Natural product chemistry,part 137: Oxidation of acridone alkaloids: Synthesis of 5-methoxyacronycine

Summary Epoxidation of the acridone alkaloid acronycine (1) resulted in hydroxylation at the aromatic ring giving 5-hydroxyacronycine (3). The same reaction on 1,3-dimethoxy-10-methyl-9(10H)-acridinone (5) gave 1,3-dimethoxy-2-hydroxy-10-methyl-9(10H)-acridinone (6), 1,3-dimethoxy-2-hydroxy-4-peroxy-10-methyl-9(10H)-acridinone (8), and 1,3-dimethoxy-2,4-diperoxy-10-methyl-9(10H)-acridinone (9).

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Naturstoffchemie, 137. Mitt.: Oxidierung von Acridonalkaloiden: Synthese des 5-Methoxyacronycins (Kurze Mitt.)

Zusammenfassung Die Epoxidierung des Acridonalkaloids Acronycin führte zu einer Hydroxylierung des aromatischen Rings, wobei 5-Hydroxyacronycin (3) entstand. Die gleiche Reaktion mit 1,3-Dimethoxy-10-methyl-9(10H)acridinon (5) ergab 1,3-Dimethoxy-2-hydroxy-10-methyl-9(10H)acridinon (6), 1,3-Dimethoxy-2-hydroxy-4-peroxy-10-methyl-9(10H)acridinon (8) und 1,3-Dimethoxy-2,4-diperoxy-10-methyl-9(10H)acridinon (9).

     

Über Chalkogenidhalogenide des Chroms Synthese,Kristallstruktur und Magnetismus von Chromsulfidbromid,CrSBr

Chalkogenidehalides of Chromium. Synthesis, Crystal Structure, and Magnetism of Chromiumsulfidebromide, CrSBr CrSBr is obtained from chromium metal and S₂Br₂ in a sealed quartz ampoule at 880°C. It forms air stable, black crystals. The crystal structure determination (space group Pmmn, lattice constants a = 476.7(2), b = 350.6(2), c = 796.5(4) pm, Z = 2, R = 0.026) shows, that CrSBr crystallizes in the FeOCl structure type. The structure consists of layers which are stacked perpendicular to the c axis. The layers are formed by distorted, edge sharing CrS₄Br₂ octahedra. The interatomic distances are Cr? S 239.7 and 241.5 pm, Cr? Br 249.4 pm. To explain the unusual temperature factor of the Br atom the structure determination was additionaly carried out at 205 K and 118 K. A linear decrease of the coefficients of the anisotropic temperature factors of all atoms was found. The coefficients can be extrapolated to zero for 0 K. This shows the large displacement parameter U₁₁ of the Br atom to be caused by thermal vibrations. Even under forced conditions CrSBr does not form intercalation compounds with pyridine or tetracyanoethylene. CrSBr shows a marked antiferromagnetic behavior with a Néel temperature of 132 K and a critical field of 0.35 Tesla at 4.2 K.     

A 10-A spectroscopic ruler applied to short polyprolines

Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) from the amino acid tryptophan (Trp) as donor and a 2,3-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]oct-2-ene-labeled asparagine (Dbo) as acceptor in peptides of the general structure Trp-(Pro)n-Dbo-NH2 (n = 1-6) was investigated by steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence, CD, and NMR spectroscopy as well as by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations (GROMOS96 force field). The Trp/Dbo FRET pair is characterized by a very short F?rster radius (R0 ca. 9 A), which allowed distance determinations in such short peptides. Water and propylene glycol were investigated as solvents. The peptides were designed to show an early nucleation of the poly(Pro)II (PPII) secondary helix structure for n > or = 2, which was confirmed by their CD spectra. The shortest peptide (n = 1) adopts preferentially the trans conformation about the Trp-Pro bond, as confirmed by NMR spectra. The FRET efficiencies ranged 2-72% and were found to depend sensitively on the peptide length, i.e., the number of intervening proline residues. The analysis of the FRET data at different levels of theory (assuming either a fixed distance or distance distributions according to a wormlike chain or Gaussian model) afforded donor-acceptor distances between ca. 8 A (n = 1) and ca. 16 A (n = 6) in water, which were found to be similar or slightly higher in propylene glycol. The distances afforded by the Trp/Dbo FRET pair were found to be reasonable in comparison to literature data, expectations from the PPII helix structure, and the results from MD simulations. The persistence lengths for the longer peptides were found to lie at 30-70 A in water and 220 +/- 40 A in propylene glycol, suggesting a more rigid PPII helical structure in propylene glycol. A detailed comparison with literature data on FRET in polyprolines demonstrates that the donor-acceptor distances extracted by FRET are correlated with the F?rster radii of the employed FRET pairs. This demonstrates the limitations of using FRET as a spectroscopic ruler for short polyprolines, which is presumably due to the breakdown of the point dipole approximation in F?rster theory, when the size of the chromophores becomes comparable or larger than the distances under investigation.     

