ChemInform Abstract: How Strong Is the GalliumGallium Triple Bond? Theoretical Compliance Matrices as a Probe for Intrinsic Bond Strengths.

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The Coordination of NiII and CuII Ions to the Polyhistidyl Motif of Hpn Protein: Is It as Strong as We Think?

Hpn, one of Helicobacter pylori′s nickel‐accessory proteins, is an amazingly peculiar protein: Almost half of its sequence consists of polyhistidyl (poly‐His) residues. Herein, we try to understand the origin of this naturally occurring sequence, thereby shedding some light on the bioinorganic chemistry of Hpn′s numerous poly‐His repeats. By using potentiometric, mass spectrometric, and various spectroscopic techniques, we studied the Ni^II‐ and Cu^II complexes of the wild‐type Ac‐THHHHYHGG‐NH₂ fragment of Hpn and of its six analogues, in which consecutive residues (His or Tyr) were replaced by Ala (Ala‐substitution or Ala‐scan approaches), thereby resulting in Ac‐TAHHHYHGG‐NH₂, Ac‐THAHHYHGG‐NH₂, Ac‐THHAHYHGG‐NH₂, Ac‐THHHAYHGG‐NH₂, Ac‐THHHHAHGG‐NH₂, and Ac‐THHHHYAGG‐NH₂ peptides. We found that the His4 residue is critical for both Ni^II‐ and Cu^II‐ion binding and the effectiveness of binding varies even if the substituted amino acid does not take part in the direct binding interactions.     

The Coordination of Ni(II) and Cu(II) Ions to the Polyhistidyl Motif of Hpn Protein: Is It as Strong as We Think?

Hpn, one of Helicobacter pylori's nickel-accessory proteins, is an amazingly peculiar protein: Almost half of its sequence consists of polyhistidyl (poly-His) residues. Herein, we try to understand the origin of this naturally occurring sequence, thereby shedding some light on the bioinorganic chemistry of Hpn's numerous poly-His repeats. By using potentiometric, mass spectrometric, and various spectroscopic techniques, we studied the Ni(II) - and Cu(II) complexes of the wild-type Ac-THHHHYHGG-NH(2) fragment of Hpn and of its six analogues, in which consecutive residues (His or Tyr) were replaced by Ala (Ala-substitution or Ala-scan approaches), thereby resulting in Ac-TAHHHYHGG-NH(2) , Ac-THAHHYHGG-NH(2) , Ac-THHAHYHGG-NH(2) , Ac-THHHAYHGG-NH(2) , Ac-THHHHAHGG-NH(2) , and Ac-THHHHYAGG-NH(2) peptides. We found that the His4 residue is critical for both Ni(II) - and Cu(II) -ion binding and the effectiveness of binding varies even if the substituted amino acid does not take part in the direct binding interactions.     

How Many Molecules are Required to Obtain a Steady Faradaic Current from Mediated Electron Transfer at a Single Nanoparticle on a Supporting Surface?

We investigate the chronoamperometric noise characteristics of electron‐transfer reactions occurring on single nanoparticles (NPs) and assemblies of well‐separated NPs on a supporting surface. To this end, we combine a formerly described expression for the steady‐state current of a single particle with the shot‐noise model and derive an expression for the signal‐to‐noise ratio as a function of bulk concentration and particle radius. Our findings are supported by random‐walk simulations, which closely match the analytical results.     

Influence of chlorine and potassium additives on the catalytic properties of reduced Mo?Ni and Cr?Ni complex compounds

Chlorine and potassium are introduced during the preparation of Mo–Ni and Cr–Ni complex compounds by using nickel chloride and potassium molybdate or dichromate as starting materials. The resulting compounds are isomorphous with a series of complexes prepared with nickel nitrate and ammonium heptamolybdate or dichromate, previously described. The influence of the presence of chlorine and of potassium on the properties of the catalysts obtained by reduction of these compounds by hydrogen is investigated. Potassium-containing catalysts show a behavior similar to copper based catalysts.

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Mo–Ni Cr–Ni, . , , . , . , , .

