Steric and Electronic Effects on the Configurational Stability of Residual Chiral Phosphorus‐Centered Three‐Bladed Propellers: Tris‐aryl Phosphanes

A series of tris‐aryl phosphanes, structurally designed to exist as residual enantiomers or diastereoisomers, bearing substituents differing in size and electronic properties on the aryl rings, were synthesized and characterized. Their electronic properties were evaluated on the basis of their electrochemical oxidation potential determined by voltammetry. The configurational stability of residual phosphanes, evaluated by dynamic HPLC on a chiral stationary phase or/and by dynamic ¹H and ³¹P NMR spectroscopy, was found to be rather modest (barriers of about 18–20 kcal mol^?1), much lower than that shown by the corresponding phosphane oxides (barriers of about 25–29 kcal mol^?1). For the first time, the residual antipodes of a tris‐aryl phosphane were isolated in enantiopure state and the absolute configuration assigned to them by single‐crystal anomalous X‐ray diffraction analysis. In this case, the racemization barrier could be calculated also by CD signal decay kinetics. A detailed computational investigation was carried out to clarify the helix reversal mechanism. Calculations indicated that the low configurational stability of tris‐aryl phosphanes can be attributed to an unexpectedly easy phosphorus pyramidal inversion which, depending upon the substituents present on the blades, can occur even on the most stable of the four conformers constituting a single residual stereoisomer.     

New Complexes of Ditopic Ligands with “d” and/or “s” Metal Ions

Abstract

The asymmetric compartmental macrocycles containing one N₂O₂ or N₃O₂ Schiff base and one O₂O₃ or O₂O₄ crown-ether like chamber, have been obtained by condensation reaction of the formyl precursors 3,3′-(3-oxapentane-1, 5-diyldioxy) bis (2-hydroxybenzaldehyde) or 3,3′-(3,6-dioxaoctane-1,8-diyldioxy)-bis(2-hydroxybenzaldehyde) with ethyl ethylenediamine (H₂L_A, H₂L_C), 1,5-diamino-3-azamethylpentane(H₂L_B, H₂L_D), also in the presence of metal ions as templating agents. These ditopic ligands, with dissimilar coordination sites, have been designed and used for the selective complexation of “d” and/or “s” metal ions, respectively into the Schiff base and the crown ether chamber. The selectivity of these processes strongly depends on the size and on the donor atom sets of the sites. The possibility to obtain mononuclear M(L)·nH₂O (M = Ni²⁺, Cu²⁺, Co²⁺), Mn(L)(CH₃COO)·nH₂O or Na(L) and hetero-dinuclear MNa(L)(CH₃COO) (M = Ni²⁺, Cu²⁺, Co²⁺) and MnNa(L)(CH₃COO)₂·nH₂O complexes has been successfully tested. The ligands and complexes have been characterized by ir, nmr, mass spectrometry and magnetic susceptibility measurements.

Two of the ligands used for the preparation of the solid samples, i.e., to H₂L_A and H₂L_B, have been employed to study complexation reactions of Co(II) and Na(I) in solution. In order to obtain information on the ligand preorganization effect toward the complex stabilities, a simpler open chain parent compound of H₂L_B (H₂L_E) has been also prepared and studied. FT-IR spectra show that H₂L_A is unable to complex Na⁺ in DMSO while the complexation reactions of Na⁺ by H₂L_B and of Co²⁺ by H₂L_A take place with slow kinetics. Therefore, thermodynamic data have been obtained only for the systems Co²⁺/H₂L_B and Co²⁺/H₂L_E. The thermodynamic parameters obtained for the complexation reactions show that the pre-organization of the donor atoms in H₂L_B does not add a significant contribution to the stabilities of the complexes. Both H₂L_B and H₂L_E form in DMSO 1:1, 1:2 and 1:3 = M:L complexes with very similar stabilities and almost equal enthalpies of formation. Physico-chemical studies suggest besides that the slow reaction of Na⁺ with H₂L_B is probably due to the formation of a 1:1 complex where the metal cation, initially occupying the O₃ cage of the ligand, slowly binds also the oxygens of the phenolic moieties. Spectral and calorimetric data on solutions containing H₂L_B and different Co²⁺: Na⁺ ratios evidence that in DMSO no stable heterodinuclear complexes form when the neutral ligand is considered.     

Evolution of the protein corona of lipid gene vectors as a function of plasma concentration

The concept that the effective unit of interest in the cell-nanomaterial interaction is the particle and its corona of associated proteins is emerging. Here we investigate the compositional evolution of the protein corona of 1,2-dioleoyl-3-trimethylammonium propane (DOTAP) cationic liposomes (CLs) and DOTAP/DNA lipoplexes over a wide range of plasma concentrations (2.5-80%). The composition of the hard corona of lipoplexes is quite stable, but that of CLs does evolve considerably. We show that the protein corona of CLs is made of both low-affinity and competitive-binding proteins whose relative abundance changes with the plasma concentration. This result may have deep biological implications for the application of lipid-based gene vectors both in vitro and in vivo.     

