Die Wasserstoffbrückenbildung als primärer Elementarvorgang bei der Ionisation schwacher Säuren und bei Säure-Basen-Katalysen in wäßriger Lösung

The mechanism of the ionisation of weak acids was elucidated according to the interpretation of the acid—base-catalysis of the mutarotation of α-glucose by the author. The primary elementary reaction of the ionisation of weak acids is the exothermic formation of the hydrogen bridge of the acid with the polar solvent. The secondary reaction is the endothermic total transfer of the proton to the solvent. The thermodynamic values of both elementary reactions were determined for the ionisation of different weak acids in aqueous solution and in this way a contribution was made to the thermodynamics of intermediate reactions which was propagated by the autorh. The formation of hydrogen bridge at the acid—base-catalysis of the mutarotation of α-glucose is discussed from the point of view of the mechanism of ionisation of weak acids. Furthermore the limits of the validity of theBrönsted equation for the acid—base-catalysis of the mutarotation of α-glucose were demonstrated.     

Quantum chemical investigations and bonding analysis of iron complexes with mixed cyano and carbonyl ligands

The equilibrium structures and vibrational frequencies of the iron complexes [Fe(CN)(x)(CO)(y)](q) (x = 0-6 and y = 0-5) have been calculated at the BP86 level of theory. The nature of the Fe-CN and Fe-CO has been analyzed with an energy partitioning method. The calculated Fe-CO bond lengths are in good agreement with the results of X-ray structure analysis whereas the Fe-CN bonds are calculated somewhat longer than the experimental values. The theoretically predicted vibrational frequencies of the C-O stretching mode are always lower and the calculated CN(-) frequencies are higher than the observed fundamental modes. The results of the bonding analysis suggest that the Fe-CO binding interactions have approximately 55% electrostatic character and approximately 45% covalent character. There is a significant contribution of the pi orbital interaction to the Fe-CO covalent bonding which increases when the complexes become negatively charged. The strength of deltaE(pi) may even be larger than deltaE(sigma). The Fe-CN(-) bonds have much less pi character. The calculated binding energy of the Fe-CO pi-interactions correlates very well with the C-O stretching frequencies.     

Synthese des Dysidins

Synthesis of Dysidin The synthesis of dysidin ((?)- 1 ), the enantiomer of a metabolite of the marine sponge Dysidea herbacea, is described. To effect the synthesis, (±)-5-isopropyl-4-methoxy-3-pyrrolin-2-one ( 7 ) is converted to its lithium salt and reacted with (?)-(5R,2E)-3-methoxy-5-trichloromethyl-2-hexenoyl chloride ((-)- 11 ) to give (?)- 1 and its diastereoisomer (+)-5-epidysidin ((+)- 12 ) epimeric at C(5) of the pyrrolinone ring. The (?)-acyl chloride (?)- 11 has been synthesized from (+)-(R)-3-(trichloromethyl)butanoic acid ((+)- 8 ) via the intermediates (+)- 9 and (?)- 10 , the pyrrolinone 7 from N-benzyl-oxycarbonyl-L-valine via the intermediate 5 . The enantiomers of acid 8 have been resolved by fractional crystallization of their diastereoisomeric N-(1-phenylethyl)amides. The (R)-chirality of (+)- 8 was determined by comparing the ¹H-NMR spectra of the diastereoisomeric N-(1-phenylethyl)amides 16 and 17 , made from (+)- 8 by substituting deuterium for chlorine, with the spectra of the N-(1-phenylethyl)amides 14 and 15 of known absolute configuration. This correlation shows that literature value (R) for (?)- 8 is in error. Therefore, the structural formulae of (?)-dysidenin and (+)-isodysidenin, two other metabolites of D.herbacea, have to be changed to their mirror images as shown in formulae (?)- 3 and (+)- 4 , respectively.     

