Convenient synthesis of non-conjugated alkynyl ketones from keto aldehydes by a chemoselective one-pot nonaflation—base catalyzed elimination sequence

Keto aldehydes were selectively converted to non-conjugated alkynyl ketones possessing an unsubstituted alkyne terminus using one-pot nonaflation—base catalyzed elimination reaction sequences. Consecutive one-pot nonaflation of keto aldehydes with perfluorobutane-1-sulfonyl fluoride and elimination of the nonaflyl group using the P₁ phosphazene base resulted in the formation of a terminal CC triple bond with the keto group remaining intact. Careful optimization of the reaction conditions enabled a highly chemoselective conversion of the aldehyde function in the presence of unprotected keto groups exploiting a minor difference in acidity of their α-hydrogen atoms. Scope and limitations of the protocol as well as possible implementation of these substrates in Sonogashira coupling were explored.     

On a relationship between molecular polarizability and partial molar volume in water

We reveal a universal relationship between molecular polarizability (a single-molecule property) and partial molar volume in water that is an ensemble property characterizing solute-solvent systems. Since both of these quantities are of the key importance to describe solvation behavior of dissolved molecular species in aqueous solutions, the obtained relationship should have a high impact in chemistry, pharmaceutical, and life sciences as well as in environments. We demonstrated that the obtained relationship between the partial molar volume in water and the molecular polarizability has in general a non-homogeneous character. We performed a detailed analysis of this relationship on a set of ~200 organic molecules from various chemical classes and revealed its fine well-organized structure. We found that this structure strongly depends on the chemical nature of the solutes and can be rationalized in terms of specific solute-solvent interactions. Efficiency and universality of the proposed approach was demonstrated on an external test set containing several dozens of polyfunctional and druglike molecules.     

Synthesis, structural characterization, photophysical properties and theoretical analysis of gold(I) thiolate-phosphine complexes

A series of luminescent dinuclear neutral complexes of stoichiometry [(AuSPh)(2)(PPh(2)-(C(6)H(4))(n)-PPh(2))] (n = 1, 2, 3) as well as their tetranuclear cationic derivatives [(Au(2)SPh)(2)(PPh(2)-(C(6)H(4))(n)-PPh(2))(2)](PF(6))(2) are reported. Their crystal structures have been elucidated by X-ray studies. These studies indicate that, for the dinuclear species, only when n = 1 the molecules exhibit intermolecular aurophilic interactions. None of the tetranuclear species crystallizes in their molecular form, due to the formation of aggregates through Au···Au interactions. The origin of the luminescence has been analyzed by computational studies indicating that the presence or absence of aurophilic interactions does not affect the luminescent behavior and that intraligand charge transfer processes which involve the thiolate and the diphosphine are responsible for the emissions. The result is in contrast with the thiolate-gold charge transfer processes which dominate the photophysics of gold-thiolate compounds and reveals the influence of the phenylene spacers in the emissive behavior of these compounds.     

Two metals are better than one in the gold catalyzed oxidative heteroarylation of alkenes

We present a detailed study of the mechanism for oxidative heteroarylation, based on DFT calculations and experimental observations. We propose binuclear Au(II)-Au(II) complexes to be key intermediates in the mechanism for gold catalyzed oxidative heteroarylation. The reaction is thought to proceed via a gold redox cycle involving initial oxidation of Au(I) to binuclear Au(II)-Au(II) complexes by Selectfluor, followed by heteroauration and reductive elimination. While it is tempting to invoke a transmetalation/reductive elimination mechanism similar to that proposed for other transition metal complexes, experimental and DFT studies suggest that the key C-C bond forming reaction occurs via a bimolecular reductive elimination process (devoid of transmetalation). In addition, the stereochemistry of the elimination step was determined experimentally to proceed with complete retention. Ligand and halide effects played an important role in the development and optimization of the catalyst; our data provides an explanation for the ligand effects observed experimentally, useful for future catalyst development. Cyclic voltammetry data is presented that supports redox synergy of the Au···Au aurophilic interaction. The monometallic reductive elimination from mononuclear Au(III) complexes is also studied from which we can predict a ~15 kcal/mol advantage for bimetallic reductive elimination.     

(3 + 3)-Cyclodimerization of donor-acceptor cyclopropanes. Three routes to six-membered rings

The ability of donor-acceptor cyclopropanes to (3 + 3)-cyclodimerize is disclosed. It has been found that Lewis acid-induced transformations of 2-(hetero)arylcyclopropane-1,1-dicarboxylates containing electron-abundant aromatic substituents led to the construction of six-membered cyclic systems. Depending on the substrate properties and the Lewis acid applied, three types of products can be obtained: (1) 1,4-diarylcyclohexanes, (2) 1-aryl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthalenes, and (3) 9,10-dihydroanthracenes.     

A small fluorophore reporter of protein conformation and redox state

A new thiol-specific reagent introduces a small bis(methylamino)terephthalic acid fluorophore into proteins. The noninvasive probe with distinct spectroscopic properties offers many advantages for protein labeling, purification, and mechanistic work promising to serve as a powerful tool in studies of protein folding and heme redox reactions.     

Anomeric effect in N-azidomethylpyrrolidine: gas-phase electron diffraction and theoretical study

Gas-phase electron-diffraction data and high-level quantum chemical calculations have been used to study the conformational behaviour of N-azidomethylpyrrolidine. The two most stable conformers with a relative abundance of about 80% at 298 K possess gauche orientation of the azidomethyl group around the C-N(pyr) bond (C-N(azido)gauche with respect to the endocyclic N(pyr)-C bond). This orientation is a strong manifestation of an anomeric effect. The influence of the anomeric effect is also reflected in shortening of the C-N(pyr) bond and lengthening of the C-N(azido) bond as compared to such bonds in other compounds.     

Bi‐embeddability spectra and bases of spectra

We study degree spectra of structures with respect to the bi‐embeddability relation. The bi‐embeddability spectrum of a structure is the family of Turing degrees of its bi‐embeddable copies. To facilitate our study we introduce the notions of bi‐embeddable triviality and basis of a spectrum. Using bi‐embeddable triviality we show that several known families of degrees are bi‐embeddability spectra of structures. We then characterize the bi‐embeddability spectra of linear orderings and study bases of bi‐embeddability spectra of strongly locally finite graphs.