Reversible Double C?H Bond Activation of Linear and Cyclic Ethers To Form Iridium Carbenes

The double C? H bond activation of a series of linear and cyclic ethers by the iridium complex [Tp^tol′Ir(C₆H₅)(N₂)] ( 2? N₂), which features a cyclometalated hydrotris(3‐p‐tolylpyrazol‐1‐yl)borate ligand (Tp^tol′) coordinated in a κ⁴‐N,N′,N′′,C manner, has been studied. Two methyl ethers, namely, Me₂O and MeOtBu, along with diethyl ether and the cyclic ethers tetrahydrofuran, tetrahydropyran (THP), and 1,4‐dioxane have been investigated with formation in every case of the corresponding hydride carbene complexes 3 – 8 , which are stabilized by κ⁴‐coordination of the ancillary Tp^tol′ ligand. Five of the compounds have been structurally authenticated by X‐ray crystallography. A remarkable feature of these rearrangements is the reversibility of the double C? H bond activation of Me₂O, MeOtBu, Et₂O, and THP. This has permitted catalytic deuterium incorporation into the methyl groups of the two methyl ethers, although in a rather inefficient manner (for synthetic purposes). Although possible in all cases, C? C coupling by migratory insertion of the carbene into the Ir? C σ bond of the metalated linkage has only been observed for complex 8 that contains a cyclic carbene that results from α,α‐C? H activation of 1,4‐dioxane. Computational studies on the formation of iridium carbenes are also reported, which show a role for metalated Tp ligands in the double C? H activation and account for the reversibility of the reaction in terms of the relative stability of the reagents and the products of the reaction.     

Pseudopolymorphs of chelidamic acid and its dimethyl ester

Different tautomeric and zwitterionic forms of chelidamic acid (4‐hydroxypyridine‐2,6‐dicarboxylic acid) are present in the crystal structures of chelidamic acid methanol monosolvate, C₇H₅NO₅·CH₄O, (Ia), dimethylammonium chelidamate (dimethylammonium 6‐carboxy‐4‐hydroxypyridine‐2‐carboxylate), C₂H₈N⁺·C₇H₄NO₅⁻, (Ib), and chelidamic acid dimethyl sulfoxide monosolvate, C₇H₅NO₅·C₂H₆OS, (Ic). While the zwitterionic pyridinium carboxylate in (Ia) can be explained from the pK_a values, a (partially) deprotonated hydroxy group in the presence of a neutral carboxy group, as observed in (Ib) and (Ic), is unexpected. In (Ib), there are two formula units in the asymmetric unit with the chelidamic acid entities connected by a symmetric O—H...O hydrogen bond. Also, crystals of chelidamic acid dimethyl ester (dimethyl 4‐hydroxypyridine‐2,6‐dicarboxylate) were obtained as a monohydrate, C₉H₉NO₅·H₂O, (IIa), and as a solvent‐free modification, in which both ester molecules adopt the hydroxypyridine form. In (IIa), the solvent water molecule stabilizes the synperiplanar conformation of both carbonyl O atoms with respect to the pyridine N atom by two O—H...O hydrogen bonds, whereas an antiperiplanar arrangement is observed in the water‐free structure. A database study and ab initio energy calculations help to compare the stabilities of the various ester conformations.     

Highly convergent one-pot four-component regioselective synthesis of 4H-benzo[f]chromenes via annulation of β-oxodithioesters

Highly efficient regioselective protocol for the synthesis of hitherto unreported 4H-benzo[f]chromenes has been developed by one-pot four-component coupling of aromatic aldehydes, β-naphthol, β-oxodithioesters, and primary alcohols in the presence of InCl₃. This transformation presumably proceeds via domino Knoevenagel condensation/Michael addition/intramolecular cyclodehydration/transesterification sequence creating four new bonds and one stereocenter in a single operation. Further, alcohol plays dual role as a reactant as well as reaction medium.     

