Synthesis of Sulfonimidamides from Sulfenamides via an Alkoxy‐amino‐λ6‐sulfanenitrile Intermediate

Sulfonimidamides are intriguing new motifs for medicinal and agrochemistry, and provide attractive bioisosteres for sulfonamides. However, there remain few operationally simple methods for their preparation. Here, the synthesis of NH‐sulfonimidamides is achieved directly from sulfenamides, themselves readily formed in one step from amines and disulfides. A highly chemoselective and one‐pot NH and O transfer is developed, mediated by PhIO in iPrOH, using ammonium carbamate as the NH source, and in the presence of 1 equivalent of acetic acid. A wide range of functional groups are tolerated under the developed reaction conditions, which also enables the functionalization of the antidepressants desipramine and fluoxetine and the preparation of an aza analogue of the drug probenecid. The reaction is shown to proceed via different and concurrent mechanistic pathways, including the formation of novel S≡N sulfanenitrile species as intermediates. Several alkoxy‐amino‐λ⁶‐sulfanenitriles are prepared with different alcohols, and shown to be alkylating agents to a range of nucleophiles.     

Flow Technology for the Genesis and Use of (Highly) Reactive Organometallic Reagents

In the field of organic synthesis, the advent of flow chemistry and flow microreactor technology represented a tremendous novelty in the way of thinking and performing chemical reactions, opening the doors to poorly explored or even impossible transformations using batch methods. In this Concept article, we would like to highlight the impact of flow chemistry for exploiting highly reactive organometallic reagents, and how, alongside the well-known advantages concerning safety, scalability, and productivity, flow chemistry makes possible processes that are impossible to control by using the traditional batch approach.     

Michael addition of ortho-lithiated aryloxiranes to alpha,beta-unsaturated malonates: synthesis of tetrahydroindenofuranones

A short and efficient synthesis of tetrahydroindenofuranones based on the Michael addition of ortho-lithiated aryloxiranes to alkylidene malonates followed by the nucleophilic oxirane ring-opening and subsequent lactonization is described. The methodology has been applied to the synthesis of a structural analogue of epipodophyllotoxins.     

Regio- and stereoselective lithiation of 2,3-diphenylaziridines: a multinuclear NMR investigation

The alpha-lithiation-trapping sequence of trans-N-alkyl-2,3-diphenylaziridines (s-BuLi or s-BuLi/TMEDA), taking place with a stereochemistry which dramatically depends on the solvent coordinating ability (inversion of configuration in THF and retention in toluene), has been carefully investigated. 1H,13C, and 7Li multinuclear NMR investigations at low temperature suggest that two differently configured lithiated aziridines (monomeric cis-1-Li in THF and dimeric trans-1-Li in toluene) are involved.     

Adsorption of simple fluid on silica surface and nanopore: effect of surface chemistry and pore shape

This paper reports a molecular simulation study on the adsorption of simple fluids (argon at 77 K) on hydroxylated silica surfaces and nanopores. The effect of surface chemistry is addressed by considering substrates with either partially or fully hydroxylated surfaces. We also investigate the effect of pore shape on adsorption and capillary condensation by comparing the results for cylindrical and hexagonal nanopores having equivalent sections (i.e., equal section areas). Due to the increase in the polarity of the surface with the density of OH groups, the adsorbed amounts for fully hydroxylated surfaces are found to be larger than those for partially hydroxylated surfaces. Both the adsorption isotherms for the cylindrical and hexagonal pores conform to the typical behavior observed in the experiments for adsorption/condensation in cylindrical nanopores MCM-41. Capillary condensation occurs through an irreversible discontinuous transition between the partially filled and the completely filled configurations, while evaporation occurs through the displacement at equilibrium of a hemispherical meniscus along the pore axis. Our data are also used to discuss the effect of surface chemistry and pore shape on the BET method. The BET surface for fully hydroxylated surfaces is much larger (by 10-20%) than the true geometrical surface. In contrast, the BET surface significantly underestimates the true surface when partially hydroxylated surfaces are considered. These results suggest that the surface chemistry and the choice of the system adsorbate/adsorbent is crucial in determining the surface area of solids using the BET method.     

Regio- and stereoselective lithiation and electrophilic substitution reactions of N-Alkyl-2,3-diphenylaziridines: solvent effect

[structure: see text]. The lithiation reaction of cis- and trans-N-alkyl-2,3-diphenylaziridines has been investigated. While cis-diphenylaziridines do not undergo any lithiation upon treatment with organolithiums, the lithiation reaction of the trans counterparts is completely alpha-regioselective and the stereochemical course of the lithiation-trapping sequence is solvent dependent: inversion of configuration in coordinating solvents (THF or toluene/crown ether) and retention in hexane, ether, or toluene. The preparation of stereodefined functionalized N-alkyl-2,3-diphenylaziridines is described.     

