A Neutral η5‐Aminoborole Complex of Germanium(II)

The synthesis of two η⁵‐aminoborole complexes of germanium(II) from the reaction of a germole dianion with aminoboron dichlorides is reported. This reaction constitutes a remarkable example of a germole‐to‐borole transformation. The two aminoborole complexes of germanium(II) were fully characterized by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy, HRMS, and, in one case, by X‐ray crystallography. The results of quantum‐mechanical calculations favor the electronic structure of a half‐sandwich complex of Ge^II over an ionic representation with a germanium dication stabilized by an aromatic aminoborole dianion.     

Pt@MOF-177: synthesis, room-temperature hydrogen storage and oxidation catalysis

The gas-phase loading of [Zn(4)O(btb)(2)](8) (MOF-177; H(3)btb=1,3,5-benzenetribenzoic acid) with the volatile platinum precursor [Me(3)PtCp'] (Cp'=methylcyclopentadienyl) was confirmed by solid state (13)C magic angle spinning (MAS)-NMR spectroscopy. Subsequent reduction of the inclusion compound [Me(3)PtCp'](4)@MOF-177 by hydrogen at 100 bar and 100 degrees C for 24 h was carried out and gave rise to the formation of platinum nanoparticles in a size regime of 2-5 nm embedded in the unchanged MOF-177 host lattice as confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) micrographs and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD). The room-temperature hydrogen adsorption of Pt@MOF-177 has been followed in a gravimetric fashion (magnetic suspension balance) and shows almost 2.5 wt % in the first cycle, but is decreased down to 0.5 wt % in consecutive cycles. The catalytic activity of Pt@MOF-177 towards the solvent- and base-free room temperature oxidation of alcohols in air has been tested and shows Pt@MOF-177 to be an efficient catalyst in the oxidation of alcohols.     

Mechanistic Characterisation of Two Sesquiterpene Cyclases from the Plant Pathogenic Fungus Fusarium fujikuroi

Two sesquiterpene cyclases from Fusarium fujikuroi were expressed in Escherichia coli and purified. The first enzyme was inactive because of a critical mutation, but activity was restored by sequence correction through site‐directed mutagenesis. The mutated enzyme and two naturally functional homologues from other fusaria converted farnesyl diphosphate into guaia‐6,10(14)‐diene. The second enzyme produced eremophilene. The absolute configuration of guaia‐6,10(14)‐diene was elucidated by enantioselective synthesis, while that of eremophilene was evident from the sign of its optical rotation and is opposite to that in plants but the same as in Sorangium cellulosum. The mechanisms of both terpene cyclases were studied with various ¹³C‐ and ²H‐labelled FPP isotopomers.     

Cationic Si−H−Si Bridges in Polysilanes: Their Detection and Targeted Formation in Stable Ion Studies

The ionization of 1,1‐dihydridocyclopentasilane 7 has been found to yield the cyclic polysilanylsilyl cation 8 instead of the expected hydrogen‐substituted silylium ion 6 . The silyl cation 8 is stabilized by the formation of an intramolecular Si?H?Si bridge, which also provides the thermodynamic driving force for its formation. In general, the preference for the formation of Si?H?Si bridges can be used to scavenge and identify transient intermediates in the Lewis acid induced rearrangement of polysilanes. The validity of this concept has been demonstrated for one central step in this chemistry, the ring‐contraction reaction of cyclohexasilanes to form silylcyclopentasilanes.     

