Fluorine-doped TiO2 powders prepared by spray pyrolysis and their improved photocatalytic activity for decomposition of gas-phase acetaldehyde

F-doped TiO₂ (FTO) powders were synthesized by spray pyrolysis (SP) from an aqueous solution of H₂TiF₆. The resulting FTO powders possessed spherical particles with a rough surface morphology and a strong surface acidity. The fluorine concentrations in the FTO powders calculated from XPS spectra significantly depended on SP temperature and ranged from 2.76 to 9.40 at.%. The FTO powder prepared at SP temperature of 1173 K demonstrated the highest photocatalytic activity for the decomposition of gas-phase acetaldehyde under both ultraviolet (UV) and visible light (vis) irradiations, and it was higher than that of commercial P 25. This high photocatalytic activity was ascribed to several beneficial effects produced by F-doping: enhancement of surface acidity, creation of oxygen vacancies, and increase of active sites. It was interesting to point out that the vis photocatalytic activity of FTO powders was achieved by the creation of surface oxygen vacancies rather than the improvement of optical absorption property of bulk TiO₂ in vis region.     

Stereodivergent process for the synthesis of the decahydroquinoline type of dendrobatid alkaloids

A flexible and stereodivergent synthesis of the cis- and trans-fused 2,5-disubstituted octahydroquinolinone ring systems bearing all four stereogenic centers for the synthesis of the decahydroquinoline type of dendrobatid alkaloids has been achieved. The strategy involves stereoselective and stereodivergent construction of 2,3,6-trisubstituted piperidine ring systems using the Michael type of conjugate addition reaction to the enaminoesters 1 and 3, the intramolecular aldol type of cyclization reaction of keto aldehydes 11 and 12, and ring-closing metathesis of 21 as key steps.     

Solvent effect on the radical polymerization of di-n-butyl itaconate

Solvent effect on the polymerization of di-n-butyl itaconate (DBI) with dimethyl azobisisobutyrate (MAIB) was investigated at 50 and 61°C. The solvents used were found to affect significantly the polymerization. The polymerization rate (R_p) and the molecular weight of the resulting polymer are lower in more polar solvents. The initiation rate (R_i) by MAIB, however, shows a trend of being rather higher in polar solvents. The stationary state concentration of propagating poly(DBI) radical was determined by ESR in seven solvents. The rate constants of propagation (k_p) and termination (k_t) were evaluated by using R_p, R_i, and the polymer radical concentration observed. The k_p value decreases fairly with increasing polarity of the solvent used, whereas k_t is not so influenced by the solvents. The solvent effect on k_p is explained in terms of a difference in the environment around the terminal radical center of the growing chain. Copolymerization of DBI with styrene (St) was also examined in three solvents with different physical properties. The poly(DBI) radical shows a lower reactivity toward St in a more polar solvent.     

Syntheses and reactions of functional polymers. XLII. Preparation and use of polymers having N-hydroxy-succinimide unit in the chain

Styrene-maleic anhydride alternating copolymer was converted to N-hydroxymaleimide-styrene copolymer by reaction with hydroxylamine in pyridine at room temperature. The conversion was more than 90%. From this copolymer, N-acetoxy- or N-benzoyloxymaleimide-styrene copolymers were derived by action of acetic anhydride or benzoyl chloride in dimethylformamide at room temperature. Acylation of several primary amines was carried out effectively by use of these N-acyloxyimide-styrene copolymers. The reaction of the acetylated copolymer with diethylamine at room temperature afforded N-hydroxyimide copolymer.     

PEGylated polyplex micelles from triblock catiomers with spatially ordered layering of condensed pDNA and buffering units for enhanced intracellular gene delivery

An A-B-C type triblock copolymer, tandemly aligning two types of polycations with different pKa values in a single polymer strand, was developed for the construction of novel polyplex micelles, satisfying a high DNA condensing ability as well as a proton buffering activity directed to elevating gene transfection. The micelle might feature the distinctive three-layered structure, where an inner polyplex layer of condensed pDNA with poly(l-lysine) (pKa approximately 9.4) as the C segment is successively wrapped with an intermediate layer of poly[(3-morpholinopropyl)aspartamide] (B segment) with a comparatively low pKa of approximately 6.2, to provide a buffering effect, and an outer PEG layer (A segment) as a biocompatible palisade.     

