Determination of anions in rainwater by capillary electrophoresis with conductivity detection

A routine method for the determination of chloride, nitrate and sulfate anions in rainwater by capillary electrophoresis was developed. The system uses an end-column non-suppressed conductivity detector. Linear calibration plots were generated from 0.050 to 20 mg/l, which is the range generally found in wet depositions. Accuracy and precision were evaluated by analyzing certified standards of simulated rainwater and environmental samples, or by comparing CE results with those obtained by IC, the reference technique for anion analysis in wet deposition. The reproducibility of the method was satisfactory except at the lower and upper limits of the analytical range. Sensitivity lay in the range of few μg/l.     

A designed beta-hairpin peptide for molecular recognition of ATP in water

A designed 12-residue beta-hairpin peptide with a diagonal tryptophan (Trp) pair was shown to bind ATP in water through a combination of aromatic and electrostatic interactions. The affinity for ATP was 5800 M-1 (DeltaG approximately -5.0 kcal/mol), a remarkable affinity for a short, structured peptide in water, consisting of entirely natural amino acid residues. Proton NMR measurements indicate that the adenine ring of the nucleotide is intercalated between the diagonal tryptophans in the bound state. Delineation of the contributions to ATP binding to the hairpin suggest that aromatic interactions contribute approximately -1.8 kcal/mol, while individual electrostatic interactions involving the ATP phosphates and positively charged side chains of the hairpin contribute approximately -1 kcal/mol each. The designed beta-hairpin receptor presents a novel minimalist system to investigate the energetic contributions to protein-nucleic acid recognition through the surface of a beta-sheet.     

Indene and pseudoazulene discotic liquid crystals: a synthetic and structural study

Several new liquid-crystalline indene and pseudoazulene systems are reported. These molecules give rise to either columnar hexagonal mesophases and/or columnar plastic phases. The unique nature of these compounds stems from their non-classical discotic structure. Although the molecules have rigid aromatic cores, they lack terminal tails and instead the polarizable atoms (S, halogens) or polar groups (CN, CO) act as unusual soft parts. On the basis of many structurally related materials, we conclude that for this type of compound molecular stacking in the solid state is a prerequisite for the appearance of a columnar mesophase, although other intermolecular interactions within the layers are also important in establishing liquid-crystalline order. The behavior reported for these mesomorphic molecules opens up new possibilities in the search for related molecular interactions that might be useful for the construction of supramolecular architectures with particular properties.     

Correction: Direct synthesis of the organic and Ge free Al containing BOG zeolite (ITQ-47) and its application for transformation of biomass derived molecules

Aluminosilicate boggsite (Si/Al-BOG) has been hydrothermally synthesized without adding organic structure-directing agents (OSDAs) in the synthesis gel using the borosilicogermanium ITQ-47 (Si/B-ITQ-47) zeolite as seeds. The introduction of the costly and environmentally less benign phosphazene organic structure-directing agent is not required to grow the zeolite. Physicochemical characterization experiments show that Si/Al-BOG has good crystallinity, high surface area, tetrahedral Al³⁺ species, and acid sites. In order to test the catalytic performance of the zeolite, the synthesis of l,l-lactide from l-lactic acid was performed. Si/Al-BOG exhibits 88.2% conversion of l-lactic acid and 83.8% l,l-lactide selectivity, which are better than those of other zeolites studied up to now.

Aluminosilicate boggsite (Si/Al-BOG) has been hydrothermally synthesized without adding organic structure-directing agents (OSDAs) in the synthesis gel using the borosilicogermanium ITQ-47 (Si/B-ITQ-47) zeolite as seeds.     

Efficient synthesis of N-benzyl-3-aminopyrrolidine-2,5-dione and N-benzyl-3-aminopyrrolidin-2-one

Reaction of N-tert-butyloxycarbonylasparagine (Boc-Asn) with 2 equiv of benzyl bromide in presence of cesium carbonate led to N-benzyl-3-Boc-amino-pyrrolidin-2,5-dione 1a (N-benzyl-3-Boc-aminosuccinimide). Borane dimethylsulfide reduced 3-Boc-aminopyrrolidine-2,5-dione 1a into 3-Boc-aminopyrrolidin-2-one 2a. The same procedure could also be used to prepare derivatives 1 and 2 substituted on the aromatic ring.     

