Molybdenum(VI) and molybdenum(V) mononuclear and dinuclear complexes with 1,3-diphenyl-1,3-propanedione

Summary The synthesis and the dinuclear or mononuclear nature of several molybdenum(VI) and molybdenum(V) oxocomplexes derived from 1,3-diphenyl-1,3-propanedione (HLL) are described. These complexes were identified by i.r. and electronic spectra, magnetic susceptibility and analytical data, and are assigned the following formulae: [MoO₂(LL)₂], [Mo₂O₅(LL)₂], [Mo₂O₄(LL)₂], [MoOCl(LL)₂], [MoCl₂(LL)] and [MoO(OH)(LL)₂)]. The low magnetic moments of the dinuclear complexes are due, in part, to intramolecular interactions. The i.r. data show that the dionate is bound by two oxygen atoms forming a chelate six-membered ring.     

High-Spin and Reactive Fe13 Cluster with Exposed Metal Sites

Atomically defined large metal clusters have applications in new reaction development and preparation of materials with tailored properties. Expanding the synthetic toolbox for reactive high nuclearity metal complexes, we report a new class of Fe clusters, Tp*₄W₄Fe₁₃S₁₂ , displaying a Fe₁₃ core with M−M bonds that has precedent only in main group and late metal chemistry. M₁₃ clusters with closed shell electron configurations can show significant stability and have been classified as superatoms. In contrast, Tp*₄W₄Fe₁₃S₁₂ displays a large spin ground state of S=13. This compound performs small molecule activations involving the transfer of up to 12 electrons resulting in significant cluster rearrangements.     

Synthesis and hydrolysis of substituted tetrahydropyrimidinium salts. Behaviour of the degradation products on varying pH

Reaction of 1,2-diaryl-3-methyl-1,4,5,6-tetrahydropyrimidinium iodides 1a-i with alkaline solutions afforded N-aroyl-N-aryl-N'-methyltrimethylenediamines 2a-i . Compounds 2 are stable under acid conditions but in neutral or alkaline media spontaneously rearrange giving N-aroyl-N'-aryl-N-methyltrimethylenediamines 3a-i . Treating compounds 3 with concentrated acids reverse reaction takes place. Kinetic studies were performed on this intramolecular N → N' aroyl transfer over the H_o-pH range -0.9 to 2.30. Compounds 3 undergo acyl transfer to give 2 by a mechanism which involves a change in the rate determining step from formation to acid-catalysed decomposition of a six-membered heterocyclic intermediate on going from H_o to pH values. The existence of maxima in the pH rate profile allow to determine apparent pKa values of the hexahydropyrimidine intermediates which gave good correlation with the Swain F substituent constants. Stability of these heterocycles was also predicted by determination of thermodinamic parameters. Comparisons are made with the behaviour of five-membered heterocyclic intermediates (imidazolidine derivatives) which were studied in an earlier paper.     

Tacrines as Therapeutic Agents for Alzheimer's Disease. V. Recent Developments

Herein we have reviewed our recent developments for the identification of new tacrine analogues for Alzheimer's disease (AD) therapy. Tacrine, the first cholinesterase inhibitor approved for AD treatment, did not stop the progression of AD, producing only some cognitive improvements, but exhibited secondary effects mainly due to its hepatotoxicity. Thus, the drug was withdrawn from the clinics administration. Since then, many publications have described non‐hepatotoxic tacrines, and in addition, important efforts have been made to design multitarget tacrines by combining their cholinesterase inhibition profile with the modulation of other biological targets involved in AD.     

Determination of natural uranium by various analytical techniques in soils of Zacatecas State (Mexico)

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - 238U is a radionuclide present in the earth’s crust that provides 65.9% of annual average radiation dose and represents 99.27% of total...     

A computational model of the nicotinic acetylcholine binding site

We have derived a model of the nicotinic acetylcholine binding site. This was accomplished by using three known agonists (acetylcholine, nicotine and epibatidine) as templates around which polypeptide side chains, found to be part of the receptor cavity from published molecular biology studies, are allowed to flow freely in molecular dynamics simulations and mold themselves around these templates. The resulting supramolecular complex should thus be a complement, both in terms of steric effects as well as electronic effects, to the agonists and it should be a good estimation of the true receptor cavity structure. The shapes of those minireceptor cavities equilibrated rapidly on the simulation time scale and their structural congruence is very high, implying that a satisfactory model of the nicotinic acetylcholine binding site has been achieved. The computational methodology was internally tested against two rigid and specific antagonists (dihydro--erytroidine and erysoidine), that are expected to give rise to a somewhat differently shaped binding site compared to that derived from the agonists. Using these antagonists as templates there were structural reorganizations of the initial receptor cavities leading to distinctly different cavities compared to agonists. This indicates that adequate times and temperatures were used in our computational protocols to achieve equilibrium structures for the agonists. Overall, both minireceptor geometries for agonists and antagonists are similar with the exception of one amino acid (ARG209).     

Simulation of an ultrafiltration process of bovine serum albumin in hollow-fiber membranes

This work presents a numerical simulation of an ultrafiltration process of bovine serum albumin in solution, using hollow-fiber membranes. Such membranes are constituted of tiny polymer cylinders disposed in a tube-and-shell arrangement. The concentrate flows through the interior of the fibers and the pure solvent is recovered in the shell, assuming perfect solute rejection. In modeling the process, the flow of concentrate inside the fibers was considered to be laminar, with constant density, viscosity and solute diffusivity. Axial diffusion and angular effects were ignored. The model combines the effect of concentration polarization and adsorption, which are the two main limiting phenomena in ultrafiltration processes. The pressure on the shell side was considered constant and inside the fibers a linear pressure profile, dependent on the axial position, was adopted. The solution of the problem was achieved with the method of orthogonal collocation, with adequate choice of the weight function in the radial direction. In the axial direction, a finite-difference method was used. The numerical results were compared with experimental data available in the literature.     

Ferromagnetic Coupling through Spin Polarization in a Dinuclear Copper(II) Metallacyclophane

No Abstract     

Halonickel(I) complexes

Summary The reduction of nickel(II) halides with NaBH₄ in the presence of different ligands, L=PPh₃, AsPh₃, SbPh₃, has been studied. With a molar ratio L/Ni=3, new complexes NiX(SbPh₃)₃, X=Cl, Br, I, were obtained. With a molar ratio L/Ni=2, dimeric species [NiXL₂]₂, X=Cl, Br, I; L=PPh₃, AsPh₃, SbPh₃, were isolated. They are unstable and decompose easily in the solid and rapidly in solution, so that pure samples were only identified for X=Cl, L=PPh₃, AsPh₃, SbPh₃; X=Br, L=PPh₃ and X=I, L=PPh₃. With a molar ratio L/Ni=1, complexes [NiXL]_n (probably polymeric) were obtained. They are very unstable and pure samples could only be isolated when X=Cl, L=PPh₃. Impure substances containing variable amounts of decomposition products were obtained in all the remaining cases. The chemical and structural behaviour of these complexes is discussed.