The change of aromaticity along a Diels-Alder reaction path

[reaction: see text] Quinodimethanes are highly reactive toward dienophiles since Diels-Alder cycloaddition results in an aromatic product. Density functional-based (13)C, (1)H NMR, NICS, and MO-NICS calculations indicate that the increase of aromatic character of the developing benzenoid ring along the reaction path is especially pronounced after the transition state is reached, even though the number of pi orbitals decreases. The forming aliphatic ring exhibits large ring current effects during the reaction.     

Enantioseparation of chiral N-imidazole derivatives by electrokinetic chromatography using highly sulfated cyclodextrins: mechanism of enantioselective recognition

Baseline separation of ten new substituted [1-(imidazo-1-yl)-1-phenylmethyl)] benzothiazolinone and benzoxazolinone derivatives, with one chiral center, was achieved by CD-EKC using highly sulfated CDs (alpha, beta, gamma highly S-CDs) as chiral selectors. The influence of the type and concentration of the chiral selectors on the enantioseparations was investigated. The highly S-CDs exhibit a very high enantioselectivity power since they allow excellent enantiomeric resolutions compared to those obtained with the neutral CDs. The enantiomers were resolved with analysis times inferior to 2.5 min and resolution factors R(s) of 3.73, 3.90, 1.40, and 4.35 for compounds 1, 2, 3, and 5, respectively, using 25 mM phosphate buffer at pH 2.5 containing either highly S-alpha-CD, highly S-beta-CD, and highly S-gamma-CD (3 or 4% w/v) at 298 K, with an applied field of 0.30 kV/cm. The determination of the enantiomer migration order for the various analytes and the study of the analyte structure-enantioseparation relationships display the high contribution of the interactions between the analytes phenyl ring and the CDs to the enantiorecognition process. The thermodynamic study of the analyte-CD affinities permits us to improve our knowledge about the enantioseparation mechanism.     

Dinuclear and heteropolynuclear complexes containing Mo2(4+) units

The quadruply bonded compound Mo2(DpyF)4 (1), where DpyF- is the anion of N,N'-di(2-pyridyl)formamidine, has been prepared by ligand substitution reactions of Mo2(OOCCF3)4 and either the neutral ligand, HDpyF, at ambient temperature or its lithium salt, LiDpyF, under refluxing conditions. An X-ray structural analysis shows that 1 has a paddlewheel structure with a [symbol: see text] distance of 2.1108(6) A. Reaction of 1 with CoCl2 in methanol produces the paramagnetic compound [Mo2Co(DpyF)4][CoCl4].2MeOH (2). The Co(II) atom in the cation [Mo2Co(DpyF)4]2+ resides on a low-spin hexacoordinate environment (S = 1/2) with a Co...Mo separation of 2.979(6) A, suggesting there is no direct bonding interaction between the Co and Mo atoms. The Mo-Mo distance of 2.1096(5) A is similar to that in 1. Reaction of 1 and CuCl in methanol yields [Mo2Cu4(DpyF)4Cl2][CuCl2]2.2MeOHxEt2O (3). In the cation there are two copper atoms on each side of the Mo2 core. Each is coordinated to two pyridyl nitrogen atoms of the cis DpyF- ligands and loosely bridged to the other by a chloride ion. As a result, the Cu(I) atoms are not aligned with the Mo2 unit. The Cu to Mo separations are in the range 3.003(1)-3.015(1) A, and the Mo-Mo distance of 2.127(1) A is comparable to those in 1 and 2.     

Synthesis and X-ray crystal structure determination of first examples of donor-functionalized terphenyl lanthanide complexes

The molecular structures of novel donor-functionalized terphenyl derivatives of trivalent ytterbium, yttrium, and samarium of composition [DanipYb(mu2-Cl)2(mu3-Cl)Li(THF)]2 (1) and [DanipLn(mu2-Cl)2(mu2-Cl)Li(THF)2]2 (Ln = Y, 2; Ln = Sm, 3) are reported [Danip = 2,6-di(o-anisol)phenyl]. The complexes are obtained from the reaction of equimolar amounts of DanipLi and LnCl3 (Ln = Yb, Y, Sm) in tetrahydrofuran at room temperature in 60% yield. 1-2 toluene crystallizes in the monoclinic space group Ponebar. Crystal data for 1-2 toluene at 203 K: a = 9.7281(9) A; b = 12.7989(12) A; c = 13.4870(12) A; alpha = 91.553(2) degrees; beta = 103.957(2) degrees; gamma = 109.916(2) degrees; V = 1521.2(2) A(3); Z' = 1; D(calcd) = 1.615 g cm(-3); R1 = 3.43%. 2-toluene crystallizes in the monoclinic space group Ponebar. Crystal data for 2-toluene at 203 K: a = 10.4152(10) A; b = 12.5783(12) A; c = 14.4640(14) A; alpha = 69.963(2) degrees; beta = 80.900(2) degrees; gamma = 66.603(2) degrees; V = 1633.3(3) A(3); Z' = 1; D(calcd) = 1.386 g cm(-3); R1 = 4.07%. 3-toluene crystallizes in the monoclinic space group Ponebar. Crystal data for 3-toluene at 203 K: a = 10.3457(8) A; b = 12.5658(10) A; c = 14.4365(11) A; alpha = 70.2250(10) degrees; beta = 81.2820(10) degrees; gamma = 66.8330(10) degrees; V = 1623.3(2) A(3); Z' = 1; D(calcd) = 1.521 g cm(-3); R1 = 3.40%. Complexes 1-3 represent first examples of donor-functionalized terphenyl complexes of the elements ytterbium, yttrium, and samarium, respectively. The molecular structures of 1-3 feature a "constraint geometry" type arrangement of the Danip ligand at the lanthanide atom. The complexes reported are dimeric and composed of lithium chloride bridged DanipLnCl(2) moieties (Ln = Yb, Y, Sm), stabilized through additional coordination of two methoxy functions to the lanthanide atom.     

