Novel Mn(II)Mn(III)Mn(II) trinuclear complexes with carbohydrate bridges derived from seven-coordinate manganese(II) complexes with N-glycoside

Reactions of MnX2.nH2O with tris(N-(D-mannosyl)-2-aminoethyl)amine ((D-Man)3-tren), which was formed from D-mannose and tris(2-aminoethyl)amine (tren) in situ, afforded colorless crystals of [Mn((D-Man)3-tren)]X2 (3a, X = Cl; 3b, X = Br; 3c, X = NO3; 3d, X = 1/2SO4). The similar reaction of MnSO4.5H2O with tris(N-(L-rhamnosyl)-2-aminoethyl)amine ((L-Rha)3-tren) gave [Mn((L-Rha)3-tren)]SO4 (4d), where L-rhamnose is 6-deoxy-L-mannose. The structures of 3b and 4d were determined by X-ray crystallography to have a seven-coordinate Mn(II) center ligated by the N-glycoside ligand, (aldose)3-tren, with a C3 helical structure. Three D-mannosyl residues of 3b are arranged in a delta(ob3) configuration around the metal, leading to formation of a cage-type sugar domain in which a water molecule is trapped. In 4d, three L-rhamnosyl moieties are in a delta(lel3) configuration to form a facially opened sugar domain on which a sulfate anion is capping through hydrogen bonding. These structures demonstrated that a configurational switch around the seven-coordinate manganese(II) center occurs depending on its counteranion. Reactions of 3a, 3b, and 4d with 0.5 equiv of Mn(II) salt in the presence of triethylamine yielded reddish orange crystals formulated as [[Mn((aldose)3-tren)]2Mn(H2O)X3.nH2O (5a, aldose = D-Man, X = Cl; 5b, aldose = D-Man, X = Br; 6d, aldose = L-Rha, X = 1/2SO4). The analogous trinuclear complexes 6a (aldose = L-Rha, X = Cl), 6b (aldose = L-Rha, X = Br), and 6c (aldose = L-Rha, X = NO3) were prepared by the one-pot reaction of Mn(II) salts with (L-Rha)3-tren without isolation of the intermediate Mn(II) complexes. X-ray crystallographic studies revealed that 5a, 5b, 6c, and 6d have a linearly ordered trimanganese core, Mn(II)Mn(III)Mn(II), bridged by two carbohydrate residues with Mn-Mn separations of 3.845(2)-3.919(4) A and Mn-Mn-Mn angles of 170.7(1)-173.81(7) degrees. The terminal Mn(II) atoms are seven-coordinate with a distorted mono-face-capped octahedral geometry ligated by the (aldose)3-tren ligand through three oxygen atoms of C-2 hydroxyl groups, three N-glycosidic nitrogen atoms, and a tertiary amino group. The central Mn(III) atoms are five-coordinate ligated by four oxygen atoms of carbohydrate residues in the (aldose)3-tren ligands and one water molecule, resulting in a square-pyramidal geometry. In the bridging part, a beta-aldopyranosyl unit with a chair conformation bridges the two Mn(II)Mn(III) ions with the C-2 mu-alkoxo group and with the C-1 N-glycosidic amino and the C-3 alkoxo groups coordinating to each metal center. These structures could be very useful information in relation to xylose isomerases which promote aldose-ketose isomerization by using divalent dimetal centers such as Mn2+, Mg2+, and Co2+.     

Quinolone analogues 2. A facile synthesis of novel 3‐substituted 1‐alkyl‐4‐oxo‐1,4‐dihydropyridazino[3,4‐b]quinoxalines

The reaction of the 2‐(1‐alkylhydrazino)‐6‐chloroquinoxaline 4‐oxides 1a,b with diethyl acetone‐dicarboxylate or 1,3‐cyclohexanedione gave ethyl 1‐alkyl‐7‐chloro‐3‐ethoxycarbonylmethylene‐1,5‐dihydropyridazino[3,4‐b]quinoxaline‐3‐carboxylates 5a,b or 6‐alkyl‐10‐chloro‐1‐oxo‐1,2,3,4,6,12‐hexahydroquinoxalino[2,3‐c]cinnolines 7a,b , respectively. Oxidation of compounds 5a,b with nitrous acid afforded the ethyl 1‐alkyl‐7‐chloro‐3‐ethoxycarbonylmethylene‐4‐hydroxy‐1,4‐dihydropyridazino‐[3,4‐b]quinoxaline‐4‐carboxylates 9a,b , whose reaction with base provided the ethyl 2‐(1‐alkyl‐7‐chloro‐4‐oxo‐1,4‐dihydropyridazino[3,4‐b]quinoxalin‐3‐yl)acetates 6a,b , respectively. On the other hand, oxidation of compounds 7a,b with N‐bromosuccinimide/water furnished the 4‐(1‐alkyl‐7‐chloro‐4‐oxo‐1,4‐dihydropyridazino[3,4‐b]quinoxalin‐3‐yl)butyric acids 8a,b , respectively. The reaction of compound 8a with hydroxylamine gave 4‐(7‐chloro‐4‐hydroxyimino‐1‐methyl‐1,4‐dihydropyridazino[3,4‐b]quinoxalin‐3‐yl)‐butyric acid 12 .     

Anti-diabetes effect of Zn(II)/carnitine complex by oral administration

A novel bis(L-carnitinato)Zn(II) complex, Zn(car)(2)Cl(2), was prepared, and its insulinomimetic and antidiabetic activities were examined. The complex showed a tendency to lower the high blood glucose levels of KK-A(y) mice with type 2 diabetes mellitus when given by oral administration at a dose of 20 mg Zn/kg body weight for 16 d. In addition, the complex improved glucose tolerance ability when examined by the oral glucose tolerance test (1 g glucose/kg body weight).     