The rate of homolysis of adducts of peroxynitrite to the C=O double bond.

Nucleophilic addition of the peroxynitrite anion, ONOO(-), to the two prototypical carbonyl compounds, acetaldehyde and acetone, was investigated in the pH interval 7.4-14. The process is initiated by fast equilibration between the reactants and the corresponding tetrahedral adduct anion, the equilibrium being strongly shifted to the reactant side. The adduct anion also undergoes fast protonation by water and added buffers. Consequently, the rate of the bimolecular reaction between ONOO(-) and the carbonyl is strongly dependent on the pH and on the concentration of the buffer. The pK(a) of the carbonyl-ONOO adduct was estimated to be approximately 11.8 and approximately 12.3 for acetone and acetaldehyde, respectively. It is shown that both the anionic and the neutral adducts suffer fast homolysis along the weak O-O bond to yield free alkoxyl and nitrogen dioxide radicals. The yield of free radicals was determined to be about 15% with both carbonyl compounds at low and high pH, while the remainder collapses to molecular products in the solvent cage. The rate constants for the homolysis of the adducts vary from ca. 3 x 10(5) to ca. 5 x 10(6) s(-1), suggesting that they cannot act as oxidants in biological systems. This small variation around a mean value of about 10(6) s(-1) suggests that the O-O bond in the adduct is rather insensitive to its protonation state and to the nature of its carbonyl precursor. An overall reaction scheme was proposed, and all the corresponding rate constants were evaluated. Finally, thermokinetic considerations were employed to argue that the formation of dioxirane as an intermediate in the reaction of ONOO(-) with acetone is an unlikely process.     

Application to routine analysis of a method to determine multiclass pesticide residues in fresh vegetables by gas chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

The use of gas chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (GC/MS/MS) applied to determine multiple pesticide residues in fresh vegetables has been thoroughly studied. A single injection method to detect, confirm and quantify 54 multiclass pesticides has been developed and applied in a routine analysis laboratory. The proposed method consists of a rapid extraction of 15 g of vegetable sample with dichloromethane. An additional clean-up step is not necessary even when injecting 10 microL of extract. Instead the gas chromatograph was fitted with a carbofrit inserted into the glass liner and a guard column. In addition, the detection mode chosen (MS/MS) provides additional selectivity. The method has been validated and applied to 1300 samples in a routine laboratory following specified quality criteria. The recovery efficiencies obtained for all the pesticides ranged between 70.2 and 110.8% at two different fortification levels. The relative standard deviation for quantification (RSD) was lower than 16.7% for all the compounds. Important experimental parameters, such as the conditioning of carbofrit, overload of the analytical column, and cleanliness of the ion trap, were evaluated for their influence on the performance of the method.     

Le cation méthylènecyclopropyle: Etude théorique. Solvolyse des halogénocyclopropènes et des halogénométhylenecyclopropanes

The solvolysis in acid solution of allylic halides and acetates of methylenecyclopropanes and cyclopropylmethanes does not lead to ring opening when there is an ethoxycarbonyl substituent on the ring methylene. Only the cyclopropenyl derivative is obtained. A study of the electronic structure and the geometry of the possible allylic cation intermediate has been carried out using the MNDO method. In addition, the influence of the substituents on the ring opening of this cation has beeen examined. It appears that the ring opening is disfavoured upon substitution of an alkyl group by alkoxymethyl on the ring methylene group.     

Synthesis, structure, and spectroscopy of phenylacetylenylene rods incorporating meso-substituted dipyrrin ligands

The synthesis, structure, and spectroscopic characterization of a series of phenylacetylenylene rodlike molecules containing dipyrromethene (dipyrrin) ligands are described. The combination of the phenylacetylenylene groups with the porphyrinogenic dipyrrin moieties results in a rich absorption spectroscopy for these compounds, although the fluorescence of the phenylacetylenylene moiety is quenched by presence of the dipyrrin chelator. The Cu(2+) and Fe(3+) complexes of these ligands have been prepared and three of these compounds have been structurally characterized by using single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Unlike other octahedral metal-dipyrrin complexes described to date, one of the iron complexes demonstrates ideal threefold symmetry in the solid-state. The elongated structure and high symmetry of these complexes suggests the use of these meso-substituted phenylacetylenylene ligands as an interesting class of extended, branched molecules for the construction of supramolecular architectures.