     

Can We Merge the Weak and Strong Tetrel Bonds? Electronic Features of Tetrahedral Molecules Interacted with Halide Anions

Using the orbital-free quantum crystallography approach, we have disclosed the quantitative trends in electronic features for bonds of different strengths formed by tetrel (Tt) atoms in stable molecular complexes consisting of electrically neutral tetrahedral molecules and halide anions. We have revealed the role of the electrostatic and exchange-correlation components of the total one-electron static potential that are determined by the equilibrium atomic structure and by kinetic Pauli potential, which reflects the spin-dependent electron motion features of the weak and strong bonds. The gap between the extreme positions in the electrostatic and total static potentials along the line linking the Tt atom and halide anion is wide for weak bonds and narrow for strong ones. It is in very good agreement with the number of minima in the Pauli potential between the bounded atoms. This gap exponentially correlates with the exchange-correlation potential in various series with a fixed nucleophilic fragment. A criterion for categorizing the noncovalent tetrel bonds (TtB) based on the potential features is suggested.     

Strong interactions between copper halides and unsaturated systems: new metallocycles? Or the importance of deformation

The complexes formed by CuF with CC double and triple bonds have been studied at the MP2 and CCSD(T) computational levels. The interaction of CuF with acetylene, ethylene and their fluoro derivatives is very strong, with interaction energies close to those of conventional covalent bonds. Hence, these complexes could be actually viewed as a new kind of metallocycles, with significantly strong Cu-C linkages. All electronic indexes analyzed by means of the AIM, ELF and NBO formalisms, indicate that the strength of the interaction should increase with the number of fluorine substituents in both series of compounds. Surprisingly, however, although both series of compounds exhibit the same bonding arrangements, they follow opposite stability trends and the expected increase of the interaction energies with the number of fluorine substituents is only observed in the acetylene series. The reason for this unexpected behavior is once more associated with the effects triggered by the distortion of the interacting subunits. Deformation not only has a direct energetic cost but dramatically affects the intrinsic properties of the interacting systems.     

Syntheses and Structures of a New Tetrazylphosphonate Ligand and the Coordination Polymer Based on Zn~(Ⅱ)

A novel tetrazylphosphonate ligand, namely ethyl 4-(2-ethyl-2H-1,2,3,4-tetrazol-5-yl) benzylphosphonate(Et-L), was designed and successfully achieved from p-cyano benzyl chloride, based on which a zinc coordination polymer(1) with a 2D layer structure has been hydrothermally synthesized and structurally characterized by elemental analysis, IR, TGA and X-ray single-crystal diffraction. The colorless block crystals of H_2L·H_2O were also obtained under the same hydrothermal conditions, which belongs to monoclinic system, space group P2_1/c with a = 13.3141(7), b = 5.1650(3), c = 21.9839(18) ?, β = 115.307(5)°, V = 1366.69(15) ?~3, Z = 4, D_c = 1.391 mg/cm~(-3), Mr = 349.58, F(000) = 600, R = 0.0748 and wR = 0.1917 for 2392 observed reflections(I 2σ(I)). The colorless block crystals of complex 1([Zn(L)(H_2O)]_n) also belong to monoclinic system, space group P2_1/c with a = 22.7464(10), b = 6.0430(3), c = 9.7704(4) ?, β = 92.525(4)°, V = 1341.70(10) ?~3, Z = 4, D_c = 1.731 mg/cm_(-3), M_r = 349.58, F(000) = 712, R = 0.0596 and wR = 0.1688 for 2357 observed reflections(I 2σ(I)). Only the oxygen atoms of phosphonic group are coordinated with the metal zinc probably because the hydrogen atom of tetrazole has been substituted by ethyl group. Photoluminescence properties of the complex are also investigated.     

Is there a relationship between protein thermal stability and the denaturation heat capacity change?

It is shown the non-occurrence of a correlation between the values of the denaturation temperature and those of the denaturation heat capacity change for a set of 13 proteins possessing the ‘SH3-type’ fold from both mesophilic and thermophilic microorganisms. This seems to be a rather general result, because, fixed the size and the folding pattern, the denaturation heat capacity change is a nearly constant quantity, within the uncertainty limits of experimental determinations, regardless of the thermal stability of the protein. A precise definition of the thermodynamics of the hydrophobic effect is presented to clarify that the above finding does not imply that the hydrophobic effect does not play a role in the extra-thermal stability of thermophilic and hyperthermophilic proteins.     

