Electron transfer in bis(hydrazines), a critical test for application of the Marcus model

Electron transfer in the cations of bis(hydrazines), bridged by six different π‐systems (compounds 1–6) is studied using ab initio and density functional theory (DFT) methods. Due to ionization from an antibonding combination of the lone‐pair orbitals of the nitrogens in one of the hydrazine units, conjugation is introduced in the N? N bond of that unit. This leads to a shortening of the N? N bond distance and an increase of the planarity around the nitrogens. Due to steric hindrance, this causes an increase of the angle, called φ, between the lone‐pair orbital on the nitrogen attached to the bridge and the p‐orbital on the adjacent bridge carbon for the ionized unit in the charge localized, relaxed state of the molecule. This angle controls the magnitude of the electronic coupling. In the fully delocalized symmetric transition state of the ion, however, this angle is low for both units, due to the fact that the conjugation introduced at the ionized hydrazine unit is now shared between both units. An extended π‐system is formed including the orbitals of the hydrazine units and the bridge, which leads to a large electronic coupling. The electronic coupling derived by optical methods, corresponding to the structure of the relaxed, asymmetric cation with a large φ for the ionized unit, appears to be much smaller. We believe this is due to an approximate cosine dependence on φ of the coupling. The calculations carried out support these conclusions. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Comput Chem 22: 655–664, 2001     

Superporous agarose anion exchangers for plasmid isolation

Superporous agarose beads have wide, connecting flow pores allowing large molecules such as plasmids to be transported into the interior of the beads by convective flow. The pore walls provide additional surface for plasmid binding thus increasing the binding capacity of the adsorbent. Novel superporous agarose anion exchangers have been prepared, differing with respect to bead diameter, superpore diameter and type of anion-exchange functional group (poly(ethyleneimine) and quaternary amine). The plasmid binding capacities were obtained from breakthrough curves and compared with the binding capacity of homogeneous agarose beads of the same particle size. Significantly, the smaller diameter superporous agarose beads were found to have four to five times higher plasmid binding capacity than the corresponding homogeneous agarose beads. The experimentally determined plasmid binding capacity was compared with the theoretically calculated surface area for each adsorbent and fair agreement was found. Confocal microscopy studies of beads with adsorbed, fluorescently labelled plasmids aided in the interpretation of the results. Superporous poly(ethyleneimine)-substituted beads with a high ion capacity (230 micromol/ml) showed a plasmid binding of 3-4 mg/ml adsorbent. Superporous quaternary amine-substituted beads had a lower ion capacity (81 micromol/ml) and showed a correspondingly lower plasmid binding capacity (1-2 mg/ml adsorbent). In spite of the lower capacity, the beads with quaternary amine ligand were preferred, due to their much better plasmid recovery (70-100% recovery). Interestingly, both capacity and recovery was improved when the plasmid adsorption step was carried out in the presence of a moderate salt concentration. The most suitable superporous bead type (45-75 microm diameter beads; 4 microm superpores; quaternary amine ligand) was chosen for the capture of plasmid DNA from a clarified alkaline lysate. Two strategies were evaluated, one with and one without enzymatic digestion of RNA. The strategy without RNase gave high plasmid recovery, quantitative removal of protein and a 70% reduction in RNA.     

Bicyclopropylidene radical cation: A rehybridization ring opening to tetramethyleneethane

A computational study has been undertaken to elucidate the mechanism of the bicyclopropylidene radical cation (BCP^?+) rearrangement into the tetramethyleneethane radical cation (TME^?+). A stepwise mechanism is found for the first ring opening, with an activation energy of 7.3 kcal mol^?1, while the second ring opening proceeds with no activation energy. Each ring opening is combined with a striking pyramidalization of one carbon atom in the central bond. In a natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis, the dominating reaction coordinate during the ring opening is found to be the olefinic carbon atom rehybridization, which also favors the continued bond breaking. Widely different ESR parameters are computed for the two sets of four protons in BCP^?+, in excellent agreement with the observed spectrum, which are interpreted in the NBO analysis in terms of two hyperconjugative effects. Two minimum energy structures are located for TME^?+, separated by a cusp on the internal rotation path of this cation, both of which show ESR parameters in good agreement with the observed spectrum for TME^?+. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2004     

