Synthese homokonjugierter Polyene: 2,4-Dimethylenbicyclo[3.2.0]oct-6-en und 2,5-Dimethylenbicyclo[4.2.0]non-7-en

The synthesis of the two homoconjugated trienes has been achieved by cleavage of the strained -bonds of suitable cyclopropane and cyclobutane precursors. Ionization energies are discussed.

     

Construction of a full three-dimensional model of the transpeptidase domain of Streptococcus pneumoniae PBP2x starting from its Cα-atom coordinates

A new method is described for generating all-atom protein structures from C-atom information. The method, which combines both local structural trace alignments and comparative side chain modeling with ab initio side chain modeling, makes use of both the virtual-bond and the dipole-path methods. Provided that 3D structures of structurally and functionally related proteins exist, the method presented here is highly suitable for generating all-atom coordinates of partly solved, low-resolution crystal structures. Particularly the active site region can be modeled accurately with this procedure, which enables investigation of the binding modes of different classes of ligands with molecular dynamics simulations. The method is applied to the trace of Streptococcus pneumoniae, in order to construct an all-atom structure of the transpeptidase domain. Since after generation of full coordinates of the transpeptidase domain the structure had been solved to 2.4 Å resolution, new X-ray coordinates for the worst modeled loop (residues T370 to M386; 17 out of a total number of 351 residues constituting the transpeptidase domain) were incorporated, as kindly provided by Dr. Dideberg. The structure was relaxed with molecular dynamics simulations and simulated annealing methods. The RMS deviation between the 144 aligned C-atoms and the corresponding ones in the originally solved 3.5 Å resolution crystal structure was 0.98. The 351 C-atoms of the whole transpeptidase domain of the final model showed an RMS deviation of 1.58. The Ramachandran plot showed that 79.3% of the residues are in the most favored regions, with only 1.0% occurring in disallowed regions. The model presented here can be used to investigate the three-dimensional influences of mutations around the active site of PBP2x.     

Model studies on the utility of nucleophiles bound to insoluble supports for enzymatic peptide synthesis

Thermolysin, -chymotrypsin, and papain were used as biocatalysts for the coupling of several carboxyl components to silica-supported leucine amide as a nucleophile. A spacer length of 21 covalent bonds corresponding to 7 amino acid residues was required for successful coupling. This approach offers the possibility of using proteases for racemization-free segment condensations on insoluble polymeric supports.

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Modellstudien zur Anwendbarkeit von an unlösliche Träger gebundenen Nucleophilen für die enzymatische Peptidsynthese

Zusammenfassung Thermolysin, -Chymotrypsin und Papain wurden als Biokatalysatoren für die Kupplung verschiedener Carboxylkomponenten an kieselgel-gebundenes Leucinamid als Nucleophil eingesetzt. Für erfolgreiche Kupplungen war eine Spacerlänge von 21 kovalenten Bindungen entsprechend 7 Aminosäureresten erforderlich. Diese Synthesevariante eröffnet die Möglichkeit, racemisierungsfreie Segmentkondensationen an unlöslichen polymeren Trägern mit Hilfe von Proteasen durchzuführen.

     

Dihydrodiazepine aus valenzisomeren diazatricyclo[3.2.0.0.2,4]Heptanen1)

Cycloaddition of diazoalkanes to diazabicyclo[2.2.0]hexenes and subsequent extrusion of nitrogen afford diazatricyclo[3.2.0.0^2,4]heptanes that are easily valence isomerized to novel dihydrodiazepines.     

Growth of embedded ErAs nanorods on (4 1 1)A and (4 1 1)B GaAs by molecular beam epitaxy

The low solubility of Er in GaAs results in the formation of ErAs nanostructures when GaAs is grown with 5–6 at% Er/Ga ratio by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs surfaces. For growth on the (4 1 1)A GaAs surface, cross-sectional scanning transmission electron microscopy images show the presence of ErAs nanorods embedded in a GaAs matrix extending along the [2 1 1] direction with a spacing of roughly 7 nm and a diameter of roughly 2 nm. Growth on the GaAs (4 1 1)B surface resulted in only nanoparticle formation. Variation of the polarized optical absorption with in-plane polarization angle is consistent with coupling to surface plasmon resonances of the semimetallic nanostructures.     

Thermal conductivity reduction and thermoelectric figure of merit increase by embedding nanoparticles in crystalline semiconductors

Atomic substitution in alloys can efficiently scatter phonons, thereby reducing the thermal conductivity in crystalline solids to the "alloy limit." Using In0.53Ga0.47As containing ErAs nanoparticles, we demonstrate thermal conductivity reduction by almost a factor of 2 below the alloy limit and a corresponding increase in the thermoelectric figure of merit by a factor of 2. A theoretical model suggests that while point defects in alloys efficiently scatter short-wavelength phonons, the ErAs nanoparticles provide an additional scattering mechanism for the mid-to-long-wavelength phonons.     

On the relationship between fluorescence and molecular geometry solvent-assisted formation of luminescent intramolecular exciplexes from anthronyl-substituted anthracenes

The fluorescence efficiency of 1′,2′-dihydro-spiro[anthracene-9(10H),3′-[3H]benz[de]anthracen]-10-one in 10 solvents of varying dielectric constant has been investigated. The observed exciplex luminescence is attributed to a solvent-assisted intramolecular charge-transfer interaction between the ground-state anthrone and excited-state anthracene moietis. The geometry of the exciplex is suggested to resemble that of a σ-π complex.