Reverse mode operation polymer dispersed liquid crystal with a positive dielectric anisotropy liquid crystal

The development of electrically activated chromogenic materials is important for their potential applications in smart windows. Several previous works have reported on reverse mode operation polymer dispersed liquid crystals (PDLCs) based on negative dielectric anisotropy liquid crystals. They have a transparent OFF state, which turns opaque after the application of a suitable external electric field. Nevertheless, these devices have some limitations such as the use of large amount of expensive liquid crystals with peculiar physical‐chemical properties. In addition, a good matching between the refractive index of liquid crystal and the polymer matrix one is required. The main result of this work is the achievement of reverse mode operation devices prepared with a positive dielectric anisotropy liquid crystal and characterized by a high OFF state transmittance obtained by the onset of high intensity built‐in DC electric fields in a direct mode operation PDLC, which allows the OFF state homeotropic alignment of liquid crystal directors. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2011     

Synthesis of the new ring system pyrrolizino[2,3-b]indol-4(5H)-one

Derivatives of the new ring system pyrrolizino[2,3-b]indol-4(5H)-one were prepared in four steps starting from substituted benzonitriles bearing a functionalized amino group in the adjacent position. The unsubstituted- and the dimethoxy-pyrrolizinoindolones 5a and 5b exhibited modest activity against the HL-60(TB) human leukemia cell line, whereas the N-methylated dimethoxy-pyrrolizinoindolone 6b showed to be selective against MOLT-4 leukemia, A549/ATCC, HOP-92, and NCI-H460 non-small cell lung cancer, and CAKI-1 renal cancer cell lines.     

Nucleophilic substitutions in the isoindole series as a valuable tool to synthesize derivatives with antitumor activity

A novel synthetic approach to the synthesis of 3-substituted isoindoles through nucleophilic substitution of 3-halo derivatives by charged carbon, and neutral nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur nucleophiles, assisted by a 1-acyl group, is reported. Aryl-thio-isoindoles, obtained through a direct nucleophilic substitution with sulfur nucleophiles, showed cytotoxic activity, with GI₅₀ values from micromolar to sub-micromolar concentrations, against the total number of cell lines investigated.     

On the ground state of Pd13

First-principles electronic structure calculations within a gradient corrected density functional formalism have been carried out to investigate the electronic structure and magnetic properties of Pd(13) clusters. It is shown that a bilayer ground-state structure that can be regarded as a relaxed bulk fragment is most compatible with the experimental results from Stern-Gerlach measurements. An icosahedral structure, considered to be the ground state in numerous previous studies, is shown to be around 0.14 eV above the ground state. A detailed analysis of the molecular orbitals reveals the near degeneracy of the bilayer or icosahedral structures is rooted in the stabilization by p- or d-like cluster orbitals. The importance of low-lying spin states in controlling the electronic and magnetic properties of the cluster is highlighted.     

Functional MRI changes in the central motor system in myotonic dystrophy type 1

Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is a multisystemic disease involving multiple organ systems including central nervous system (CNS) and muscles. Few studies have focused on the central motor system in DM1, pointing to a subclinical abnormality in the CNS. The aim of our study was to investigate patterns of cerebral activation in DM1 during a motor task using functional MRI (fMRI). Fifteen DM1 patients, aged 20 to 59 years, and 15 controls of comparable age were scanned during a self-paced sequential finger-to-thumb opposition task of their dominant right hand. Functional MRI images were analyzed using SPM99. Patients underwent clinical and genetic assessment; all subjects underwent a conventional MR study. Myotonic dystrophy type 1 patients showed greater activation than controls in bilateral sensorimotor areas and inferior parietal lobules, basal ganglia and thalami, in the ipsilateral premotor area, insula and supplementary motor area (corrected P<.05). Analysis of the interaction between disease and age showed that correlation with age was significantly greater in patients than in controls in bilateral sensorimotor areas and in contralateral parietal areas. Other clinical and MR characteristics did not correlate with fMRI. Functional changes in DM1 may represent compensatory mechanisms such as reorganization and redistribution of functional networks to compensate for ultrastructural and neurochemical changes occurring as part of the accelerated aging process.     

Non-maturing deposits modelling in a Ornstein-Uhlenbeck framework

This paper builds a multivariate Lévy-driven Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process for the management of non-maturing deposits, that are a major source of funding for banks. The contribution of the paper is both theoretical and operational. On the theoretical side, the novelty of this model is to include three independent sources of randomness in a Lévy framework: market interest rates, deposit rates and deposit volumes. The choice of a Lévy background driving process allows us to model rare but severe events. On the operational side, we propose a procedure to include severe volume outflows with positive probability in future scenarios simulation, explaining its implementation with an illustrative example using Italian banking sector data.     

Liquid mulch based on poly(vinyl alcohol). PVA-soil interaction

This study is meant to provide a contribution in recent developments of biodegradable polymeric materials applied in agricultural practices with particular reference to the mulching segment. Special attention has been devoted to material based on renewable resources or utilization of waste products from agro-industrial activities, thus suggesting cost-effective and environmentally sound solutions to specific social needs. In the present contribution PVA solubility at room temperature has been improved by premixing with chemical additives and proteic materials. Waste materials from ethanol production by corn fermentation and from wood industries have been used as, respectively starch-based and lignocellulosic additives. The prepared formulations were applied on the soil by conventional spraying agricultural equipment. Time of permanence of the film formed on the soil was monitored as well as the effect on corn growth and yield production. Finally, in order to investigate the final fate of the PVA applied on the soil, a test was performed in lysimeters, with half of the lysimeters cropped with maize plants. PVA amount applied for the mulching test was in order of 5-10 g PVA/1 m²; under those conditions it resulted completely absorbed and no presence of PVA was recorded in the leached solutions.