General strategy for a short and efficient synthesis of 3-hydroxy-4-methylprolines (HMP)

The non-proteinogenic amino acid 3-hydroxy-4-methylproline (HMP) is an active constituent of some potent antimicrobials including echinocandins, nostopeptins, pneumocandins, sporiofungin and mulundocandins. A synthesis has been achieved in 10 steps with 29% overall yield; the Evans’ aldol reaction using Crimmins’ modified method was pivotal to the success of the strategy.     

Tevatron: Recent results and prospects at the upgrade

In this article, we review some of the recent results from CDF and DØ experiments at the Tevatron and their prospects at the upgrade. Among the topics discussed are top quark physics, electroweak physics, qcd physics and new physics beyond standard model.     

Use of a chiral surfactant for enantioselective reduction of a ketone

The influence of a chiral surfactant and a polymer-supported chiral additive on reduction of ketones using sodium borohydride will be described. Initial preparations involved methylation of (S)-leucinol to give (2S)-N , N-dimethyl-2-amino-4-methyl-1-pentanol (1) (67%). The chiral surfactant (2) was synthesized by reacting (1) with bromohexadecane (71%). The functionalized styrene for the polymer-supported chiral additive (5) was synthesized by reacting (1) with 4-vinylbenzyl chloride. Polymerization was carried out with 10% of the functionalized monomer (4), 5% cross-linking agent divinylbenzene, and 85% styrene with AIBN as the initiator. The activity of the chiral surfactant and polymeric additive were examined by using them as additives in a standard reduction of 2-pentanone with sodium borohydride to yield (R)- and (S)-2-pentanol (3) (20%). The resulting alcohol was analyzed by polarimetry (ee 9.5%) and also esterified with (2S)-methylbutyric acid prior to characterization by NMR. 13C NMR indicated an enantiomeric excess of 5.2% when the chiral surfactant was used, and 7% when the polymeric additive was used.     

Mapping the Geometry of Metal Three‐Coordination Using Crystal Structure Data: Reaction Pathway for Ligand Addition to Linear HgII Species

Symmetry‐modified principal‐component analysis has been used to visualise the geometrical distortions of three‐coordinate metal centres observed in crystal structures retrieved from the Cambridge Structural Database. It is shown that compounds of Cu, Ag, Hg, Zn, and Au dominate the dataset, and exhibit distortions away from the trigonal planar archetype towards a) T‐shaped and b) Y‐shaped geometries. A small number of compounds, principally of Cu and Ag, also show distortions towards trigonal pyramidal geometries. The interconversions from Y‐shaped geometries, through the trigonal planar form to T‐shaped geometries are clearly mapped by the PC analysis. For Hg^II complexes, it is possible to interpret the transition from T‐shaped geometries to the trigonal planar form in terms of a reaction pathway for ligand addition to linear L₁? Hg^II? L₂ species.     

Synthesis of cyclopentane building blocks via an intramolecular CH insertion reaction of a chiral pool derived α-diazo-γ-hydroxy-β-ketosulfone

A highly functionalized cyclopentanone building block 13 was prepared by a facile Rh-catalyzed intramolecular CH insertion reaction of an enantiopure α-diazo-γ-hydroxy-β-ketosulfone 12, in turn derived from an α-hydroxy acid 2. A cyclic γ-hydroxy vinyl sulfone 16 was also prepared from 13.     

Carbene-catalyzed enantioselective annulation of dinucleophilic hydrazones and bromoenals for access to aryl-dihydropyridazinones and related drugs

4,5-Dihydropyridazinones bearing an aryl substituent at the C6-position are important motifs in drug molecules. Herein, we developed an efficient protocol to access aryl-dihydropyridazinone molecules via carbene-catalyzed asymmetric annulation between dinucleophilic arylidene hydrazones and bromoenals. Key steps in this reaction include polarity-inversion of aryl aldehyde-derived hydrazones followed by chemo-selective reaction with enal-derived α,β-unsaturated acyl azolium intermediates. The aryl-dihydropyridazinone products accessed by our protocol can be readily transformed into drugs and bioactive molecules.

Polarity inversion of arylidene hydrazones to react with bromoenals via carbene organic catalysis is disclosed. The reaction enantioselectively affords 6-aryl-4,5-dihydropyridazinones and related drugs with proven commercial applications.     

Polyhydroxy pregnanes from Dregea volubilis

Three new polyhydroxy pregnanes named dregealol (1), volubilogenone (2) and volubilol (3) were isolated from the flowers of Dregea volubilis, and their structures elucidated from extensive 2D NMR analysis. The structure of volubilol (3) was confirmed by X-ray crystallographic studies. The known pregnane derivatives drevogenin D, iso-drevogenin P and 17α-marsdenin were also isolated.     

Luminescence of Ce3+ in Y2SiO5 nanocrystals: Role of crystal structure and crystal size

Here, we report the role of crystal structure and crystal size on the photoluminescence properties of Ce3+ ions in Y2SiO5 nanocrystals. The emission at 430 nm (5d1 --> 4f1) and lifetime of the excited state of Ce3+ ion doped Y2SiO5 nanocrystals are found to be sensitive to the crystal structure, crystal size, and dopant concentration. It is found that the overall lifetime tau of 0.5 mol % Ce doped Y2SiO5 nanocrystals are 8.78 and 3.45 ns for 1000 and 1100 degrees C heat-treated samples with the same crystal structure (X1-Y2SiO5 phase), respectively. However, a significant increase in the overall lifetime (35.21 ns) is observed for the 1300 degrees C annealed 0.5 mol % Ce doped Y2SiO5 sample having a different crystal structure (X2-Y2SiO5 phase). We found that the decay kinetic is biexponential. It is explained that the fast component arises due to sequential hole-electron capture on the luminescent ions and the slow component arises from isolated ions. Our analysis suggests that modifications of radiative and nonraditive relaxation mechanisms are due to local symmetry structure of the host lattice and crystal size, respectively.     

A novel synthesis of vinyl esters from vinylversatate-10

Vinylversatate-10 (VV10)¹ has successfully been used to synthesise a large number of lower vinyl esters by transvinylation in presence of mercuric acetate and sulfuric acid. The synthesis of vinylhalo esters proceeds with more difficulty. It has been observed that neither Hg(OAc)₂ nor H₂SO₄ alone is capable of initiating the transvinylation. Furthermore, it has been found that a molar ratio 2:1 of VV10 to carboxylic acid is sufficient to drive the reaction to the right by continuous distillation of the vinyl ester formed, and as a result a high yield of vinyl ester is obtained. A mechanism for this reaction and for the formation of side products has been proposed.     

Metal complexes of sulphur-nitrogen chelating agents. Part 14. Nickel(II), palladium(II), copper(II), cobalt(II), and cobalt(III) complexes of the tetradentate schiff bases having ONNS donor sites

Summary Complexes of nickel(II), palladium(II), copper(II), cobalt(II), and cobalt(III) with methyl-2-(-salicylaldiminoethyl)-cyclopent-1-en-dithiocarboxylate (H₂L¹) and methyl-2-(-salicylaldiminoisopropyl)cyclopent-1-en-dithiocarboxylate (H₂L²) have been prepared. They contain the donor sites ONNS. The metal(II) ions from neutral, monomeric square planar chelate complexes. The cobalt(III) complexes [CoL¹-(H₂O)₂]X (X=Cl or ClO₄) appear to betrans-diaqua-species. All compounds have been characterized by a number of physico-chemical methods.