On claw-free t-perfect graphs

A graph is called t-perfect, if its stable set polytope is defined by non-negativity, edge and odd-cycle inequalities. We characterise the class of all claw-free t-perfect graphs by forbidden t-minors, and show that they are 3-colourable. Moreover, we determine the chromatic number of claw-free h-perfect graphs and give a polynomial-time algorithm to compute an optimal colouring.     

Quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical study of three stationary points along the deacylation step of the catalytic mechanism of elastase

A large amount of experimental as well as theoretical information is available about the mechanism of serine proteases, but many questions remain unanswered. Here we study the deacylation step of the reaction mechanism of elastase. The water molecule in the acyl-enzyme active site, the binding mode of the carbonyl oxygen in the oxyanion hole, the characteristics of the tetrahedral intermediate structure, and the mobility of the imidazole ring of His-57 were studied with quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical methods. The models are based on a recent high-resolution crystal structure of the acyl-enzyme intermediate. The nucleophilic water in the active site of the acyl-enzyme has been shown to have two minima that differ by only 2 kcalmol⁻¹ in energy. The carbonyl group of the acyl-enzyme is located in the oxyanion hole and is positioned for attack by the hydrolytic water. The tetrahedral intermediate is a weakly bonded system, which is electrostatically stabilized by short hydrogen bonds to the backbone NH groups of Gly-193 and Ser-195 in the oxyanion hole. The short distance between the N^ɛ2 of His-57 and the O^γ of Ser-195 in the tetrahedral intermediate indicates a small movement of the imidazole ring towards the product in the deacylation step. The carbonyl group of the enzyme-product complex is not held strongly in the oxyanion hole, which shows that the peptide is first released from the oxyanion hole before it leaves the active site to regenerate the native state of the enzyme. Received: 11 September 2000 / Accepted: 15 September 2000 / Published online: 21 March 2001     

Copper Binding and Oligomerization Studies of the Metal Resistance Determinant CrdA from Helicobacter pylori

Within this research, the CrdA protein from Helicobacter pylori (HpCrdA), a putative copper-binding protein important for the survival of bacterium, was biophysically characterized in a solution, and its binding affinity toward copper was experimentally determined. Incubation of HpCrdA with Cu(II) ions favors the formation of the monomeric species in the solution. The modeled HpCrdA structure shows a conserved methionine-rich region, a potential binding site for Cu(I), as in the structures of similar copper-binding proteins, CopC and PcoC, from Pseudomonas syringae and from Escherichia coli, respectively. Within the conserved amino acid motif, HpCrdA contains two additional methionines and two glutamic acid residues (MMXEMPGMXXMXEM) in comparison to CopC and PcoC but lacks the canonical Cu(II) binding site (two His) since the sequence has no His residues. The methionine-rich site is in a flexible loop and can adopt different geometries for the two copper oxidation states. It could bind copper in both oxidation states (I and II), but with different binding affinities, micromolar was found for Cu(II), and less than nanomolar is proposed for Cu(I). Considering that CrdA is a periplasmic protein involved in chaperoning copper export and delivery in the H. pylori cell and that the affinity of the interaction corresponds to a middle or strong metal–protein interaction depending on the copper oxidation state, we conclude that the interaction also occurs in vivo and is physiologically relevant for H. pylori.     

Experimental and Computational Studies on Quadruply Bonded Dimolybdenum Complexes with Terminal and Bridging Hydride Ligands

