Mechanistic investigation of the iridium-catalysed alkylation of amines with alcohols

The [Cp*IrCl(2)](2)-catalysed alkylation of amines with alcohols was investigated using a combination of experimental and theoretical methods. A Hammett study involving a series of para-substituted benzyl alcohols resulted in a line with a negative slope. This clearly documents that a positive charge is built up in the transition state, which in combination with the measurement of a significant kinetic isotope effect determines hydride abstraction as being the selectivity-determining step under these conditions. A complementary Hammett study using para-substituted anilines was also carried out. Again, a line with a negative slope was obtained suggesting that nucleophilic attack on the aldehyde is selectivity-determining. A computational investigation of the entire catalytic cycle with full-sized ligands and substrates was performed using density functional theory. The results suggest a catalytic cycle where the intermediate aldehyde stays coordinated to the iridium catalyst and reacts with the amine to give a hemiaminal which is also bound to the catalyst. Dehydration to the imine and reduction to the product amine also takes place without breaking the coordination to the catalyst. The fact that the entire catalytic cycle takes place with all the intermediates bound to the catalyst is important for the further development of this synthetic transformation.     

四氟乙烯齐聚体的反应 四氟乙烯四、五聚体和芳香胺的反应

前已报道四氟乙烯四聚体(全氟-3,4-甲基己烯-3)(1)、五聚体(全氟-3,4-二甲基-4-乙基己烯-2)(2)和脂肪烷氧以及脂肪胺的亲核反应.本文报道化合物1,2和芳香胺如苯胺、β-萘胺的反应.由于烯烃1、2双键处于分子中间,因而当亲核试剂进攻时,双键容易发生重排,生成的末端基烯烃更具反应性,故导致一取代、二取代、三取代以及环化降解等复杂产物.     

Determination of betamethasone and triamcinolone acetonide by GC-NCI-MS in excreta of treated animals and development of a fast oxidation procedure for derivatisation of corticosteroids.

The use of corticosteroids in combination with other hormonal substances has long been known to result in increased mass gain with bovines. Practice has demonstrated, however, that even the single use of a glucocorticoid may result in growth promoting effects. In addition to the popular dexamethasone, more recently other corticosteroids have also been misused for fattening purposes. The first part of this study deals with the detection of two of them, namely betamethasone and triamcinolone acetonide. Betamethasone was administered orally to a cow at a dose of 50 mg d-1 for 5 d, then later the same cow was injected intramuscularly with a dose of 50 mg of betamethasone dipropionate. Excretion in urine and faeces was followed with both HPLC-enzyme immunoassay and a previously described method based on negative chemical ionization mass spectrometry (NCI-MS) after oxidation. For the triamcinolone acetonide study a cow was treated with 50 mg d-1 of the drug during a 7 d period. Excretion in faeces was followed with GC-NCI-MS. As triamcinolone acetonide is resistant to the previously described oxidation procedure, however, a hydrolysis step had to be introduced prior to oxidation. In addition to this specific modification necessary for triamcinolone acetonide, in a subsequent part of this study the original oxidation procedure with pyridinium chlorochromate was re-investigated especially to shorten the procedure. With the introduction of potassium dichromate the reaction time could be decreased from 3 h to 10 min.     

Dependence of the Rate of Electrodeposition of Metals at Mono- and Multielectrodes on Voltage in the Case of an Exaltation Mechanism of Mass Transport

Dependences of the rate of copper deposition on mono- and multielectrodes out of dilute solutions of acetic acid at voltages of 20–250 V are compared. It is established that the same rate of deposition in the case of a multielectrode (25 electrodes with a diameter of 0.1 mm) takes place at a voltage that is lower by 2.7 times than that in the case of a monoelectrode with a diameter of 0.5 mm and the same area. The same results are obtained during electrodeposition of cadmium and thallium. In order to explain this effect, a two-layered model of potential distribution is suggested. In accordance with this model, the resistance of electrolyte in the vicinity of a multielectrode is equal to the sum of the resistance of the layer nearest to the electrode (where it is determined by the sum of conductances to each microelectrode) and the external layer, where the potential distribution is close to hemispherical. It is shown that calculations in accordance with this model allow one to give an estimate of the effect's scale that agrees with experiment and to predict its possible limits following an increase in the number of electrodes that make up a multielectrode.     

