Simple and Efficient Ruthenium‐Catalyzed Oxidation of Primary Alcohols with Molecular Oxygen

Oxidative transformations utilizing molecular oxygen (O₂) as the stoichiometric oxidant are of paramount importance in organic synthesis from ecological and economical perspectives. Alcohol oxidation reactions that employ O₂ are scarce in homogeneous catalysis and the efficacy of such systems has been constrained by limited substrate scope (most involve secondary alcohol oxidation) or practical factors, such as the need for an excess of base or an additive. Catalytic systems employing O₂ as the “primary” oxidant, in the absence of any additive, are rare. A solution to this longstanding issue is offered by the development of an efficient ruthenium‐catalyzed oxidation protocol, which enables smooth oxidation of a wide variety of primary, as well as secondary benzylic, allylic, heterocyclic, and aliphatic, alcohols with molecular oxygen as the primary oxidant and without any base or hydrogen‐ or electron‐transfer agents. Most importantly, a high degree of selectivity during alcohol oxidation has been predicted for complex settings. Preliminary mechanistic studies including ¹⁸O labeling established the in situ formation of an oxo–ruthenium intermediate as the active catalytic species in the cycle and involvement of a two‐electron hydride transfer in the rate‐limiting step.     

Comparison on the production of radionuclides in 1.4 GeV proton irradiated LBE targets of different thickness

This is the first report on the inventory of radionuclides produced in 1.4 GeV proton induced reaction on Lead–Bismuth Eutectic (LBE) targets. LBE targets of 6 mm diameter and 1 to 8 mm lengths were irradiated with 1.4 GeV protons. The radionuclides ranging from ⁷Be (53.12 days) to ²⁰⁷Po (5.8 h) were identified in the samples with the help of time resolved γ-ray spectroscopy. However, there is no signature of formation of At radioisotopes, which can be produced by the interaction of secondary particles, typical for thick targets.     

Efficient and Simple Approaches Towards Direct Oxidative Esterification of Alcohols

The present article describes novel oxidative protocols for direct esterification of alcohols. The protocols involve successful demonstrations of both “cross” and “self” esterification of a wide variety of alcohols. The cross‐esterification proceeds under a simple transition‐metal‐free condition, containing catalytic amounts of TEMPO (2,2,6,6‐tetramethyl‐1‐piperidinyloxy)/TBAB (tetra‐n‐butylammonium bromide) in combination with oxone (potassium peroxo monosulfate) as the oxidant, whereas the self‐esterification is achieved through simple induction of Fe(OAc)₂/dipic (dipic=2,6‐pyridinedicarboxylic acid) as the active catalyst under an identical oxidizing environment.     

Finite quantum electrodynamics

It is shown that the ultraviolet divergences encountered in the lowest order perturbation calculations of quantum electrodynamics no longer appear if the theory is expanded so as to include the mu meson, a triplet of heavy axial vector bosons and two heavy polar vector bosons in addition to the electron and photon, and suitably chosen couplings between them are introduced.     

A new octahedral cobalt(III) complex of (1,8)- bis (2-hydroxybenzamido)-3,6-diazaoctane incorporating phenolate-amide-amine coordination: synthesis, X-ray crystal structure, ligand substitution and redox activity with sulfur(IV) and l -ascorbic acid

The octahedral complex, [Co^III(HL)]·9H₂O (H₄L = (1,8)-bis(2-hydroxybenzamido)-3,6-diazaoctane) incorporating bis carboxamido-N-, bis sec-NH, phenolate, and phenol coordination has been synthesized and characterized by analytical, NMR (¹H, ¹³C), e.s.i.-Mass, UV–vis, i.r., and Raman spectroscopy. The formation of the complex has also been confirmed by its single crystal X-ray structure. The cyclic voltammetry of the sample in DMF ([TEAP] = 0.1 mol dm⁻³, TEAP = tetraethylammonium perchlorate) displayed irreversible redox processes, [Co^III(HL)] → [Co^IV(HL)]⁺ and [Co^III(HL)] → [Co^II(HL)]⁻ at 0.41 and −1.09 V (versus SCE), respectively. A slow and H⁺ mediated isomerisation was observed for the protonated complex, [Co^III(H₂L)]⁺ (pK = 3.5, 25 °C, I = 0.5 mol dm⁻³). H₂Asc was an efficient reductant for the complex and the reaction involved outer sphere mechanism; the propensity of different species for intra molecular reduction followed the sequence: [{[Co^III(HL)],(H₂Asc)}–H]⁻ <<< {[Co^III(H₂L)],(H₂Asc)}⁺ < {[Co^III(HL)],(H₂Asc)}. A low value (ca. 3.7 × 10⁻¹⁰ dm³ mol⁻¹ s⁻¹, 25 °C, I = 0.5 mol dm⁻³) for the self exchange rate constant of the couple [Co^III(HL)]/[Co^II(HL)]⁻ indicated that the ligand HL³⁻ with amido (N-) donor offers substantial stability to the Co^III state. HSO₃⁻ and [Co^III(HL)] formed an outer sphere complex {[Co^III(HL)],(HSO₃⁻)}, which was slowly transformed to an inner sphere S-bonded sulfito complex, [Co^III(H₂L)(HSO₃)] and the latter was inert to reduction by external sulfite but underwent intramolecular S^IV → Co^III electron transfer very slowly. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Absorption spectroscopic and FTIR studies on EDA complexes between TNT (2,4,6-trinitrotoluene) with amines in DMSO and determination of the vertical electron affinity of TNT

TNT (2,4,6-trinitrotoluene) formed deep red 1:1 CT complexes with chromogenic agents like isopropylamine, ethylenediamine, bis(3-aminopropyl)amine and tetraethylenepentamine in DMSO. The complexes were also observed in solvents like methanol, acetone, etc. when the amines were present in large excess. The isopropylamine, complex showed three absorption peaks (at 378, 532 and 629 nm) whereas higher amines showed four peaks (at 370, 463, 532 and 629 nm). The peak at 463 nm vanished rapidly. The peak of the complexes near 530 nm required about 8-10 min to develop and the complexes were stable for about an hour but the peak slowly shifted towards 500 nm and the complexes were found to be stable for more than 24 h. The evidence of complex formation was obtained from distinct spots in HPTLC plates and from the shifts in frequencies and formation of new peaks in FTIR spectra. The peaks near 460 nm (transient) and 530 nm may be due to Janovsky reaction but could not be established. The extinction coefficients of the complexes were determined directly which enabled the accurate determination of the association constants KDA with TNT and amines in stoichiometric ratios. The results were verified using iterative method. The quantification of TNT was made using epsilon value of the complex with ethylenediamine. The vertical electron affinity (EA) of TNT was calculated using the method suggested by Mulliken.     

Frontispiece: Photocatalytic Terminal C−C Coupling Reaction Inside Water Soluble Nanocages

Developing methods that activate C−H bonds directly with high selectivity for C−C bond formation in complex organic synthesis has been a major chemistry challenge. Recently it has been shown that photoactivation of weakly polarized C−H bonds can be carried out inside a cationic water-soluble nanocage with visible light-mediated host-guest charge transfer (CT) chemistry. Using this novel photoredox activation paradigm, here we demonstrate C−C bond formation to photo-generate 1,3-diynes at room temperature in water from terminal aromatic alkynes for the first time. The formation of cavity-confined alkyne radical cation and the proton-removed neutral radical species highlight the unique C−C coupling step driven by supramolecular preorganization.