Employing the structural diversity of nature: development of modular dipeptide-analogue ligands for ruthenium-catalyzed enantioselective transfer hydrogenation of ketones

A library of novel dipeptide-analogue ligands based on the combination of tert-butoxycarbonyl(N-Boc)-protected alpha-amino acids and chiral vicinal amino alcohols were prepared. These highly modular ligands were combined with [[RuCl(2)(p-cymene)](2)] and the resulting metal complexes were screened as catalysts for the enantioselective reduction of acetophenone under transfer hydrogenation conditions using 2-propanol as the hydrogen donor. Excellent enantioselectivity of 1-phenylethanol (up to 98 % ee) was achieved with several of the novel catalysts. Although most of the ligands contained two stereocenters, it was demonstrated that the absolute configuration of the product alcohol was determined by the configuration of the amino acid part of the ligand. Employing ligands based on L-amino acids generated S-configured products, and catalysts based on D-amino acids favored the formation of the R-configured alcohol. The combination N-Boc-L-alanine and (R)-phenylglycinol (Boc-L-Ab) or its enantiomer (N-Boc-D-alanine and (S)-phenylglycinol, Boc-D-Aa) proved to be the best ligands for the reduction process. Transfer hydrogenation of a number of aryl alkyl ketones were evaluated and excellent enantioselectivity, up to 96 % ee, was obtained.     

Validated, non-destructive and environmentally friendly determination of cocaine in euro bank notes

A non-destructive, fast and environmentally friendly procedure has been developed for cocaine determination in euro bank notes. Cocaine was extracted with 15 ml methanol by vortex agitation during 5 min. The extract was evaporated and reconstituted in 0.5 ml methanol. GC-MS-MS analysis was performed using as precursor ion m/z 182.2, with an excitation energy voltage of 1.60 eV, being the product ions measured m/z 150.2 and 82.0. A limit of detection of 0.15 ng per note and a repeatability of 6%, established from the relative standard deviation, of a 1 ng ml(-1) level, were achieved. Recoveries of 101+/-2 and 98+/-3% were obtained for samples spiked with 100 and 10 microg respectively. Results show that all the euro bank notes measured (16 samples) were contaminated with cocaine in the range between 1.25 and 889 microg. Two different contamination levels, high level (150-889 microg) and low one (1.25-77 microg) were found and it could be related with the direct or indirect contact with the drug.     

Spectroscopic investigation of the adsorption and oxidation of thiourea on polycrystalline Au and Au(111) in acidic media

In the present paper, a systematic electrochemical investigation on thiourea (TU) electrooxidation was developed on polycrystalline and (111) single-crystal gold electrodes in 0.1 M perchloric acid. The combination of cyclic voltammetry with in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIRS) and differential electrochemical mass spectrometry techniques have allowed the nature of the species formed during the electroadsorption and electrooxidation of TU to be established. FTIRS experiments were performed in D2O to clean up the region of the H2O bending around 1600 cm(-1). It was concluded that TU adsorbs tilted on the surface in the 0.05-0.40 VRHE potential range. A dual-path reaction mechanism was evidenced in the oxidation process. The first pathway takes place from adsorbed TU at E > 0.40 VRHE and implies the formation of [Au(I)-(TU)2]+, which is oxidized to NH2CN and S0 at E > 0.80 VRHE. In a following oxidation step at E > 1.20 V, N2, CO2, and HSO4-/SO4(2-) were produced. The second parallel reaction occurs from TU in solution at E > 0.50 VRHE to form (TU)2(2+). All these species were characterized from the spectroscopic experiments. Similar results were obtained for both surfaces.     

Autonomous intelligent agents for accelerated materials discovery

We present an end-to-end computational system for autonomous materials discovery. The system aims for cost-effective optimization in large, high-dimensional search spaces of materials by adopting a sequential, agent-based approach to deciding which experiments to carry out. In choosing next experiments, agents can make use of past knowledge, surrogate models, logic, thermodynamic or other physical constructs, heuristic rules, and different exploration–exploitation strategies. We show a series of examples for (i) how the discovery campaigns for finding materials satisfying a relative stability objective can be simulated to design new agents, and (ii) how those agents can be deployed in real discovery campaigns to control experiments run externally, such as the cloud-based density functional theory simulations in this work. In a sample set of 16 campaigns covering a range of binary and ternary chemistries including metal oxides, phosphides, sulfides and alloys, this autonomous platform found 383 new stable or nearly stable materials with no intervention by the researchers.

