Classifying wine according to geographical origin via quadrupole-based ICP–mass spectrometry measurements of boron isotope ratios

The potential of quadrupole-based ICP–MS as a tool for B-isotopic analysis of wines and its usefulness in provenance determinations were assessed. A precision of 0.1–0.25% RSD (corresponding to a relative standard deviation of the mean of three replicate measurements of 0.06–0.12%) was sufficient to establish small differences in the B isotope ratios in wines from different geographical origins. Each sample measurement was bracketed by measurements of a standard and mass bias drift correction made by interpolation. Sample preparation was kept to a minimum to avoid possible fractionation. Dilution of the wine samples by a factor of 100 with 0.65% HNO₃ was found to reduce matrix-induced mass discrimination substantially. Wines from three wine-producing regions, Stellenbosch, Robertson, and Swartland, in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, and wines from specific regions in France (Bergerac) and Italy (Valpolicella) were analyzed by ICP–QMS for their B-isotopic compositions. It was concluded that the ¹¹B/¹⁰B ratios can be used to characterize wines from different geographical origins. Average ¹¹B/¹⁰B ratios in red wines from South Africa (Stellenbosch), France (Bergerac), and Italy (Valpolicella) were found to differ by between 0.5 and 1.5%.     

Vacancy ion-exclusion chromatography of carboxylic acids on a weakly acidic cation-exchange resin

In this preliminary study, a new approach to ion-exclusion chromatography is proposed to overcome the relatively poor conductivity detection response which occurs in ion-exclusion chromatography when acids are added to the eluent in order to improve peak shape. This approach, termed vacancy ion-exclusion chromatography, requires the sample to be used as eluent and a sample of water to be injected onto a weakly acidic cation-exchange column (TSKgel OApak-A). Vacancy peaks for each of the analytes appear at the retention times of these analytes. Highly sensitive conductivity detection is possible and sharp, well-shaped peaks are produced, leading to efficient separations. Retention times were found to be affected by the concentration of the analytes in the eluent, and also by the presence of an organic modifier such as methanol in the eluent. Detection limits for oxalic, formic, acetic, propionic, butyric and valeric acids were 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5 microM, respectively, and linear ranges for some acids extended over two orders of magnitude. Precision values for retention times were 0.21% and for peak areas were <1.90%. The vacancy ion-exclusion chromatography method was found to give detection responses four to 10 times higher than conventional ion-exclusion chromatography using sulfuric acid eluent and two to five times higher than conventional ion-exclusion chromatography using benzoic acid eluent.     

Thermoresponsive nanostructures by self-assembly of a poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-lipid conjugate

The synthesis and purification of a poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-lipid conjugate and its use in the preparation of a thermoresponsive lipid mesophase is described. Specifically, poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) with a single carboxyl group at one end was activated with dicyclohexylcarbodiimide/N-hydroxysuccinimide to form an active ester. This N-hydroxysuccinimide ester was then used to form a dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine conjugate with poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) via an amide bond, rendering the conjugate amphiphilic. Quaternary phases comprising the conjugate, a phosopholipid, dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine, and a cosurfactant, N,N-dimethyldodecylamine-N-oxide, dispersed in water were found to self-assemble at room temperature to form liquid crystalline gels, adopting an expanded lamellar structure. A modest increase in temperature triggered the reversible conversion of the aggregate to a collapsed lamellar structure, while a modest reduction in temperature resulted in its conversion to a nonlamellar phase. The phases were characterized by polarized optical microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS).     

Conformation and luminescence of isolated molecular semiconductor molecules

In this article, we describe, for the first time, direct comparisons of the detailed structures of two small molecule organic semiconductors, oligo(phenylenvinylene) (OPV) molecules with chains of five and six phenyl rings (5R-OC(8)H(17) and 6R-OC(8)H(17)), respectively, and their luminescence properties on a single molecule level. Our data originate from a combination of two powerful diagnostic tools in physical chemistry: ion mobility and single molecule fluorescence spectroscopy. These techniques enable us to precisely determine the shapes of isolated molecules in the gas phase and to correlate these structures to the emission from single molecules supported on bare glass substrates. The principal structural uncertainty in OPVs is the (possible) presence and location of cis-vinylene linkages (cis-defects) in the oligomer. The results show that the structures observed in the gas phase are strongly correlated to the categories of molecules observed in the single molecule polarization anisotropy measurements with nearly identical distributions for the two OPV molecules studied. Each category is also characterized by the luminescence efficiency of the molecules in each class, providing a direct correlation between the luminescence efficiency and the shape of the molecule. This combination of techniques provides a level of information far beyond that obtained via any other analytical technique.     

