Voltammetric and titrimetric study of acid-base properties of some μ-oxo dimeric iron(III) complexes inDMF

Summary The acid-base properties of the -oxo bridged dimeric iron complexes [FeL]₂O with the ligands based on S-alkyl-1,4-bis(substituted salicylidene)isothiosemicarbazide and a tetramer with S-methyl-1,4-bis(salicylidene)isothiosemicarbazide, {[FeL]₂O}₂I₃·I₂, were investigated by cyclic voltammetry at glassy carbon electrode inDMF. Studies were carried out in the presence of either a weak (phenol) or a strong (HClO₄ aq.) acid. The stoichimoetry of the reaction, changes in the general voltammetric pattern and the electrode reaction mechanism were discussed. These studies served as the basis for three-electrode amperometric titrations to determine the content of several of these complexes.

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Voltammetrische und titrimetrische Untersuchung der Säure-Base-Eigenschaften einiger -oxo dimerer Eisen(III)-Komplexe inDMF-Lösungen

Zusammenfassung Die Säure-Base-Eigenschaften einiger dimerer -oxo-Eisen(III)-Komplexe [FeL]₂O mit Liganden auf Basis von 1,4-bis(substituierten Salicyliden)S-(alkyl)isothiosemicarbaziden sowie eines tetrameren Komplexes mit 1,4-Bis(salicyliden)S-methylisothiosemicarbazid, {[FeL]₂O}₂I₃·I₂, wurden mittels zyklischer Voltammetrie an der Glaskohlenstoffelektrode inDMF-Lösungen untersucht. Die Messungen wurden in Gegenwart entweder einer schwachen (Phenol) oder einer starken (HClO₄ aq.) Säure ausgeführt. Die Stöchiometrie der Reaktion, die Änderungen der voltammetrischen Kurven und der Elektroden-Reaktionsmechanismus wurden diskutiert. Diese Untersuchungen stellten eine Basis für Drei-Elektroden amperometrische Titrationen dar, die für die Bestimmung des Gehalts einiger dieser Komplexe angewendet wurden.

     

BODIPY-based hydroxyaryl derivatives as fluorescent pH probes

[structures: see text] Seven new 4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene (BODIPY) dyes with phenolic or naphtholic subunits on position 8 and with substituents having different electron driving forces on positions 3 and 5 were synthesized. Their absorption and steady-state fluorescence properties were investigated as a function of solvent. The novel compounds, with the exception of 4,4-difluoro-8-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-3,5-bis-(4-methoxyphenyl)-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene, are characterized by absorption maxima in the range 493-515 nm and small (400-600 cm(-1)) Stokes shifts. The exceptional dye has absorption maxima in the 570-580 nm region and fluorescence emission maxima around 610-620 nm, depending on the solvent. In aqueous solution, the dyes show a large fluorescent enhancement upon increasing the acidity of the solution. They can be used in aqueous solution as fluorescent pH probes excitable with visible light, with pKa values ranging from 7.5 to 9.3, depending on the substitution pattern on positions 3, 5, and 8.     

