Orbital views of molecular conductance perturbed by anchor units

Site-specific electron transport phenomena through benzene and benzenedithiol derivatives are discussed on the basis of a qualitative Hu?ckel molecular orbital analysis for better understanding of the effect of anchoring sulfur atoms. A recent work for the orbital control of electron transport through aromatic hydrocarbons provided an important concept for the design of high-conductance connections of a molecule with anchoring atoms. In this work the origin of the frontier orbitals of benzenedithiol derivatives, the effect of the sulfur atoms on the orbitals and on the electron transport properties, and the applicability of the theoretical concept on aromatic hydrocarbons with the anchoring units are studied. The results demonstrate that the orbital view predictions are applicable to molecules perturbed by the anchoring units. The electron transport properties of benzene are found to be qualitatively consistent with those of benzenedithiol with respect to the site dependence. To verify the result of the Hu?ckel molecular orbital calculations, fragment molecular orbital analyses with the extended Hu?ckel molecular orbital theory and electron transport calculations with density functional theory are performed. Calculated results are in good agreement with the orbital interaction analysis. The phase, amplitude, and spatial distribution of the frontier orbitals play an essential role in the design of the electron transport properties through aromatic hydrocarbons.     

Peptide Bond Formation in the Protonated Serine Dimer Following Vacuum UV Photon-Induced Excitation

Possible routes for intra-cluster bond formation (ICBF) in protonated serine dimers have been studied. We found no evidence of ICBF following low energy collision-induced dissociation (in correspondence with previous works), however, we do observe clear evidence for ICBF following photon absorption in the 4.6–14 eV range. Moreover, the comparison of photon-induced dissociation measurements of the protonated serine dimer to those of a protonated serine dipeptide provides evidence that ICBF, in this case, involves peptide bond formation (PBF). The experimental results are supported by ab initio molecular dynamics and exploration of several excited state potential energy surfaces, unraveling a pathway for PBF following photon absorption. The combination of experiments and theory provides insight into the PBF mechanisms in clusters of amino acids, and reveals the importance of electronic excited states reached upon UV/VUV light excitation.     

Reactivity of haloethanes with hydroxyl radicals: Effects of basis set and correlation energy on reaction energetics

Ab initio calculations on fluoroethane reactions with the hydroxyl radical have been carried out at different levels of theory. The convergence of reaction barriers and reaction enthalpies has been systematically investigated with respect to the size and quality of the basis set and the treatment of correlation energy. The G2 and MP2 barrier heights and reaction enthalpies show the best agreement with the experimental data. The split valence basis sets of triple-zeta quality supplemented by diffuse and polarization functions are necessary to reproduce experimental values for barrier heights and reaction enthalpies at the MP2 level of theory. The full counterpoise correction was used to calculate the basis set superposition error for several standard basis sets, including polarization and diffuse functions. The smallest counterpoise corrections are associated with basis sets that contain polarization and diffuse functions, the diffuse functions being the most effective in reducing BSSE. However, in our case, the uncorrected barrier heights are in better agreement with experimental results than the counterpoise-corrected data. Thus, at the MP2 level of theory, which seems to be dictated for larger electronic systems of chemical interest, the optimal approach is to increase the basis set to the maximum size affordable and to use results without counterpoise corrections for the calculation of reaction barriers. A viable alternative is the use of G2 theory because its results for the barrier heights and reaction enthalpies are in excellent agreement with the experimental data. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Comput Chem 18: 1190–1199     

Two types of monoethyl α‐anilino­benzyl­phosphonates: a zwitterion and a molecular compound

The crystal structures of the potential antitumour agents monoethyl (α‐anilinobenzyl)­phosphonate, C₁₅H₁₈NO₃P, (I), and its 4‐azo­benzene‐substituted derivative monoethyl {α‐[4‐(phenyl­diazenyl)­anilino]­benzyl}phosphonate, C₂₁H₂₂N₃O₃P, (II), are described. A zwitterionic form of (I) and a neutral molecular form of (II) are observed, which is fully in accordance with previously reported spectroscopic studies. In both structures, hydrogen bonding induces the formation of zigzag head‐to‐head double layers parallel to the crystallographic b axis.     