Synthesis, structure and thermal stability of fully hydrophobic porphyrin-DNA conjugates

The DNAs modified with tetraphenyl porphyrin at the center of 13mer oligonucleotide were synthesized using phosphoramidite chemistry and automated DNA synthesis. When the porphyrin modified oligonucleotide was annealed with its complementary strand, they formed a standard B-form duplex. The porphyrin moiety intercalated in the duplex, and moderately lowered the thermal stability.     

Efficient synthesis of N-acyl-α-amino acids via polymer incarcerated palladium-catalyzed amidocarbonylation

A novel polymer incarcerated Pd catalyst (PI Pd 7c) was synthesized from amide-containing polymer 6b, and this catalyst was shown to be effective in amidocarbonylation, which is a versatile one-pot method for the preparation of N-acyl-α-amino acids. The reactions proceeded smoothly with a wide variety of substrates, and no leaching of the Pd metal to the reaction mixture was detected.     

Development of a cooled He*(23S) beam source for measurements of state-resolved collision energy dependence of Penning ionization cross sections: Evidence for a stereospecific attractive well around methyl group in CH3CN

A low-temperature discharge nozzle source with a liquid-N(2) circulator for He*(2(3)S) metastable atoms has been developed in order to obtain the state-resolved collision energy dependence of Penning ionization cross sections in a low collision energy range from 20 to 80 meV. By controlling the discharge condition, we have made it possible to measure the collision energy dependence of partial ionization cross sections (CEDPICS) for a well-studied system of CH(3)CN+He*(2(3)S) in a wide energy range from 20 to 350 meV. The anisotropic interaction potential energy surface for the present system was obtained starting from an ab initio model potential via an optimization procedure based on classical trajectory calculations for the observed CEDPICS. A dominant attractive well depth was found to be 423 meV (ca. 10 kcal/mol) at a distance of 3.20 A from the center of mass of CH(3)CN in the N-atom side along the CCN axis. In addition, a weak attractive well (ca. 0.9 kcal/mol) surrounding the methyl group (-CH(3)) has been found and ascribed to the interaction between an unoccupied molecular orbital of CH(3)CN and 2s atomic orbital of He*(2(3)S).     

Fragmentation study of peptides using Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance with infrared multiphoton dissociation: experiment and simulation

In this study, the fragmentation of gas-phase protonated Angiotensin II is investigated using electrospray ionization (ESI), Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR), and mass spectrometry (MS) with a laser cleavage infrared multiphoton dissociation (IRMPD) technique. The experimental results show that the spectra peaks for the photoproducts are y2/b6- and y7-type ions, corresponding to the cleavage of His-Pro and Asp-Arg in the parent amino acid sequence. The fragmentation of the peptide under collision-free vacuum conditions is modeled using molecular dynamics simulations (MD). The binding energy for the peptide bonds (C'-N bond) of Angiotensin II is estimated from ab initio calculations. The calculations are directed at predicting experimental measurements of the product ions from the photodissociation of the peptide. The product distributions simulated by the MD dissociation trajectories include predominantly y7/b1 and y2/b6 pair ions.     

Aryl-aryl coupling reaction using a novel and highly active palladium reagent prepared from Pd(OAc)2, 1,3-bis[diphenylphosphino]propane (DPPP), and Bu3P

A palladium-assisted coupling reaction of aryl triflate with arene was investigated, and a novel Pd reagent prepared from equimolar Pd(OAc)2, 1,3-Bis[diphenylphosphino]propane (DPPP), and Bu3P was developed. This method is useful for intramolecular biaryl coupling reactions, not only between aryl triflate and arene (triflate-amide), but also between aryl halide and arene (halo-amide).