Low pressure Pd-catalyzed carbonylation in an ionic liquid using a multiphase microflow system

A low pressure microflow system was developed for palladium-catalyzed multiphase carbonylation reactions in an ionic liquid. The microflow system resulted in superior selectivity and higher yields in carbonylative Sonogashira coupling and amidation reactions of aryl iodides compared to the conventional batch system.     

A soliton phenomenon in langmuir monolayers of amphiphilic bistable rotaxanes

Surface pressure-area isotherms, light scattering microscopy, and atomic force microscopy have all been used to provide information about the stabilities and dynamics of Langmuir monolayers composed of amphiphilic bistable [2]rotaxane molecules. Superstructures that have the appearance of localized mobile solitons are formed during the compression of monolayers of the [2]rotaxanes below their collapse pressures. Solitons move solely in a linear trajectory in both directions across the film, perpendicular to the compression direction, without any apparent broadening or change in their shape.     

Experimental determination of the nN --> sigma*P-O interaction energy of O-equatorial C-apical phosphoranes bearing a primary amino group

The reaction of a chlorophosphorane (9-Cl) with primary amines produced anti-apicophilic spirophosphoranes (5, O-equatorial phosphoranes), which violate the apicophilicity concept, having an apical carbon-equatorial oxygen configuration, along with the ordinarily expected O-apical stereoisomers (6) with the apical oxygen-equatorial carbon configuration. Although the amino group is electronegative in nature, the O-equatorial phosphoranes were found to be stable at room temperature and could still be converted to their more stable O-apical pseudorotamers (6) when they were heated in solution. X-ray analysis implied that this remarkable stability of the O-equatorial isomers could be attributed to the orbital interaction between the lone-pair electrons of the nitrogen atom (n(N)) and the antibonding sigma(P-O) orbital in the equatorial plane. A kinetic study of the isomerization of 5 to 6 and that between diastereomeric O-apical phosphoranes 13b-exo and 13b-endo revealed that 5b bearing an n-propylamino substituent at the central phosphorus atom was found to be less stable than the corresponding isomeric 6b by ca. 7.5 kcal mol(-1). This value was smaller than the difference in energy (11.9 kcal mol(-1)) between the O-equatorial (1b) and the O-apical n-butylphosphorane (2b) by 4.4 kcal mol(-1). This value of 4.4 kcal mol(-1) can be regarded as the stabilization energy induced by the n(N) --> sigma(P-O) interaction. The experimentally determined value was in excellent agreement with that derived from density functional theory (DFT) calculations at the B3PW91 level (4.0 kcal mol(-1)) between the nonsubstituted aminophosphoranes (5g is less stable than 6g by 10.1 kcal mol(-1)) and their P-methyl-substituted counterparts (1a is less stable than 2a by 14.1 kcal mol(-1)).     

Synthesis and redox properties of crowded triarylphosphines possessing ferrocenyl groups

Crowded triarylphosphines possessing ferrocenyl groups [(4-ferrocenyl-2,6-diisopropylphenyl)(n)(2,4,6-triisopropylphenyl)(3-n)P (5a, n = 1; 5b, n = 2; 5c, n = 3)] were synthesized by the reaction of the corresponding arylcopper(I) reagents with the diarylchlorophosphines. Structures of the triarylphosphines were studied by 1H, 13C, and 31P NMR spectroscopies, and the characteristic patterns of the proton signals of the 2,6-isopropyl groups and upfielded 31P chemical shifts suggest structural similarities of the triarylphosphine moiety to the previously reported tris(2,4,6-triisopropylphenyl)phosphine (2). X-ray crystallography of 5c also revealed that the structure around the phosphorus is similar to that of 1, where the average bond angle and length around the phosphorus atom are 110.8 degrees and 1.854 A, respectively. According to the electrochemical measurements, phosphines 5a, 5b, and 5c are reversibly oxidized in two, three, and four steps, respectively, which suggests significant electronic interaction among the triarylphosphine and the ferrocene redox centers as well as weak interaction among the ferrocene redox centers. The EPR spectra obtained at cryogenic temperature after oxidation of phosphines 5a, 5b, and 5c are superpositions of those for the cation radicals of the crowded triarylphosphine and ferricinium. The solution spectra obtained at 293 K, which consist of two lines typical of the cation radical of the crowded triarylphosphines, become weaker as the number of the ferrocenyl groups increases and the cation radical of 5c does not show EPR signals. These findings suggest not only instability of the tetra(cation radical) of 5c but also the course of oxidation where the ferrocenyl groups in the periphery of the molecules are oxidized at first.     

