Influence of N-Substituents on Photovoltaic Properties of Singly Bay-Linked Dimeric Perylene Diimides

The influence of N-substituents on the photovoltaic properties of singly bay-linked perylene diimides (diPDIs) was systematically investigated to understand the aromatic-aliphatic balance, which is beneficial for achieving high device performance in organic photovoltaic (OPV) systems. The synthesis of various N-substituted diPDIs was successfully achieved using a newly developed one-step procedure, resulting in sufficiently high yields. Detailed investigations of seven variants of diPDIs demonstrated that the primary alkyl substituents, particularly the 2-ethylhexyl group, induce the self-organized growth of thin films with high crystallinity. This is beneficial for enhancing the device performance of bulk heterojunction (BHJ) systems. The results presented herein reveal the important roles of alkyl side chains as hydrophobic solubilizing auxiliaries or primary determinants in the control of the active layer nanomorphology. This offers a valuable guideline that is essential for developing high-performance organic semiconductor materials for future practical applications.     

A noniterative mean-field QM/MM-type approach with a linear response approximation toward an efficient free-energy evaluation

Mean-field treatment of solvent provides an efficient technique to investigate chemical processes in solution in quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) framework. In the algorithm, an iterative calculation is required to obtain the self-consistency between QM and MM regions, which is a time-consuming step. In the present study, we have proposed a noniterative approach by introducing a linear response approximation (LRA) into the solvation term in the one-electron part of Fock matrix in a hybrid approach between molecular-orbital calculations and a three-dimensional (3D) integral equation theory for molecular liquids (multicenter molecular Ornstein–Zernike self-consistent field [MC-MOZ-SCF]; Kido et al., J. Chem. Phys. 2015, 143, 014103). To save the computational time, we have also developed a fast method to generate electrostatic potential map near solute and the solvation term in Fock matrix, using Fourier transformation (FT) and real spherical harmonics expansion (RSHE). To numerically validate the LRA and FT-RSHE method, we applied the present approach to water, carbonic acid, and their ionic species in aqueous solution. Molecular properties of the solutes were evaluated by the present approach with four different types of initial wave functions and compared with those by the original (MC-MOZ-SCF). We found that an initial wave function considering solvation effects is needed to appropriately reproduce the properties by MC-MOZ-SCF. Furthermore, a benchmark test for 32 solute molecules was performed to evaluate the accuracy of the present approach for solvation free energy (SFE) and measure the speedup ratio for MC-MOZ-SCF. The error of SFE for MC-MOZ-SCF does not correlate with the SFE but increases in proportion to the electronic reorganization energy. Similar to water and carbonic acid, an initial wave function with solvation effects is also important to make the error small. From the averaged speed up ratio, the present approach is 13.5 times faster than MC-MOZ-SCF. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A new approach for the total synthesis of spilanthol and analogue with improved anesthetic activity

A 5-step synthesis of spilanthol (affinin) is reported, where the route features complete control of alkene geometry during the assembling of the double bonds, with the use of a Sonogashira cross-coupling reaction, a Z-selective alkyne semi-reduction and a HWE olefination reaction as the key steps. A simplified analogue was also prepared in 4 steps. Both compounds were found to permeate dermatomed pig ear skin through an in vitro Franz-type diffusion cell. The simplified analogue presented a superior anesthetic effect in vivo, using the tail flick model, when compared to spilanthol and to the commercial standard EMLA^®. These results suggest that both spilanthol and its analogue could be useful as a topical anesthetic in clinical practice.     