Synthesis of benzylpalladium complexes through C-O bond cleavage of benzylic carboxylates: Development of a novel palladium-catalyzed benzylation of olefins

Benzylic carboxylates were found to react with Pd(0) complexes bearing tertiary phosphines to give benzylpalladium(II) carboxylate complexes with cleavage of the benzyl-oxygen bond. The benzylpalladium complexes having the trifluoroacetato ligand react with olefins such as ethyl acrylate to give olefin benzylation products. On the basis of these studies a novel palladium-catalyzed benzylation of olefins was developed without using organic halides as the starting materials. The method has another advantage of requiring no base as in the conventional Mizoroki-Heck process using organic halides. The catalytic cycle is proposed to be constituted of elementary processes of (a) oxidative addition of a benzyl carboxylate with C-O bond cleavage to a Pd(0) complex to give a benzylpalladium carboxylate, (b) olefin insertion into the benzylpalladium bond to give an alkylpalladium complex, and (c) β-H abstraction to liberate the benzylated olefin.     

Chemical modification of the surface of a sulfonated membrane by formation of a sulfonamide bond

This paper describes a novel approach for the surface modification of a cation-exchange membrane, bearing sulfonate groups, by a cationic layer. The modification procedure involved the chlorosulfonation of the sulfonate groups of the base membrane with thionyl chloride, followed by a reaction with a diamine to yield a sulfonamide bond and a terminal amine. The latter could be quaternized by reaction with methyl iodide or protonated by soaking in acidic media. The membranes were characterized in detail by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies as well as elemental analysis to confirm that the above reactions occurred. The selectivity of these membranes toward the electrochemically assisted transport of protons versus Zn2+ metallic cations was determined during an electrodialysis in a two-compartment electrochemical cell. The data indicate a significant decrease of the transport of the metallic cations following modification of the membrane with the cationic layer. The later allows for the transport of protons from the catholyte to the anolyte compartment with much improved selectivity since the divalent cations are excluded from the membrane due to the electrostatic barrier of the cationic layer.     

Mechanics of nanoindentation on a monolayer of colloidal hollow nanoparticles

We explore the collective mechanical behavior of monolayer assemblies composed of close-packed arrays of hollow silica nanoparticles using a spherical nanoindentor. Seven types of well-defined hollow nanoparticles are studied with their radii ranging from 100 to 300 nm and shell thickness ranging from 14 to 44 nm. Micromechanical models reveal the underlying deformation mechanisms during indentation, where the consecutive contacting of the indentor with an increasing number of nanoparticles results in a nonlinear increase in the indentation force with penetration depth. Each contacted hollow nanoparticle successively locally bends, flattens, and then locally buckles. The effective indentation modulus of the monolayer film, which is obtained by a Hertzian fit to the experimental data, is found to be proportional to the elastic modulus of the nanoparticle shell material and scales exponentially with the ratio of particle shell thickness t to radius R to the power of 2.3. Furthermore, we find that for a constant film density with the same (t)/(R) of the constituent nanoparticles, smaller particles with a thinner shell can provide a higher effective indentation modulus, compared to their larger diameter and thicker shell counterparts. This study provides useful insights and guidance for constructing high-performance lightweight nanoparticle films and coatings with potential applications in tailoring stiffness and mechanical energy absorption.     

Sites of reaction of pilocarpine

Analysis of the sites of reaction of a biologically important compound, pilocarpine, a molecule with imidazole and butyrolactone rings connected by a methylene bridge, has been accomplished in a quadrupole ion trap with the aim of characterizing its structure/reactivity relationships. Ion-molecule reactions of pilocarpine with chemical ionizing agents, dimethyl ether (DME), 2-methoxyethanol, and trimethyl borate (TMB), along with collision-activated dissociation elucidated the reaction sites of pilocarpine and made possible the comparison of structural features that affect sites of reaction. Based on MS/MS experiments, methylation occurs on the imidazole ring upon reactions with CH3OCH2+ or (CH3OCH2CH2OH)H+ ions but methylation occurs on the lactone ring for reactions with (CH3O)2B+ ions. Bracketing experiments with two model compounds, alpha-methyl-gamma-butyrolactone and N-methyl imidazole, show the imidazole ring to have a greater gas-phase basicity and methyl cation affinity than the lactone ring. The contrast of methylation by TMB ions on the lactone ring is explained by initial addition of the dimethoxyborinium ion, (CH3O)2B+, on the imidazole ring with subsequent collisional activation promoting an intramolecular transfer of a methyl group to the lactone ring with concurrent loss of CH3OBO. Semiempirical molecular orbital calculations are undertaken to further address the favored reaction sites.     

