Effects of ruthenium hydride species on primary amine synthesis by direct amination of alcohols over a heterogeneous Ru catalyst

Heterogeneously catalysed synthesis of primary amines by direct amination of alcohols with ammonia has long been an elusive goal. In contrast to reported Ru-based catalytic systems, we report that Ru–MgO/TiO₂ acts as an effective heterogeneous catalyst for the direct amination of a variety of alcohols to primary amines at low temperatures of ca. 100 °C without the introduction of H₂ gas. The present system could be applied to a variety of alcohols and provides an efficient synthetic route for 2,5-bis(aminomethyl)furan (BAMF), an attention-getting biomonomer. The high catalytic performance can be rationalized by the reactivity tuning of Ru–H species using MgO. Spectroscopic measurements suggest that MgO enhances the reactivity of hydride species by electron donation from MgO to Ru.

Ru–MgO/TiO₂ exhibited high catalytic performance for direct amination of alcohols based on the acceleration effects of MgO.     

Hydroxyapatite-supported palladium nanoclusters: a highly active heterogeneous catalyst for selective oxidation of alcohols by use of molecular oxygen

Treatment of a stoichiometric hydroxyapatite (HAP), Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2, with PdCl2(PhCN)2 gives a new type of palladium-grafted hydroxyapatite. Analysis by means of powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), IR, and Pd K-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) proves that a monomeric PdCl2 species is chemisorbed on the HAP surface, which is readily transformed into Pd nanoclusters with a narrow size distribution in the presence of alcohol. Nanoclustered Pd0 species can effectively promote the alcohol oxidation under an atmospheric O2 pressure, giving a remarkably high turnover number (TON) of up to 236,000 with an excellent turnover frequency (TOF) of approximately 9800 h(-1) for a 250-mmol-scale oxidation of 1-phenylethanol under solvent-free conditions. In addition to advantages such as a simple workup procedure and the ability to recycle the catalyst, the present Pd catalyst does not require additives to complete the catalytic cycle. The diameters of the generated Pd nanoclusters can be controlled upon acting on the alcohol substrates used. Oxidation of alcohols is proposed to occur primarily on low-coordination sites within a regular arrangement of the Pd nanocluster by performing calculations on the palladium crystallites.     

Antibody-scanning and epitope-tagging methods; molecular mapping of proteins using antibodies

Because synthetic short peptides bearing critical binding residues, can chemically mimic the folded antigenic determinants on proteins, short synthetic peptides can generate antibodies that react with cognate sequences in intact folded proteins. According to this mimotope theory, we produced site-specific antibodies by immunization with short peptides which overlapped each other and covered the entire protein, and used them for domain mapping of influenza virus RNA polymerase (antibody-scanning method). We also used a tagged-epitope and its monoclonal antibodies for topology mapping of clathrin light chains in clathrin triskelions by electron microscopy. Both methods using specific epitopes in combination with their antibodies enable us to determine the domains of interesting proteins systematically without the need to generate monoclonal antibodies or mutant proteins.     

Anion of the formic acid dimer as a model for intermolecular proton transfer induced by a pi* excess electron

The neutral and anionic formic acid dimers have been studied at the second-order Moller-Plesset and coupled-cluster level of theory with single, double, and perturbative triple excitations with augmented, correlation-consistent basis sets of double- and triple-zeta quality. Scans of the potential-energy surface for the anion were performed at the density-functional level of theory with a hybrid B3LYP functional and a high-quality basis set. Our main finding is that the formic acid dimer is susceptible to intermolecular proton transfer upon an excess electron attachment. The unpaired electron occupies a pi(*) orbital, the molecular moiety that accommodates an excess electron "buckles," and a proton is transferred to the unit where the excess electron is localized. As a consequence of these geometrical transformations, the electron vertical detachment energy becomes substantial, 2.35 eV. The anion is barely adiabatically unstable with respect to the neutral at 0 K. However, at standard conditions and in terms of Gibbs free energy, the anion is more stable than the neutral by +37 meV. The neutral and anionic dimers display different IR characteristics. In summary, the formic acid dimer can exist in two quasidegenerate states (neutral and anionic), which can be viewed as "zero" and "one" in the binary system. These two states are switchable and distinguishable.     