Quantifying hydrogen-bonding strength: the measurement of 2hJNN couplings in self-assembled guanosines by solid-state 15N spin-echo MAS NMR

(2h)J(NN) hydrogen-bond mediated J couplings are measured in the solid state for two synthetic deoxyguanosine derivatives by (15)N MAS NMR spin-echo experiments. The use of rotor-synchronised Hahn-echo pulse train (RS-HEPT) (1)H decoupling, with a duty cycle of 6%, allows spin-echo durations out to 200 ms, hence enabling the accurate determination of J couplings as small as 3.8 Hz. A single-crystal X-ray diffraction structure exists for the shorter alkyl chain derivative dG(C(3))(2): the observation of significantly different (2h)J(NN) couplings, 6.2 +/- 0.4 and 7.4 +/- 0.4 Hz, for the two resolved N7 resonances is to be expected given the NH...N hydrogen-bonding distances of 2.91 and 2.83 A for the two distinct molecules in the asymmetric unit cell. For the longer alkyl chain derivative, dG(C(10))(2), for which there is no single-crystal diffraction structure, a (15)N refocused INADEQUATE spectrum (Pham et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2005, 127, 16018-16019) has demonstrated the presence of N2-H...N7 intermolecular hydrogen-bonds indicative of a quartet-like structure. The (2h)J(NN) hydrogen-bond mediated J coupling of 5.9 +/- 0.2 Hz is at the lower end of the range (5.9-8.2 Hz) of (2h)J(NN) couplings determined from solution-state NMR of guanosine quartets in quadruplex DNA. A full discussion of the determination of error bars on the fitted parameters is given; specifically, error bars determined by a non-linear fitting (using the covariance matrix) or in a Monte-Carlo fashion are found to give effectively identical results.     

CsF–Si(OEt)4 catalyzed addition of (hetero)aromatic amides to ethyl acrylate

The conjugate addition of some (hetero)aromatic amides to an α,β‐unsaturated ester (ethyl acrylate) proceeds efficiently in the presence of an equimolar amount of the CsF–Si(OEt)₄ system to afford the corresponding ethyl esters of N‐substituted β‐amino acids. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Micelle-like macromolecular systems for controlled release of daunomycin

Soluble macromolecular conjugates for the delivery of the strongly hydrophobic anticancer drug daunomycin (DM) or rubomycin with its controlled release were prepared. The solution properties of these conjugates consisting of DM bonded to copolymer of maleic anhydride and divinyl ether (DIVEMA) and a few model compounds were investigated using adsorbance spectroscopy, as well as surface activity and solubilization of water-insoluble dye measurements. The data of these studies indicated that in water solutions conjugates are associated, probably intramolecularly. This micellization in parallel with an H-bonded ionic complex between DM and polymer carrier determines the DM release. It is concluded that the desirable drug release can be achieved through changing the structure of conjugates by means of varying the constituents hydrophobicity. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Americium preferred: lanmodulin,a natural lanthanide-binding protein favors an actinide over lanthanides

The separation and recycling of lanthanides is an active area of research with a growing demand that calls for more environmentally friendly lanthanide sources. Likewise, the efficient and industrial separation of lanthanides from the minor actinides (Np, Am–Fm) is one of the key questions for closing the nuclear fuel cycle; reducing costs and increasing safety. With the advent of the field of lanthanide-dependent bacterial metabolism, bio-inspired applications are in reach. Here, we utilize the natural lanthanide chelator lanmodulin and the luminescent probes Eu³⁺ and Cm³⁺ to investigate the inter-metal competition behavior of all lanthanides (except Pm) and the major actinide plutonium as well as three minor actinides neptunium, americium and curium to lanmodulin. Using time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy we show that lanmodulin has the highest relative binding affinity to Nd³⁺ and Eu³⁺ among the lanthanide series. When equimolar mixtures of Cm³⁺ and Am³⁺ are added to lanmodulin, lanmodulin preferentially binds to Am³⁺ over Cm³⁺ whilst Nd³⁺ and Cm³⁺ bind with similar relative affinity. The results presented show that a natural lanthanide-binding protein can bind a major and various minor actinides with high relative affinity, paving the way to bio-inspired separation applications. In addition, an easy and versatile method was developed, using the fluorescence properties of only two elements, Eu and Cm, for inter-metal competition studies regarding lanthanides and selected actinides and their binding to biological molecules.

In need of environmentally friendly methods for the separation and recycling of lanthanides and actinides, the binding of the protein lanmodulin to lanthanides and actinides was studied using time resolved laser induced fluorescence spectroscopy.