Stereocontrolled IMDA reaction of styrene derivatives. A way to enantiopure 3a,4,9,9a-tetrahydrobenz[f]isoindolines

IMDA reactions on chiral perhydro-1,3-benzoxazines, derived from (-)-8-amino menthol, bearing a styrene substituent at C-2 acting as diene and an acryl amide acting as dienophile occur with high stereoselection and excellent chemical yields. After elimination of the chiral appendage, enantiopure 3a,4,9,9a-tetrahydrobenz[f]isoindolines are prepared in this way. The effect of the substituents at both diene and dienophile are studied, showing that a methyl group at C-1 in the diene inhibited the reaction, while the ene adduct, instead of the IMDA product, was obtained when a methyl group was at C-2.     

The dominant role of solvent in the sequestering of bile salts by hydrophobic cationic polymeric resins

The binding behavior of sodium cholate, a trihydroxy hydrophobic bile salt, by a polyacrylamide resin with N,N,N-trimethylammonium dodecyl chloride (QPDA12) pendant group was determined with varying buffer conditions and in the presence of 1,2-propanediol as a solvent perturbant. Binding constants extracted from the fit of the binding isotherms to the Langmuir equation were obtained at several temperatures. The temperature dependence of the binding behavior indicated that binding, in comparison with that of the dihydroxy chenodeoxycholate, was weaker due to a smaller positive entropic change, despite a lowered enthalpic barrier. Enthalpy-entropy compensation with a compensation temperature of 285-290 K, characteristic of processes involving water, was found to encompass both the cholate and chenodeoxycholate data under a wide variety of conditions. Previous studies with sodium chenodeoxycholate determined that loss of hydrophobic hydration within the resin dominated the thermodynamics of the binding process, but the observations with sodium cholate revealed that solvent liberation about the bile salt is also a contributor.     

Characterization of Alkane Diol-CD Complexes. Acid Denitrosation of N-Methyl-N-Nitroso-p-Toluenesulphonamide as a Chemical Probe

A study was carried out on the acid denitrosation of N-methyl-N-nitroso-p-toluenesulfonamide (MNTS) in mixed systems made up of linear (geminal and terminal) alkyl diols and β-cyclodextrin (CD). The alkyl diols used allowed us to vary the length of the hydrocarbon chain from 2 to 6 carbon atoms. The observed rate constant, k _obs, decreases in the presence of CD. The inhibition profile decreases as the as the number of carbons in the chain is increased. This behaviour can be interpreted as a consequence of a balance between the complexation processes of MNTS and the alkyl diols by the CD. At a constant CD concentration and increase in the diols concentration decreases the concentration of free cyclodextrin available to complex with MNTS molecules and therefore produces an increases in the observed rate constant. The results were interpreted in terms of two different models; trough the presupposition and non-presupposition of a stoichiometry for the CD-diols complex. Both models agreed quite well and allow us to determine the uncomplexed cyclodextrin concentration in each case as well as the stoichiometry of the complexes. The binding constant for both types of alkane diols increase with increasing the number of carbon in the chain. Besides, the binding constant of the α,ω-alkane diols is higher than for the analog α,β-alkane diols. One of the main consequences of this study is that the acid denitrosation of MNTS can be use to obtain the stochiometry of the CD-diol complexes and to monitor the free cyclodextrin concentration.Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article at     

Quinazolinone derivatives. Kinetics of the reaction of 2-chloromethyl-3-hydroxy-4-(3H)quinazolinone with nucleophiles

Reaction of 2-Chloromethyl-3-hydroxy-4(3H)quinazolinone ( 1 ) with aliphatic amines and hydroxide follows two different routes affording substituted methyl quinazolinones and a dimer 2 derived from 1 . The former were formed by S_N² reactions while the latter was formed by an inter-molecular nucleophilic displacement. Second-order and third-order rate constants, respectively, were determined, and the kinetic factors influencing both parallel reactions were analysed.     

Determination of sterols in biological samples by SPME with on-fiber derivatization and GC/FID

A new procedure for the determination of sterols in serum samples is proposed. The system consists of coating a Solid Phase Microextraction (SPME) microfiber in headspace mode with the derivatizing agent N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)trifluoracetamide (BSTFA) and then applying this coated fiber to the simultaneous extraction and derivatization of three precursors in the cholesterol biosynthesis pathway (desmosterol, lathosterol and lanosterol) and two phytosterols (sitosterol and sitostanol) in serum samples. Optimization of the analytical procedure via the application of an experimental design, a study of matrix effects, and an analysis of serum pool samples are all described and discussed.     

