Diastereoselective Spirocyclization of C-(Alkyloxycarbonyl)formimines of 2-Substituted 1HIndole-3-ethanamines (= Tryptamines): Basic Studies. 5th Communication on Indoles,Indolenines, and Indolines

C-(Alkoxycarbonyl)formimines of type 15–18 were derived from the 2-substituted tryptamines 2 , 9 , 10 , and 11 and transformed with tosyl chloride into tricyclic 3-spiroindoles of types 19–22 (Scheme 3). The influence of the homochiral alkoxy moieties A–D on the stereochemical outcome of this reaction was studied. Good-to-excellent diastereoselectivities were observed with the (?)-8-(phenylmenth-3-yl)oxy group ( B ) as homochiral auxiliary. The structures of the tricycles 4 , (2′R,3S)- 19B , and (2′S,3R) 20C were established by X-ray analysis, the structures of the others by NOE and CD studies, and by chemical correlation. Possibilities to explain the steric course of the spirocyclizations are discussed.     

Coordinative Behaviour of Tridentate NS2‐Donor Ligands with Cadmium: Synthesis and Crystal Structures of New Complexes

The reaction of cadmium salts with various amounts of the tridentate NS₂‐chelating ligands 1‐(2‐mercapto‐acetophenone)‐4‐triphenylmethylthiosemicarbazone (H₂L¹) and 1‐(5‐mercapto‐3‐methyl‐1‐phenylpyrazole‐4‐carboxaldehyde)‐4‐triphenyl‐methylthiosemicarbazone (H₂L²) in the presence of bases like N‐methylimidazole (N–MeIm), pyridine (py) or triethylamine (Et₃N) provided a series of novel mono‐, di‐, tri‐ and heptanuclear cadmium complexes. They are of the general formulas [CdL¹(N–MeIm)]₂ ( 1 ), [CdL¹(py)]₂ ( 2 ), [CdL²(N–MeIm)]₂ ( 3 ), [CdL²(py)₃] · 0.25 C₆H₁₄ · 0.5 py ( 4 ), [Et₃NH]₂[Cd₃L ] · 7 MeOH ( 5 ), [Et₃NH]₂[Cd₃L ] ( 6 ) and [Et₃NH]₂[Cd₇L ] · 14 MeOH ( 7 ). The compounds were characterized by elemental analysis, IR‐ and ¹H‐NMR‐spectroscopy. Single‐crystal X‐ray structure analyses are reported for the complexes 2 , 4 , 5 and 7 . While 2 has a dimeric structure where each cadmium ion is pentacoordinated in a N₂S₃‐environment, 4 consists of a monomeric cadmium center with distorted octahedral N₄S₂‐coordination. The complexes 5 and 7 exhibit new structural types for tri‐ and heptanuclear cadmium compounds. It is shown that sulfur bridging might proceed via arylthiolates, iminothiolates or even both functions of the ligand. Aggregation is influenced by various factors like solvents, counterions and ligand properties.     

AES investigations on starting powders for high performance ceramics

AES depth profiles on ceramic powders (untreated/hydrolyzed/oxidized/ (Al, Y)₂O₃ coated Si₃N₄, [BaO, SiO₂] coated Al₂O₃) are feasible on thin, homogeneous layers or m sized agglomerations prepared on an Au foil. By means of the depth profiles one can qualitatively characterize the coating around the particles. Factor analysis of the depth profiles on the differently treated Si₃N₄ powders suggests the existence of an Si₂N₂O phase on the oxidized sample.Dedicated to Professor Günther Tölg on the occasion of his 60th birthday     

Gas phase structure and vibrational spectra of dimethoxysulfane (CH3O)2S

The vapor phase structure of (CH₃O)₂S [1] has been investigated by electron diffraction and ab initio MO calculations, which both result in a C₂ symmetry for the most stable geometry, the C_s conformer being less stable by about 12 kJ/mol. The torsional barrier for rotation about one SO bond was calculated as 37 kJ/mol (trans barrier). The geometrical parameters (electron diffraction) of the C₂ conformer are: d_SO = 162.5(2), d_CO = 142.6(3), d_CH = 110.5(7) pm angles OSO = 103(1)°, SOC = 115.9(4)°, HCH = 109(1)°, torsional angle COSO = 84(3)°. Geometrical data calculated with 6-31G^* basis set agree well with the diffraction data; calculated dipole moments 1.1 D (C₂) and 3.3 D (C_s). The infrared spectrum of gaseous (CH₃O)₂S and the Raman spectra of liquid and solid (CH₃O)₂S are reported and have been almost fully assigned to the 27 fundamental vibrations.     

6-Pyruvoyl tetrahydropterin synthase assay in extracts of cultured human cells using high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection of biopterin.

