Non-conventional Behavior of a 2,1-Benzazaphosphole: Heterodiene or Hidden Phosphinidene?

Invited for the cover of this issue are Zoltán Benkő, Libor Dostál and co-workers at the University of Pardubice and the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. The image depicts signs for the two different pathways representing the two differing reaction types which were clearly observed for 2,1-benzazaphosphole. Read the full text of the article at 10.1002/chem.202101686 .     

Hydrogenation of poly(myrcene) and poly(farnesene) using diimide reduction at ambient pressure

Ambient pressure chemical hydrogenation using p-toluene sulfonyl hydrazide (TSH) via thermal diimide formation (N₂H₂) permitted reduction of double bonds of poly(myrcene) (poly[Myr]) and poly(farnesene) (poly[Far]). Both pendent and backbone double bonds in poly(Myr) (M_n = 56 kg/mol) and poly(Far) (M_n = 62 kg/mol) synthesized by conventional free radical polymerization were hydrogenated to almost completion. Furthermore, TSH semi-batch addition efficiently hydrogenated double bonds, while avoiding undesired autohydrogenation of diimides that occurred in batch mode. Thermal stability improved for hydrogenated poly(Myr) and poly(Far), where temperature at 10% weight loss (T_10%) increased from 188 to 404°C for poly(Myr) and from 310 to 379°C for poly(Far). T_gs of poly(Myr) and poly(Far) also increased by about 10–25°C, indicating increased stiffness after hydrogenation. Finally, viscosities of poly(Myr) and poly(Far) were also increased after hydrogenation, and a greater increase was observed for poly(Myr) (by two orders of magnitude from 10² to 10⁴ Pa s) due to its M_n being much higher than its entanglement molecular weight. Poly(Far) viscosity only increased by 1.5 times after hydrogenation (~10⁴ Pa s), comparable to the poly(Myr) after hydrogenation, suggesting unsaturated poly(Far) was more entangled than unsaturated poly(Myr) because of its longer side chains.     

Estimation of acidity constants,ionic mobilities and charges of antimicrobial peptides by capillary electrophoresis

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) was employed for the determination of thermodynamic acidity constants (pK_a) and actual ionic mobilities of polycationic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). The effective electrophoretic mobilities of AMPs were measured by CE in a series of the background electrolytes within a wide pH range (2.00–12.25), at constant ionic strength (25 mM) and ambient temperature, using polybrene coated fused silica capillaries to suppress sorption of cationic AMPs to the capillary wall. Eventually, Haarhoff–Van der Linde peak fitting function was used for the determination of correct migration times of some AMPs peaks that were distorted by electromigration dispersion. The measured effective mobilities were corrected to 25°C. Mixed acidity constants, , and actual ionic mobilities, m_i, of AMPs were determined by the nonlinear regression analysis of pH dependence of their effective mobilities. The values were recalculated to thermodynamic pK_as using the Debye–Hückel theory. Thermodynamic pK_a of imidazolium group of histidine residues was found to be in the range 3.72–4.98, pK_a of α‐NH₃⁺ group was in the range 6.14–6.93, and pK_a of ε‐NH₃⁺ group of lysine spanned the interval 7.26–9.84, depending on the particular amino acid sequence of the AMPs. Actual ionic mobilities of AMPs with positive charges from one to six elementary units achieved values (9.8 – 36.5) × 10^?9 m²V^?1s^?1.     

Synthesis,characterization and antimicrobial activity of pentagonal-bipyramidal isothiocyanato Co(II) and Ni(II) complexes with 2,6-diacetylpyridine bis(trimethylammoniumacetohydrazone)

Pentagonal-bipyramidal isothiocyanato Co(II) and Ni(II) complexes with condensation product of 2,6-diacetylpyridine and trimethylammoniumacetohydrazide (Girard’s T reagent) were synthesized and characterized by elemental analyses, IR and UV–vis spectra, molar conductivity, and magnetic susceptibility. Crystal structures of the Co(II) and Ni(II) complexes were also determined. Antimicrobial activities of the ligand and metal complexes were examined.     

Extraction-ability and -selectivity of tetra-aza-crown ethers for transition metal cations

In order to investigate the relative effects of the differences between the structures and lipophilicities of 1, 10-dioxa-4, 7, 13, 16-tetra-azacyclo-octadecane (TA-18-crown-6) and the tetrabenzyl derivative of 1,10-dioxa-4, 7, 13, 16-tetra-azacyclo-octadecane (TBTA-18-crown-6) on their extraction-abilities and -selectivities for transition metal cations, constants of the overall extraction (logK _ex) of 1:1 (M:L) complexes, the distribution (K _D) for two diluents (CH₂Cl₂ and CHCl₃) with different dielectric constants have been determined at 25 ± 0.1 °C. The magnitude of logK _ex is largely determined by that of K _D. The equilibrium constants of TA-18-crown-6 have been compared with those of TBTA-18-crown-6. It is found that:(i) logK _ex sequences of TA-18-crown-6 and TBTA-18-crown-6 for transition metals in CH₂Cl₂ lie in order: Fe³⁺ > Cu²⁺ > Mn²⁺ > Co²⁺ > Cd²⁺ > Ni²⁺ > Zn²⁺ and Fe³⁺ > Cu²⁺ > Co²⁺ > Mn²⁺ > Ni²⁺ > Cd²⁺ > Zn²⁺ respectively; (ii) the stability sequences of two types of tetra-aza-crown ethers with the transition metal cations in CHCl₃ are the same as follows: Fe³⁺ > Ni²⁺ > Cu²⁺ > Co²⁺ > Zn²⁺ > Cd²⁺ > Mn²⁺, and (iii) unusual selectivities are observed for transition metal-tetra-aza-crowns, e.g. the high Fe³⁺/M ⁿ⁺ selectivity factors (S_f) of TA-18-crown-6, except for the competitive-extractions for the special case in CHCl₃ of TBTA-18-crown-6, it was found that the Mn²⁺/M ⁿ⁺ values were relatively higher according to the other transition metal cations. A systematic sequence in these two types of solvents is not found for a given transition metal cation in terms of the variation of selectivity with the tetra-aza-crown ethers. The results provide alternatives for the rational design of other specific ligands on the transition metal cations.     

