Synthesis and structure of 5-methoxy-4-methylbenzopsoralen

5-Methoxy-4-methyl-2H-benzofuro[3,2-g]benzo-1-pyran-2-one was synthesized and its crystal structure was determined and compared with the optimal conformation arrived at by MM and AM1 theoretical calculations. The latter indicated that the tetracyclic skeleton is planar with total length (C2–C8) 9.23 å, and that the line joining the conters of the terminal-benzene and furan rings makes an angle of 30.5 with that joining the centers of the three rings of psoralen. The electronic properties of the reactive double bond in the pyran ring of1 are similar to those of simpler psoralens.     

Resonance Raman contribution to the D band of carbon materials: modeling defects with quantum chemistry

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are employed to model the Raman features that are generally associated with sp(2) nanostructures in carbon materials or with disorder and defects in graphitic materials. To this end molecular parameters (geometry changes upon electronic excitation, vibrational normal modes, and displacement parameters) are computed with semiempirical quantum-chemical methods for a series of PAHs ranging from 6 to 384 carbon atoms, and Raman intensities are evaluated according to Albrecht's formalism restricted to the A term. The computed preresonance and resonance Raman intensities are compared with available experimental data for hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene and for pyrene. For the latter compound, simulations carried out at semiempirical and ab initio levels of theory are shown to be of comparable quality. Finally, the collection of displacement parameters computed for the sample of conjugated molecules is used to model the effect of disorder and defects in the Raman response of a carbon material containing sp(2) islands. It is shown that the computed D-band frequency dispersion, with respect to excitation wavelength, reproduces closely the experimental data measured for sp(2) hybridized carbon materials.     

PMMA: A key macromolecular component for dielectric low-κ hybrid inorganic-organic polymer films

Inorganic-organic composite and hybrid films find widespread applications for the development of functional materials. Polymer matrices with embedded inorganic fillers, nanoparticles or clusters are particularly appealing for optical, electronic, dielectric and magnetic applications. In particular, the development of hybrid layers with tailored dielectric properties represents a key issue in many technological fields.In this framework, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), due to its outstanding chemico-physical properties, represents a particularly suitable polymer component for the embedding of both microscopic and nanoscopic functional inorganic fillers. The wide use of such a matrix has to be traced back to the favourable combination of chemical and physical properties and easy processing. In this review, the main features and properties of PMMA, with a particular focus on dielectric ones, are firstly briefly described. Selected examples to illustrate the state-of-the art of its corresponding use as dielectric matrix are given and several examples are provided and surveyed.Finally, three case studies concerning PMMA-based hybrid films, produced for very different application fields, are described and discussed. The first example deals with the entrapment of micrometric zinc sulphide powders in PMMA, which acts as a host matrix for the electroluminescent particles in thick film-based Alternate Current Powder Electroluminescent Lamps (ACPELs). The second example describes the preparation of low-κ inorganic-organic hybrid dielectric films based on a PMMA-polyvinylchloride(PVC) blend and a hydrophobic silica powder functionalised on the surface with trimethylsiloxane groups (m-SiO₂). The composition of the investigated materials is [(PMMA)_x(PVC)_y]/(m-SiO₂)_z with z ranging from 0 to 38.3 wt% and x = y = (100 − z)/2. The third case concerns the use of PMMA as a matrix to embed zirconium oxoclusters through the formation of covalent bonds. The obtained material, characterised by a dielectric constant value remarkably lower (1.93 at 1 kHz and 25 °C) than in pristine PMMA (3.0 at 1 kHz and 25 °C), appears as very appealing for the development of microelectronic devices based on low dielectric constant polymer films such as, for instance, field-effect transistor (FET).These three cases are paradigms of three different approaches to composite and hybrid materials based on the embedding of particles in PMMA polymer matrix.     

