Theoretical Study on Electron Transfer Matrix Element in Oxidation of α—Amino Carbon—Centered Radical by O2

As a successive work of our previous paper,^1the electron transfer matrix element(Vrp)in the oxidation of the simplified model molecule of α-amino carbon-centered radical by O2 has been investigated with ab initio calculation at the level of UHF/6-31 G**.Based on the optimized geometries of the reactgant and the ion-pair complex obtained previously,the reaction heat and the iuner reorganization energy have been obtained by constructing the potential energy curves of reactant and product states considering the solvent effect with the conductor-like screening model(COSMO).The solvent reorganization energy has been estimated using Lippert-Mataga relationship.The calculated results show that the value of Vrp is several times larger than that of RT,which means that the model reaction is an adiabatic one.Theoretical investigation indicates that the solvent effect on the direct electron transfer (ET) process of oxidation of α-amino carbon-centered radical by oxygen is remarkable.     

Laser photolysis of interaction of poly-guanylic acid (5'''') with anthraquinone-2-sulfonate

The electron transfer reaction between triplet anthraquinone-2-sulfonate and poly-guanylic acid (5') in CH3CN-H2O (97 : 3) has been investigated by 248 nm (KrF) laser flash photolysis. The transient absorption spectra and kinetics obtained from the interaction of triplet anthraquinone-2-sulfonate and poly[G] demonstrate that the primary ionic radical pair, radical cation of poly[G] and radical anion of anthraquinone-2-sulfonate have been detected simultaneously. The free energy changes in the process of the electron transfer were also calculated.     

Studies of Unusual Oxidation States of Transition Metals Ⅱ——Kinetics and Mechanism of Oxidation of Pyruvate by Diperiodatoargentate (Ⅲ)Ion

The kinetics of oxidation of pyruvate by diperiodatoargentate( III) ion (DPA) has been studied spec-trophotometrically in alkaline medium. It was found that the reaction order with respect to both DPA and pyruvate is unity and the rate equation can be expressed asThe rate increases with the increase in [OH ] and decreases with the increase in [periodate]. There is a positive ionic strength effect in this reaction system. A mechanism has been proposed to explain the experimental results. The observed activation parameters are presented.     

Catalytic reaction mechanism of L-lactate dehydrogenase: an ab initio study

Studies on the catalytic reaction mechanism of L-lactate dehydrogenase have been carried out by using quantum chemical ab initio calculation at HF/6-31G* level. It is found that the interconversion reaction of pyruvate to L-lactate is dominated by the hydride ion HR- transfer, and the transfers of the hydride ion HR and proton HR are a quasi-coupled process, in which the energy barrier of the transition state is about 168.37 kJ/mol. It is shown that the reactant complex is 87.61 kJ/mol lower, in energy, than the product complex. The most striking features in our calculated results are that pyridine ring of the model cofactor is a quasi-boat-like configuration in the transited state, which differs from a planar conformation in some previous semiempirical quantum chemical studies. On the other hand, the similarity in the structure and charge between the HR transfer process and the hydrogen bonding with lower barrier indicates that the HR transfer process occurs by means of an unusual manner. In addition,     

Liquid-Phase Selective Oxidation of Propane on Silica-Supported Nafion Catalysts

The liquid-phase partial oxidation of propane in the presence of the Fen+/H2O2 Fenton system at 70℃ and 1.4 atm on silica supported Nafion catalysts has been investigated. The reaction proceeds via a radical reaction path the efficiency of which is improved by silica-supported Nafion catalysts. Because of the direct relationship between reaction rate and concentration of sulphonic acid sites of Nafion catalysts, it is inferred that the active phase enahnces the kinetics of propane conversion by promoting the rate of active radicals generation.     

Hemin-histamine-montmorillonite clay conjugate as a model biocatalyst to mimic natural peroxidase

We successfully synthesized the first hemin-montmorillonite bio-conjugate with an amino acid residue to mimic natural peroxidase enzyme. Histamine was intercalated in montmorillonite by cation exchange, then a hemin molecule was loaded onto the histamine-montmorillonite with an adsorption capacity of 7.0 mg g-1. The hemin-histamine-montmorillonite conjugate shows high peroxidase activity as indicated by the oxidation of guaiacol, which is attributed to the activation of hemin by Fe–N complex formation between the imidazole group in histamine and the iron ion in the hemin molecule. Temperature- dependent peroxidase activity for this synthesized biomimetic material indicates that raising the reaction temperature could significantly enhance the activity of the conjugate. The biomimetic catalyst has good reusability; nearly 100% activity can be retained after three cycles. Because montmorillonite clay is widely distributed in the environment, this material offers great potential for in situ and ex situ remediation of many organic contaminants in surface/subsurface soils.     