FT-IR observation of covalent labelling of lysozyme crystals by organometallic complexes of transition metals

Electrophilic complexes of iron and chromium which have been reported to react with proteins in solution have been reacted with hen-egg white lysozyme (HEWL) in both the solution and crystal phases under similar pH and buffer conditions. This work was carried out with a view to developing novel side-chain selective heavy metal derivatives for protein X-ray crystallographic studies. Reaction of HEWL with a tricarbonyldienyliron cation (1) in aqueous solution led to modification of the sole histidine residue with concurrent reversible modification of other protein residues. Reaction of (1) with crystalline HEWL showed no covalent binding and only a build up of a hydrolysis product in the water channels of the crystal was observed. Reactions with a series of tricarbonylarylchromium pyrylium salts (2) led to the formation of stable covalent HEWL derivatives in solution. Chromatographic and IR spectroscopic studies showed that binding took place specifically at the epsilon-amino group of lysine residues to give a series of mono- and di-substituted products. When crystals of HEWL were soaked with the chromium reagents covalent binding to some of the lysine residues was also observed. In contrast, HEWL crystals which had their lysine side chains disabled did not bind any of the chromium reagents.     

Role of electric field on surface wetting of polystyrene surface

The role of surface charge in fluid flow in micro/nanofluidics systems as well as the role of electric field to create switchable hydrophobic surfaces is of interest. In this work, the contact angle (CA) and contact angle hysteresis (CAH) of a droplet of deionized (DI) water were measured with applied direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) electric fields. The droplet was deposited on a polystyrene (PS) surface, commonly used in various nanotechnology applications, coated on a doped silicon (Si) wafer. With the DC field, CA decreased with an increase in voltage. Because of the presence of a silicon oxide layer and a space charge layer, the change of the CA was found to be lower than with a metal substrate. The CAH had no obvious change with a DC field. An AC field with a positive value was applied to the droplet to study its effect on CA and CAH. At low frequency (lower than 10 Hz), the droplet was visibly oscillating. The CA was found to increase when the frequency of the applied AC field increased from 1 Hz to 10 kHz. On the other hand, the CA decreased with an increasing peak-peak voltage at or lower than 10 kHz. The CAH in the AC field was found to be lower than in the DC field and had a similar trend to static CA with increasing frequency. A model is presented to explain the data.     

Application of self-organizing maps for the classification of chromatographic systems and prediction of values of chromatographic quantities

The separation of a complex mixture of inorganic and organic anions by ion chromatography–capillary electrophoresis using a cationic polymer added to the background electrolyte and indirect UV detection has been studied. The addition of unmodified polymer to an electrolyte suitable for indirect detection resulted in the appearance of a system peak due to the counter-anion on the polymer and while the position of the analytes relative to this system peak could be changed, this was found to be an unacceptable approach for mixtures of large numbers of analytes. Although conversion of the polymer to replace the counter-ion with the indirect UV detection probe ion simplified the system, this approach restricted the flexibility of the system because the probe and polymer concentration were necessarily linked. This limitation could be overcome by selecting the appropriate type of probe ion, with probes having a low ion-exchange selectivity coefficient providing greater retention of analytes than probes with a high ion-exchange selectivity coefficient. Three electrolyte systems with different probes (benzoate, chromate and phthalate) were modelled using a previously derived migration equation and this was used to optimise the electrolyte composition to enable the separation of a mixture of 24 inorganic and organic anions within 7 min. The electrolyte composition was then optimised for the analysis of anions in Bayer liquor with the final separation selectivity being substantially improved for selected key analytes.     