A new family of sequence-specific DNA-cleaving agents directed by triple-helical structures: benzopyridoindole-EDTA conjugates

Sequence-specific DNA recognition can be achieved by oligonucleotides that bind to the major groove of oligopyrimidine x oligopurine sequences. These intermolecular structures could be used to modulate gene expression and to create new tools for molecular biology. Here we report the synthesis and biochemical characterization of triple helix-specific DNA cleaving reagents. It is based on the previously reported triplex-specific ligands, benzo[e]pyridoindole (BePI) and benzo[g]pyridoindole (BgPI), covalently attached to ethylenediaminotetraacetic acid (EDTA). In the presence of iron, a reducing agent and molecular oxygen, BgPI-EDTA x FeII but not BePI-EDTA x FeII induced a double-stranded cut in a plasmid DNA at the single site where a triplex-forming oligonucleotide binds. At single nucleotide resolution, it was found that upon triplex formation BePI-EDTA x FeII led to cleavage of the pyrimidine strand and protection of the purine strand. BgPI-EDTA x FeII cleaved both strands with similar efficiency. The difference in cleavage efficiency between the two conjugates was rationalized by the location of the EDTA x FeII moiety with respect to the grooves of DNA (major groove: BePI-EDTA x FeII, minor groove: BgPI-EDTA x FeII). This work paves the way to the development of a new class of triple helix directed DNA cleaving reagents. Such molecules will be of interest for sequence-specific DNA cleavage and for investigating triple-helical structures, such as H-DNA, which could play an important role in the control of gene expression in vivo.     

Iron-catalyzed homo-coupling of simple and functionalized arylmagnesium reagents

Iron-catalyzed homo-coupling of simple and functionalized arylmagnesium reagents is described. The reaction is highly chemoselective (CN, COOEt and NO(2) groups are tolerated). The procedure was used to perform intramolecular couplings. This cyclization reaction is the key step of the total synthesis of the N-methylcrinasiadine.     

Determination of azolic fungicides in wine by solid-phase extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-mass spectrometry

A method for simultaneous analysis of eight azolic fungicides: cyproconazole, diniconazole, tetraconazole, thiabendazole, flusilazole, triadimenol, triadimefon, carbendazim and the degradation product 2-aminobenzimidazole in wine samples is described. The compounds are isolated from the samples and concentrated by solid-phase extraction on polymeric cartridges. The determination is carried out by liquid chromatography with mass spectrometric detection in positive ionization and selected ion monitoring modes. The influence of parameters such as the mobile phase composition, column temperature, corona current and fragmentor voltage is studied and the proposed method is validated. Recoveries of the nine compounds added to wine samples range from 83 to 109%, with relative standard deviations below 10%. The quantitation limits are between 9 and 31 microg/L. Real wine samples are analyzed by the proposed method, also.     

Role of Hartree-Fock and Kohn-Sham orbitals in the basis set superposition error for systems linked by hydrogen bonds

In this work the effect of the basis set superposition error (BSSE) is explored with the counterpoise method on the occupied and unoccupied Hartree-Fock (HF) and Kohn-Sham (KS) orbitals. Three different systems linked by hydrogen bonds, H(2)O...FH, H(2)O...H(2)O, and H(2)O...CFH(3), were studied by using the basis set families cc-pVXZ and aug-cc-pVXZ (X = D, T, Q). The basis sets were tested with the HF method and two approximations for the exchange-correlation functional of KS: a generalized gradient approximation and a hybrid approach. In addition to these methods, the second-order M?ller-Plesset perturbation theory, MP2, was considered. It was found that the presence of the "ghost" basis set affects the orbitals in two ways: (1) The occupied KS orbitals are more sensitive to the presence of this "ghost" basis set than the occupied HF orbitals. For this reason the BSSE observed in HF is less than that obtained with KS. (2) The unoccupied HF orbitals are more sensitive to the presence of the "ghost" basis set than their corresponding occupied orbitals. Because the MP2 method uses both, occupied and unoccupied HF orbitals, to compute the total energy, the contribution of the BSSE is bigger than that obtained with HF or KS methodologies.     

N-K near-edge x-ray-absorption fine structures of acetonitrile in gas phase

The dynamic processes of N(1s) core-hole excitation in gas-phase CH3CN molecule have been studied at both Hartree-Fock and hybrid density-functional theory levels. The vibrational structure is analyzed for fully optimized core-excited states. Frank-Condon factors are obtained using the linear coupling model for various potential surfaces. It is found that the vibrational profile of the N-K absorption can be largely described by a summation of two vibrational progressions: a structure-rich profile of nu(CN) stretching mode and a large envelope of congestioned vibrational levels related to the strong (-C-CN) terminal bending bond. Excellent agreement between theoretical and experimental spectra is obtained.