A new triterpene synthase from Arabidopsis thaliana produces a tricyclic triterpene with two hydroxyl groups

[structure: see text] Thirteen oxidosqualene cyclase homologues exist in the genome of Arabidopsis thaliana. One of these genes, At4g15340, was amplified by PCR and expressed in yeast. The yeast transformant accumulated tricyclic triterpene, (3S,13R)-malabarica-17,21-dien-3,14-diol (arabidiol), whose structure was determined by NMR and MS analyses. Its epoxide analogue, (3S,13R,21S)-malabarica-17-en-20,21-epoxy-3,14-diol (arabidiol 20,21-epoxide), was also isolated from the transformed yeast. This is the first example of a triterpene synthase that yields a tricyclic triterpene with two hydroxyl groups.     

Phase control of iron silicides using femtosecond laser irradiation

Phase control of Fe–Si amorphous thin film in micro area is demonstrated using femtosecond laser irradiation. A femtosecond laser beam with a high repetition rate over 200 kHz and tightly focused through an objective lens promotes both crystallization and phase transformation from an amorphous phase into crystalline β-FeSi₂, α-FeSi₂, or ε-FeSi phases. Formation of each crystalline phase is possible by changing the pulse energy or the scanning speed of the incident laser beam.     

Visible-super-resolution infrared microscopy using saturated transient fluorescence detected infrared spectroscopy

A scanning visible-super-resolution microscope based on the saturation behaviour of transient fluorescence detected infrared (TFD-IR) spectroscopy is proposed. A Gaussian IR beam, a Gaussian visible beam and a Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) visible beam are used to obtain two separate two-color excitation fluorescence (2CF) images of the sample. The final image is obtained as the difference between the two recorded images. If the peak intensity of the LG beam is high enough to induce saturation in the fluorescence signal, the image can, in principle, have unlimited spatial resolution. A ∼3-fold improvement in transverse resolution over the visible diffraction limit (and far exceeding the IR diffraction limit) is easily achievable in present experimental setups.     

Ionization‐Induced Solvent Migration in Acetanilide‐Methanol Clusters Inferred from Isomer‐Selective Infrared Spectroscopy

We present the resonance‐enhanced multiphoton ionization, infrared‐ultraviolet hole burning (IR‐UV HB), and IR dip spectra of the trans‐acetanilide–methanol (AA–MeOH) cluster in the S₀, S₁, and cationic ground state (D₀) in a supersonic jet. The IR‐UV HB spectra demonstrate the co‐existence of two isomers in S_0,1, in which MeOH binds either to the NH or the CO site of the peptide linkage in AA, denoted as AA(NH)–MeOH and AA(CO)–MeOH. When AA(CO)–MeOH is selectively ionized, its IR spectrum in D₀ is the same as that measured for AA⁺(NH)–MeOH. Thus, photoionization of AA(CO)–MeOH induces migration of MeOH from the CO to the NH site with 100% yield.     

Optical properties of a waveguide written inside a LiTaO3 crystal by irradiation with focused femtosecond laser pulses

Optical waveguides were fabricated by modifying the optical properties inside a LiTaO₃ crystal by irradiation with femtosecond laser pulses, and the performance and optical properties of the waveguide were investigated. On the basis of near-field pattern of the light guided through the waveguides, the optimum writing conditions such as the pulse energy and the pulse duration were determined. The waveguide written inside a LiTaO₃ crystal had a strong polarization dependence of guided light. Observation by a polarized microscope suggested that the stress distribution around the photoexcited region should be responsible for the polarization dependence of guided light. In addition, the second harmonic generation from a laser beam passing through the waveguide was observed, which suggests that the ferroelectric properties of LiTaO₃ were preserved after the photoexcitation.     

Pulse-resolved measurement of quadrature phase amplitudes of squeezed pulse trains at a repetition rate of 76 MHz

We report pulsed homodyne detection of squeezed pulses at a repetition rate of 76 MHz. Measurement of individual pulses, which were interrogated by the correlation coefficient between adjacent pulses, was realized. A homodyne detector was constructed using a low-noise, high-speed operational amplifier; it had a usable bandwidth of 250 MHz. We observed 2.3 dB of squeezing in both the time and frequency domains.