Hybridization of oligonucleotide by using DNA self-assembled monolayer

The interaction between DNA immobilized on surface and oligonucleotides at the interface is important in detection and diagnostic processes. However, it is difficult to immobilize DNA with maintaining its activity and to realize an efficient hybridization in previous methods. Here, to establish a novel DNA-functionalized surface, the DNA self-assembled monolayer (SAM) was constructed on a gold substrate using thiolated DNA composed of double-stranded (ds) and single-stranded (ss) portion. The DNA SAM was characterized by surface plasmon resonance (SPR), XPS. The hybridization of ss portion of DNA was attempted using the SAM, and in situ monitored by SPR. XPS measurement indicated that the thiolated DNA could form a stable monolayer on a gold substrate through sulfur–gold interaction. SPR measurement implied that the long axis of the DNA standing on the substrate. These results indicated formation of the DNA SAM on the substrate. Hybridization of target DNA containing a complementary sequence for the probe portion was observed by SPR. Moreover, one mismatch of oligonucleotide could be distinguished using the DNA SAM. The SPR result indicates that hybridization of target DNA and probe DNA on the DNA SAM occurs on the DNA SAM.     

Chemical deposition coatings from emulsifier-free anionic polymer emulsion onto anodized aluminum plate under stirring conditions

The chemical deposition from an anionic acrylic copolymer emulsion onto an anodized aluminum plate was carried out under various stirring conditions. The amount of polymer deposited was affected by the stirring rate. At higher stirring rates, the surface flatness of the obtained coating decreased, but the transparency (which was affected by the traces of bubbles, due to evolution of hydrogen gas from the surface of the plate in the deposition process) was improved. Under optimum stirring conditions an excellent coating having a flat surface and good transparency was obtained.Part CXVIII of the series Studies on Suspension and Emulsion.     

Catalytic oxyalkylation of alkenes with alkanes and molecular oxygen via a radical process using N-hydroxyphthalimide

A novel catalytic method for the radical addition of alkanes and molecular oxygen to electron-deficient alkenes was achieved by the use of N-hydroxyphthalimide (NHPI) combined with a Co species as the catalyst. This reaction is referred to as oxyalkylation of alkenes with alkanes and O(2). For instance, the reaction of 1,3-dimethyladamantane with methyl acrylate under molecular oxygen in the presence of catalytic amounts of NHPI and Co(acac)(3) at 70 degrees C for 16 h gave oxyalkylated products in 91% yield. Other alkenes such as fumarate and acrylonitrile also serve as good acceptors of alkyl radicals and O(2) to afford the corresponding adducts in high yields. The generality of the present reaction was examined between various alkanes and alkenes under dioxygen. The behavior of Co ions during the reaction course was discussed. The present reaction involves (i) an alkyl radical generation via hydrogen abstraction of alkane by phthalimide N-oxyl generated in situ from NHPI and O(2) assisted by Co(II), (ii) the addition of the resulting alkyl radical to an electron-deficient alkene to form an adduct radical, (iii) trapping of the adduct radical by O(2) yielding a hydroperoxide, and (iv) the decomposition of the hydroperoxide by Co ions to form an adduct in which a hydroxy or a carbonyl function is incorporated.     

A selective hole burning method applied to determine distances between paramagnetic species in photosystems

A method of selective hole burning in EPR spectra was applied to determine the distances from a radical to the acceptor quinone-iron in bacterial and plant photosystems. A low amplitude hole burning 180° pulse and high amplitude 90° and 90° pulses applied to detect ESE of P870⁺ inRb. Sphaeroides and the distance from the primary electron donor P870⁺ to the acceptor Q _A ^? Fe²⁺ was determined to be 26±2 Å from the dipolar broadening of the burned hole in P870⁺ EPR. This result is consistent with that given by X-ray analysis and susceptibility measurement. In plant photosystem II the same method was applied to the EPR spectrum of tyrosine D⁺, but the effect of crystalline field splitting of Fe²⁺ ion was taken into consideration. The effective spin value for the ferrous iron in PS II was found to be 0.8 and the distance between the radical and the non-heme iron was obtained to be 42±2 Å.     

New lower bounds on the self-avoiding-walk connective constant

We give an elementary new method for obtaining rigorous lower bounds on the connective constant for self-avoiding walks on the hypercubic lattice ^d . The method is based on loop erasure and restoration, and does not require exact enumeration data. Our bounds are best for highd, and in fact agree with the first four terms of the 1/d expansion for the connective constant. The bounds are the best to date for dimensionsd 3, but do not produce good results in two dimensions. Ford=3, 4, 5, and 6, respectively, our lower bound is within 2.4%, 0.43%, 0.12%, and 0.044% of the value estimated by series extrapolation.