Evidence for the existence of supercooled ethane droplets under conditions prevalent in Titan's atmosphere

Recent evidence for ethane clouds and condensation in Titan's atmosphere raise the question whether liquid ethane condensation nuclei and supercooled liquid ethane droplets exist under the prevalent conditions. We present laboratory studies on the phase behaviour of pure ethane aerosols and ethane aerosols formed in the presence of other ice nuclei under conditions relevant to Titan's atmosphere. Combining bath gas cooling with infrared spectroscopy, we find evidence for the existence of supercooled liquid ethane aerosol droplets. The observed homogeneous freezing rates imply that supercooled ethane could be a long-lived species in ethane-rich regions of Titan's atmosphere similar to supercooled water in the Earth's atmosphere.     

Modular synthesis of the C9-C27 degradation product of aflastatin A via alkyne-epoxide cross-couplings

A modular approach to the synthesis of complex polyketide natural products is demonstrated for the synthesis of the C9-C27 degradation product from aflastatin A. The product of the cross-coupling of C23-C27 terminal alkyne with C17-C22 epoxide underwent functionalization of the resulting internal alkyne, which was then coupled similarly with C9-C16 epoxide. This synthesis concluded with regio- and stereoselective addition of methyl onto the internal alkyne followed by stereoselective hydroboration-oxidation.     

In Vitro Alpha-Amylase and Alpha-Glucosidase Inhibitory Activity and In Vivo Antidiabetic Activity of Withania frutescens L. Foliar Extract

Withania frutescens L. is a wild perennial woody plant used by the local population for diverse therapeutic purposes. This work aims to study for the first time the potential inhibitory effect of this plant hydroethanolic extract on α-amylase and α-glucosidase activities using in vitro methods and its antidiabetic and antihyperglycemic activities using alloxan-induced diabetic mice as a model for experimental diabetes. Two doses were selected for the in vivo study (200 and 400 mg/kg) and glibenclamide, a well-known antidiabetic drug (positive control) in a subacute study (28 days) where the antihyperglycemic activity was also assessed over a period of 12 h on diabetic mice. The continuous treatment of diabetic mice with the extract of Withania frutescens for 4 weeks succeeded to slowly manage their high fasting blood glucose levels (after two weeks), while the antihyperglycemic test result revealed that the extract of this plant did not control hyperglycemia in the short term. No toxicity signs or death were noted for the groups treated with the plant extract, and it shows a protective effect on the liver and kidney. The in vitro assays demonstrated that the inhibition of alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase might be one of the mechanisms of action exhibited by the extract of this plant to control and prevent postprandial hyperglycemia. This work indicates that W. frutescens have an important long term antidiabetic effect that can be well established to treat diabetes.     

Metal-Free Phosphorus-Directed Borylation of C(sp2)−H Bonds

Spectacular progress has recently been achieved in transition metal-catalyzed C?H borylation of phosphines as well as directed electrophilic C?H borylation. As shown here, P-directed electrophilic borylation provides a new, straightforward, and efficient access to phosphine–boranes. It operates under metal-free conditions and leverages simple, readily available substrates. It is applicable to a broad range of backbones (naphthyl, biphenyl, N-phenylpyrrole, binaphthyl, benzyl, naphthylmethyl) and gives facile access to various substitution patterns at boron (by varying the boron electrophile or post-derivatizing the borane moiety). NMR monitoring supports the involvement of P-stabilized borenium cations as key intermediates. DFT calculations reveal the existence and stabilizing effect of π-arene/boron interactions in the (biphenyl)(i-Pr)₂P→BBr₂⁺ species.     

Impact of bulk and surface properties of some biocompatible hydrophobic polymers on the stability of methylene chloride-in-water mini-emulsions used to prepare nanoparticles by emulsification-solvent evaporation

The emulsifying and stabilizing ability of several hydrophobic (insoluble in water and soluble in volatile organic solvents) polymers, such as Eudragit RL, Eudragit RS, PLGA, PCL, and their mixtures, with regard to the methylene chloride (MC)-in-water mini-emulsions, has been compared to the viscosity of MC solutions and to the properties of adsorption and spread monolayers of these polymers.

Eudragits RS and RL contain 2.5 and 5 mol% of pendent cationic trimethylammonium (TMA) groups per 164 g/mol segments, whereas PLGA and PCL contain 1 and 2 polar carbonyl groups per 130 and 114 g/mol, respectively. The electrostatic attraction between the dipoles, formed by TMA groups and the condensed counter ions in the MC solutions, leads to the contraction of macromolecular coils of Eudragits, whereas the PLGA and PCL macromolecules, interacting by low polar carbonyl groups (with dipole moment μ = 2.7 D) retain more extended conformation in MC. This explains why the characteristic viscosities [η] of MC solutions are much lower for the former polymers (0.1 dL/g) with regard to PLGA and PCL solutions whose [η] is equal to 0.3 and 0.6 dL/g, respectively.