CeO2 as the Oxygen Carrier for Partial Oxidation of Methane to Synthesis Gas in Molten Salts： Thermodynamic Analysis and Experimental Investigation

A new technique -- the direct partial oxidation of methane to synthesis gas using lattice oxygen in molten salts medium has been introduced. Using CeO2 as the oxygen carrier, thermodynamic data were calculated in the reaction process, and the results indicated that direct partial oxidation of methane to synthesis gas using lattice oxygen of cerium oxide is feasible in theory. In a stainless steel reactor, the effects of temperature and varying amounts of γ-Al2O3 supported CeO2 on cn4 conversion, H2 and CO selectivity, were investigated, respectively. The results show that 10% CeO2/γ-Al2O3 has the maximal reaction activity at a temperature of 865 ℃ and above, the H2/CO ratio in the gas that has been produced reaches 2 and the CH4 conversion, H2 and CO selectivity reached the following percentages： i.e. 61%, 89%, and 91% at 870 ℃, respectively. In addition, increase of reaction temperature is favorable for the partial oxidation of methane.     

Reaction Mechanism of the Multi-channel Decomposition Reactions of C_(10)H_(14)~+·

n-Butylbenzene cations C10H14^＋ serve as a model compound to investigate the reaction mechanisms of alkylbenzene cations. The reactions of C10H14^＋. decomposition reaction system have been studied extensively at the B3LYP/6-311＋＋G^＊＊ level with Gaussion98 package. The chain reaction of C10H14^＋ dissociation was initiated by C-H bond rupture. All reaction channels initiated by C-H rupture were fully investigated with the vibrational mode analvsis to confirm the transition states and to reveal the reaction mechanism. A theoretical investigation on the reactions of this positive ion free radical can help us fully understand the decomposition processes.     

Modeling the oxidative coupling of methane： Heterogeneous chemistry coupled with 3D flow field simulation

The oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) over titanate perovskite catalyst has been developed by three-dimensional numerical simulations of flow field coupled with heat transfer as well as heterogeneous kinetic model. The reaction was assumed to take place both in the gas phase and on the catalytic surface. Kinetic rate constants were experimentally obtained using a ten step kinetic model. The simulation results agree quite well with the data of OCM experiments, which were used to investigate the effect of temperature on the selectivity and conversion obtained in the methane oxidative coupling process. The conversion of methane linearly increased with temperature and the selectivity of C2 was practically constant in the temperature range of 973–1073 K. The study shows that CFD tools make it possible to implement the heterogeneous kinetic model even for high exothermic reaction such as OCM.     

Synthesis and structure of tetranuclear copper(Ⅱ) complex containing μ4-oxo bridge

A new dinucleating Schiff base ligand HL(L=C13H17N2O3) has been synthesised and characterized.The single crystal structure of its complex [L2Cu4O(AcO4)]·2H2O has beendetermined by X-ray diffraction methods.The result indicates that every Cu atom has its square pyramidal coordination polyhedron and there is a tetrahedral Cu4O core in the complex molecule.Its active sites where catalytic oxidation of dioxygen occurs have been inferred.     

Decarbonylative Radical Coupling of α‐Aminoacyl Tellurides: Single‐Step Preparation of γ‐Amino and α,β‐Diamino Acids and Rapid Synthesis of Gabapentin and Manzacidin A

A new radical‐based coupling method has been developed for the single‐step generation of various γ‐amino acids and α,β‐diamino acids from α‐aminoacyl tellurides. Upon activation by Et₃B and O₂ at ambient temperature, α‐aminoacyl tellurides were readily converted into α‐amino carbon radicals through facile decarbonylation, which then reacted intermolecularly with acrylates or glyoxylic oxime ethers. This mild and powerful method was effectively incorporated into expeditious synthetic routes to the pharmaceutical agent gabapentin and the natural product (?)‐manzacidin A.     