syn/anti Diastereoselectivity in the Aldol Reaction of Aldehydes with the C(3) Carbanion of 1,3‐Dihydro‐2H‐1,4‐benzodiazepin‐2‐one

The aldol reaction of the C(3) carbanion of 7‐chloro‐1,3‐dihydro‐1‐methyl‐5‐phenyl‐2H‐1,4‐benzodiazepin‐2‐one ( 2 ) with a series of aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes at −78° afforded threo/erythro diastereoisomers 3 – 16 of 7‐chloro‐1,3‐dihydro‐3‐(hydroxymethyl)‐1‐methyl‐5‐phenyl‐2H‐1,4‐benzodiazepinones, substituted at the C(3) side chain, in a ratio from 55 : 45 to 94 : 6 (Scheme 1). Lewis acids exhibited limited effect on the syn/anti diastereoselectivity of this reaction, and kinetic control of the reaction was confirmed. ¹H‐NMR Data suggested the assignment of the threo relative configuration to the first‐eluted diastereoisomers 3 , 5 , 7 , and 9 on reversed‐phase HPLC, and the erythro configuration to the second‐eluted counterparts 4 , 6 , 8 , and 10 , respectively. The structures and relative configurations threo and erythro of the diastereoisomers 5 and 6 , respectively, were established by single‐crystal X‐ray analysis, confirming the assignment based on the ¹H‐NMR data. A tentative mechanistic explanation of the diastereoselectivity invokes the enolate anion of 1,3‐dihydro‐2H‐1,4‐benzodiazepin‐2‐one as the reactive species (Scheme 2). Acid‐catalyzed hydrolytic ring opening of 3 afforded threo‐β‐hydroxy‐phenylalanine 17 , whereas from 4 , the N‐(benzyloxy)carbonyl derivative 18 of erythro‐β‐hydroxy‐phenylalanine was obtained (Scheme 3); in both cases, neither elimination of H₂O from the C(3)−CHOH moiety nor epimerization at C(3) were observed. This result opens a new pathway to various configurationally uniform α‐amino‐β‐hydroxy carboxylic acids and their congeners of biological importance.     

Coumarin-Palladium(II) Complex Acts as a Potent and Non-Toxic Anticancer Agent against Pancreatic Carcinoma Cells

Pancreatic carcinoma still represents one of the most lethal malignant diseases in the world although some progress has been made in treating the disease in the past decades. Current multi-agent treatment options have improved the overall survival of patients, however, more effective treatment strategies are still needed. In this paper we have characterized the anticancer potential of coumarin-palladium(II) complex against pancreatic carcinoma cells. Cells viability, colony formation and migratory potential of pancreatic carcinoma cells were assessed in vitro, followed by evaluation of apoptosis induction and in vivo testing on zebrafish. Presented results showed remarkable reduction in pancreatic carcinoma cells growth both in vitro and in vivo, being effective at micromolar concentrations (0.5 μM). Treatments induced apoptosis, increased BAX/BCL-2 ratio and suppressed the expression of SOX9 and SOX18, genes shown to be significantly up-regulated in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Importantly, treatments of the zebrafish-pancreatic adenocarcinoma xenografts resulted in significant reduction in tumor mass, without provoking any adverse toxic effects including hepatotoxicity. Presented results indicate the great potential of the tested compound and the perspective of its further development towards pancreatic cancer therapy.     

Physico-chemical processes in metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors with thick gate oxide during high electric field stress

A complete study of the defects created in the gate oxide and at the gate oxide/substrate interface of metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors with thick gate oxide (t_ox > 10 nm) during high electric field stress, and the mechanisms responsible for these defects creation have been given. In addition, some results of positive/negative high electric field stress with constant gate voltage of commercial n-channel power metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors with thick gate oxide of 100 nm, have been explained using this study.