Ferromagnetic ordering in bisthiaselenazolyl radicals: variations on a tetragonal theme

A series of five isostructural bisthiaselenazolyl radicals 2 have been prepared and characterized by X-ray crystallography. The crystal structures, all belonging to the tetragonal space group P42(1)m, consist of slipped pi-stack arrays of undimerized radicals packed about 4 centers running along the z-direction, an arrangement which gives rise to a complex lattice-wide network of close intermolecular Se---Se' contacts. Variations in R1 (Et, Pr, CH2CF3) with R2 = Cl lead to significant changes in the degree of slippage of the pi-stacks and hence the proximity of the Se---Se' interactions. By contrast, variations in R2 (Cl, Br, Me) with R1 = Et induce very little change in either the degree of slippage or the intermolecular contacts. Variable-temperature conductivity (sigma) measurements show relatively constant values for the conductivity sigma(300 K) (10(-5)-10(-4) S cm(-1)) and thermal activation energy E(act) (0.27-0.31 eV). Variable-temperature magnetic susceptibility measurements indicate that radicals 2b and 2c (R1 = Pr, CH2CF3; R2 = Cl) behave as weakly antiferromagnetically coupled Curie-Weiss paramagnets, but in 2a, 2d and 2e (R1 = Et; R2 = Cl, Me, Br) ferromagnetic ordering is observed, with T(c) values of 12.8 (R2 = Cl), 13.6 (R2 = Me), and 14.1 K (R2 = Br). The origin of the dramatically different magnetic behavior across the series has been explored in terms of a direct through-space mechanism by means of DFT calculations on individual pairwise exchange energies. These indicate that antiferromagnetic exchange between radicals along the pi-stacks increases with pi-stack slippage.     

Noncovalent interactions under extreme conditions: high-pressure and low-temperature diffraction studies of the isostructural metal-organic networks (4-chloropyridinium)2[CoX4] (X = Cl, Br)

The crystal structures of the two isostructural metal-organic salts, (4-chloropyridinium) 2[CoX 4], X = Cl ( 1), Br ( 2), have each been determined at nine temperatures from 30 to 300 K and at nine pressures from atmospheric pressure to 4.2 GPa. A 5% reduction in unit cell volume is observed upon temperature reduction, whereas an 18-19% reduction is observed upon increasing the pressure over the ranges studied. The structures adopt a tape arrangement propagated by bifurcated N-H...X 2Co hydrogen bonds and by Co-X...Cl-C halogen bonds. Intertape interactions include type I Co-X...Cl-C and C-Cl...Cl-C halogen-halogen interactions as well as offset pi-stacking between the aromatic rings of the cations. Although little anisotropy in compression is seen upon temperature reduction, marked anisotropy in compression is observed upon pressure increase. Compression between tapes far exceeds compression along the tape, consistent with the strong attractive nature of the intratape N-H...X 2Co and Co-X...Cl-C interactions and the weaker dispersion dominated Co-X...Cl-C and C-Cl...Cl-C halogen-halogen interactions and pi-stacking interactions. Increased distortion of the [CoX 4] (2-) anions from idealized tetrahedral geometry arises upon pressure increase, consistent with local changes in the electric field that result from compression of the pairs of pi-stacked cations. The study of the isostructural pair of compounds permits a rare opportunity for quantitative evaluation of the "internal" or "chemical" pressure exerted by changing the [CoBr 4] (2-) anion for the smaller [CoCl 4] (2-) anion. Thus, crystal structures of 1 and 2 with equivalent unit cell volumes require an additional pressure of ca. 1 GPa exerted upon the structure containing the larger [CoBr 4] (2-) anion ( 2). This internal pressure increases to ca. 1.9 GPa at the highest pressures used in this study. Most significant is that examination of the isovolumetric pairs of structures shows that the structures containing the [CoCl 4] (2-) anion are contracted along the <101> vector, the direction of tape propagation, by ca. 1.2% and correspondingly expanded in other directions, relative to those containing the [CoBr 4] (2-) anion. Since the effect of difference in anion size has been removed by application of pressure, this anisotropy in dimensions clearly indicates that the N-H...X 2Co hydrogen bonds and Co-X...Cl-C halogen bonds are more strongly attractive for X = Cl rather than X = Br. Use of internal pressure thereby provides unique insight into the relative strength of intermolecular interactions.     

Solvation of O(2)(-) and O(4)(-) by p-difluorobenzene and p-xylene studied by photoelectron spectroscopy

Anion photoelectron spectra of the O(2)(-) . arene and O(4)(-) . arene complexes with p-xylene and p-difluorobenzene are presented and analyzed with the aid of calculations on the anions and corresponding neutrals. Relative to the adiabatic electron affinity of O(2), the O(2)(-) . arene spectra are blueshifted by 0.75-1 eV. Solvation energy alone does not account for this shift, and it is proposed that a repulsive portion of the neutral potential energy surface is accessed in the detachment, resulting in dissociative photodetachment. O(2)(-) is found to interact more strongly with the p-difluorobenzene than the p-xylene. The binding motif involves the O(2)(-) in plane with the arene, interacting via electron donation along nearby C-H bonds. A peak found at 4.36(2) eV in the photoelectron spectrum of O(2)(-) . p-difluorobenzene (p-DFB) is tentatively attributed to the charge transfer state, O(2)(-) . p-DFB(+). Spectra of O(4)(-) . arene complexes show less blueshift in electron binding energy relative to the spectrum of bare O(4)(-), which itself undergoes dissociative photodetachment. The striking similarity between the profiles of the O(4)(-) . arene complexes with the O(4)(-) spectrum suggests that the O(4)(-) molecule remains intact upon complex formation, and delocalization of the charge across the O(4)(-) molecule results in similar structures for the anion and neutral complexes.     