The ionization of TMA groups in contact with the water phase leads to the irreversible adsorption of Eudragits at the MC/water interface and to high decrease of the interfacial tension γ (down to 4 mN/m for the 5% MC solutions). Whereas PLGA and PCL possessing low polar carbonyl groups adsorb poorly at the MC/water interface exhibiting γ  28 mN/m. Higher stability of spread monolayers of Eudragits (π*  40 mN/m) with regard to PLGA and PCL (π* < 20 mN/m) correlates well with higher interfacial activity of the former with regard to the later. The higher surface potential ΔV of Eudragits (0.9 V) with regard to PLGA (0.3 V) and PCL (0.4 V) is explained by the formation of electric double layer (DL) by the former, whereas the later contribute to the ΔV only by cumulative dipole moments of carbonyl groups. The experimental values of surface potentials correlate well with the Gouy–Chapman model of the DL and the Helmholtz model of the monolayer.

The ensemble of experimental results leads to the conclusion that higher emulsifying and stabilizing ability of Eudragits with regard to PLGA and PCL is due to higher adsorption activity of the former which form the corona of polymeric chains with ionized TMA groups around the droplets. It can be postulated that Eudragit polymers have good surface active properties which may allow manufacturing of biocompatible nanoparticles by emulsification–solvent evaporation method without surfactants.     

Cyclic oxonitriles: stereodivergent grignard addition-alkylations

Sequential carbonyl addition-conjugate addition of Grignard reagents to cyclic 5-7-membered oxoalkenenitriles efficiently generates cyclic magnesiated nitriles. Alkylations of these magnesiated nitriles exhibit diastereoselectivities that depend intimately on the size of the carbocyclic ring: 5-membered oxonitriles generate magnesiated nitriles whose alkylations are controlled by steric constraints whereas 6- and 7-membered oxonitriles generate internally coordinated, C-magnesiated nitriles whose alkylations are controlled by stereoelectronic effects. Reversing the alkylation selectivity of 6-membered C-magnesiated nitriles is achieved by conversion to an N-metalated nitrile in which steric, rather than electronic, effects direct the electrophile trajectory. Collectively, the conjugate addition-alkylation generates highly substituted, cyclic 5-7-membered nitriles containing three new stereocenters with selective access to diastereomers at the quaternary nitrile-bearing carbon.     

Torsion angle preference and energetics of small-molecule ligands bound to proteins

Small organic molecules can assume conformations in the protein-bound state that are significantly different from those in solution. We have analyzed the conformations of 21 common torsion motifs of small molecules extracted from crystal structures of protein-ligand complexes and compared them with their torsion potentials calculated by an ab initio DFT method. We find a good correlation between the potential energy of the torsion motifs and their conformational distribution in the protein-bound state: The most probable conformations of the torsion motifs agree well with the calculated global energy minima, and the lowest torsion-energy state becomes increasingly dominant as the torsion barrier height increases. The torsion motifs can be divided into 3 groups based on torsion barrier heights: high (>4 kcal/mol), medium (2-4 kcal/mol), and low (<2 kcal/mol). The calculated torsion energy profiles are predictive for the most preferred bound conformation for the high and medium barrier groups, the latter group common in druglike molecules. In the high-barrier group of druglike ligands, >95% of conformational torsions occur in the energy region <4 kcal/mol. The conformations of the torsion motifs in the protein-bound state can be modeled by a Boltzmann distribution with a temperature factor much higher than room temperature. This high-temperature factor, derived by fitting the theoretical model to the experimentally observed conformation occurrence of torsions, can be interpreted as the perturbation that proteins inflict on the conformation of the bound ligand. Using this model, it is calculated that the average strain energy of a torsion motif in ligands bound to proteins is approximately 0.6 kcal/mol, a result which can be related to the lower binding efficiency of larger ligands with more rotatable bonds. The above results indicate that torsion potentials play an important role in dictating ligand conformations in both the free and the bound states.     

A novel, facile route to beta-fluoroamines by hydrofluorination using superacid HF-SbF(5)

A range of unsaturated amines and sulfonamides were converted to beta-fluoro nitrogen analogues after hydrofluorination in superacid HF-SbF(5), based on the formation of highly reactive electrophilic intermediates.     

Preparation and spectroscopic characterization of novel cyclodiphosph(V)azane of N(1)-2-pyrimidinylsulfanilamide complexes. Magnetic, thermal and biological activity studies

Hexachlorocyclophosph(V)azane of sulfadiazine, (sulfupyrimidine) [N(1)-2-pyrimidinylsulfanilamide] (H2L1), was prepared and reacted with sulfur and glycine to give (H2L2) and (H2L3) ligands, respectively. The prepared ligands; H2L1, H2L2 and H2L3, react in 1:2 [ligands]:[metal ions] molar ratio with transition metals to give coloured complexes in a relatively good yields. The complexes were characterized using different physicochemical techniques, namely elemental analyses, IR, UV-vis, mass, 1H NMR, molar conductance, magnetic, solid reflectance and thermal analysis. The spectral data reveal that all the ligands behave as neutral bidentate ligands and coordinated to the metal ions via pyrimidine-N and enolic sulfonamide OH. The molar conductance data reveal that the complexes are non-electrolytes while UV-vis, solid reflectance and magnetic moment data have been shown that the complexes have octahedral geometry. The thermal behaviour of the complexes is studied and the thermodynamic activation parameters are calculated. The ligands and their complexes show high to moderate bactericidal activity.