Theory-enforced Re-investigation of the Origin of the Large Metal–Carbon Bond Strength in PdCH2I+ and its reactions with unsaturated hydrocarbons

State-of-the-art ab initio studies demonstrate that the reaction Pd⁺ + CH₃I → PdCH₂I⁺ + H^. is endothermic by ca. 20 kcal/mol, which translates into a bond dissociation energy (BDE) of ca. 83 kcal/mol for the Pd⁺? CH₂I bond. This figure is in agreement with an experimental bracket of 68 kcal/mol < BDE(Pd⁺? CH₂I) < 92 kcal/mol. Based on these findings, the previously studied Pd⁺/CH₃I system was re-investigated, and double-resonance experiments demonstrate that the formation of PdCH₂I⁺ occurs stepwise via PdCH as a reactive intermediate. Further, ion/molecule reactions of PdCH₂I⁺ with unsaturated hydrocarbons are studied, which reveal the formation of carbon–carbon bonds in the gas phase.     

Recognition and catalysis in allylic alkylations

[structure: see text] A cavitand outfitted with a chelated palladium atom catalyzes allylic alkylation reactions. Molecular recognition by the cavitand distinguishes between closely related structures and results in subtle substrate specificities.     

Microscale Thermophoresis and Molecular Modelling to Explore the Chelating Drug Transportation in the Milk to Infant

The microscale thermophoresis (MST) technique was utilized to investigate lactoferrin–drug interaction with the iron chelator, deferiprone, using label-free system. MST depends on the intrinsic fluorescence of one interacting partner. The results indicated a significant interaction between lactoferrin and deferiprone. The estimated binding constant for the lactoferrin–deferiprone interaction was 8.9 × 10⁻⁶ ± 1.6, SD, which is to be reported for the first time. Such significant binding between lactoferrin and deferiprone may indicate the potentiation of the drug secretion into a lactating mother’s milk. The technique showed a fast and simple approach to study protein–drug interaction while avoiding complicated labeling procedures. Moreover, the binding behavior of deferiprone within the binding sites of lactoferrin was investigated through molecular docking which reflected that deferiprone mediates strong hydrogen bonding with ARG121 and ASP297 in pocket 1 and forms H-bond and ionic interaction with ASN640 and ASP395, respectively, in pocket 2 of lactoferrin. Meanwhile, iron ions provide ionic interaction with deferiprone in both of the pockets. The molecular dynamic simulation further confirmed that the binding of deferiprone with lactoferrin brings conformational changes in lactoferrin that is more energetically stable. It also confirmed that deferiprone causes positive correlation motion in the interacting residues of both pockets, with strong negative correlation motion in the loop regions, and thus changes the dynamics of lactoferrin. The MM-GBSA based binding free energy calculation revealed that deferiprone exhibits ∆G TOTAL of −63,163 kcal/mol in pocket 1 and −63,073 kcal/mol in pocket 2 with complex receptor–ligand difference in pocket 1 and pocket 2 of −117.38 kcal/mol and −111.54 kcal/mol, respectively, which in turn suggests that deferiprone binds more strongly in the pocket 1. The free energy landscape of the lactoferrin–deferiprone complex also showed that this complex remains in a high energy state that confirms the strong binding of deferiprone with the lactoferrin. The current research concluded that iron-chelating drugs (deferiprone) can be transported from the mother to the infant in the milk because of the strong attachment with the lactoferrin active pockets.     

Thermodynamic equilibrium between locally excited and charge-transfer states through thermally activated charge transfer in 1-(pyren-2′-yl)-o-carborane

Reversible conversion between excited-states plays an important role in many photophysical phenomena. Using 1-(pyren-2′-yl)-o-carborane as a model, we studied the photoinduced reversible charge-transfer (CT) process and the thermodynamic equilibrium between the locally-excited (LE) state and CT state, by combining steady state, time-resolved, and temperature-dependent fluorescence spectroscopy, fs- and ns-transient absorption, and DFT and LR-TDDFT calculations. Our results show that the energy gaps and energy barriers between the LE, CT, and a non-emissive ‘mixed’ state of 1-(pyren-2′-yl)-o-carborane are very small, and all three excited states are accessible at room temperature. The internal-conversion and reverse internal-conversion between LE and CT states are significantly faster than the radiative decay, and the two states have the same lifetimes and are in thermodynamic equilibrium.

Reversible conversion between excited-states is key to many photophysical phenomena. We studied the equilibrium between LE and CT states by time-resolved and temperature-dependent fluorescence, fs- and ns-transient absorption, and LR-TDDFT calculations.