Modulation of lysozyme charge influences interaction with phospholipid vesicles

Lysozyme is a globular protein which is known to bind to negatively charged phospholipid vesicles. In order to study the relationship between charge state of the protein and its interaction with negatively charged phospholipid membranes chemical modifications of the proteins were carried out. Succinylation and carbodiimide modification was used to shift the isoelectric point of lysozyme to lower and higher pH values, respectively. The binding of the modified lysozyme to phospholipid vesicles prepared from phosphatidic acid (PA) was determined using microelectrophoresis and ultracentrifugation. At acidic pH of the solution all lysozyme species reduced the surface charges of PA vesicles. Succinylated lysozyme (succ lysozyme) reduced the electrophoretic mobility (EPM) to nearly zero, whereas native lysozyme and carboxylated lysozyme (carbo lysozyme) changed the surface charge to positive values. At neutral pH, the reduction of surface charges was less for carbo lysozyme and unmodified lysozyme. Succ lysozyme did not change the EPM. Unmodified and carbo lysozyme decreased the magnitude of EPM, but the whole complex was still negatively charged. The bound fraction of all modified lysozyme to PA vesicles at high lysozyme/PA ratios was nearly constant at acidic pH. At low lysozyme/PA ratios the extent of bound lysozyme is changed in the order carbo>unmodified>succ lysozyme. Increasing the pH, the extent of bound lysozyme to PA large unilamellar vesicles (LUV) is reduced, at pH 9.0 only 35% of carbo lysozyme, 23% of unmodified lysozyme is bound, whereas succ lysozyme does not bind at pH 7.4 and 9.0. At low pH, addition of all lysozyme species resulted in a massive aggregation of PA liposomes, at neutral pH aggregation occurs at much higher lysozyme/PA ratios. Lysozyme binding to PA vesicles is accompanied by the penetration of lysozyme into the phospholipid membrane as measured by monolayer techniques. The penetration of lysozyme into the monolayer was modulated by pH and ionic strengths. The interaction of lysozyme with negatively charged vesicles leads to a decrease of the phospholipid vesicle surface hydration as measured by the shift of the maximum of the fluorescence signal of a headgroup labeled phospholipid. The binding of bis-ANS as an additional indicator for the change of surface hydrophobicity is increased at low pH after addition of lysozyme to the vesicles. More hydrophobic patches of the lysozyme-PA complex are exposed at low pH. At low pH the binding process of lysozyme to PA vesicles is followed by an extensive intermixing of phospholipids between the aggregated vesicles, accompanied by a massive leakage of the vesicle aqueous content. The extent of lysozyme interaction with PA LUV at neutral and acidic pH is in the order carbo lysozyme>lysozyme>succ lysozyme.     

Diastereoselective reaction of (MP)-pentahelicene-7,8-dione with trans-cyclohexane-1,2-diamine. Thermal and photochemical transformations of its product

The reaction of the title compounds and the transformations of the product, 3 were investigated with an emphasis on the stereochemistry. The primary interaction of the title compounds is feebly stereoselective. The diastereoisomers of product 3 exhibit free energies differing by ca. 16 kJ/mol; diastereoisomerization by helix inversion takes place during the reaction. The most stable diastereoisomers of the intermediate 8 and the product 3 show opposite helicities, which allows isolation of the product 3 in diastereoisomeric ratios from 19:81 to >99:1 depending on solvent and temperature. The free energies of activation for helix inversions of 3 were determined by time-dependent ¹H NMR. The predicted configuration of the more stable diastereoisomer of 3 was confirmed by chemical correlation to be (M,R,R). The four stereoisomers of 3 were separated by analytical enantioselective HPLC and characterized by on-line circular dichroism. Irradiation of 3 afforded the 2-substituted benzimidazole derivative 9.     

On semigroups having n2 essentially n-ary polynomials

Presented by G. Grätzer.     

Graph layering by promotion of nodes

This work contributes to the wide research area of visualization of hierarchical graphs. We present a new polynomial-time heuristic which can be integrated into the Sugiyama method for drawing hierarchical graphs. Our heuristic, which we call Promote Layering (PL), is applied to the output of the layering phase of the Sugiyama method. PL is a simple and easy to implement algorithm which decreases the number of so-called dummy (or virtual) nodes in a layered directed acyclic graph. In particular, we propose applying PL after the longest-path layering algorithm and we present an extensive empirical evaluation of this layering technique.     

Electrochemical studies of methyl substituted 1,4-quinones: Part I. The electrochemical dimerization of duroquinone

The electrochemical reduction of duroquinone produces diduroquinone in high yields. The dimerization is proposed to proceed via a catalytic process as the current passed is much less than one electron per molecule. Diduroquinone can be electrochemically cleaved to duroquinone anion radical by reduction. Several possible mechanisms are presented to explain the catalytic dimerization of duroquinone.