A Structural Study of the Iminodiacetate Moiety Conformation in N‐(1‐adamantyl)‐iminodiacetate(2‐) Copper(II) Complexes

N,N‐bis(carboxymethyl)‐1‐adamantylamine acid (H₂BCAA) or N‐(1‐adamantyl)‐iminodiacetic acid forms zwitterions that are intra‐stabilized by a ‘bifurcated’ N⁺‐H···O(carboxyl)₂ interaction. In the crystal, both half‐protonated carboxyl groups of H₂BCAA^± are involved in linear O‐H···O inter‐molecular bridges of 2.46Å. In the studied BCAA‐Cu^II derivatives, the iminodiacetate‐moiety of the BCAA chelating ligand exhibits a mer‐NO₂ conformation in [Cu(BCAA)(H₂O)₂] ( 1 ) and [Cu(BCAA)(Him)]₂ ( 2 ), but a fac‐O₂+N(apical) conformation in [Cu(BCAA)(bpy)(H₂O)]·3.5H₂O ( 3 ) [Him = imidazole, bpy =2,2′‐bipyridine]. In clear contrast, dipyridylamine (dpya), as auxiliary ligand, seems to be unable to promote the fac‐O₂+N(apical) conformation in BCAA, as reveal the structures of two new salts with the trinuclear cation [(dpya)₂Cu‐μ₂‐Cu(BCAA)₂‐Cu(dpya)₂]²⁺ and the anions [Cu(BCAA)₂]^2? ( 4 ) or NO₃^? ( 5 ), respectively.     

Mercury speciation and total trace element determination of low-biomass biological samples

Current approaches to mercury speciation and total trace element analysis require separate extraction/digestions of the sample. Ecologically important aquatic organisms--notably primary consumers such as zooplankton, polychaetes and amphipods--usually yield very low biomass for analysis, even with significant compositing of multiple organisms. Individual organisms in the lower aquatic food chains (mussels, snails, oysters, silversides, killifish) can also have very low sample mass, and analysis of whole single organisms is important to metal uptake studies. A method for the determination of both methyl Hg and total heavy metal concentrations (Zn, As, Se, Cd, Hg, Pb) in a single, low-mass sample of aquatic organisms was developed. Samples (2 to 50 mg) were spiked with enriched with (201)MeHg and (199)Hg, then leached in 4 M HNO(3) at 55 degrees C for extraction of MeHg. After 16 h, an aliquot (0.05 mL) was removed to determine mercury species (methyl and inorganic Hg) by isotope dilution gas chromatography inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The leachate was then acidified to 9 M HNO(3) and digested in a microwave at 150 degrees C for 10 min, and total metal concentrations were determined by collision cell ICP-MS. The method was validated by analyzing five biological certified reference materials. Average percent recoveries for Zn, As, Se, Cd, MeHg, Hg(total) and Pb were 99.9%, 103.5%, 100.4%, 103.3%, 101%, 97.7%, and 97.1%, respectively. The correlation between the sum of MeHg and inorganic Hg from the speciation analysis and total Hg by conventional digestion of the sample was determined for a large sample set of aquatic invertebrates (n = 285). Excellent agreement between the two measured values was achieved. This method is advantageous in situations where sample size is limited, and where correlations between Hg species and other metals are required in the same sample. The method also provides further validation of speciation data, by corroborating the sum of the Hg species concentrations with the total Hg concentration.     

Thermodynamic study of perfluorohexane + ether mixtures: VLE, LLE, and H

Vapour–liquid equilibria (VLE), liquid–liquid equilibria (LLE), and excess enthalpies (H^E) of binary mixtures of perfluoro-n-hexane plus an ether (diethyl, dipropyl, dibutyl, butyl methyl, and butyl ethyl ether), have been determined using a head-space gas-chromatographic technique, a turbidimetric apparatus, and a heat-flow calorimeter, respectively. A recently designed titration technique and calculation procedure have been used to obtain H^E from heats of solution. The observed liquid–liquid coexistence curves have been compared with those predicted by the activity coefficients γ_i and their temperature dependence. All mixtures are strongly endothermic (H^E > 0) and show large positive deviations from ideality (G^E > 0), which increase with the size of the ether. Molecular interactions have been examined by calculating and discussing solvation functions and Kirkwood–Buff (KB) integrals. Perfluorohexane proved to be an inert molecule that interacts with ethers more weakly than hexane.     

Visualization of interactions between siderophore transporters and the energizing protein TonB by native PAGE

Horizontal nondenaturing electrophoresis of proteins in polyacrylamide gels was used to observe specific interactions between membrane proteins. The method was particularly well suited for solubilized transporters of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, and allowed specific complexes of transporter and the inner-membrane protein TonB to be isolated. We have used this method to investigate the interactions between four different outer-membrane transporters, and the TonB proteins from two different organisms. The results show that a stable complex can be isolated on gels for all the proteins studied, but can depend in some cases of the detergent used for solubilization. Furthermore, we observe cross-species interaction as TonB from a given organism can interact with transporters from another organism.     

Diastereoselective yang photocyclization reactions in solution. synthesis of enantiopure azetidin-3-ol derivatives

[reaction: see text] Chiral 2-acyl-3-allyl- or 2-acyl-3-benzyl-substituted perhydro-1,3-benzoxazines readily cyclized under irradiation to azetidin-3-ol derivatives. The diastereoselectivity of the cyclization is dependent on the nature of the substituents at the nitrogen atom. N-allyl-substituted derivatives yielded only two of the four possible diastereomers in moderate to good diastereomeric excess. The cyclization of N-benzyl derivatives was totally diastereoselective leading to a single diastereomer. The elimination of the menthol appendage lead to enantiopure 2,3-disubstituted azetidin-3-ol derivatives.