Secondary metabolites produced by fungi derived from a microbial mat encountered in an iron-rich natural spring

A collection of fungal isolates was obtained from a complex microbial mat, which occupied an iron-rich freshwater spring that feeds into Clear Creek, Golden, Colorado, USA. Two of the fungal isolates, a Glomeromycete (possibly Entrophospora sp.) and a Dothideomycete (possibly Phaeosphaeria sp.), were investigated for bioactive secondary metabolites. In total, six new compounds consisting of clearanols A-E (5, 6, 10-12) and disulochrin (7) were purified and their structures were determined. Disulochrin exhibited modest antibacterial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, whereas clearanol C showed weak inhibitory activity against Candida albicans biofilm formation.     

Electrochemical Behaviour and Rapid Determination of L‐Dopa at Electrochemically Pretreated Screen Printed Carbon Electrode

A simple and rapid voltammetric method based on a disposable electrochemically pretreated screen‐printed carbon electrode is proposed for the determination of L ‐dopa. Under optimum differential pulse voltammetry conditions a limit of detection of 3.6×10^?7 M for L ‐dopa was obtained. The method was successfully applied to the determination of L ‐dopa in a commercial pharmaceutical formulation.     

Tetrahalidometallate(II) Ionic Liquids with More than One Metal: The Effect of Bromide versus Chloride

Fifteen N-butylpyridinium salts – five monometallic [C₄Py]₂[MBr₄] and ten bimetallic [C₄Py]₂[M_0.5^aM_0.5^bBr₄] (M=Co, Cu, Mn, Ni, Zn) – were synthesized, and their structures and thermal and electrochemical properties were studied. All the compounds are ionic liquids (ILs) with melting points between 64 and 101 °C. Powder and single-crystal X-ray diffraction show that all ILs are isostructural. The electrochemical stability windows of the ILs are between 2 and 3 V. The conductivities at room temperature are between 10⁻⁵ and 10⁻⁶ S cm⁻¹. At elevated temperatures, the conductivities reach up to 10⁻⁴ S cm⁻¹ at 70 °C. The structures and properties of the current bromide-based ILs were also compared with those of previous examples using chloride ligands, which illustrated differences and similarities between the two groups of ILs.     

Valorization of Madagascar’s CNSL via the synthesis of one advanced intermediate (3-Pentadecylcyclohexanone)

A unique advanced intermediate: 3-Pentadecylcyclohexanone was synthetized from the crude product which contained a mixture of cardanol, cardol and 2-methylcardol, which was hydrogenated onto Pd/C at 80 °C. From this alkylated cyclohexanone: C15 alkylated adipic acid, caprolactam, caprolactone, were synthetized in high yields, such products may have many potentially applications in polymer chemistry. The condensation of the 3-pentadecyl-cyclohexanone and triethylene glycol in oxidative or reductive conditions gave aryl ether and cyclohexyl ether, this may be a way to prepare intermediate for surfactant chemistry. Therefore we show that Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL) may lead to numerous useful compounds thank to the preparation of a unique advanced intermediate.     

Ligand Design for Site-Selective Metal Coordination: Synthesis of Transition-Metal Complexes with η6-Coordination of the Central Ring of Anthracene

A polycyclic aromatic ligand for site-selective metal coordination was designed by using DFT calculations. The computational prediction was confirmed by experiments: 2,3,6,7-tetramethoxy-9,10-dimethylanthracene initially reacts with [(C₅H₅)Ru(MeCN)₃]BF₄ to give the kinetic product with a [(C₅H₅)Ru]⁺ fragment coordinated at the terminal ring, which is then transformed into the thermodynamic product with coordination through the central ring. These isomeric complexes have markedly different UV/Vis spectra, which was explained by analysis of the frontier orbitals. At the same time, the calculations suggest that electrostatic interactions are mainly responsible for the site selectivity of the coordination.     

Structural effects in pyrazolidinone-mediated organocatalytic Diels-Alder reactions

A range of pyrazolidin-3-ones have been prepared and their activity as catalysts for iminium-ion promoted Diels-Alder reactions evaluated. Systematic variation of the C(5)- and N(2)-substituents indicates that the incorporation of an electron withdrawing substitutent at N(2) and either a Ph or CF₃ substitution at C(5) results in optimal catalytic activity. The diastereoisomeric resolution of a model C(5)-Ph substituted pyrazolidinone and its ability to impart modest levels of asymmetric induction in the organocatalytic Diels-Alder reaction is also demonstrated.     

Experimental and theoretical molecular and electronic structures of the N-oxides of pyridazine,pyrimidine and pyrazine

The structures of pyridazine N-oxide, pyrimidine N-oxide and pyrazine N-oxide have been determined by X-ray diffraction for the first time. Comparison with theoretical predictions of the equilibrium structures using the B3LYP method together with a cc-pVTZ basis set, show close agreement with the structural parameters observed, and experimental dipole moments, which suggests that the charge distribution is realistic. An ‘atoms in molecules’ (AIM) analysis of the computed wave-functions shows total electron densities rather different from the classical picture of a dative bond, whereas the same wave-functions subjected to Mulliken analysis show a more conventional view of the electron distribution. This latter procedure allows a bond dipole analysis of the N-oxide charge distribution.