We present an end-to-end computational system for autonomous materials discovery.     

Determination of arsenic compounds in beverages by high-performance liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

Arsenic compounds including arsenous acid (As(III)), arsenic acid (As(V)), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) and monomethylarsonic acid (MMA) were separated by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and detected by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). A Hamilton PRX-100 anionic-exchange column and a pH 8.5 K₂HPO₄/KH₂PO₄ 5.0 × 10⁻³ mol L⁻¹ mobile phase were used to achieve arsenic speciation. The separation of arsenic species provided peaks of As(III) at 2.75 min, DMA at 3.33 min, MMA at 5.17 min and As(V) at 12.5 min. The detection limits, defined as three times the standard deviation of the lowest standard measurements, were found to be 0.2, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.5 ng mL⁻¹ for As(III), DMA, MMA and As(V), respectively. The relative standard deviation values for a solution containing 5.0 μg L⁻¹ of As(III), DMA, MMA and As(V) were 1.2, 2.1, 2.5 and 3.0%, respectively. This analytical procedure was applied to the speciation of arsenic compounds in drinking (soft drink, beer, juice) samples. The validation of the procedure was achieved through the analysis of arsenic compounds in water and sediment certified reference materials.     

The quantitative electrochemical generation of bromine in acetic acid

The quantitative electrochemical generation of bromine at a platinum electrode in acetic acid is described. Coulometric methods for the determination of hydroquinone and 2-methylhydroquinone are reported. The best results are obtained with 0.7–1.1 M potassium acetate solutions as supporting electrolyte, and biamperometric end-point detection. The effects of water and acetic anhydride on the accuracy of titrations are discussed. Determination of the formal redox potential of the Br₂/Br^- system in a 0.9 M potassium acetate solution in acetic acid showed that bromide is oxidized directly to bromine at a platinum electrode with 100% current efficiency.     

Coulometric redox titrations of hydrazine,phenylhydrazine and isoniazid with electrogenerated lead(IV) acetate and manganese(III) acetate in acetic acid

Summary The conditions fox coulometric determination of small quantities of hydrazine, phenylhydrazine and isoniazid in glacial acetic acid with electrogenerated manganese(III) acetate and lead(IV) acetate were investigated. With the direct coulometric method at room temperature, good results were obtained in the determination of hydrazine and isoniazid with lead(IV) acetate and in the determination of phenylhydrazine with manganese(III) acetate. Hydrazine and isoniazid can also be determined by the coulometric back-titration method if the oxidation with manganese(III) acetate is performed at elevated temperature.

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Zusammenfassung Die Bedingungen für die coulometrische Bestimmung kleiner Mengen Hydrazin, Phenylhydrazin und Isoniazid mit elektrolytisch erzeugtem Mangan(III)-Acetat und Blei(IV)-Acetat in Eisessig wurden untersucht. Bei Zimmertemperatur wurden gute Resultate durch direkte coulometrische Titration des Hydrazins und Isoniazids mit Blei(IV)-Acetat und bei Titration des Phenylhydrazins mit Mangan(III)-Acetat erhalten. Durch coulometrische Rücktitration können bei höheren Temperaturen Hydrazin und Isoniazid mit Mangan(III)-Acetat erfolgreich bestimmt werden.

     

Synthese de F-alkyl-2 chromones et mise en evidence de leurs intermediaires reactionnels.

The Claisen condensation of some ethyl F-alcanoates (with -CF₃, -C₃F₇, -C₅F₁₁ and -C₇F₁₅ groups) and 4,6-dimethyl 2-hydroxy acetophenone leads, by a good-yielding two-step reaction to 2-F-alkyl chromones.Cyclic intermediates have been isolated and identified by spectrometric studies as hydroxy chromanones.     