Palladium-arene interactions in catalytic intermediates: an experimental and theoretical investigation of the soft rearrangement between eta1 and eta2 coordination modes

A series of dichloro-bridged arylbicycloheptylpalladium complexes have been synthesized and characterized by means of NMR spectroscopy. The compound [(C16H19)PdCl]2*CH2Cl2 with ortho and para methyl substituents at the arene has been characterized by means of X-ray diffraction techniques. The C(ipso) atom of the arene lies almost at the fourth planar coordination site of the metal [Pd-C(ipso) = 2.22(1) A (average)], and due to the arene's tilting, the substituted C(ortho) atom is relatively close to the metal atom [2.54(1) A (average)]. The coordinated C(ipso)-C(ortho) linkage, in a seemingly dihapto coordination, is anti with respect to the CH2 bridge of the bicycloheptyl unit. Variable-temperature NMR experiments for the para-substituted dimer 9 reveal restricted rotation of the two aryl groups about the corresponding C-C(ipso) bonds (DeltaE < or =17 kcal x mol(-1)). DFT-B3LYP calculations have been carried out on the known and similar monomer (phenylbicycloheptenyl)Pd(PPh3)I (4) and its related substituted derivatives. The essential results are as follows: (i) The potential energy surface for twisting the phenyl ring away from the symmetric eta(1) coordination in 4 is very flat (DeltaE < or = 1 kcal x mol(-1)) whereas an Atoms in Molecules analysis excludes the existence of an actual Pd-C(ortho) bond in the seemingly eta2-type conformer. (ii) Complete rotation of the unsubstituted phenyl ring is not facile but feasible. A significant strain affects the transition-state structure featuring a Pd-HC(aryl) agostic-type bond. The calculated destabilization of 10.3 kcal x mol(-1), with respect to the ground state, can be compared to the experimental barrier of the dimer 9. (iii) Various methyl-substituted derivatives of 4 have been optimized, and their structural and energetic trends are discussed. An almost ideal eta1 coordination is shown by the anti conformer of the C(ortho)-substituted complex due steric effects. For all of the other cases, a slipped eta2 coordination may be described. As a general conclusion, the unsaturated metal center receives pi electron density of the arene mainly through its C(ipso) atom. The effect may be slightly improved if the C(ortho) atom also gets closer to the metal, but in no case, does the slipped eta2 coordination seem to be crucial for the stability of the system.     

Validity of the Hammond postulate and constraints on general one-dimensional reaction barriers

The Hammond postulate is a useful, qualitative tool that interrelates structural similarities between reactants, transition structures, and products with the exo- or endothermicity of reactions. It applies to most chemical reactions, although several exceptions are known. In this study the following problem is addressed: is it possible to formulate conditions for the validity of the quantitative Hammond postulate in terms of simple physical quantities characteristic to the molecules involved? A detailed analysis is given for the conditions of validity of the postulate, in terms of bounds on the internal forces and force constants of nuclear arrangements encountered along a reaction path. We have determined a broad class of constraints on barrier shapes that must be satisfied in order to obtain a critical situation that violates the Hammond postulate: a reactant-like transition structure (“transition state”) for endothermic reactions, and a product-like one for exothermic reactions. The general constraints are formulated in terms of physically meaningful quantities: (i) energy differences, (ii) restrictions on slopes (e.g., an upper bound on internal forces), and (iii) restrictions on curvatures (e.g., upper bounds on force constants) along potential curves.     