A multireference perturbation theory study on the vertical electronic spectrum of thiophene

The vertical electronic spectrum of the thiophene molecule is investigated by means of second and third order multireference perturbation theory (NEVPT). Single-state and quasi-degenerate NEVPT calculations of more than 25 singlet excited states have been performed. The study is addressed to the theoretical characterization of the four lowest-energy valence states, as well as the 3s, 3p and 3d Rydberg states. In addition, the excitation energies of two and valence states are also reported. For almost all the excited states, coupled cluster calculations (CCSD and CCSDR(3)) have been also carried out, using the same geometry and basis set used for the NEVPT ones, in order to make the comparison between the results of the two methods meaningful. A remarkable accordance between the NEVPT and CC excitation energies is found. The present results, over all, confirm the experimental assignments but, above all, represent an important contribution to the assignments of some low-energy states, valence and Rydberg, for which a firm interpretation is not available in the literature.     

The first pure LambdaHT rotamer of a complex with a cis-[metal(nucleotide)2] unit: a cis-[Pt(amine)2(nucleotide)2] LambdaHT rotamer with unique molecular structural features

cis-[PtA2(nucleotide)2] complexes (A2 stands for two amines or a diamine) have been extensively investigated as model compounds for key cisplatin-DNA adducts. All cis-[metal(nucleotide/nucleoside)2] complexes with guanine and related purines characterized in the solid state thus far have the DeltaHT conformation (head-to-tail orientation of the two bases and right-handed chirality). In sharp contrast, the LambdaHT conformation (left-handed chirality) dominates in acidic and neutral aqueous solutions of cis-[PtA2(5'-GMP)2] complexes. Molecular models and solution experiments indicate that the LambdaHT conformer is stabilized by 5'-phosphate/N1H hydrogen-bond interactions between cis nucleotides with the normal anti conformation. However, this evidence, while compelling, is indirect. At last, conditions have been defined to allow crystallization of this elusive conformer. The structure obtained reveals three unique features not present in all other cis-[PtA2(nucleotide)2] solid-state structures: a LambdaHT conformation, very strong hydrogen-bond interactions between the phosphate and N1H of cis nucleotides, and a very small dihedral angle between the planes of the two guanines lying nearly perpendicular to the coordination plane. These new results indicate that, because there are no local base-base repulsions precluding the LambdaHT conformer, global forces rather than local interactions account for the predominance of the DeltaHT conformer over the LambdaHT conformer in the solid state and in both inter- and intrastrand HT crosslinks of oligonucleotides and DNA.     

Comparative study of water dissociation on Rh(111) and Ni(111) studied with first principles calculations

The dissociation and formation of water on the Rh(111) and Ni(111) surfaces have been studied using density functional theory with generalized gradient approximation and ultrasoft pseudopotentials. Calculations have been performed on 2x2 surface unit cells, corresponding to coverages of 0.25 ML, with spot checks on 3x3 surface unit cells (0.11 ML). On both surfaces, the authors find that water adsorbs flat on top of a surface atom, with binding energies of 0.35 and 0.25 eV, respectively, on Rh(111) and Ni(111), and is free to rotate in the surface plane. Barriers of 0.92 and 0.89 eV have to be overcome to dissociate the molecule into OH and H on the Rh(111) and Ni(111) surfaces, respectively. Further barriers of 1.03 and 0.97 eV need to be overcome to dissociate OH into O and H. The barriers for the formation of the OH molecule from isolated adsorbed O and H are found to be 1.1 and 1.3 eV, and the barriers for the formation of the water molecule from isolated adsorbed OH and H are 0.82 and 1.05 eV on the two surfaces. These barriers are found to vary very little as coverage is changed from 0.25 to 0.11 ML. The authors have also studied the dissociation of OH in the presence of coadsorbed H or O. The presence of a coadsorbed H atom only weakly affects the energy barriers, but the effect of O is significant, changing the dissociation barrier from 1.03 to 1.37 and 1.15 eV at 0.25 or 0.11 ML coverage on the Rh(111) surface. Finally, the authors have studied the dissociation of water in the presence of one O atom on Rh(111), at 0.11 ML coverage, and the authors find a barrier of 0.56 eV to dissociate the molecule into OH+OH.