A set of highly water-soluble tetraethyleneglycol-substituted Zn(II) phthalocyanines: synthesis, photochemical and photophysical properties, interaction with plasma proteins and in vitro phototoxicity

Three Zn(II) phthalocyanines substituted by hydroxyl-terminated tetraethylene glycol chains have been synthesized. In order to evaluate the potential of these highly water-soluble phthalocyanines as type II-photosensitisers for photodynamic therapy, their structure-activity relationship was assessed by determining relevant photophysical and photochemical properties, such as their aggregation behaviour in aqueous buffers, their fluorescence properties and their efficiency with regard to the generation of singlet oxygen. In addition, evidence for a negligible interaction with plasma proteins in undiluted human plasma was obtained using a recently developed bioanalytical method and compared with the fluorescence quenching approach. These results combined with in vitro data regarding the phototoxicity of these phthalocyanines against HT-29 cancer cells provide evidence for the relevance of the non-peripherally substituted derivative for further in vivo investigations.     

H+ versus D+) transfer from HOD+ to N2: mode- and bond-selective effects

Reactions of HOD(+) with N(2) have been studied for HOD(+) in its ground state and with one quantum of excitation in each of its vibrational modes: (001)--predominately OH stretch, 0.396 eV, (010)--bend, 0.153 eV, and (100)--predominately OD stretch, 0.293 eV. Integral cross sections and product recoil velocities were recorded for collision energies from threshold to 4 eV. The cross sections for both H(+) and D(+) transfer rise slowly from threshold with increasing collision energy; however, all three vibrational modes enhance reaction much more strongly than equivalent amounts of collision energy and the enhancements remain large even at high collision energy, where the vibration contributes less than 10% of the total energy. Excitation of the OH stretch enhances H(+) transfer by a factor of ～5, but the effect on D(+) transfer is only slightly larger than that from an equivalent increase in collision energy, and smaller than the effect from the much lower energy bend excitation. Similarly, OD stretch excitation strongly enhances D(+) transfer, but has essentially no effect beyond that of the additional energy on H(+) transfer. The effects of the two stretch vibrations are consistent with the expectation that stretching the bond that is broken in the reaction puts momentum in the correct coordinate to drive the system into the exit channel. From this perspective it is quite surprising that bend excitation also results in large (factor of 2) enhancements of both H(+) and D(+) transfer channels, such that its effect on the total cross section at collision energies below ～2 eV is comparable to those from the two stretch modes, even though the bend excitation energy is much smaller. For collision energies above ～2 eV, the vibrational effects become approximately proportional to the vibrational energy, though still much larger than the effects of equivalent addition of collision energy. Measurements of the product recoil velocity distributions show that reaction is direct at all collision energies, with roughly half the products in a sharp peak corresponding to stripping dynamics and half with a broad and approximately isotropic recoil velocity distribution. Despite the large effects of vibrational excitation on reactivity, the effects on recoil dynamics are small, indicating that vibrational excitation does not cause qualitative changes in the reaction mechanism or in the distribution of reactive impact parameters.     

H+ versus D+ transfer from HOD+ to CO2: bond-selective chemistry and the anomalous effect of bending excitation

Reactions of HOD(+) with CO(2) have been studied for HOD(+) in its ground state, and with one quantum of excitation in each of its vibrational modes: (001)--predominantly OH stretch, 0.396 eV; (010)--bend, 0.153 eV; and (100)--predominantly OD stretch, 0.293 eV. Integral cross sections and product recoil velocities were recorded for collision energies from threshold to 3 eV. The cross sections for both H(+) and D(+) transfer rise with increasing collision energy from threshold to ～1 eV, then become weakly dependent of the collision energy. All three vibrational modes enhance the total reactivity, but quite mode specifically. The H(+) transfer reaction is enhanced by OH stretch excitation, whereas OD stretch excitation has little effect. Conversely, the D(+) transfer reaction is enhanced by OD stretch excitation, while the OH stretch has little effect. Excitation of the bend strongly enhances both channels. The effects of the stretch excitations are consistent with previous studies of neutral HOD mode-selective chemistry, and can be at least qualitatively understood in terms of a late barrier to product formation. The fact that bend excitation produces the largest overall enhancement is surprising, because this is the lowest energy excitation, and is not obviously connected with the reaction coordinates for either H(+) or D(+) transfer. A rationalization in terms of the effects of water distortion on the potential surface is proposed.     