Arginine‐Facilitated α‐ and π‐Radical Migrations in Glycylarginyltryptophan Radical Cations

We have used model tripeptides GXW (with X being one of the amino acid residues glycine (G), alanine (A), leucine (L), phenylalanine (F), glutamic acid (E), histidine (H), lysine (K), or arginine (R)) to study the effects of the basicity of the amino acid residue on the radical migrations and dissociations of odd‐electron molecular peptide radical cations M^.+ in the gas phase. Low‐energy collision‐induced dissociation (CID) experiments revealed that the interconvertibility of the isomers [G^.XW]⁺ (radical centered on the N‐terminal α‐carbon atom) and [GXW]^.+ (radical centered on the π system of the indolyl ring) generally increased upon increasing the proton affinity of residue X. When X was arginine, the most basic amino acid, the two isomers were fully interconvertible and produced almost identical CID spectra despite the different locations of their initial radical sites. The presence of the very basic arginine residue allowed radical migrations to proceed readily among the [G^.RW]⁺ and [GRW]^.+ isomers prior to their dissociations. Density functional theory calculations revealed that the energy barriers for isomerizations among the α‐carbon‐centered radical [G^.RW]⁺, the π‐centered radical [GRW]^.+, and the β‐carbon‐centered radical [GRW_β^.]⁺ (ca. 32–36 kcal mol⁻¹) were comparable with those for their dissociations (ca. 32–34 kcal mol⁻¹). The arginine residue in these GRW radical cations tightly sequesters the proton, thereby resulting in minimal changes in the chemical environment during the radical migrations, in contrast to the situation for the analogous GGW system, in which the proton is inefficiently stabilized during the course of radical migration.     

Radical Cyclisation of α‐Halo Aluminium Acetals: A Mechanistic Study

α‐Bromo aluminium acetals are suitable substrates for Ueno–Stork‐like radical cyclisations affording γ‐lactols and acid‐sensitive methylene‐γ‐lactols in high yields. The mechanistic study herein sets the scope and limitation of this reaction. The influence of the halide (or chalcogenide) atom X (X=Cl, Br, I, SPh, SePh) in the precursors α‐haloesters, as well as influence of the solvent and temperature was studied. The structure of the aluminium acetal intermediates resulting from the reduction of the corresponding α‐haloesters has been investigated by low‐temperature ¹³C‐INEPT diffusion‐ordered NMR spectroscopy (DOSY) experiments and quantum calculations, providing new insights into the structures of these thermally labile intermediates. Oxygen‐bridged dimeric structures with a planar Al₂O₂ ring are proposed for the least hindered aluminium acetals, while monomeric structures seem to prevail for the most hindered species. A comparison against the radical cyclisation of aluminium acetals derived from allyl and propargyl alcohols with the parent Ueno–Stork has been made at the BHandHLYP/6‐311++G(d,p) level of theory, highlighting mechanistic similarities and differences.     

Chemo‐ and Enantioselective Oxidative α‐Azidation of Carbonyl Compounds

We report high‐performance I⁺/H₂O₂ catalysis for the oxidative or decarboxylative oxidative α‐azidation of carbonyl compounds by using sodium azide under biphasic neutral phase‐transfer conditions. To induce higher reactivity especially for the α‐azidation of 1,3‐dicarbonyl compounds, we designed a structurally compact isoindoline‐derived quaternary ammonium iodide catalyst bearing electron‐withdrawing groups. The nonproductive decomposition pathways of I⁺/H₂O₂ catalysis could be suppressed by the use of a catalytic amount of a radical‐trapping agent. This oxidative coupling tolerates a variety of functional groups and could be readily applied to the late‐stage α‐azidation of structurally diverse complex molecules. Moreover, we achieved the enantioselective α‐azidation of 1,3‐dicarbonyl compounds as the first successful example of enantioselective intermolecular oxidative coupling with a chiral hypoiodite catalyst.     