Kinetics and mechanism of the pyridinolysis of phenacyl bromides in acetonitrile

Kinetic studies of the reactions of substituted phenacyl bromides (YC6H4COCH2Br) with pyridines (XC5H4N) are carried out in acetonitrile at 45.0 degrees C. A biphasic Bronsted plot is obtained with a change in slope from a large (betaX approximately equals 0.65-0.80) to a small (betaX approximately 0.36-0.40) value at pKa = 3.2-3.6, which can be attributed to a change in the rate-determining step from breakdown to formation of a tetrahedral intermediate in the reaction path as the basicity of the pyridine nucleophile increases. This mechanism is supported by the faster rates with pyridines than with anilines and the change of cross-interaction constant rhoXY from a large positive (rhoXY = +1.4) to a small positive (rhoXY approximately +0.1) value. The large magnitude of Hammett rhoX (= -5.5 to -6.9) values for the pyridines with electron-withdrawing substituents and positive deviations of the pi-acceptors, p-CH3CO and p-CN, are quite similar to those for the pyridinium ion formation equilibria. The activation parameters are also in line with the proposed mechanism.     

On the mechanism of reaction of radicals with tirapazamine

Ketyl radicals produced by photolysis of ketones or di-tert-butyl peroxide (DTBP) in alcohol solvents react rapidly with tirapazamine (TPZ). The acetone ketyl radical (ACOH) reacts with TPZ with an absolute second-order rate constant of (9.7 +/- 0.4) x 108 M-1 s-1. The reaction kinetics can be followed by monitoring the bleaching of TPZ absorption at 475 nm or the formation of a reaction product which absorbs at 320 and 410 nm. The ACOD radical reacts with TPZ in 2-propanol-OD with an absolute rate constant of (6.7 +/- 0.5) x 108 M-1 s-1, corresponding to a kinetic isotope effect (KIE) of 1.4. Deuteration of the radical on carbon (ACOH-d6) retards the reaction of the radical with TPZ even further (absolute rate constant = (4.8 +/- 0.04) x 108 M-1 s-1). This result corresponds to a KIE of 2.0. Radicals derived from dioxane and diisopropyl ether by flash photolysis of DTBP in ethereal solvent react with TPZ more slowly than do ketyl radicals. It is concluded that ketyl radicals react, in part, with TPZ in organic solvents by transfer of a hydrogen atom from the OH and CH3 groups of the ketyl radical to the oxygen atom at the N4 position of TPZ to form acetone or acetone enol and a radical derivative of TPZ (TPZH). The latter species absorbs at 320 and 405 nm, has a lifetime of hundreds of microseconds in alcohol solvents, and decays by disproportionation to form TPZ and a reduced heterocycle. The reduced heterocycle eventually forms a desoxytirapazamine by a polar mechanism. The results are supported by density functional theory calculations. It is proposed that dioxanyl radical will also react, in part, with TPZ by transfer of a hydrogen atom from the carbon adjacent to the radical center to the oxygen atom at the N4 position of TPZ. This produces the enol ether and the previously mentioned TPZH radical. It is further posited that ether radicals react a bit more slowly than ketyl radicals because they lack the second mode of hydrogen transfer (from the OH group) that is present in the ACOH radical. Our data are permissive of the possibility that ether radicals add to TPZ at a rate that is competitive with beta-hydrogen atom transfer.     

Measurement of acidity constants of benzothiadiazines by solvent extraction with use of a membrane phase-separator

For extraction studies a "filter-probe" porous Teflon membrane phase-separator is used in conjunction with a spectrophotometer fitted with a small-volume flow-cell and a peristaltic pump to measure absorbance of the organic phase as a function of aqueous phase pH. Acidity constants of monoprotic (HA) and diprotic (H(2)A) acid benzothiadiazines have been measured with the apparatus. Accurate pK(a), values for these compounds are difficult to measure by other techniques. Mixtures of n-octanol and chloroform in various proportions can be used as the organic phase in order to adjust the distribution coefficient of the neutral species to give optimum precision and accuracy in measurement of the pK(a) values.     