How deep is the potential well confining a protein in a specific conformation? A single-molecule study on temperature dependence of conformational change between 5 and 18 K

The fluorescence excitation spectrum of a single chromophore molecule in a photosynthetic pigment-protein complex is known to change in time at liquid helium temperature. The spectral change reflects a conformational change of the protein to which the chromophore binds. This work follows the temporal behavior of the spectrum of a single chromophore in the temperature range between 5 adn 18 K. The temperature dependence reveals two types of conformational change of the protein, i.e., thermally activated motions over a potential barrier of ca. 0.1 kJ/mol and temperature-independent motions of tunneling of a proton.     

An Accurate Barrier for the Hydrogen Exchange Reaction from Valence Bond Theory: Is this Theory Coming of Age?

One of the landmark achievements of quantum chemistry, specifically of MO-based methods that include electron correlation, was the precise calculation of the barrier for the hydrogen-exchange reaction (B. Liu, J. Chem. Phys. 1973, 58, 1925; P. Siegbahn, B. Liu, J. Chem. Phys. 1978, 68, 2457). This paper reports an accurate calculation of this barrier by two recently developed VB methods that use only the eight classical VB structures. To our knowledge, the present work is the first accurate ab initio VB barrier that matches an experimental value. Along with the accurate barrier, the VB method provides accurate bond energies and diabatic quantities that enable the barrier height to be analyzed by the VB state correlation diagram approach, VBSCD (S. Shaik, A. Shurki, Angew. Chem. 1999, 111, 616; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 1999, 38, 586). This is a proof of principal that VB theory with appropriate account of dynamic electron correlation can achieve quantitative accuracy of reaction barriers, and still retain a compact and interpretable wave function. A sample of S(N)2 barriers and dihalogen bonding energies, which are close to CCSD(T) and G2(+) values, show that the H(3) problem is not an isolated case, and while it is premature to conclude that VB theory has come of age, the occurrence of this event is clearly within sight.     

Preparation, Crystal Structure and Enthalpy Change of Formation of the Reaction in Liquid Phase of a New Three- Dimensional Mixed-Ligand Holmium（Ⅲ）Coordination Polymer Based on Strong π-π Stacking Interactions

A new three-dimensional coordination polymer, [Ho（5-nip）（phen）（NO3）（DMF）] （5-nip=5-nitroisophthalic acid and phen=1,10-phenanthroline）, was prepared and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, IR spectrum and DTG-DSC techniques. The results show that the title complex crystallizes in space group P2/m with a= 1.0906（3） nm, b =1.2804 （3） nm, c= 1.6987（4） nm, β=91.400（5）°, Z=4, Dc= 1.931 Mg/m^3, F（000）= 1352. Each Ho（Ⅲ） ion is nine-coordinated by one chelating bidentate and two monodentate bridging carboxylate groups, one chelating bidentate NO3 anion, one DMF molecule and one 1,10-phenanthroline molecule. The complex is constructed with one-dimensional ribbons featuring dinuclear units and the one-dimensional ribbons are further assembled into two-dimensional networks by strong π-π stacking interactions with the distance of 0.327 nm, then the networks are arranged into three-dimensional structure according to ABAB fashion. The complex exhibits high stability up to 600 ℃. Its enthalpy change of formation of the reaction in liquid-phase in solvent DMF was measured using an RD496-Ⅲ type microcalorimeter with a value of （-11.016±0.184） kJ·mol^-1.     

The role of the sol–gel route on the interaction between rhodamine B and a silica matrix

A series of silica xerogels having rhodamine B (RhB) as a template and Ti centers were synthesized by distinct sol–gel routes, namely, acid-catalyzed, base-catalyzed, acid-catalyzed with base-catalyzed (two steps) hydrolytic routes and a FeCl₃-catalyzed non-hydrolytic route. The interaction of RhB with the prepared silica matrix was investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, attenuated total reflectance, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy in the ultraviolet–visible region, Raman spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), photoluminescence (PL) and confocal microscopy. Raman spectroscopy suggested the presence of Ti–O and Si–O–Ti moieties within the silica matrix. Infrared band shifts provided insight into potential interaction sites. Taking into account the results from ART, XPS, PL and confocal microscopy, encapsulation of RhB preferentially occurs inside the silica network for acid 1, basic and two-steps routes, and the presence of Ti occurs on the surface of the silica occurs for acid 2, basic and two-steps routes. Also, we have shown that although the structural characteristics of the encapsulated and extracted systems are affected by the route, the molecular structure is conserved during and after the encapsulation process.