Ni[(EPiPr2)2N]2 complexes: stereoisomers (E = Se) and square-planar coordination (E = Te)

The reaction of ((i)Pr 2PE) 2NM.TMEDA (M = Li, E = Se; M = Na, E = Te) with NiBr 2.DME in THF affords Ni[(SeP (i)Pr 2) 2N] 2 as either square-planar (green) or tetrahedral (red) stereoisomers, depending on the recrystallization solvent; the Te analogue is obtained as the square-planar complex Ni[(TeP (i)Pr 2) 2N] 2.     

Comparison of different water-miscible solvents for the preparation of plasma and urine samples in metabolic profiling studies

The Lowry method and a capillary electrophoresis method were used to analyse protein residues in the supernatant after solvent deproteination of plasma. Acetonitrile and acetone were much more effective than methanol and ethanol at reducing the levels of proteins in plasma. The ability of different solvents to decrease levels of phospholipids in plasma samples was assessed using electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (MS). Phospholipid signals can obscure differences between samples in general metabolite profiling (i.e. non-target compound) studies. Acetonitrile was much more effective than methanol in reducing the MS signal due to phospholipids in plasma which is a consequence of the poor solubility of phospholipids in acetonitrile. The capability of the solvents at reducing salts in urine samples was also studied by using an amperometric method. Using this approach little difference was detected between methanol, ethanol, acetonitrile and acetone in their ability to desalt urine samples.     

Stereospecific Aminative Cyclizations Triggered by Intermolecular Aza-Prilezhaev Alkene Aziridination

Under acidic reaction conditions (TFA), deprotection of BocNR(OSO₂R) reagents triggers intermolecular aminative cyclizations of alkenes equipped with pendant nucleophiles. The processes are predicated on a sequence of stereospecific intermolecular aza-Prilezhaev aziridination followed by stereospecific S_N2-like opening by the pendant nucleophile. The method offers broad scope with respect to the nucleophile (N-, O- or C-based), alkene and cyclization mode, allowing the installation of two contiguous stereocenters under operationally simple conditions.     

Effects of long-range electrostatic forces on simulated protein folding kinetics

Molecular dynamics simulations are a useful tool for characterizing protein folding pathways. There are several methods of treating electrostatic forces in these simulations with varying degrees of physical fidelity and computational efficiency. In this article, we compare the reaction field (RF) algorithm, particle-mesh Ewald (PME), and tapered cutoffs with increasing cutoff radii to address the impact of the electrostatics method employed on the folding kinetics. We quantitatively compare different methods by a correlation of quantitative measures of protein folding kinetics. The results of these comparisons show that for protein folding kinetics, the RF algorithm can quantitatively reproduce the kinetics of the more costly PME algorithm. These results not only assist the selection of appropriate algorithms for future simulations, but also give insight on the role that long-range electrostatic forces have in protein folding.     

Molecular structures of M(Bu(t))3 (M = Al, Ga, In) using gas-phase electron diffraction and ab initio calculations: experimental and computational evidence for charge-transfer processes leading to photodissociation

The gas-phase structures of AI(Bu')3 and Ga(Bu')3 have been investigated by electron diffraction and are shown to consist of monomeric units with very slightly pyramidal geometries. Salient structural parameters (r(hl)) include r(A1-C) = 2.008(2) A and r(Ga-C) = 2.032(2) A. For both compounds the ligand orientations and geometries are controlled by interligand interactions. The structures of M(Bu(t))3 (M = Al, Ga, In) have been calculated ab initio and those for the aluminium and gallium derivatives are in good agreement with the electron-diffraction structures. Comparison of the ab initio calculated structure of In(Bu')3 with those of Al(Bu(t))3 and Ga(Bu(t))3 suggests that the significantly different photochemistry exhibited by the former does not result from structural factors. In fact the compounds undergo a charge-transfer process in the UV region, with the wavelength required calculated to be slightly longer for the indium compound than for the other two.     

Tetrathiophenalenyl radical and its disulfide-bridged dimer

The presence of two disulfide groups in the tetrathiophenalenyl radical TTPLY leads to a highly delocalized spin distribution and the lowest cell potential ever observed for a monofunctional phenalenyl derivative. While the heteroatom substituents successfully block C-C bond formation, TTPLY nonetheless associates in the solid state to afford the hypervalent S-S-bonded dimer (TTPLY)2.