An assay for 6-pyruvoyl tetrahydropterin synthase, the second enzyme in the conversion of guanosine triphosphate into tetrahydrobiopterin, has been developed. Cell extracts were incubated with enzymatically prepared dihydroneopterin triphosphate (80 microM) in the presence of Mg2+ (12 mM), excess sepiapterin reductase (EC 1.1.1.153) (2 nmol/min) and NADPH (2 mM). 6-Pyruvoyl tetrahydropterin, the product of the reaction, was thus converted into tetrahydrobiopterin. After oxidation of the reduced biopterin derivatives in acidic iodine solution, biopterin was enriched and separated from the abundant neopterin phosphates by solid-phase extraction on a strong cation exchanger. Biopterin was then directly eluted on a reversed-phase liquid chromatographic column and detected fluorimetrically using excitation at 353 nm and emission at 438 nm. The biopterin concentrations formed by the coupled enzyme reaction increased linearly with incubation times up to 90 min. The assay allows the quantification of 6-pyruvoyl tetrahydropterin synthase in cultured human cells.     

Complete enantiospecificity in the highly regioselective and stereoselective photo- and thermal rearrangements of some homoconjugated ketones

The oxa-di-π-methane (ODPM) photorearrangement of 2-(carbomethoxy)spiro [5.5]undeca-1,3-diene-7-one ($\text{1}$d) to $\text{2}$d and the latter's thermal rearrangement to $\text{3}$d were shown to be not only fully regio-and stereoselective but also to occur with complete enantiospecificity. An additional example, the 2-hydroxymethyl derivative ($\text{1}$f) was also studied and the two systems were chemically correlated.     

N-(4-(di-tert-butyl[F]fluorosilyl)benzyl)-2-hydroxy-N,N-dimethylethylammonium bromide ([F]SiFANBr): A novel lead compound for the development of hydrophilic SiFA-based prosthetic groups for F-labeling

¹⁸F-labeled compounds play a major role in the development of new in vivo imaging agents for Positron Emission Tomography (PET), a non invasive imaging modality depicting the biodistribution of radioactive compounds in humans. Recently we reported a new method for the introduction of fluorine-18 into a range of organic molecules exploiting the very fast ¹⁸F-¹⁹F isotope exchange of fluorosilanes (termed SiFA compounds). Here, we wish to report the labeling of the first charged SiFA molecule N-(4-(di-tert-butylfluorosilyl)benzyl)-2-hydroxy-N,N-dimethylethylammonium bromide (SiFAN⁺Br⁻) serving as a lead compound in the development of SiFA-based prosthetic groups of reduced lipophilicity for biomolecule labeling. Mild conditions for synthesis of [¹⁸F]SiFAN⁺Br⁻ and an easy purification procedure using simple C-18 solid phase cartridge have been developed yielding the [¹⁸F]SiFAN⁺Br⁻ in radiochemical yields of 34% (non-decay corrected) within 40 min. A series of kinetic experiments were performed that show high isotopic exchange rate constants. Low activation energy (15.7 kcal/mol) and a large preexponential factor (7.9 × 10¹³ M⁻¹ s⁻¹) were calculated for the isotopic exchange reaction from a corresponding Arrhenius plot. For comparison, the ¹⁸F-fluorination of ethyleneglycol-di-p-tosylate via the formation of a carbon-¹⁸F bond showed a 1.3 kcal/mol higher activation energy and a much lower preexponential factor of 2.9 × 10⁹ M⁻¹ s⁻¹. Moderate hydrophilicity (log D = 0.44), stability in aqueous media at pH up to 7.4 and a high specific activity of [¹⁸F]SiFAN⁺Br⁻ (SA = 20.4 GBq/μmol, 0.55 Ci/μmol) make this charged SiFA compound useful for the development of novel SiFA-based ¹⁸F-labeling synthons.     

Two-dimensional self-assembly of linear molecular rods at the liquid/solid interface

We report on the synthesis and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) studies of a series of linear molecular rods (1-5) comprising different numbers and/or spatial arrangements of perfluorinated benzene and benzene subunits interlinked with diacetylenes in the para position and decorated with or without terminal dodecyl chains. The molecules organize themselves into well-ordered 2D crystal structures at the liquid/solid interface through intermolecular and molecule-substrate interactions. Whereas the molecules substituted by dodecyl chains form the lamellar structures with alternating rigid core rows and alkyl chain rows, the unsubstituted ones change the orientation of the rigid backbones with respect to the lamellar axis. The molecular arrangement is not influenced by fluoro substituents on any phenyl ring of the backbone, which suggests that the interactions between the π-conjugated backbones are dominated by close packing rather than by the dipole moments of the rods or fluorine-based intermolecular interactions.