogging by dust, removing the pillars, and integrating miniaturized pumps and optics in a future design would allow to use this platform for high-throughput, automated, and portable screening of microbes, plant, or mammalian cells.

ᅟ

     

Bioorthogonal organic chemistry in living cells: novel strategies for labeling biomolecules

The chemical labeling of biomolecules continues to be an important tool for the study of their function and cellular fate. Attention is increasingly focused on labeling of biomolecules in living cells, since cell lysis introduces many artefacts. In addition, with the advances in biocompatible synthetic organic chemistry, a whole new field of opportunity has opened up, affording high diversity in the nature of the label as well as a choice of ligation reactions. In recent years, several different two-step labeling strategies have emerged. These rely on the introduction of a bioorthogonal attachment site into a biomolecule, then ligation of a reporter molecule to this site using bioorthogonal organic chemistry. This Perspective focuses on these techniques, their implications and future directions.     

On the position of the highest occupied molecular orbital in aqueous solutions of simple ions.

The energies of the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of four simple microsolvated aqua ion clusters (Na+, Ag+, Cl-, CN-) are computed for varying numbers of water molecules. Extrapolating to infinite hydration numbers we find that these energies approach a value of -6 eV. This limiting one-electron energy is within a margin of +/-1 eV independent of the character of the ion and is 4 eV lower compared to the estimate obtained for the HOMO energy of the ions in aqueous solution under periodic boundary conditions. We argue that this discrepancy must the attributed to a shift in the reference of the one-electron potential of the periodic solvent model.     

Interferences in ultratrace speciation of organolead and organotin by gas chromatography with atomic spectrometric detection

Interferences in trace and ultratrace speciation analysis of organotin and organolead compounds in various samples by gas chromatography coupled with atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) and/or microwave induced plasma atomic emission spectrometry (MIP AES) are investigated. Particular attention is given to the effects of matrix co-extractives and reagents impurities introduced during sample preparation. Their influence on the detection limits is discussed in terms of baseline noise level, blank value, formation of artefacts and signal suppression. Loss of column resolution during the analysis of some matrices is observed.     

Methane-to-methanol oxidation by the hydrated iron(IV) oxo species in aqueous solution: a combined DFT and car-parrinello molecular dynamics study

Previously, we have shown that the ferryl ion ([FeIVO]2+) is easily produced from Fenton's reagent (i.e., a mixture of Fe2+ ions and H2O2 in aqueous solution), using DFT and Car-Parrinello MD calculations. To verify that the ferryl ion can indeed act as the active species in oxidation reactions with Fenton's reagent, we study in the present paper the reactivity of the ferryl ion toward an organic substrate, in particular the oxidation of methane to methanol. In the first part of this paper, we perform static DFT calculations on the reaction of CH4 with the [(H2O)5FeIVO]2+ complex in vacuo that show a strong prevalence of the oxygen-rebound mechanism over the methane coordination mechanism. This is in agreement with the static DFT results for methane oxidation by biocatalysts MMO and P450, but not with those for methane oxidation by bare metal-oxo ions, where the methane coordination mechanism prevails. The highest energy barrier in the oxygen-rebound mechanism is only 3 kcal/mol in vacuo, whereas in the methane coordination mechanism the highest barrier is 23 kcal/mol. Overall the oxidation reaction energy is downhill by 47 kcal/mol. We conclude that the ferryl ion can indeed act as the oxidative intermediate in the Fenton oxidation of organic species. In the second part of this paper, we perform a preliminary assessment of solvent effects on the oxidation by the ferryl ion in aqueous solution using the method of constrained (first principles) molecular dynamics. The free energy barrier of the H-abstraction reaction from methane by the ferryl ion (i.e., the first step in the rebound mechanism) in aqueous solution is, with 22 kcal/mol in solution, significantly higher than in vacuo. Given the fact that methane has a relatively strong C-H bond (ca. 10 kcal/mol stronger than the C-H bonds in the more typical Fenton's reagent substrates), we infer that for many organic substrates oxidation with the ferryl ion as an active intermediate may be a perfectly viable route.