Personal View: Synchrotron Radiation Instrumentation: A Personal Experience

The scope of this two-day meeting (held June 25–26, 2007), organized by the French MELUSYN (Medicine and Synchrotron Light) work group at the new synchrotron radiation facility SOLEIL (Saint-Aubin, France), was to create a timely forum for multi-disciplinary discussions on modern radiation biology. The meeting brought together physicists of diluted and condensed matter, chemists, biochemists, biologists, as well as physicians having a common interest in using synchrotron radiation in the UV, VUV, soft and hard X-ray ranges and the related techniques in order to explore at molecular, cellular or tissular levels various aspects of radiation effects on living systems and the medical consequences for radiotherapy.     

Isolation of Biphenyl and Polychlorinated Biphenyl-Degrading Bacteria and Their Degradation Pathway

Four strains of biphenyl-degrading bacteria were isolated from a sewage and identified from the Rhodococcus genus (SK-1, SK-3, and SK-4) and Aquamicrobium genus (SK-2) by 16S rRNA sequence. Among these strains, strain SK-2 was most suitable for biphenyl degradation. When 0.65, 1.3, 2.6, or 3.9 mM of biphenyl was used, the biphenyl was completely degraded within 24 and 96 h of culture, respectively. However, in the case of 6.5 and 9.75 mM of biphenyl, the biphenyl degradation yields were about 80 % and 46.7 % after 120 h of culture, respectively. The isolated strains could degrade a broad spectrum of aromatic compounds including high-chlorinated polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners in the presence of biphenyl. In addition, strain SK-2 could utilize PCB congeners containing one to six chlorine substituents such as 2,2′,4,4′,5,5′-hexachlorobiphenyl. The PCB utilization rate by the strain SK-2 was increased compared to that of other PCB congener-utilizing bacteria. The four isolates metabolized 4-chlorobiphenyl to 4-chlorobenzoic acid and 2-hydroxy-6-oxo-6-(4′-chlorophenyl)-hexa-2,4-dienoic acid. These results suggest the isolated strains might be good candidates for the bioremediation of PCB-contaminated soil, especially high-saline soils.     

A Thioxanthone Sensitizer with a Chiral Phosphoric Acid Binding Site: Properties and Applications in Visible Light-Mediated Cycloadditions

A chiral phosphoric acid with a 2,2’-binaphthol core was prepared that displays two thioxanthone moieties at the 3,3’-position as light-harvesting antennas. Despite its relatively low triplet energy, the phosphoric acid was found to be an efficient catalyst for the enantioselective intermolecular [2+2] photocycloaddition of β-carboxyl-substituted cyclic enones (e.r. up to 93:7). Binding of the carboxylic acid to the sensitizer is suggested by NMR studies and by DFT calculations to occur by means of two hydrogen bonds. The binding event not only enables an enantioface differentiation but also modulates the triplet energy of the substrates.     

Synthesis of Adamantane Derivatives. Xxiii. Facile Photo-Ring-Cleavage of 4-Homoadamantanone to Bicyclo[3.3.1] -Nonan-3 -Endo-Acetate

Type I (α-) and II cleavages are two of the best known photochemical processes of alkanone.² Extensive and intensive investigations have been done on both types of reactions in order to clarify the influence of structural changes on the reactivity, specificity, and efficiency of photoreactions of alkanones.³ The type I cleavage of medium-ring alkanones is believed to produce a radical pair, the fate of which will be determined by the ready formation of transition states for transfer of Ha, Hb, and recyclization. We now wish to report     

Synthesis of 1-Trimethylsilyladamantane

The title compound was obtained from 1,3-dichloro-adamantane and some silylating reagents with Na-HMPA.     

Reaction of Selenocarbonyl Compounds with Oxygen-Functionalized Conjugated Dienes

Selenoaldehydes and selenoketones, generated by thermal retro-Diels-Alder reaction of their cycloadducts with cyclopentadiene, reacted with oxygen-functionalized conjugated dienes such as 1-acetoxy-1,3-butadiene, Danishefsky's diene, and 1,4-diacetoxy-1,3-butadiene to give the corresponding cycloadducts in good yields regioselectively.     

Chalcogeno-Morita-Baylis-Hillman Reaction of Chalcogenide-Enones with Carbonyl Compounds

Abstract

The Chalcogeno-Morita-Baylis-Hillman reaction was achieved by the reactions of 2-(methylchalcogeno)phenyl vinyl ketones with carbonyl compounds or acetals in the presence of BF₃· Et₂O. This reaction proceeds via the intramolecular Michael addition of the chalcogenide group to an enone moiety followed by the aldol reaction of the resulting chalcogenonio-enolate with an aldehyde. The reactions were worked up with triethylamine or saturated aqueous NaHCO₃ to give the α -methylene aldols (the Morita-Baylis-Hillman adducts).     

Unexpected Behavior of Diastereomeric Ions in the GasPhase: A Stimulus for Pondering on ee Measurements by ESI-MS

The most common protocols for the quantitative determination of the enantiomeric excess (ee) of raw mixtures by ESI-MS reveal inadequate in cases where the distribution of diastereomeric derivatives diverges from the ee of original solutions. This phenomenon is attributable to a matrix effect, i.e., to the stereospecific formation of high order noncovalent adducts in the ESI droplets, which alters the actual availability of the diastereomeric species under MS analysis. In this frame, the assumption of classic protocols that the ionization correction factor q is independent on the composition of the mixture submitted to analysis is questionable. An alternative methodology is presented in this paper, which is aimed at circumventing the problem by excluding any chemical derivatization of the original raw mixture. It is based on the measurement of the actual distribution of ESI-formed proton-bound diastereomeric complexes from the enantiomeric mixture through a careful analysis of their reaction kinetics with a suitable reactant.      

Excess enthalpies of binary mixtures of butylamines + propanols at 298.15 K

The molar excess enthalpies of eight systems of butylamines + propanols were determined at 298.15 K using a twin-microcalorimeter. All excess enthalpies were exothermic and large. An equilibrium constant K ₁ expressed in terms of mole fractions and standard thermodynamic properties of formation (Δ_f H, Δ_f G, Δ_f S) of 1:1 complex were evaluated by ideal mixtures of monomeric molecules and their associated complexes. Concentration dependence of the FT-Raman spectrum showed systematic changes of bands. Spectroscopic considerations based on this and ab initio calculations on molecules were performed at the Mp2/6-311G(d,p) level of theory. Interaction energies between butylamine and propanol were calculated by the supermolecular and NBO methods. The results were discussed with previous results to clarify the steric and positional effect of the amino and hydroxyl group.