2-(p -toluidino)-6-naphthalene sulfonate as a fluorescent probe for flocculation studies of cationic potato amylopectin and nanosized silica particles. 2. Flocculation by binding of nanosized silica particles

2-(p-toluidino)-6-naphthalene sulfonate (TNS) is a probe that fluoresces strongly when bound to certain proteins and polymers, but weakly in aqueous solutions. The reversible association of TNS is used to monitor the binding of anionic nanosized silica particles (NSP) to cationic potato amylopectin starch (CApS) through the decreasing fluorescence emission as TNS is competitively released by the particle binding. Steady-state fluorescence measurements at different mixing ratios of CApS and NSP provide data on the equilibrium binding. The isotherm derived is used to establish the fact that the most efficient flocculation between CApS and NSP occurs when the polymer coils are nearly saturated by NSP, but still have positively charged parts left. This supports a patch-flocculation mechanism. Stopped-flow experiments show that NSP binding to CApS occurs within a few milli seconds. This observation allows turbidity changes which occur on longer timescales to be ascribed to particle-decorated polymers undergoing changes in the conformation or aggregation. Received: 14 August 1998 Accepted in revised form: 4 December 1998     

Bicyclo[2.2.1]hepta-2-ene-5-yl-7-ylium radical cation: a theoretical validation of a bishomoaromatic radical cation intermediate

[structure: see text] A natural bond orbital analysis of the distonic bicyclo[2.2.1]hepta-2-ene-5-yl-7-ylium radical cation interprets its structure and radical character by a three-center two-electron bond between C2, C3, and C7 (a bishomoaromatic stabilization) and a singly occupied orbital on C5, n(5). Moreover, B3LYP/6-311+G(d,p) ESR parameters, which agree excellently with experiment, are interpreted in terms of spin polarization in the natural hybrids of sigma(C5-H5), and a dual hyperconjugative effect involving n(5), sigma(C1-H1a), sigma(C1-H1b), and antibonding counterparts.     

Reactivity of rhenium(V) oxo Schiff base complexes with phosphine ligands: rearrangement and reduction reactions

The symmetric rhenium(V) oxo Schiff base complexes trans-[ReO(OH2)(acac2en)]Cl and trans-[ReOCl(acac2pn)], where acac2en and acac2pn are the tetradentate Schiff base ligands N,N'-ethylenebis(acetylacetone) diimine and N,N'-propylenebis(acetylacetone) diimine, respectively, were reacted with monodentate phosphine ligands to yield one of two unique cationic phosphine complexes depending on the ligand backbone length (en vs pn) and the identity of the phosphine ligand. Reduction of the Re(V) oxo core to Re(III) resulted on reaction of trans-[ReO(OH2)(acac2en)]Cl with triphenylphosphine or diethylphenylphosphine to yield a single reduced, disubstituted product of the general type trans-[Re(III)(PR3)2(acac2en)]+. Rather unexpectedly, a similar reaction with the stronger reducing agent triethylphosphine yielded the intramolecularly rearranged, asymmetric cis-[Re(V)O(PEt3)(acac2en)]+ complex. Reactions of trans-[Re(V)O(acac2pn)Cl] with the same phosphine ligands yielded only the rearranged asymmetric cis-[Re(V)O(PR3)(acac2pn)]+ complexes in quantitative yield. The compounds were characterized using standard spectroscopic methods, elemental analyses, cyclic voltammetry, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The crystallographic data for the structures reported are as follows: trans-[Re(III)(PPh3)2(acac2en)]PF6 (H48C48N2O2P2Re.PF6), 1, triclinic (P), a = 18.8261(12) A, b = 16.2517(10) A, c = 15.4556(10) A, alpha = 95.522(1) degrees , beta = 97.130(1) degrees , gamma = 91.350(1) degrees , V = 4667.4(5) A(3), Z = 4; trans-[Re(III)(PEt2Ph)2(acac2en)]PF6 (H48C32N2O2P2Re.PF6), 2, orthorhombic (Pccn), a = 10.4753(6) A, b =18.4315(10) A, c = 18.9245(11) A, V = 3653.9(4) A3, Z = 4; cis-[Re(V)O(PEt3)(acac2en)]PF6 (H33C18N2O3PRe.1.25PF6, 3, monoclinic (C2/c), a = 39.8194(15) A, b = 13.6187(5) A, c = 20.1777(8) A, beta = 107.7730(10) degrees , V = 10419.9(7) A3, Z = 16; cis-[Re(V)O(PPh3)(acac2pn)]PF6 (H35C31N2O3PRe.PF6), 4, triclinic (P), a = 10.3094(10) A, b =12.1196(12) A, c = 14.8146(15) A, alpha = 105.939(2) degrees , beta = 105.383(2) degrees , gamma = 93.525(2) degrees , V = 1698.0(3) A3, Z = 2; cis-[Re(V)O(PEt2Ph)(acac2pn)]PF6 (H35C23N2O3PRe.PF6), 5, monoclinic (P2(1)/n), a = 18.1183(18) A, b = 11.580(1) A, c = 28.519(3) A, beta = 101.861(2) degrees , V = 5855.9(10) A(3), Z = 4.     

