Importance of steric factors in face-selective cycloadditions: 1,6-annulated cyclohexa-1,3-dienes

Diastereotopically nonequivalent π-facial 1,6-annulated-1,3-cyclohexadienes have been explored as probe molecules to assess the face-selectivities in cycloadditions. Steric factors have been found to be important in controlling the face-selectivities with these dienes. Studies with the hitherto unexplored diene 5 were also consistent with the order C-H > C-C for hyperconjugative stabilization of the transition state.     

Spectrophotometric flow-injection determination of urea in body fluids by using an immobilized urease reactor

A flow system involving a packed-bed enzyme reactor (volume 180 μl) with urease immobilized covalently on poly(glycidyl methacrylate)-coated porous glass is used for determining urea in blood serum and urine. Enzymatically produced ammonia is converted to an indophenolate dye (by oxidative coupling with hypochlorite and sodium salicylate), which is detected spectrophotometrically at 700 nm. The calibration graph is rectilinear for 25–500 μM urea when injecting samples (75 μl) diluted 1:50 for serum or 1:1000 for urine at a frequency of 60 h^?1; the relative standard deviation is 1.1% for ten injections of 300 μM urea. The immobilized urease is stabilized by the addition of disodium EDTA, sodium azide and 2-mercaptoethanol to a 0.2 M phosphate buffer (pH 6.9) used as the carrier stream, which serves also as a preservative for longterm storage of the urease reactor packing at 4°C.     

Synthese und Reaktionsverhalten von 6-sec-Amino-1,3-thiazin-2-thionen

The title compounds3 have been prepared by ring transformation reactions of the isomeric 2-sec-amino-1,3-thiazine-6-thiones1 via ring-opening products2 and by special cyclocondensation reactions with thiocarboxamides8, and with iminium salts10, starting from 2,2-dichlorovinyl ketones6 in all cases. The pathways differ specifically in scope and limitations. On the other hand the intermediates2 react with alkylating agents to 2,6-di-sec-amino-1,3-thiazinium salts4, which are also available via alkylation of3 to 2-methylthio-1,3-thiazinium salts11 and aminolysis. Moreover,11 serve as useful precursors for other 1,3-thiazine derivatives by nucleophilic methylthio displacement (examples12).

     

Cyclohexane-based low molecular weight hydrogelators: a chirality investigation

Seven new 1,3,5-cyclohexyltricarboxamide-phenylalanine derivatives were synthesized in order to investigate the effect of the amino acid chirality on the gelating properties of these small molecules in water. Gelation tests have shown that enantiomerically pure homochiral 1,3,5-cyclohexyltricarboxamide-L-phenylalanine is a non-hydrogelator as it crystallizes from water, whereas the heterochiral derivatives with either two L-phenylalanine moieties and one D-phenylalanine (LLD), or vice versa (DDL), are very good hydrogelators. Concentration-dependent gel-to-sol transition-temperature (T(gs)) curves for LLD or DDL gels show a sigmoidal behaviour, which is in contrast to the logarithmic curves generally observed for gels derived from low molecular weight gelators (LMWGs). Such sigmoidal behaviour can be related to interactions between fibre bundles, which give rise to intertwined bundles of fibres. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images of LLD and DDL gels show a network of thin, unbranched, fibre bundles with diameters of 20 nm. Right-handed twisted fibre bundles are present in the LLD gel, whereas left-handed structures can be found in the DDL gel. Each bundle of fibres consists of a finite number of primary fibres. Gels consisting of mixtures of gelators, LLD and DDL, and nongelators (LLL or DDD) were investigated by means of T(gs) measurements, CD spectroscopy and TEM. Results show that the incorporation of nongelator molecules into gel fibres occurs; this leads to higher T(gs) values and to changes in the helicity of the fibre bundles. Furthermore, it was found that peripheral functionalization of the homochiral derivatives LLL or DDD by means of a second amino acid or a hydrophilic moiety can overcome the effect of chirality; this process in turn leads to good hydrogelators.     

Kinetics and mechanism of chromium(III) catalyzed oxidation of 1,10-phenanthroline by alkaline permanganate

The kinetics of chromium(III) catalyzed oxidation of 1,10-phenanthroline by permanganate in alkaline medium at a constant ionic strength has been studied spectrophotometrically. The reaction between permanganate and 1,10-phenanthroline in alkaline medium exhibits 4:1 stoichiometry (KMnO₄:1,10-phenanthroline). The reaction shows first order dependence on [permanganate] and [chromium(III)] and less than unit order dependence in 1,10-phenanthroline, zero order in alkali concentrations. The results suggest the formation of a complex between the 1,10-phenanthroline and the chromium(III) which reacts further with one mole of permanganate species in the rate-determining step, resulting in the formation of a free radical, which again reacts with three moles of permangante species in a subsequent fast step to yield the products. The reaction constants involved in the mechanism were evaluated. The activation parameters were computed with respect to the slow step of the mechanism.This revised version was published online in December 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Growth of nanocrystalline MoO3 on Au(111) studied by in situ scanning tunneling microscopy

