Activation Strain Analyses of Counterion and Solvent Effects on the Ion-Pair SN2 Reaction of and CH3Cl

We have computationally studied the bimolecular nucleophilic substitution (S_N2) reactions of M_nNH₂⁽ⁿ⁻¹⁾ + CH₃Cl (M⁺ = Li⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, and MgCl⁺; n = 0, 1) in the gas phase and in tetrahydrofuran solution at OLYP/6-31++G(d,p) using polarizable continuum model implicit solvation. We wish to explore and understand the effect of the metal counterion M⁺ and of solvation on the reaction profile and the stereochemical preference, that is, backside (S_N2-b) versus frontside attack (S_N2-f). The results were compared to the corresponding ion-pair S_N2 reactions involving F⁻ and OH⁻ nucleophiles. Our analyses with an extended activation strain model of chemical reactivity uncover and explain various trends in S_N2 reactivity along the nucleophiles F⁻, OH⁻, and , including solvent and counterion effects. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Ab initio studies of solvent effect on molecular conformation and vibrational spectra of diacetamide

The conformational equilibria and vibrational spectra of diacetamide have been investigated by ab initio molecular orbital studies using the basis sets 6-31g(d,p) and 6-31++g(d,p) at Hartree-Fock and MP2 levels. The vibrational spectra of diacetamide have been satisfactorily interpreted taking into consideration the agreement between the calculated harmonic vibrational frequencies, infrared and Raman band intensities and shifts in deuterated molecules with those observed. The solvent effects were investigated by the self-consistent reaction field (SCRF) theory. The effect of solvent on the conformational equilibria and vibrational spectra is discussed. The calculated changes in the geometry and vibrational spectra on going from the gas phase to the solvent medium are in accord with the increasing weight of the dipolar resonance structure of the amide group in more polar solvents.     

Isolation and purification of acetylshikonin and beta-acetoxyisovalerylshikonin from cell suspension cultures of Arnebia euchroma (Royle) Johnston using rapid preparative HPLC

Shikonin and its derivatives are important red colored naphthoquinone pigments found in a large number of Arnebia species, including A. euchroma, that are responsible for the various pharmacological activities exhibited by the plant. The precise separation of each naphthoquinone is essential for total quality evaluation and bioactivity analysis of herbal formulations of A. euchroma. Furthermore, the overexploitation of this useful plant has resulted in species becoming endangered. With this in mind, a simple and rapid preparative scale HPLC method with single compound recovery for the isolation and purification of two shikonin derivatives (i. e. acetylshikonin, beta-acetoxyisovalerylshikonin) from cell suspension cultures of A. euchroma is presented. The compounds were separated on a C(18) column within 10 min using acetonitrile/methanol (95:5) as mobile phase in isocratic mode. The isolated compounds were found to be more than 98% pure. The LOD for acetylshikonin and beta-acetoxyisovalerylshikonin was estimated at 0.063 and 0.146 mug/mL, respectively, while the LOQ was found to be 0.209 and 0.487 mug/mL, respectively. The recoveries accomplished for both the shikonin derivatives were in the range of 94.7-96.8%. The repeatability, expressed as %RSD, of acetylshikonin and beta-acetoxyisovalerylshikonin was found to be 1.74 and 1.27, respectively.     

Probing metal binding in the 8-17 DNAzyme by TbIII luminescence spectroscopy

Metal-dependent cleavage activities of the 8-17 DNAzyme were found to be inhibited by Tb(III) ions, and the apparent inhibition constant in the presence of 100 microM of Zn(II) was measured to be 3.3+/-0.3 microM. The apparent inhibition constants increased linearly with increasing Zn(II) concentration, and the inhibition effect could be fully rescued with addition of active metal ions, indicating that Tb(III) is a competitive inhibitor and that the effect is completely reversible. The sensitized Tb(III) luminescence at 543 nm was dramatically enhanced when Tb(III) was added to the DNAzyme-substrate complex. With an inactive DNAzyme in which the GT wobble pair was replaced with a GC Watson-Crick base pair, the luminescence enhancement was slightly decreased. In addition, when the DNAzyme strand was replaced with a complete complementary strand to the substrate, no significant luminescence enhancement was observed. These observations suggest that Tb(III) may bind to an unpaired region of the DNAzyme, with the GT wobble pair playing a role. Luminescence lifetime measurements in D(2)O and H(2)O suggested that Tb(III) bound to DNAzyme is coordinated by 6.7+/-0.2 water molecules and two or three functional groups from the DNAzyme. Divalent metal ions competed for the Tb(III) binding site(s) in the order Co(II)>Zn(II)>Mn(II)>Pb(II)>Ca(II) approximately Mg(II). This order closely follows the order of DNAzyme activity, with the exception of Pb(II). These results indicate that Pb(II), the most active metal ion, competes for Tb(III) binding differently from other metal ions such as Zn(II), suggesting that Pb(II) may bind to a different site from that for the other metal ions including Zn(II) and Tb(III).     