Synthesis, characterization, and electrochemical properties of a series of sterically varied iron(II) alkoxide precursors and their resultant nanoparticles

A new family of iron(II) aryloxide [Fe(OAr)(2)(py)(x)] precursors was synthesized from the alcoholysis of iron(II) mesityl [Fe(Mes)(2)] in pyridine (py) using a series of sterically varied 2-alkyl phenols (alkyl = methyl (H-oMP), isopropyl (H-oPP), tert-butyl (H-oBP)) and 2,6-dialkyl phenols (alkyl = methyl (H-DMP), isopropyl (H-DIP), tert-butyl (H-DBP), phenyl (H-DPhP)). All of the products were found to be mononuclear and structurally characterized as [Fe(OAr)(2)(py)(x)] (x = 3 OAr = oMP (1), oPP (2), oBP (3), DMP (4), DIP (5); x = 2 OAr = DBP (6), DPhP (7)). The use of tris-tert-butoxysilanol (OSi(OBu(t))(3) = TOBS) led to isolation of [Fe(TOBS)(2)(py)(2)] (8). The new Fe(OAr)(2)(py)(x) (1-6) were found, under solvothermal conditions, to produce nanodots identified by PXRD as the γ-maghemite phase. The model precursor 3 and the nanoparticles 6n were evaluated using electrochemical methods. Cyclic voltammetry for 3 revealed multiple irreversible oxidation peaks, which have been tentatively attributed to the loss of alkoxide ligand coupled with the deposition of a solid Fe-containing coating on the electrode. This coating was stable out to the voltage limits for the acetonitrile solvent.     

Cross section and parity-violating spin asymmetries of W± boson production in polarized p + p collisions at sqrt[s] = 500 GeV

Large parity-violating longitudinal single-spin asymmetries A(L)(e+) = -0.86(-0.14) (+0.30) and A(L)(e-) = 0.88(-0.71) (+0.12) are observed for inclusive high transverse momentum electrons and positrons in polarized p+p collisions at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt[s] = 500 GeV with the PHENIX detector at RHIC. These e± come mainly from the decay of W± and Z0 bosons, and their asymmetries directly demonstrate parity violation in the couplings of the W± to the light quarks. The observed electron and positron yields were used to estimate W± boson production cross sections for the e± channels of σ(pp → W+ X) × BR(W+ → e+ ν(e)) = 144.1 ± 21.2(stat)(-10.3) (+3.4) (syst) ± 21.6(norm) pb, and σ(pp → W- X) × BR(W- → e- ν[over ˉ](e)) = 31.7 ± 12.1(stat)(-8.2) (+10.1) (syst) ± 4.8(norm) pb.     

X-ray Crystal Structure of (CNSSS)2(M)2 (M = AsF6 −, SbF6 −, Sb2F11 −)

The crystal structures of (CNSSS)₂(AsF₆)₂, (CNSSS)₂(SbF6)₂, and two phases of (CNSSS)₂(Sb₂F₁₁)₂ have been determined. The AsF₆ ^?, SbF₆ ^?, and α-Sb₂F₁₁ ^? salts crystallize as reddish-brown plates whereas the β-Sb₂F₁₁ ^? salt crystallizes as green rods. The dication ^ß+SSSNCCNSSS^+ß (1²⁺) is the same in all four structures and consists of two 7π rings linked by a sp²-sp² C-C bond (1.462 Å in 1 (AsF₆)₂). The packing in the four structures is similar with stacks of dications along the a-axis and alternating sheets of dications and anions lying in the bc-plane. The differences in the dication-dication contacts is reflected in the variable temperature magnetic data.     