The growth of nanocrystalline MoO3 islands on Au(111) using physical vapor deposition of Mo has been studied by scanning tunneling microscopy and low energy electron diffraction. The growth conditions affect the shape and distribution of the MoO3 nanostructures, providing a means of preparing materials with different percentages of edge sites that may have different chemical and physical properties than atoms in the interior of the nanostructures. MoO3 islands were prepared by physical vapor deposition of Mo and subsequent oxidation by NO2 exposure at temperatures between 450 K and 600 K. They exhibit a crystalline structure with a c(4 x 2) periodicity relative to unreconstructed Au(111). While the atomic-scale structure is identical to that of MoO3 islands prepared by chemical vapor deposition, we demonstrate that the distribution of MoO3 islands on the Au(111) surface reflects the distribution of Mo clusters prior to oxidation although the growth of MoO3 involves long-range mass transport via volatile MoO3 precursor species. The island morphology is kinetically controlled at 450 K, whereas an equilibrium shape is approached at higher preparation temperatures or after prolonged annealing at the elevated temperature. Mo deposition at or above 525 K leads to the formation of a Mo-Au surface alloy as indicated by the observation of embedded MoO3 islands after oxidation by NO2. Au vacancy islands, formed when Mo and Au dealloy to produce vacancies, are observed for these growth conditions.     

Fabrication and magnetic properties of Ni nanospheres encapsulated in a fullerene-like carbon

A very simple, efficient, and economical synthetic technique, which produces fascinating fullerene-like Ni-C (graphitic) core-shell nanostructures at a relatively low temperature, is reported. The thermal dissociation of Ni acetylacetonate is carried out in a closed vessel cell (Swagelok) that was heated at 700 degrees C for 3 h. The encapsulation of ferromagnetic Ni nanospheres into the onion structured graphitic layers is obtained in a one-stage, single precursor reaction, without a catalyst, that possesses interesting magnetic properties. The magnetoresistance (MR) property of Ni nanospheres encapsulated in a fullerene-like carbon was measured, which shows large negative MR, of the order of 10%. The proposed mechanism for the formation of the Ni-C core-shell system is based on the segregation and the surface flux formed in the Ni and carbon particles during the reaction under autogenic pressure at elevated temperature.     

Thermally activated and light-induced metal ion complexation of 5′-(hydroxy)spiroindolinonaphthooxazines in polar solvents

Chelation with Al(III), Fe(II) or Cu(II) of the open photomerocyanine form obtained under steady irradiation of spiroindolinonaphthooxazines, with a hydroxyl group at the 5′ position in the naphthooxazine moiety, induces a slight hypsochromic shift of its visible absorption band and increases the lifetime of this form, slowing down its thermal bleaching in the dark (rate constant  10⁻³ s⁻¹). Complexation with Al(III), Fe(II) or Cu(II) allows the spiroindolinonaphthooxazines to isomerize to their open coloured form even under dark conditions giving a complex spectroscopically identical to the photoinduced product. The activation energy of thermal complexation is independent of the metal ion which implies the ring opening as the rate determining step.     

Multireference CI calculation of nuclear quadrupole coupling constants of CN+ and CN-: rovibrational dependence

The 14N quadrupole coupling constants of rovibrational levels of the X1sigma+ and c1sigma+ states of CN+, and the ground electronic state of CN- are calculated from molecular wavefunctions which explicitly describe nuclear displacement. From the electronic states considered, the excited 1sigma+ state of CN is predicted to exhibit the strongest N coupling, at least in the ground vibrational state. Compared to the vibrational dependence of the 14N QCC's, which is found to be significant in all cases, the rotational dependence is predicted to be unimportant. Special attention is paid to the assessment of adequacy of the expectation value approach to the evaluation of the electric field gradient tensor within the applied multireference configuration interaction formalism. Spectroscopic constants are derived from corresponding potential energy curves to testify to the quality of the correlated wave functions used.     

Optimisation of solid-phase microextraction of volatiles

The results of a systematic study on the precision and repeatability of measurements of the headspace solid phase micro-extraction (SPME) with open-cap vials in combination with capillary gas chromatography in comparison with septum-sealed vials are reported. Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene isomers (BTEX) were used as the target analytes in the investigation of spiked water samples at concentration levels of 42.5 μg l⁻¹. The dependence of a sample volume versus peak area showed maximum SPME recovery. The influence of sample volume on the precision and the time of taking the sample on the losses of volatile analytes was examined.