Reversible Activation of Water by an Air- and Moisture-Stable Frustrated Rhodium Nitrogen Lewis Pair

[Cp*Rh(κ³N,N′,P- L )][SbF₆] (Cp*=C₅Me₅), bearing a guanidine-derived phosphano ligand L , behaves as a “dormant” frustrated Lewis pair and activates H₂ and H₂O in a reversible manner. When D₂O is employed, a facile H/D exchange at the Cp* ring takes place through sequential C(sp³)−H bond activation.     

Introducing the Petasis Reaction for Late‐Stage Multicomponent Diversification,Labeling, and Stapling of Peptides

For the first time, the Petasis (borono‐Mannich) reaction is employed for the multicomponent labeling and stapling of peptides. The report includes the solid‐phase derivatization of peptides at the N‐terminus, Lys, and N^?‐MeLys side‐chains by an on‐resin Petasis reaction with variation of the carbonyl and boronic acid components. Peptides were simultaneously functionalized with aryl/vinyl substituents bearing fluorescent/affinity tags and oxo components such as dihydroxyacetone, glyceraldehyde, glyoxylic acid, and aldoses, thus encompassing a powerful complexity‐generating approach without changing the charge of the peptides. The multicomponent stapling was conducted in solution by linking N^?‐MeLys or Orn side‐chains, positioned at i, i+7 and i, i+4, with aryl tethers, while hydroxy carbonyl moieties were introduced as exocyclic fragments. The good efficiency and diversity oriented character of these methods show prospects for peptide drug discovery and chemical biology.     

Soft hydrogen bonds to alkenes: the methanol–ethene prototype under experimental and theoretical scrutiny

An FTIR spectroscopic study of the elusive hydrogen-bonded methanol–ethene complex, the most elementary example for weak intermolecular alcohol hydrogen bonding to a π cloud, is presented. By isolating the complex in a supersonic jet, the rigorous comparability to high-level quantum chemical calculations is ensured. In stark contrast to classical hydrogen bonds, experimental overtone analysis reveals the harmonic oscillator approximation for the OH red shift to be accurate. Harmonic calculations up to explicitly correlated local coupled-cluster level are thus found to agree very well with experiment. The experimental OH values for the red shift (45 cm^–1), the small change in diagonal anharmonicity (–3 cm^–1) and the overtone intensity attenuation (2 × 10²-fold) together with theoretical predictions for the preferred structural arrangement and the zero-point-corrected dissociation energy (8 kJ mol^–1) may thus be regarded as definitive reference values for related systems and for more approximate computational methods. In particular, MP2 calculations are shown to fail for this kind of weak intermolecular interaction.     

Fluorinated Musk Fragrances: The CF2 Group as a Conformational Bias Influencing the Odour of Civetone and (R)‐Muscone

The difluoromethylene (CF₂) group has a strong tendency to adopt corner over edge locations in aliphatic macrocycles. In this study, the CF₂ group has been introduced into musk relevant macrocyclic ketones. Nine civetone and five muscone analogues have been prepared by synthesis for structure and odour comparisons. X‐ray studies indeed show that the CF₂ groups influence ring structure and they give some insight into the preferred ring conformations, triggering a musk odour as determined in a professional perfumery environment. The historical conformational model of Bersuker and co‐workers for musk fragrance generally holds, and structures that become distorted from this consensus, by the particular placement of the CF₂ groups, lose their musk fragrance and become less pleasant.