Mechanistic study of ring‐opening copolymerization of ɛ‐caprolactam with epoxide: Development of novel thermosetting epoxy resin system

We investigated the mechanism of the ring‐opening copolymerization of ?‐caprolactam (?‐CL) with glycidyl phenyl ether (GPE) to afford poly(?‐CL‐co‐GPE) as a model reaction of the thermal curing of certain epoxy resins with ?‐CL. The reaction of ?‐CL and GPE proceeded efficiently in the presence of 1,8‐diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec‐7‐ene (DBU) at 170^°C for 2 h. The monomer reactivities r₁ of ?‐CL and r₂ of GPE calculated according to the Fineman‐Ross method and the Kelen‐Tüdös method were 0.58 and 5.52, respectively. These values indicate that poly(?‐CL‐co‐GPE) has a pseudo‐block gradient copolymer. Based on these results, we examined the thermal curing reactions of certain epoxy resins with ?‐CL. The corresponding novel cured products were obtained quantitatively, and each of them showed a high glass transition temperature and high thermal stability, presumably due at least in part to a pseudo‐block gradient primary structure resembling that of poly(?‐CL‐co‐GPE). © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2016 , 54, 2220–2228     

Analysis of dyestuff degradation products by capillary electrophoresis.

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) with two different detection methods, mass spectrometry (MS) and UV absorption spectroscopy with photodiode array detection (UV/DAD), was used for the analysis of the degradation products of dyestuffs. We have studied wet oxidation with solid catalyst as the treatment method of wastewaters containing dyestuffs. When the Orange II (C.I. Acid Orange 7) solution was used as the model wastewater, treated solution contained unknown highly polar degradation products. We were able to determine the molecular masses of some products by CE-MS. From this clue, we tried to identify these products by CE-UV/DAD. By means of the comparison of the migration time and UV spectra of standard samples, three degradation products were identified. The separation of degradation products was successful within 15 min.     

Selective covalent targeting of SARS-CoV-2 main protease by enantiopure chlorofluoroacetamide

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has necessitated the development of antiviral agents against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The main protease (M^pro) is a promising target for COVID-19 treatment. Here, we report an irreversible SARS-CoV-2 M^pro inhibitor possessing chlorofluoroacetamide (CFA) as a warhead for the covalent modification of M^pro. Ugi multicomponent reaction using chlorofluoroacetic acid enabled the rapid synthesis of dipeptidic CFA derivatives that identified 18 as a potent inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2 M^pro. Among the four stereoisomers, (R,R)-18 exhibited a markedly higher inhibitory activity against M^pro than the other isomers. Reaction kinetics and computational docking studies suggest that the R configuration of the CFA warhead is crucial for the rapid covalent inhibition of M^pro. Our findings highlight the prominent influence of the CFA chirality on the covalent modification of proteinous cysteines and provide the basis for improving the potency and selectivity of CFA-based covalent inhibitors.

Chlorofluoroacetamide (CFA) was used as the warhead for covalent targeting of SARS-CoV-2 M^pro. The chirality at CFA showed marked influence on inhibitory activity, suggesting stereospecific activation of CFA for cysteine modification in the protein.     

Use of Isopropanol as a Modifier in a Hexane-Acetonitrile Based Mobile Phase for the Silver Ion HPLC Separation of Positional Isomers of Triacylglycerols Containing Long Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids

A high resolution approach to silver ion HPLC was studied for the separation of positional isomers of triacylglycerols (TAGs) containing long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and docosapentaenoic acid (DPA) in enzymatically synthesized structured TAGs. Isopropanol was used as a novel modifier in a hexane-acetonitrile based mobile phase for silver ion HPLC. Peak identification was based on HPLC-mass spectroscopy and selectivities of lipases. Positional isomers of TAGs containing one molecule of EPA, DHA, or DPA with saturated fatty acids (FAs) such as caprylic acid and palmitic acid were separated within 13 min using a gradient of hexane-isopropanol-acetonitrile as mobile phase. TAGs containing two or more EPA, DHA, or DPA were also separated from each other within 25 min, but their positional isomers were unresolved. The retention characteristics of the TAG were found to be related to the number of carbon atoms in the FAs present in addition to the number of double bonds and their isomeric configuration. One isomer with an unsaturated FA in the sn-2 position eluted faster than the other with the unsaturated FA in the sn-1 or 3 position. Species with longer chain FAs attached to TAGs with the same degree of unsaturation eluted faster than those that have shorter chain FAs. For example, docosapentaenoylhexadecanoyloctanoin (DPA/C16/C8) was eluted faster than dioctanoyldocosapentaenoin (DPA/C8/C8).