Advances in homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis with metal-containing silsesquioxanes

Metal-containing silsesquioxane derivatives provide new catalysts with both homogeneous and heterogeneous applicability. The steric and electronic properties of silsesquioxane silanolate ligands render metal centers more Lewis acidic than conventional alkoxide or siloxide ligands do. This concept has been exploited in newly developed catalysts for alkene metathesis, polymerization, epoxidation, and Diels-Alder reactions of enones. Other applications are envisioned in the near future.     

Lewis acid induced reactions of propargyl trimethyl silane with ω-ethoxy lactams synthesis of γ-allenyl-GABA

Reactions of propargyl trimethyl silane with ω-ethoxy lactams 1a-c under the influence of boron trifluoride etherate afford ω-allenyl lactams 3a-c; 5-allenyl-2-pyrrolidinone is hydrolysed to γ-allenyl-GABA.     

Cumulant functions in optical coherence theory

Cumulant functions are introduced to describe the statistical state of a radiation field. These functions are simply related to the optical coherence functions but have some interesting features. It is shown that if the cumulant functions of all orders greater than some numberN ₀ vanish then they also vanish for all orders greater than 2. Thermal field is the only field having this property. This property holds whether the field is described by a classical stochastic process or by a quantum density operator. Further the particular operator ordering used in defining these cumulant functions for the quantized field affects only the second order cumulant function. To describe the statistical state of a vector field such as partially polarized or unpolarized radiation, one would need to introduce cumulant tensors.     

Intramolecular reactions of acyclic n-acyliminium ions II allyl silanes as nucleophiles

Intramolecular reactions of acyclic N-acyliminium ions with allyl silanes, induced by protic or Lewis acid, lead to 3-vinylpyrrolidines or 3-vinylpiperidines.     

Gas phase activation energy for unimolecular dissociation of biomolecular ions determined by focused RAdiation for gaseous multiphoton ENergy transfer (FRAGMENT)

We present a novel approach for the determination of activation energy for the unimolecular dissociation of a large (>50 atoms) ion, based on measurement of the unimolecular dissociation rate constant as a function of continuous-wave CO(2) laser intensity. Following a short ( approximately 1 s) induction period, CO(2) laser irradiation produces an essentially blackbody internal energy distribution, whose 'temperature' varies inversely with laser intensity. The only currently available method for measuring such activation energies is blackbody infrared radiative dissociation (BIRD). Compared with BIRD, FRAGMENT: (a) eliminates the need to heat the surrounding ion trap and vacuum chamber to each of several temperatures (each requiring hours for temperature equilibration); (b) offers a three-fold wider range of effective blackbody temperature; and (c) extends the range of applications to include initially cold ions (e.g., gas-phase H/D exchange). Our FRAGMENT-determined activation energy for dissociation of protonated bradykinin, 1.2 +/- 0.1 eV, agrees within experimental error to the value, 1.3 +/- 0.1 eV, previously reported by Williams et al. from BIRD experiments. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synthesis and applications of chiral phosphite ligands derived from incompletely condensed silsesquioxane backbones

The synthesis of novel chiral tri- and bidentate phosphites 2, 5, 6 and 8, derived from incompletely condensed silsesquioxane backbones and binaphthol, is described. These compounds can be obtained in good yield and are characterized by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and elemental analyses. The complexation with [Rh(cod)₂]BF₄ has been studied for all bidentate ligands. These nanosized ligands have been applied in the rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric hydroformylation of vinyl acetate and in the rhodium-catalyzed hydrogenation of methyl-(Z)-2-acetamidocinnamate.