Oxidative Cleavage of S–S Bond During the Reduction of Tris(pyridine‐2‐carboxylato)manganese(III) by Dithionite in Sodium Picolinate–Picolinic Acid Buffer Medium

The reduction of tris(pyridine‐2‐carboxylato)manganese(III) by dithionite has been investigated within the temperature window 288–303 K and at pH range 5.22–6.10 in sodium picolinate–picolinic acid buffer medium. The reaction obeys the following stoichiometry: The reaction is described in terms of a mechanism that involves an initial complex formation between S₂O₄^2? and [Mn^III(C₅H₄NCO₂)₃] followed by S–S bond cleavage to give 2HSO₃^? and [Mn^II(C₅H₄NCO₂)₂(H₂O)₂] as the products via the formation of SO₂^●? radical anion. Kinetics and spectrophotometric evidences are cited in favor of the suggested mechanism. Thermodynamic parameters associated with the equilibrium step and the activation parameters with the rate‐determining step have been computed.     

Reaction of substituted alkynols with alkoxycarbene complexes of chromium: a facile synthesis of substituted α,β-unsaturated-γ-butyrolactones

Substituted α,β-unsaturated-γ-butyrolactones, were synthesized from Fischer chromium carbenes and substituted alkynols in a two-step sequence. This method demonstrates a novel and mild route for the synthesis of this class of molecules.     

Ultrafast UPLC‐ESI‐MS and HPLC with monolithic column for determination of principal flavor compounds in vanilla pods

In this study, two novel chromatographic methods based on monolithic column high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and ultra‐performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) were developed for the ultrafast determination of principal flavor compounds namely vanillin, vanillic acid, p‐hydroxybenzoic acid, and p‐hydroxybenzaldehyde in ethanolic extracts of Vanilla planifolia pods. Good separation was achieved within 2.5 min using Chromolith RP18e column (100 mm×4.6 mm) for HPLC and Acquity BEH C‐18 (100 mm×2.1 mm, 1.7 μm) column for UPLC. Both methods were compared in terms of total analysis time, mobile phase consumption, sensitivity, and validation parameters like precision, accuracy, LOD, and LOQ. Further, system suitability test data including resolution, capacity factor, theoretical plates, and tailing factor was determined for both the methods by ten replicate injections. Monolithic column based HPLC gave better results for most of the selected parameters while UPLC was found to be more eco‐friendly with low mobile phase consumption and better sensitivity. Both methods may be used conveniently for the high throughput analysis of large number of samples in comparison to traditional particulate column.     

Exact quantum statistics for electronically nonadiabatic systems using continuous path variables

We derive an exact, continuous-variable path integral (PI) representation of the canonical partition function for electronically nonadiabatic systems. Utilizing the Stock-Thoss (ST) mapping for an N-level system, matrix elements of the Boltzmann operator are expressed in Cartesian coordinates for both the nuclear and electronic degrees of freedom. The PI discretization presented here properly constrains the electronic Cartesian coordinates to the physical subspace of the mapping. We numerically demonstrate that the resulting PI-ST representation is exact for the calculation of equilibrium properties of systems with coupled electronic and nuclear degrees of freedom. We further show that the PI-ST formulation provides a natural means to initialize semiclassical trajectories for the calculation of real-time thermal correlation functions, which is numerically demonstrated in applications to a series of nonadiabatic model systems.     

Temperature dependent selective synthesis of linear 2-bromo and 2-alkoxyfuro[2,3-b]quinolines: reaction of 3-(2,2-dibromovinyl-)quinolin-2(1H)-ones with alcoholic KOH

Base promoted and temperature dependent reactions of 3-(2,2-dibromovinyl)quinolin-2(1H)-ones have been described. At 50 °C, the cyclization reactions afforded 2-bromofuro[2,3-b]quinolines in good yields. However, at elevated temperature (80 °C) the domino reaction proceeded affording 2-alkoxyfuro[2,3-b]quinolines via cyclization and nucleophilic substitution reactions.