Caged phospho-amino acid building blocks for solid-phase peptide synthesis

Three 1-(2-nitrophenyl)ethyl-caged phospho-amino acids have been synthesized for use in standard N(alpha)-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl-based solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS). The most common naturally occurring phospho-amino acids, serine, threonine, and tyrosine, were prepared as protected caged building blocks by modification with a unique phosphitylating reagent. In previous work, caged phospho-peptides were made using an interassembly approach (Rothman, D. M.; Vazquez, M. E.; Vogel, E. M.; Imperiali, B. Org. Lett. 2002, 4, 2865-2868). However, this technique is limited to creating peptides without oxidation sensitive residues C-terminal to the amino acid to be modified and the methodology involves synthetic manipulations on the solid phase that may limit the utilization of the methodology. Herein we report the facile synthesis of N-alpha-Fmoc-phospho(1-nitrophenylethyl-2-cyanoethyl)-L-serine 1, N-alpha-Fmoc-phospho(1-nitrophenylethyl-2-cyanoethyl)-L-threonine 2, and N-alpha-Fmoc-phospho(1-nitrophenylethyl-2-cyanoethyl)-L-tyrosine 3. These building blocks allow the synthesis of any caged phospho-peptide sequence using standard Fmoc-based SPPS procedures.     

Search for melanoma markers in plasma and serum samples

Fourteen blood samples from patients with melanoma and eleven blood samples from healthy subjects were analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry. The study was focussed on species of low molecular weight, in the range 800-5000 Da, present in plasma and sera. While for healthy subjects plasma samples lead to the production of a higher number of ionic species, for melanoma patients a high number of diagnostic ions, present with high frequency and with quite high relative abundance, are present in particular in serum samples and to a lesser extent also in plasma. Since plasma samples are obtained more easily in comparison to sera, it is possible to suggest that also plasma can be used for these studies.     

Synthesis and structural study of carbocyclic analogues of 1,2-disubstituted nucleosides

The compounds (±)-cis- and (±)-trans-9-[(2-hydroxymethyl) cyclopentyl]guanine (1 and 2 respectively) were efficiently synthesized by the construction of the purine base on the primary amino group of cis- and trans-2-aminocyclopentylmethanol. The 3D structures of these two 1,2-disubstituted carbanucleosides in DMSO were determined using molecular dynamics calculations with experimental NMR restraints on the basis of the information obtained from a ROESY spectrum. These structures were compared with those obtained in vacuo using molecular dynamics and AM1 semiempirical calculations. The global structures of the two compounds are very similar in the two environments studied, meaning that the structural determination in the gas phase can be extrapolated to molecular simulation studies in solution for compounds of this type.     

Incommensurate nature of the multilayered molecular ferromagnetic metals based on bis(ethylenedithio)tetrathiafulvalene and bimetallic oxalate complexes

The salt [ET]x[MnRh(ox)(3)].CH(2)Cl(2) (x = 2.526(1)) has been obtained and characterized. This paramagnetic metal is essentially isostructural to the ferromagnetic metal [ET]y[MnCr(ox)(3)].CH(2)Cl(2) (y approximately equal to 3) and provides a definite answer on the origin of the structural disorder present on such systems. As in the ferromagnetic analogue, this material shows high electrical conductivity at room temperature (13 S.cm(-1)) and metallic behavior.     

Synthesis, structure, and magnetic properties of the oxalate-based bimetallic ferromagnetic chain {[K(18-crown-6)][Mn(H2O)2Cr(ox)3]}infinity (18-crown-6 = C12H24O6, ox = C2O4(2-))

The salt [K(18-crown-6)][Mn(H2O)2Cr(ox)3.0.5(18-crown-6) (1) has been prepared and structurally and magnetically characterized. It crystallizes in the P2(1)/c space group [a = 21.011(2) A, b = 11.265(2) A, c = 15.748(3) A, beta = 105.952(6) degrees , V = 3584(1) A3, and Z = 4] and contains [Mn(H2O)2Cr(ox)3]infinity chains connected through hydrogen bonding to form 2D anionic networks. The magnetic exchange is ferromagnetic [J = +2.23(2) cm(-1)] in the chain and also in between chains, reaching bulk ferromagnetic ordering below 3.5 K.