Stepwise modification of titanium alkoxy chloride compounds by pyridine carbinol

The stepwise modifications of stoichiometric mixtures of titanium chloride (TiCl 4) and titanium iso-propoxide (Ti(OPr (i)) 4) by 2-pyridine methanol (H-OPy) led to the isolation of a systematically varied, novel family of compounds. The 3:1 reaction mixture of Ti(OPr (i)) 4:TiCl 4 yielded [Cl(OPr (i)) 2Ti(mu-OPr (i))] 2 ( 1). Modification of 1 with 1 and 2 equiv of H-OPy produced [Cl(OPr (i)) 2Ti(mu c-OPy)] 2 ( 2, where mu c = chelating bridge) and "(OPy) 2TiCl(OPr (i))" ( 3, not crystallographically characterized), respectively. Altering the Ti(OPr (i)) 4 to TiCl 4 stoichiometry to 1:1 led to isolation and identification of another dimeric species [Cl 2(OPr (i))Ti(mu-OPr (i))] 2 ( 4). Upon modification with 1 equiv of H-OPy, [Cl 2(OPr (i))Ti(mu c-OPy)] 2 ( 5) was isolated from toluene and (OPy)TiCl 2(OPr (i))(py) ( 6) from py. An additional equivalent of H-OPy led to the monomeric species (OPy) 2TiCl 2 ( 7). Because of the low solubility and similarity in constructs of these compounds, additional analytical data, such as the beryllium dome or BeD-XRD powder analyses, were used to verify the bulk samples, which were found to be in agreement with the single crystal structures.     

Mesogenic dipyrrins-building blocks for the fabrication of fluorescent and metal-containing materials

A new class of mesogenic dipyrrins is reported and their use in the fabrication of fluorescent and metal-containing self assembling materials is demonstrated.     

'Pincer' pyridine dicarbene complexes of nickel and their derivatives. Unusual ring opening of a coordinated imidazol-2-ylidene

The reaction of NiBr2(DME), DME = 1,2-dimethoxyethane, with the pincer pyridine dicarbene ligands (C-N-C) ( 2) and (C-NMe-C) ( 2Me), (C-N-C = 2,6-bis-[(DiPP)imidazol-2-ylidene]pyridine, C-NMe-C = 2,6-bis-[(DiPP)imidazol-2-ylidene]-3,5-dimethylpyridine, DiPP = 2,6-diisopropylphenyl) gave the square planar complexes [Ni(C-N(Me)-C)Br]Br, 3.( Br)- and 3Me.( Br)- respectively. Transmetallation from [(C-NMe-C)2Ag2](Ag6I8), 6Me.( Ag6 I8)2- to NiBr2(DME) gave [Ni(C-NMe-C)Br](AgI2), 3Me.( AgI2)-. Reaction of 3.( Br)- with KPF6 resulted only in exchange of the ionic bromide, however the reaction of 3.( Br)- with AgBF4 in MeCN or AgOTf in THF resulted in the exchange of both coordinated and ionic bromides, giving rise to the square planar 4.( BF4)-2 and octahedral 5, respectively. In contrast, the reaction of 3Me.( AgI2)-, with excess AgOTf resulted in an unusual reverse transmetallation leading to 6Me.( OTf)-. The substitution of tmeda in Ni(CH3)2(tmeda), tmeda = N,N,N,N-tetramethylethylenediamine, by 2 produced the complex 7, in which ring opening of the heterocyclic imidazole ring of one of the NHC functional groups has taken place.     

Enantioselective synthesis of the carbocyclic nucleoside (-)-abacavir

An enantiopure β-lactam with a suitably disposed electron withdrawing group on nitrogen, participated in a π-allylpalladium mediated reaction with 2,6-dichloropurine tetrabutylammonium salt to afford an advanced cis-1,4-substituted cyclopentenoid with both high regio- and stereoselectivity. This advanced intermediate was successfully manipulated to the total synthesis of (-)-Abacavir.