Homolytic displacement at carbon: XI. Intramolecular homolytic displacement as a route to cyclopentane and tetrahydrofuran derivatives from hex-5-enyl- andhex-3-oxo-5-enylcobaloximes

5-Methylhex-5-enylcobaloxime reacts with carbon tetrachloride and with fluorotrichloromethane at 80–100°C to give substantially pure 1-methyl-1-(β,β,β-trichloroethyl)- and 1-methyl-1-β-fluoro-β,β-dichloroethyl)-cyclopentane. Hex-5-enylco-baloxime also gives trichloroethylcyclopentane from carbon tetrachloride, but the yield is dependent on the concentration of carbon tetrachloride. Similar cyclisation to give trichloroethyl- or fluorodichloroethyltetrahydrofuran is observed in the reactions of hex-3-oxo-5-enylcobaloxime with carbon tetrachloride and fluorotrichloromethane. However, no cyclisation was observed in the reactions of the ester, hex-2-one-3-oxo-5-enylcobaloxime, with carbon tetrachloride. These reactions are believed to take place by attack of a polyhalogenomethyl radical at the terminal unsaturated carbon of the organic ligand, followed either by an intramolecular homolytic displacement in which the carbon radical at position-5 attacks carbon-1 with displacement of cobaloxime(II), or by a halogen atom abstraction.     

Shape group theory of van der Waals surfaces

In this article we present a method for the study of shapes of general, asymmetric van der Waals surfaces. The procedure is simple to apply and it consists of two steps. First, the surface is decomposed into spherical domains, according to the interpenetration of the van der Waals atomic spheres. Each domain defines a topological object that is either a 2-manifold or some truncated 2-manifold. Second, we compute the homology groups for all the objects into which the surface is divided. These groups are topological and homotopical invariants of the domains, hence they remain invariant to conformational changes that preserve the essential features of these domains of decomposition. In particular, these homology groups do not depend explicitly on the molecular symmetry. Major rearrangements of the nuclear configurations, however, do alter the decomposition into spherical domains, and the corresponding variation of the homology groups can be followed easily under conformational rearrangements. We discuss a partitioning of the metric internal configuration spaceM into shape regions of van der Waals surfaces, which allows one to identify those rearrangements which introduce an essential change in shape and to distinguish them from those which do not alter the fundamental shape of the molecular surface. The dependence of the shape group partitioning ofM on the symmetry under permutation of nuclear changes is discussed briefly, considering a simple illustrative example.     

Unexpected differences in the alpha-halogenation and related reactivity of sulfones with perhaloalkanes in KOH-t-BuOH

Most alkyl phenyl sulfones are readily alpha-chlorinated with CCl(4) and alpha-brominated with CBrCl3 in KOH-t-BuOH via radical-anion radical pair (RARP) reactions. While isopropyl mesityl sulfone (4) is easily alpha-chlorinated with CCl(4), it was completely recovered when treated with the more reactive CBrCl3. Subsequent investigations showed the latter result to be due to the poor acidity of 4 together with the rapid depletion of CBrCl3 and KOH by their reaction with each other, and led to a variety of other important results. 4-Hydroxyphenyl isopropyl sulfone (6) is unreactive with either CCl4 or CBrCl3 in KOH-t-BuOH, its phenoxide anion strongly reducing the electronegativity of the sulfonyl group, thereby inhibiting alpha-anion formation. This effect is reversed by the electron-withdrawing influence of two alpha-phenyls, so that benzhydryl 4-hydroxyphenyl sulfone (8) is readily alpha-halogenated in KOH-t-BuOH with CCl4 or CBrCl3. On further contact with KOH-t-BuOH the alpha-halogenated sulfones from 8 are decomposed into benzophenone and phenol. While the alpha-halogenated derivatives of 4-methoxyphenyl benzhydryl sulfone (9) are stable to base, they are decomposed even under mildly acidic conditions into 4-methoxyphenyl 4-methoxybenzenethiolsulfonate (9c), phenol, and benzophenone. Mono-alpha-halogenation of benzyl phenyl sulfone (10) enhances the rate of the subsequent halogenation, so that alpha,alpha-dihalogenation is attained while much substrate is still present and the mono-alpha-halogenated product is not detected. The ease of reductive debromination of alpha-bromo sulfones with Cl3C- was correlated with the stability of the formed alpha-anions, explaining the success with alpha-bromobenzylic sulfones but failure with alpha-bromoalkyl sulfones. In the presence of air and the absence of competing halogenation, formation of the alpha-anions of alkyl aryl sulfones is quickly accompanied by oxidative cleavage by atmospheric O2, leading to the formation of arenesulfonyl alcohols, arenesulfonyl halides, and haloarenes.