This contribution focuses on complex [Mo₂(H)₂(μ-Ad^Dipp2)₂] ( 1 ) and tetrahydrofuran and pyridine adducts [Mo₂(H)₂(μ-Ad^Dipp2)₂(L)₂] ( 1⋅thf and 1⋅py ), which contain a trans-(H)Mo≣Mo(H) core (Ad^Dipp2=HC(NDipp₂)₂; Dipp=2,6-iPr₂C₆H₃). Computational studies provide insights into the coordination and electronic characteristics of the central trans-Mo₂H₂ unit of 1 , with four-coordinate, fourteen-electron Mo atoms and ϵ-agostic interactions with Dipp methyl groups. Small size C- and N-donors give rise to related complexes 1⋅L but only one molecule of P-donors, for example, PMe₃, can bind to 1 , causing one of the hydrides to form a three-centered, two-electron (3c-2e) Mo-H→Mo bond ( 2⋅PMe₃ ). A DFT analysis of the terminal and bridging hydride coordination to the Mo≣Mo bond is also reported, along with reactivity studies of the Mo−H bonds of these complexes. Reactions investigated include oxidation of 1⋅thf by silver triflimidate, AgNTf₂, to afford a monohydride [Mo₂(μ-H)(μ-NTf₂)(μ-Ad^Dipp2)₂] ( 4 ), with an O,O’-bridging triflimidate ligand.     

Thermographic examination of prick test reactions with local anesthetic

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The objective of this work was to examine the thermal conductivity of a stable nano-antifreeze containing cetyltrimethylammonium bromide coated cerium...     

Kinetic study of the oxidation reaction of 4-methylphenyl radical

A kinetic study of the reaction of the 4-methylphenyl radical (4-C₆H₄CH₃) with the oxygen molecule was conducted using experimental and theoretical approaches. The absorption spectrum for the λ = 266 nm photolysis of the 4-C₆H₄CH₃X (X = Cl, Br)/N₂/O₂ mixture was measured in the wavelength range of λ = 503-512 nm using N₂ as the buffer gas at a total pressure of 40 Torr using a cavity ring-down spectroscopy apparatus coupled with a pulsed laser photolysis system. Based on the absorbance of the product of the 4-C₆H₄CH₃ + O₂ reaction at λ = 504 nm, the reaction rate coefficient for the 4-C₆H₄CH₃ + O₂ reaction was determined to be k = (1.21 ± 0.10) × 10⁻¹¹ cm³ molecule⁻¹ s⁻¹ and k = (1.18 ± 0.21) × 10⁻¹¹ cm³ molecule⁻¹ s⁻¹ using 4-C₆H₄CH₃Cl and 4-C₆H₄CH₃Br, respectively, as the radical precursor. And there was no pressure dependence in the total pressure range of 10-90 Torr varying partial pressure of N₂ buffer gas at T = 296 ± 5 K. The geometries, vibration frequencies, and potential energy surfaces of the reactants, major products, and transition states in the 4-C₆H₄CH₃ + O₂ reaction were determined using the CBS-QB3 method. The k value at the high-pressure limit was calculated to be 1.26 × 10⁻¹¹ cm³ molecule⁻¹ s⁻¹ using the variational transition-state theory. The calculated value of k was consistent with the experimental value, which indicated that the 4-C₆H₄CH₃ + O₂ reaction reaches the high-pressure limit at 10 Torr. Therefore, the oxidation of the 4-C₆H₄CH₃ radical is almost 10 times faster than that of the benzyl radical, which has the same chemical formula, at the high-pressure limit.     

Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalyst- and Additive-Free Cross-Coupling of β-Ketothioamides with α-Diazo 1,3-Diketones: Access to Highly Functionalized Thiazolines

A photocatalyst- and additive-free, visible-light-mediated chemoselective domino protocol was devised to access fully substituted thiazoline derivatives from β-ketothioamides and α-diazo 1,3-diketones at moderate temperature in open air. The reaction proceeds through in situ generation of electrophilic carbenes from α-diazo 1,3-diketones by a low-energy blue LED (448 nm), which undergoes selective coupling with nucleophilic β-ketothioamides to give thiazolines by successive formation of C−S and C−N bonds in one stretch. Notably, the benign and clean conditions, operational simplicity, sustainability, 100 % carbon economy, high yields, and wide functional-group tolerance are further attributes of the strategy. A mechanistic rationale for this cascade reaction sequence is well supported by control experiments.