Surface modification of polymers. V. Biomaterial applications

Polyethylene films were surface grafted with glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) by UV irradiating the film for 5 min together with benzophenone. Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) was attached to the grafted surface through reaction with the epoxy groups. This yielded a surface which consisted of 95% PEG as measured with ESCA. The adsorption of human transferrin onto this film was significantly reduced as compared with a pure polyethylene film. Heparin was also reacted with a GMA grafted PE surface. ESCA showed that heparin was grafted to the surface, and in vitro blood clotting tests on the heparinized PE surface showed a reduced thrombus formation. GMA grafted polystyrene wells were reacted with carbohydrazide, to the formed carbohydrazide surface a rabbit antibody raised against mouse urinary protein (RaMUP) was covalently coupled. The RaMUP coupled surfaces was used in the detection of mouse urinary protein (MUP) at low concentrations (ca. 1 ng/mL) with an ELISA technique.     

Effect of coadsorbed dopants on diamond initial growth processes: CH3 adsorption

An investigation based on an ultrasoft pseudopotential density functional theory (DFT) method, using the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) under periodic boundary conditions, has been performed in order to investigate how the presence of a neighboring dopant is affecting the CH 3 adsorption reaction (regarded to be an initial growth process). For this study, both the (100) and (111) diamond surface orientations have been considered, and various dopants in two different hydrogenated forms AH X (A = N, B, S, P, or C; X = 0 or 1 for S, X = 1 or 2 for N, B, and P, and X = 2 or 3 for C) were especially scrutinized. For most of the cases studied, the presence of a coadsorbed dopant was found to disfavor CH 3 adsorption with an efficiency that depends on the surface orientation as well as dopant type and position. The NH 2, PH 2, and SH species have the strongest effect in counteracting the CH 3 adsorption to the diamond (111) surface. This is also the situation with the dopants adsorbed on either of two specific surface sites (out of three positions studied) on the diamond (100)-2 x 1 surface. The main reasons for these observations are induced steric hindrances between the two coadsorbates. The BH 2 species, adsorbed to the third type of surface site on diamond (100), has been found to affect the adsorption reaction by formation of a C surf-B bond prior to CH 3 adsorption. The dopants in their radical forms are generally shown to always strongly disfavor the CH 3 adsorption reaction by formation of a C surf-X bond prior to adsorption. However, the NH radical will only form this new bond with the radical surface C site when it is adsorbed to position 3 on the surface.