Quantum effects in energy and charge transfer in an artificial photosynthetic complex

We investigate the quantum dynamics of energy and charge transfer in a wheel-shaped artificial photosynthetic antenna-reaction center complex. This complex consists of six light-harvesting chromophores and an electron-acceptor fullerene. To describe quantum effects on a femtosecond time scale, we derive the set of exact non-Markovian equations for the Heisenberg operators of this photosynthetic complex in contact with a Gaussian heat bath. With these equations we can analyze the regime of strong system-bath interactions, where reorganization energies are of the order of the intersite exciton couplings. We show that the energy of the initially excited antenna chromophores is efficiently funneled to the porphyrin-fullerene reaction center, where a charge-separated state is set up in a few picoseconds, with a quantum yield of the order of 95%. In the single-exciton regime, with one antenna chromophore being initially excited, we observe quantum beatings of energy between two resonant antenna chromophores with a decoherence time of ～100 fs. We also analyze the double-exciton regime, when two porphyrin molecules involved in the reaction center are initially excited. In this regime we obtain pronounced quantum oscillations of the charge on the fullerene molecule with a decoherence time of about 20 fs (at liquid nitrogen temperatures). These results show a way to directly detect quantum effects in artificial photosynthetic systems.     

Enantioselective total synthesis of peloruside A: a potent microtubule stabilizer

An enantioselective total synthesis of (+)-peloruside A (1) is described. Peloruside A (1) is a potent microtubule stabilizer with significant clinical potential. The synthesis is convergent and involves the assembly of C1-C10 segment 2 and C11-C24 segment 3 by a novel aldol protocol followed by Yamaguchi macrolactonization of the resulting seco-acid, selective methylation of hemi-ketal and removal of the protecting groups to peloruside A.     

Calibration of DFT Functionals for the Prediction of Fe Mössbauer Spectral Parameters in Iron-Nitrosyl and Iron-Sulfur Complexes: Accurate Geometries Prove Essential

Six popular density functionals in conjunction with the conductor-like screening (COSMO) solvation model have been used to obtain linear M?ssbauer isomer shift (IS) and quadrupole splitting (QS) parameters for a test set of 20 complexes (with 24 sites) comprised of nonheme nitrosyls (Fe-NO) and non-nitrosyl (Fe-S) complexes. For the first time in an IS analysis, the Fe electron density was calculated both directly at the nucleus, ρ(0)(N), which is the typical procedure, and on a small sphere surrounding the nucleus, ρ(0)(S), which is the new standard algorithm implemented in the ADF software package. We find that both methods yield (near) identical slopes from each linear regression analysis but are shifted with respect to ρ(0) along the x-axis. Therefore, the calculation of the Fe electron density with either method gives calibration fits with equal predictive value. Calibration parameters obtained from the complete test set for OLYP, OPBE, PW91, and BP86 yield correlation coefficients (r(2)) of approximately 0.90, indicating that the calibration fit is of good quality. However, fits obtained from B3LYP and B3LYP* with both Slater-type and Gaussian-type orbitals are generally found to be of poorer quality. For several of the complexes examined in this study, we find that B3LYP and B3LYP* give geometries that possess significantly larger deviations from the experimental structures than OLYP, OPBE, PW91 or BP86. This phenomenon is particularly true for the di- and tetranuclear Fe complexes examined in this study. Previous M?ssbauer calibration fit studies using these functionals have usually included mononuclear Fe complexes alone, where these discrepancies are less pronounced. An examination of spin expectation values reveals B3LYP and B3LYP* approach the weak-coupling limit more closely than the GGA exchange-correlation functionals. The high degree of variability in our calculated S(2) values for the Fe-NO complexes highlights their challenging electronic structure. Significant improvements to the isomer shift calibrations are obtained for B3LYP and B3LYP* when geometries obtained with the OLYP functional are used. In addition, greatly improved performance of these functionals is found if the complete test set is grouped separately into Fe-NO and Fe-S complexes. Calibration fits including only Fe-NO complexes are found to be excellent, while those containing the non-nitrosyl Fe-S complexes alone are found to demonstrate less accurate correlations. Similar trends are also found with OLYP, OPBE, PW91, and BP86. Correlations between experimental and calculated QSs were also investigated. Generally, universal and separate Fe-NO and Fe-S fit parameters obtained to determine QSs are found to be of good to excellent quality for every density functional examined, especially if [Fe(4)(NO)(4)(μ(3)-S)(4)](-) is removed from the test set.     