Superparamagnetic gamma-Fe(2)O(3) nanoparticles with tailored functionality for protein separation

Polymer coated superparamagnetic gamma-Fe(2)O(3) nanoparticles were derivatized with a synthetic double-stranded RNA [poly(IC)], a known allosteric activator of the latent (2-5)A synthetase, to separate a single 35 kDa protein from a crude extract which cross reacted with antibodies raised against the sponge enzyme.     

Fast and efficient in silico 3D screening: toward maximum computational efficiency of pharmacophore-based and shape-based approaches

In continuation of our recent studies on the quality of conformational models generated with CATALYST and OMEGA we present a large-scale survey focusing on the impact of conformational model quality and several screening parameters on pharmacophore-based and shape-based virtual high throughput screening (vHTS). Therefore, we collected known active compounds of CDK2, p38 MAPK, PPAR-gamma, and factor Xa and built a set of druglike decoys using ilib:diverse. Subsequently, we generated 3D structures using CORINA and also calculated conformational models for all compounds using CAESAR, CATALYST FAST, and OMEGA. A widespread set of 103 structure-based pharmacophore models was developed with LigandScout for virtual screening with CATALYST. The performance of both database search modes (FAST and BEST flexible database search) as well as the fit value calculation procedures (FAST and BEST fit) available in CATALYST were analyzed in terms of their ability to discriminate between active and inactive compounds and in terms of efficiency. Moreover, these results are put in direct comparison to the performance of the shape-based virtual screening platform ROCS. Our results prove that high enrichment rates are not necessarily in conflict with efficient vHTS settings: In most of the experiments, we obtained the highest yield of actives in the hit list when parameter sets for the fastest search algorithm were used.     

Conformational adaptation and selective adatom capturing of tetrapyridyl-porphyrin molecules on a copper (111) surface

We present a combined low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and near-edge X-ray adsorption fine structure study on the interaction of tetrapyridyl-porphyrin (TPyP) molecules with a Cu(111) surface. A novel approach using data from complementary experimental techniques and charge density calculations allows us to determine the adsorption geometry of TPyP on Cu(111). The molecules are centered on "bridge" sites of the substrate lattice and exhibit a strong deformation involving a saddle-shaped macrocycle distortion as well as considerable rotation and tilting of the meso-substituents. We propose a bonding mechanism based on the pyridyl-surface interaction, which mediates the molecular deformation upon adsorption. Accordingly, a functionalization by pyridyl groups opens up pathways to control the anchoring of large organic molecules on metal surfaces and tune their conformational state. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the affinity of the terminal groups for metal centers permits the selective capture of individual iron atoms at low temperature.     

Ligand effects in the non-alternating CO-ethylene copolymerization by palladium(II) catalysis

In this paper we report on a comparative study of the non-alternating CO-C(2)H(4) copolymerization catalyzed by neutral Pd(II) complexes with the phosphine-sulfonate ligands bis(o-methoxyphenyl)phosphinophenylenesulfonate and bis(o-methoxyphenyl)phosphino-ethylenesulfonate. The former ligand, featuring a lower skeletal flexibility, has been found to form more active catalysts as well as produce polyketones with higher molecular weight and higher extra-ethylene incorporation. Operando high-pressure NMR studies have allowed us to intercept, for the first time, Pd(II)(phosphine-sulfonate) beta-chelates in the non-alternating copolymerization cycle, while model organometallic reactions have contributed to demonstrate that Pd(II) (phosphine-sulfonate) fragments do not form stable carbonyl complexes. The opening of the beta-chelates has been found to be a viable process by either comonomer, which contrasts with the behaviour of Pd(II) (chelating diphosphine) catalysts for the perfectly alternating copolymerization.