Molecular mechanics of photopolymerization of 2,5-distyrylpyrazine in solid state

The molecular mechanics of photopolymerization of 2,5-distyrylpyrazine in the solid-state α form is investigated by a combination of Raman and electronic spectroscopic techniques. A stepwise photoreaction is used to stabilize an intermediate oligomer structure. For this purpose, the 476.5-nm argon-ion laser line is used to convert the monomer to the oligomer. The Raman phonon spectra reveal a homogeneous mechanism, with considerable lattice rearrangement, for the oligomerization process, which is also found to produce lattice strain. Further photoreaction of the oligomer is carried out with light of wavelength ≤400 nm from a 200-W mercuryxenon lamp as well as with the 355- and 417-nm laser lines from a Nd: Yag laser system. The Raman phonon spectra, monitored during the conversion of the oligomer to the polymer, show that initially the process starts homogeneously, with considerable lattice rearrangment. Then it turns heterogeneous, with a phase separation accompanied by a gradual ordering of the polymer product lattice. The electronic absorption spectra of the monomer are characterized and related to the stepwise photo process discussed above. Although the emission spectra show a monotonic change during the photoreaction, energy transfer from the oligomer to the monomer and from the polymer to the oligomer obscures and quantitative characterization by emission spectroscopy.     

Calorimetric Study of the Bioremediation of a Polluted Soil

The calorimetric cells of a Setaram BT 2.15 flux calorimeter have been modified, in order to measure the heat production associated with microbial growth, with a continuous flow of gas and liquid through the sample. Good conditions for the growth of the microorganisms present in a polluted soil were determined and the possibility of the bioremediation examined. It was shown that the biodegradation of hydrocarbons adsorbed for a long time in the soil is a very slow process difficult to study with calorimetry. On the contrary, sodium succinate and different C₁₄ hydrocarbons were easily biodegradated, producing a large quantity of heat.This revised version was published online in November 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Moment analysis of chromatographic behavior of superficially porous particles

Peak parking experiments were conducted to study the chromatographic behavior in a RPLC system consisting of a column packed with superficially porous C(18)-particles and a mixture of methanol and water (70/30, v/v). The values of the surface diffusion coefficient and the retention equilibrium constant of a column packed with superficially porous C(18)-particles were comparable to those of columns packed with a C(18)-silica monolith and full-porous C(18)-silica gel particles. The flow-rate dependence of HETP was hypothetically calculated by using moment equations to clarify the influence of the structural characteristics on the chromatographic behavior. The column efficiency of a column packed with the superficially porous particles is higher in the high flow-rate range than that with full-porous spherical particles. This is attributed to the smaller contribution of the intraparticulate mass transfer in the superficially porous particles to band broadening. The moment equations are effective for the quantitative analysis of chromatographic behavior of superficially porous particles.     

Novel Synthesis of Dihydroquinoxalinylpyridazine Derivatives

Methylquinoxaline derivative 1 undergoes bromination to give bromomethyl quinoxaline 2 , which could be transferred to cyanomethyl quinoxaline 3 . The latter compound 3 readily coupled with arene diazonium salts to give hydrazone derivatives 5a‐c . Compounds 5a,b reacted with active methylene reagents to give the target ring system, quinoxalinylpyridazine derivatives 8a‐c . Compound 1 reacted with DMFDMA to give the enamine derivative 9 , which coupled with arene diazonium salts to give the aldehydic hydrazone derivatives 10a‐c . Compound 10 reacted with active methylene compounds to give quinoxalinylpyridazine derivatives. UV characterization of some of the prepared compounds was reported.     

Origin of strong chiroptical activities in films of nonafluorenes with a varying extent of pendant chirality

Novel nonafluorenes with a varying extent of pendant chirality were synthesized for an investigation of the origins of chiroptical activities in neat films. Thermal annealing of 4-microm-thick sandwiched films and of 90-nm-thick spin-cast films, all on surface-treated substrates, produced monodomain glassy films characterized as a right-handed cholesteric stack with a helical pitch length ranging from 180 to 534 nm and from 252 to 1151 nm, respectively. The observed strong circular dichroism (CD) and g(e) as functions of helical pitch length in single-substrate monodomain glassy cholesteric films were quantitatively interpreted with a circularly polarized fluorescence theory accounting for light absorption, emission, and propagation in a cholesteric stack. Although intertwined molecular helices were likely to be present, cholesteric stacking of rodlike molecules seemed to be the predominant contributor to the strong chiroptical activities. All the cholesteric stacks comprising a polydomain glassy film on an untreated substrate were found to contribute to CD and g(e) largely to the same extent as in a monodomain film. A circularly polarized blue organic light-emitting diode containing a nonafluorene film resulted in a g(e) of 0.35 with a luminance yield of 0.94 cd/A at 20 mA/cm(2), the best performance to date.