A new synthesis of flavones and pyranoflavone by intramolecular photochemical Wittig reaction in water

A new synthetic approach toward the synthesis of flavones and pyranoflavone has been developed by light induced intramolecularphotochemicalWittigreaction in water onto aryloxycarbonyl groups and suitably substituted phosphonium bromides sans any phase transfer catalyst or promoter.     

One-dimensional description of multidimensional electron transfer reactions in condensed phase

We derive a one-dimensional energy diffusion equation for describing the dynamics of multidimensional electron transfer reactions in condensed phase, which is conceptually simpler and computationally more economic than the conventional approaches. We also obtain an analytical expression for the rate of electron transfer reactions for a general one-dimensional effective potential as well as an energy dependent diffusitivity. As an illustrative example, we consider application to electron transfer in a contact ion pair system modeled through harmonic potentials consisting of two slow classical modes and a high frequency vibrational mode for which the numerical results calculated using the proposed one-dimensional approach are shown to be in good agreement with experimental results. The energy diffusion equation and the rate expression for electron transfer obtained from the present theory, therefore, open up the possibility of describing the dynamics of electron transfer in complex systems, through a simpler approach.     

Cu acetate complexes involving N,N,O donor Schiff base ligands: Mono-atomic oxygen bridged dimers and alternating chains of the dimers and Cu2(OAc)4

Two tridentate N,N,O donor Schiff bases, HL¹ (4-(2-ethylamino-ethylimino)-pentan-2-one) and HL² (3-(2-amino-propylimino)-1-phenyl-butan-1-one) on reaction with Cu^II acetate in presence of triethyl amine yielded two basal-apical, mono-atomic acetate oxygen-bridging dimeric copper(II) complexes, [Cu₂L¹₂(OAc)₂] (1), [Cu₂L²₂(OAc)₂] (2). Whereas two other similar tridentate ligands HL³ (4-(2-amino-propylimino)-pentane-2-one) and HL⁴ (3-(2-amino-ethylimino)-1-phenyl-butan-1-one) under the same conditions produced a mixture of the corresponding dimers and a one-dimensional alternating chain of the dimer and copper acetate moiety, [Cu₄L³₂(OAc)₆]_n (3) and [Cu₄L⁴₂(OAc)₆]_n (4), formed by a very rare μ₃ bridging mode of the acetate ion. All four complexes (1–4) have been characterized by X-ray crystallography. The isotropic Hamiltonian, H = −JS₁S₂ has been used to interpret the magnetic data. Magnetic measurements of 1 and 2 in the temperature range 2–300 K reveal a very weak antiferromagnetic coupling for both complexes (J = −0.56 and −1.19 cm⁻¹ for 1 and 2, respectively).     

Mixed-ligand complexes of osmium(III)/(IV) 8-quinolinolates: synthesis,characterization and redox behaviour

Summary A group of mixed-tris chelates of osmium(III) and osmium(IV) of type [OsAQ₂]^{0/1 +} [HA = glycine (glyH), picolinic acid (PicH) and quinaldic acid (qndH); HQ = 8-quinolinol] were prepared and characterized by physicochemical, magnetic and spectroscopic methods. The complexes exhibit several spin-allowed and spin-forbidden absorption bands and shoulders in the 200–700 nm region. The new chelates are electroactive and display nearly reversible Os^IV-Os^III and Os^III-Os^II couples in the ca. –1.1 to +0.3 V range versus s.c.e. The stability of metal oxidation states is discussed in terms of the electrochemical results.     

Iodine/CuI-mediated alkyne–carbonyl metathesis reaction: synthesis of 1-aryl-1,2-dihydrochromeno[2,3-b]azepine-3,6-dione

Iodine/cuprous iodide-mediated intramolecular alkyne–carbonyl metathesis reaction has been developed using 2-(N-aryl-N-propargyl)aminochromone-3-carbaldehyde as the substrate. It led to the synthesis of hitherto unreported chromeno[2,3-b]azepine-3,6-dione. The special features of this methodology are mild reaction conditions, 100% atom economy and use of inexpensive reagents. This is the first example of I₂/CuI-mediated alkyne–carbonyl metathesis reaction.