Pd‐initiated polymerization of diazo compounds bearing dialkoxyphosphinyl group and hydrolysis of the resulting polymers and oligomers to afford phosphonic acid‐containing products

Pd‐initiated polymerization and oligomerization of diazo compounds containing a dialkoxyphosphinyl group are described. Polymerization of 2‐dialkoxyphosphinylethyl diazoacetates with π‐allylPdCl‐based initiating systems afforded C? C main chain polymers bearing phosphonate on each main chain carbon atom. The quantitative transformation of the side chain phosphonate to phosphonic acid resulted in the formation of water soluble polymers having the acid groups accumulated around their main chains, although the carbonyl ester linkage in the side chain was cleaved via intramolecular acid‐assisted hydrolysis in water at 80 °C. Pd‐initiated oligomerization of diethyl diazomethylphosphonate yielded an oligomeric product bearing diethoxyphosphiny groups directly attached to its main chain carbons, with unexpected incorporation of azo group in the main chain framework. Hydrolysis of the phosphonate of the oligomer afforded a water‐soluble product, which was revealed to show higher proton conductivity than poly(vinylphosphonic acid) under certain conditions. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2016 , 54, 1742–1751     

Proton Order–Disorder Phenomena in a Hydrogen‐Bonded Rhodium–η5‐Semiquinone Complex: A Possible Dielectric Response Mechanism

A newly synthesized one‐dimensional (1D) hydrogen‐bonded (H‐bonded) rhodium(II)–η⁵‐semiquinone complex, [Cp*Rh(η⁵‐p‐HSQ‐Me₄)]PF₆ ([ 1 ]PF₆; Cp*=1,2,3,4,5‐pentamethylcyclopentadienyl; HSQ=semiquinone) exhibits a paraelectric–antiferroelectric second‐order phase transition at 237.1 K. Neutron and X‐ray crystal structure analyses reveal that the H‐bonded proton is disordered over two sites in the room‐temperature (RT) phase. The phase transition would arise from this proton disorder together with rotation or libration of the Cp* ring and PF₆^? ion. The relative permittivity ε_b′ along the H‐bonded chains reaches relatively high values (ca., 130) in the RT phase. The temperature dependence of ¹³C CP/MAS NMR spectra demonstrates that the proton is dynamically disordered in the RT phase and that the proton exchange has already occurred in the low‐temperature (LT) phase. Rate constants for the proton exchange are estimated to be 10^?4–10^?6 s in the temperature range of 240–270 K. DFT calculations predict that the protonation/deprotonation of [ 1 ]⁺ leads to interesting hapticity changes of the semiquinone ligand accompanied by reduction/oxidation by the π‐bonded rhodium fragment, producing the stable η⁶‐hydroquinone complex, [Cp*Rh³⁺(η⁶‐p‐H₂Q‐Me₄)]²⁺ ([ 2 ]²⁺), and η⁴‐benzoquinone complex, [Cp*Rh⁺(η⁴‐p‐BQ‐Me₄)] ([ 3 ]), respectively. Possible mechanisms leading to the dielectric response are discussed on the basis of the migration of the protonic solitons comprising of [ 2 ]²⁺ and [ 3 ], which would be generated in the H‐bonded chain.     

Dual Chemical Modification of a Polytheonamide Mimic: Rational Design and Synthesis of Ion‐Channel‐Forming 48‐mer Peptides with Potent Cytotoxicity

Polytheonamide B ( 1 ) is a natural peptide that displays potent cytotoxicity against P388 mouse leukemia cells (IC₅₀=0.098 nm ). Linear 48‐mer 1 is known to form monovalent cation channels on binding to lipid bilayers. We previously developed a fully synthetic route to 1 , and then achieved the design and synthesis of a structurally simplified analogue of 1 , namely, dansylated polytheonamide mimic 2 . Although the synthetically more accessible 2 was found to emulate the channel function of 1 , its cytotoxicity was decreased 120‐fold. Herein, the chemical preparation and biological evaluation of seven analogues 3 – 9 of 2 are reported. Compounds 3 – 9 were modified at their N terminus and/or the side chain of residue 44 of 2 to alter their physicochemical properties. The total synthesis of 3 – 9 was accomplished in a unified fashion by a combination of solid‐phase and solution‐phase chemistry. Systematic evaluation of the hydrophobicities, single‐channel currents, ion‐exchange activities, and cytotoxicities of 3 – 9 revealed that their hydrophobicities are correlated with the total magnitude of ion exchange and determine their cytotoxic potency. Consequently, the most hydrophobic analogue 9 exhibited the lowest IC₅₀ value, which is comparable to that of 1 . Therefore, these results clarified that the bioactivity of the polytheonamide‐based peptides can be rationally controlled by changing their hydrophobicity at the N and C termini of the 48‐amino‐acid sequence.     

Synthesis of Selectively gem-Difluorinated Molecules; Chiral gem-Difluorocyclopropanes via Chemo-Enzymatic Reaction and gem-Difluorinated Compounds via Radical Reaction

The incorporation of fluorine atoms into an organic compound can alter the chemical reactivity or biological activity of the resulting compound due to the strong electron withdrawing nature of the fluorine atom. We have synthesized many original gem-difluorinated compounds and described the results in four sections. The first section describes the synthesis of optically active-gem-difluorocyclopropanes via the chemo-enzymatic reaction; we applied these compounds to liquid crystalline molecules, then further discovered a potent DNA cleavage activity for the gem-difluorocyclopropane derivatives. The second section describes the synthesis of selectively gem-difluorinated compounds via a radical reaction; we synthesized fluorinated analogues of a sex pheromone of the male African sugarcane borer, Eldana saccharina, and used the compounds as proof for investigating the origin of pheromone molecule recognition on the receptor protein. The third involves the synthesis of 2,2-difluorinated-esters by visible light-driven radical addition of 2,2-difluoroacetate with alkenes or alkynes in the presence of an organic pigment. The last section describes the synthesis of gem-difluorinated compounds via the ring-opening of gem-difluorocyclopropanes. We further developed a novel method of synthesizing gem-difluorohomoallylic alcohols via the ring-opening of gem-difluorocyclopropane and aerobic oxidation by photo-irradiation in the presence of an organic pigment. Since gem-difluorinated compounds that were prepared by the present method have two olefinic moieties with a different reactivity at the terminal position, we accomplished the synthesis of four types of gem-difluorinated cyclic alkenols via the ring-closing-metathesis (RCM) reaction.     