DFT‐EPR study of radiation‐induced radicals in α‐D‐glucose

The structures of two radiation‐induced radicals in solid‐state α‐D ‐glucose have been identified by means of single‐molecule density function theory (DFT) calculations. Using the original crystalline structure as input, several radical models were created and their geometries optimized. Subsequently, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) parameters were calculated. During these calculations, the global orientation of the radical structure was kept fixed with respect to the crystal axes reference frame. This was essential to allow for an easy analysis of the hyperfine tensor principal directions, besides the isotropic and anisotropic coupling constants. By comparing these calculated EPR parameters with their experimentally determined counterparts, a plausible identification of two carbon‐centered glucose radicals was possible. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2004     

Radical Stability Directs Electron Capture and Transfer Dissociation of β‐Amino Acids in Peptides

We report on the characteristics of the radical‐ion‐driven dissociation of a diverse array of β‐amino acids incorporated into α‐peptides, as probed by tandem electron‐capture and electron‐transfer dissociation (ECD/ETD) mass spectrometry. The reported results demonstrate a stronger ECD/ETD dependence on the nature of the amino acid side chain for β‐amino acids than for their α‐form counterparts. In particular, only aromatic (e.g., β‐Phe), and to a substantially lower extent, carbonyl‐containing (e.g., β‐Glu and β‐Gln) amino acid side chains, lead to N? C_β bond cleavage in the corresponding β‐amino acids. We conclude that radical stabilization must be provided by the side chain to enable the radical‐driven fragmentation from the nearby backbone carbonyl carbon to proceed. In contrast with the cleavage of backbones derived from α‐amino acids, ECD of peptides composed mainly of β‐amino acids reveals a shift in cleavage priority from the N? C_β to the C_α? C bond. The incorporation of CH₂ groups into the peptide backbone may thus drastically influence the backbone charge solvation preference. The characteristics of radical‐driven β‐amino acid dissociation described herein are of particular importance to methods development, applications in peptide sequencing, and peptide and protein modification (e.g., deamidation and isomerization) analysis in life science research.     

Synthesis of α‐Dawson‐Type Silicotungstate [α‐Si2W18O62]8− and Protonation and Deprotonation Inside the Aperture through Intramolecular Hydrogen Bonds

The design of structurally well‐defined anionic molecular metal–oxygen clusters, polyoxometalates (POMs), leads to inorganic receptors with unique and tunable properties. Herein, an α‐Dawson‐type silicotungstate, TBA₈[α‐Si₂W₁₈O₆₂] ? 3 H₂O ( II ) that possesses a ?8 charge was successfully synthesized by dimerization of a trivacant lacunary α‐Keggin‐type silicotungstate TBA₄H₆[α‐SiW₉O₃₄] ? 2 H₂O ( I ) in an organic solvent. POM II could be reversibly protonated (in the presence of acid) and deprotonated (in the presence of base) inside the aperture by means of intramolecular hydrogen bonds with retention of the POM structure. In contrast, the aperture of phosphorus‐centered POM TBA₆[α‐P₂W₁₈O₆₂]?H₂O ( III ) was not protonated inside the aperture. The density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that the basicities and charges of internal μ₃‐oxygen atoms were increased by changing the central heteroatoms from P⁵⁺ to Si⁴⁺, thereby supporting the protonation of II . Additionally, II showed much higher catalytic performance for the Knoevenagel condensation of ethyl cyanoacetate with benzaldehyde than I and III .     

Domino Radical Addition/Oxidation Sequence with Photocatalysis: One‐Pot Synthesis of Polysubstituted Furans from α‐Chloro‐Alkyl Ketones and Styrenes

A new domino reaction has been developed that allows the combination of styrenes and α‐alkyl ketone radicals to afford a wide array of polysubstituted furans in good to excellent yields under mild and simple reaction conditions. The key to success of this novel protocol is the use of photocatalyst fac‐Ir(ppy)₃ and oxidant K₂S₂O₈. Mechanistic studies by a radical scavenger and photoluminescence quenching suggest that a radical addition/oxidation pathway is operable.     

Phosphosulfonic acid‐catalyzed green synthesis and bioassay of α‐aryl‐α′‐1,3,4‐thiadiazolyl aminophosphonates

A series of new α‐aminophosphonates containing 1,3,4‐thiadiazole moiety (4a–l) were synthesized via a simple, efficient, and one‐pot three‐component Kabachnik–Fields reaction of 2‐amino‐5‐ethyl‐1,3,4‐thiadiazole with various aryl/heteroaryl aldehydes and diethylphosphite under solvent‐free microwave irradiation conditions using phosphosulfonic acid, as a reusable and heterogeneous solid acid catalyst. All the title compounds were screened for radical scavenging activity by DPPH and H₂O₂ methods, and antimicrobial activity against bacteria (Gram‐positive and Gram‐negative) and fungi using the disc diffusion technique. They exhibited potent in vitro antioxidant and moderate antimicrobial activity.