Analysis of therapeutic peptides in human urine by combination of capillary zone electrophoresis-electrospray mass spectrometry with preparative capillary isotachophoresis sample pretreatment

The presented study deals with the off-line coupling of preparative isotachophoresis (pITP) with on-line combination of capillary zone electrophoresis with electrospray mass spectrometric detection (CZE-ESI-MS) used for the analysis of therapeutic peptides (anserine, carnosine, and buserelin) in complex matrix (urine). Preparative capillary isotachophoresis, operating in a discontinuous fractionation mode in column-coupling configuration, served as a sample pretreatment technique to separation, and fractionation of mixture of therapeutic peptides present in urine at low concentration level. The fractions isolated by pITP procedure were subsequently analyzed by capillary zone electrophoresis with electrospray mass spectrometric detection. Acetic acid at 200 mmol L(-1) concentration served as background electrolyte in CZE stage and it is compatible with MS detection in positive ionization mode. In pITP fractionation procedure, sodium cation (10 mmol L(-1) concentration) as leading ion and beta-alanine as terminating ion (20 mmol L(-1) concentration) were used. While using CZE-ESI-MS, the limits of detection were 0.18 μg mL(-1) for carnosine, 0.17 μg mL(-1) for anserine and 0.64 μg mL(-1) for buserelin in water and 0.19 μg mL(-1) for carnosine, 0.50 μg mL(-1) for anserine and 0.74 μg mL(-1) for buserelin in 10 times diluted urine, respectively. The cleaning power of pITP sample pretreatment was proved as the peptides provided the higher MS signals at lower concentration levels resulting from the minimized matrix effects. The quality of obtained MS/MS spectra was very good so that they can provide information about the structure of analytes, and they were used for verification of the analytes identities. The pITP pretreatment improved the detection limits of the analyzed therapeutic peptides at least 25 times compared to the CZE-ESI-MS itself.     

Ab initio quasirelativistic calculations on electronic transitions in ICl by the multireference many‐body perturbation theory

A quasirelativistic perturbative method of ab initio calculations on ground and excited molecular electronic states and transition properties within the relativistic effective core potential approximation is presented and discussed. The method is based on the construction of a state‐selective many‐electron effective Hamiltonian in the model space spanned by an appropriate set of Slater determinants by means of the second‐order many‐body multireference perturbation theory. The neglect of effective spin–orbit interactions outside of the model space allows the exploitation of relatively high nonrelativistic symmetry during the evaluation of perturbative corrections and therefore dramatic reduction of the cost of computations without any contraction of the model‐space functions. One‐electron transition properties are evaluated via the perturbative construction of spin‐free transition density matrices. Illustrative calculations on the X0⁺ ? A1, B0⁺, and (ii)1 transitions in the ICl molecule are reported. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2002     

A Non‐Heme Iron Photocatalyst for Light‐Driven Aerobic Oxidation of Methanol

Non‐heme (L)Fe^III and (L)Fe^III‐O‐Fe^III(L) complexes (L=1,1‐di(pyridin‐2‐yl)‐N,N‐bis(pyridin‐2‐ylmethyl)ethan‐1‐amine) underwent reduction under irradiation to the Fe^II state with concomitant oxidation of methanol to methanal, without the need for a secondary photosensitizer. Spectroscopic and DFT studies support a mechanism in which irradiation results in charge‐transfer excitation of a Fe^III?μ‐O?Fe^III complex to generate [(L)Fe^IV=O]²⁺ (observed transiently during irradiation in acetonitrile), and an equivalent of (L)Fe^II. Under aerobic conditions, irradiation accelerates reoxidation from the Fe^II to the Fe^III state with O₂, thus closing the cycle of methanol oxidation to methanal.     

Relativistic optics in gravitational lensing: The focus of a cluster and its aberrations

In this article, general idea of focusing is studied within the framework of optics extension into general relativity (covariant optics). In a configuration of static spacetime, the general, mathematically rigorous treatment of rays, wavefronts and caustics of spherical symmetry is presented, particularly with regard to problems of obtaining them within general relativity. An original result is the aberration formulation to covariant optics, whose application is given in this paper; a particular solution of Einstein equations is finally chosen to provide concrete, exact results of cluster focal length and its aberration structure. In this way, a gravitational lensing situation is shown to be a true lens.