Synthesis of Disaccharide Nucleosides by the O‐Glycosylation of Natural Nucleosides with Thioglycoside Donors

Disaccharide nucleosides constitute an important group of naturally‐occurring sugar derivatives. In this study, we report on the synthesis of disaccharide nucleosides by the direct O‐glycosylation of nucleoside acceptors, such as adenosine, guanosine, thymidine, and cytidine, with glycosyl donors. Among the glycosyl donors tested, thioglycosides were found to give the corresponding disaccharide nucleosides in moderate to high chemical yields with the above nucleoside acceptors using p‐toluenesulfenyl chloride (TolSCl) and silver triflate (AgOTf) as promoters. The interaction of these promoters with nucleoside acceptors was examined by ¹H NMR spectroscopic experiments.     

18O/16O-Encoding Strategy for Microscale Stereochemical Determination of Peptidic Natural Products

The demand for more efficient methods of establishing the undetermined stereochemistries of peptidic natural products continues unabated. A new method for microscale stereochemical determination was devised by integrating solid-phase synthesis, split-and-mix randomization, ¹⁸O/¹⁶O-encoding of d /l -configurations, tandem mass spectrometry, and biological evaluation. Here we applied gramicidin A as the molecule for a blind test. Gramicidin A and its 31 diastereomers were randomly prepared in microgram scale with ¹⁸O/¹⁶O-stereochemical encoding and subjected to MS/MS-structural determination and cytotoxicity assay. Only the parent gramicidin A was selected from among the 32 stereoisomers, validating the high reliability of the present strategy.     

Proton Conduction at High Temperature in High-Symmetry Hydrogen-Bonded Molecular Crystals of RuIII Complexes with Six Imidazole-Imidazolate Ligands

A new H-bonded crystal [Ru^III(Him)₃(Im)₃] with three imidazole (Him) and three imidazolate (Im⁻) groups was prepared to obtain a higher-temperature proton conductor than a Nafion membrane with water driving. The crystal is constructed by complementary N−H⋅⋅⋅N H-bonds between the Ru^III complexes and has a rare Icy-c* cubic network topology with a twofold interpenetration without crystal anisotropy. The crystals show a proton conductivity of 3.08×10⁻⁵ S cm⁻¹ at 450 K and a faster conductivity than those formed by only HIms. The high proton conductivity is attributed to not only molecular rotations and hopping motions of HIm frameworks that are activated at ∼113 K, but also isotropic whole-molecule rotation of [Ru^III(Him)₃(Im)₃] at temperatures greater than 420 K. The latter rotation was confirmed by solid-state ²H NMR spectroscopy; probable proton conduction routes were predicted and theoretically considered.     

Cholesteric induction power of β-galactose derivatives

Galactose derivatives were explored as chiral dopants, effective for inducing chiral nematic liquid crystal (LC) phases. Galactose bearing O-isopropylidene substituents at the C3 and C4 and butoxybiphenyl substituents at the C2 and C6 positions exhibits a high helical twisting power (HTP) value of ?74.4 μm^?1. Such a high HTP value for the galactose derivative is attributed to (1) linkage of the C3 and C4 carbons with the O-isopropylidene substituent, which places the C2 and C6 substitutes in a skew arrangement at a large angle and (2) enhancement of the affinity with the host nematic LCs by incorporating aromatic substituents at the C2 and C6 positions that are similar to those in the host.     

Color centers in irradiated MgF2

Abstract

Color centers in rutile-structured MgF₂ single crystals irradiated at 20K/360K by reactor neutrons are investigated spectroscopically at LNT. Four different types of the F-F vacancy bond in MgF₂ are possibly identified to the observed absorption bands as due to the F₂ centers; instead of previous assignments, the 300nm band to the F₂(D_2h), the 325nm band to the F₂(C₁), the 355nm band to the F₂(C_2v), and the 400nm band to the F₂(C_2h) centers.     

Efficient biocatalysis for the production of enantiopure (S)-epoxides using a styrene monooxygenase (SMO) and Leifsonia alcohol dehydrogenase (LSADH) system

Herein we report the production of enantiopure epoxides through biocatalysis using recombinant Escherichia coli cells expressing Rhodococcus sp. ST-10 styrene monooxygenase (SMO) and Leifsonia sp. S749 alcohol dehydrogenase (LSADH) genes are described. Rhodococcus sp. ST-10 SMO catalyzed the epoxidation of various alkenes, including styrene derivatives, vinyl pyridines, and linear alkenes, to give (S)-epoxides. NADH was regenerated by the reduction of NAD⁺ by LSADH with 2-propanol. The E. coli biocatalyst was used in an aqueous/organic biphasic reaction system and the reaction conditions were optimized. Under the optimized conditions, 170 mM of (S)-styrene oxide was obtained from styrene in the organic phase with excellent enantiomeric excess (99.8%). This biocatalytic process was used to synthesize various (S)-epoxides.