Parallel Fock matrix construction with distributed shared memory model for the FMO‐MO method

A parallel Fock matrix construction program for FMO‐MO method has been developed with the distributed shared memory model. To construct a large‐sized Fock matrix during FMO‐MO calculations, a distributed parallel algorithm was designed to make full use of local memory to reduce communication, and was implemented on the Global Array toolkit. A benchmark calculation for a small system indicates that the parallelization efficiency of the matrix construction portion is as high as 93% at 1,024 processors. A large FMO‐MO application on the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) protein (17,246 atoms and 96,234 basis functions) was also carried out at the HF/6‐31G level of theory, with the frontier orbitals being extracted by a Sakurai‐Sugiura eigensolver. It takes 11.3 h for the FMO calculation, 49.1 h for the Fock matrix construction, and 10 min to extract 94 eigen‐components on a PC cluster system using 256 processors. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2010     

Enhanced Charge Separation Efficiency in Pyridine‐Anchored Phthalocyanine‐Sensitized Solar Cells by Linker Elongation

A series of zinc phthalocyanine sensitizers ( PcS22 – 24 ) having a pyridine anchoring group are designed and synthesized to investigate the structural dependence on performance in dye‐sensitized solar cells. The pyridine‐anchor zinc phthalocyanine sensitizer PcS23 shows 79 % incident‐photon to current‐conversion efficiency (IPCE) and 6.1 % energy conversion efficiency, which are comparable with similar phthalocyanine dyes having a carboxylic acid anchoring group. Based on DFT calculations, the high IPCE is attributed with the mixture of an excited‐state molecular orbital of the sensitizer and the orbitals of TiO₂. Between pyridine and carboxylic acid anchor dyes, opposite trends are observed in the linker‐length dependence of the IPCE. The red‐absorbing PcS23 is applied for co‐sensitization with a carboxyl‐anchor organic dye D131 that has a complementary spectral response. The site‐selective adsorption of PcS23 and D131 on the TiO₂ surface results in a panchromatic photocurrent response for the whole visible‐light region of sun light.     

Miniaturization of anisotropic composite particles incorporating a silica particle smaller than 100 nm

Two-step aqueous polymerizations with a water-soluble initiator of potassium persulfate were conducted to prepare anisotropic composite particles incorporating a silica core smaller than 100 nm. The two-step polymerization consisted of the first polymerization to coat the silica cores with cross-linked polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) shell and the second polymerization to protrude a polystyrene (PSt) bulge from the core–shell particles. The concentration of ionic comonomer of sodium p-styrenesulfonate (NaSS) in the first polymerization was an important factor to stabilize the core–shell particles during the second polymerization as well as the first one, and an appropriate concentration of NaSS could prepare the anisotropic composite particles incorporating a single core. Another important factor for small, anisotropic composite particles was duration time for swelling the core–shell particles with the second monomer of styrene. Extension of the duration time from 2 to 4 h facilitated protrusion of the PSt bulge from the particles incorporating a 44-nm silica core. The composite particles were also employed to fabricate anisotropic hollow particles. Chemical etching of silica component in the composite particles with hydrofluoric acid successfully created anisotropic hollow polymer particles with a cavity size corresponding to the silica cores.     

Synthesis and properties of poly(acrylamide)s containing both long chain alkyl groups and phosphatidylcholine analogues in the side chains

A series of new phospholipid analogous acrylamide monomers ( 4a–e ) containing long alkyl chains as hydrophobic groups and containing phosphatidylcholine analogues as hydrophilic group were synthesized in high yields. The homopolymerizations and copolymerization ( 4b with 4e ) were carried out in the presence of a radical initiator. The structures and thermal properties of these polymers were investigated by x-ray diffraction analysis, DSC, and polarizing microscopy measurements. It has been revealed that these homopolymers ( 5b, 5c , and 5d ) which bear saturated long-hydrocarbon chains in the side chains exhibited not only orderly stacked bilayer structures at room temperature but also clear liquid crystalline behavior within a wide temperature range. The viscosity behavior of all polymers was found similar to usual polyelectrolytes in porlar solvent. The polymers obtained were also characterized by ¹H-NMR, IR, and melting point, respectively. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Comparison of ICP-MS and SIMS techniques for determining uranium isotope ratios in individual particles

The determination of uranium isotope ratios in individual particles is of great importance for nuclear safeguards. In the present study, an analytical technique by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) with a desolvation sample introduction system was applied to isotope ratio analysis of individual uranium particles. In ICP-MS analysis of individual uranium particles with diameters ranging from 0.6 to 4.2 μm in a standard reference material (NBL CRM U050), the use of the desolvation system for sample introduction improved the precision of ²³⁴U/²³⁸U and ²³⁶U/²³⁸U isotope ratios. The performance of ICP-MS with desolvation was compared with that of a conventionally used method, i.e., secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). The analysis of test swipe samples taken at nuclear facilities implied that the performance of ICP-MS with desolvation was superior to that of SIMS in a viewpoint of accuracy, because the problems of agglomeration of uranium particles and molecular ion interferences by other elements could be avoided. These results indicated that ICP-MS with desolvation has an enough ability to become an effective tool for nuclear safeguards.     

Synthesis of Orthorhombic Mo‐V‐Sb Oxide Species by Assembly of Pentagonal Mo6O21 Polyoxometalate Building Blocks

Mix and match : The pentagonal [Mo₆O₂₁]^n? polyoxomolybdate building block assembles with other sources of Mo, V, and Sb ions to form an orthorhombic Mo‐V‐Sb oxide. The first single‐crystal X‐ray analysis of an orthorhombic Mo–V‐based oxide, a promising catalyst for light alkane selective oxidation known as the “M1 phase”, revealed the structure of the compound.