Kinetic investigation of the reactions of S-4-nitrophenyl 4-substituted thiobenzoates with secondary alicyclic amines in aqueous ethanol

The reactions of S-4-nitrophenyl 4-X-substituted thiobenzoates (X = H, Cl, and NO(2): 1, 2, and 3, respectively) with a series of secondary alicyclic amines (SAA) were subjected to a kinetic investigation in 44 wt % ethanol-water, at 25.0 degrees C and an ionic strength of 0.2 M (KCl). The reactions were followed spectrophotometrically by monitoring the release of 4-nitrobenzenethiolate anion at 420-425 nm. Under excess amine, pseudo-first-order rate constants (k(obsd)) are obtained for all reactions. The plots of k(obsd) vs [SAA] at constant pH are linear with the slope (k(N)) independent of pH. The statistically corrected Br?nsted-type plots (log k(N)/q vs pK(a) + log p/q) for the reactions of 1 and 2 are nonlinear with slopes at high pK(a), beta(1) = 0.27 and 0.10, respectively, and slopes at low pK(a), beta(2) = 0.86 and 0.84, respectively. The Br?nsted curvature is centered at pK(a) (pK(a)(0)) 10.0 and 10.4, respectively. The reactions of SAA with 3 exhibit a linear Br?nsted-type plot of slope 0.81. These results are consistent with a stepwise mechanism, through a zwitterionic tetrahedral intermediate (T(+/-)). For the reactions of 1 and 2, there is a change in rate-determining step with amine basicity, from T(+/-) breakdown to products at low pK(a), to T(+/-) formation at high pK(a). For the reactions of 3, breakdown to products of T(+/-) is rate limiting for all the SAA series (pK(a)(0) > 11). The increasing pK(a)(0) value as the substituent in the acyl group becomes more electron withdrawing is attributed to an increasing nucleofugality of SAA from T(+/-). The greater pK(a)(0) value for the reactions of SAA with 1, relative to that found in the pyridinolysis of 2,4-dinitrophenyl benzoate (pK(a)(0) = 9.5), is explained by the greater nucleofugality from T(+/-) of the former amines, compared to isobasic pyridines, and the greater leaving ability from T(+/-) of 2,4-dinitrophenoxide relative to 4-nitrobenzenethiolate.     

Electrochemical generation of manganese(III) and behaviour of the generated oxidant in acetic acid in the presence of perchlorate ions

Summary Research was carried out to determine conditions for the anodic generation of manganese(III) with high current efficiency in solutions of sodium perchlorate in acetic acid, and to examine the behaviour of the oxidant thus generated. The effects of water and acetic anhydride on current efficiency in the generation of the oxidant was also examined. The formal redox potential of the Mn(III)/ Mn(II) system is decreased with increasing concentrations of sodium acetate in the solution. The effect of sodium perchlorate and perchloric acid concentrations is the reverse. Procedures for coulometric titrations of a number of substances with the generated oxidant were developed, end point being detected using biamperometric and potentiometric methods. Perchloric acid accelerates the oxidation of certain substances with manganese(III) in acetic acid and increases the sensitivity of end-point detection using the potentiometric method.

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Elektrochemische Erzeugung von Mangan(III) und das Verhalten dieses Oxydationsmittels in Essigsäure bei Gegenwart von Perchlorat

Zusammenfassung Die Bedingungen der anodischen Erzeugung von Mangan(III) mit hoher Stromausbeute in Essigsäure, nach Zugabe von Natriumperchlorat wurden untersucht; das elektrochemische Verhalten des so dargestellten Oxydationsmittels wurde ebenfalls untersucht. Der Einfluß von Wasser und Essigsäureanhydrid auf die prozentuelle Stromausbeute des erwähnten Oxydationsmittels wurde verfolgt. Das Formalredoxpotential des Systems Mn(III)/ Mn(II) sinkt bei Erhöhung der Konzentration an Natriumacetat in der Lösung. Perchlorsäure wie auch Natriumperchlorat üben eine entgegengesetzte Wirkung aus und führen zur Steigerung des Formalredoxpotentials bei Erhöhung ihrer Konzentration. Verfahren zur coulometrischen Titration verschiedener Substanzen mittels biamperometrischer oder potentiometrischer Erfassung des Titrationsendpunktes wurden ausgearbeitet. In Gegenwart von Perchlorsäure wächst die Geschwindigkeit der Oxydation einiger Substanzen in Essigsäure in Gegenwart von Mn(III) und auch die Empfindlichkeit der Endpunktbestimmung verbessert sich.

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Presented at the 9th International Symposium on Microchemical Techniques, Amsterdam, August 28–September 2, 1983.