Periodic DFT Study of the Effects of Co-Crystallization on a N-Salicylideneaniline Molecular Switch

This work aims at better understanding the complex effects of co-crystallization on a single salicylideneaniline molecular switch, (E)-2-methoxy-6-(pyridine-3-yliminomethyl)phenol (PYV3), which can tautomerize between an enol and a keto form. A combination of periodic boundary conditions DFT and molecular wavefunction calculations has been adopted for examining a selection of PYV3 co-crystals, presenting hydrogen bonds (H-bonds) or halogen bonds (X-bonds), for which X-ray diffraction data are available. Three aspects are targeted: i) the energy (H-bond strength, enol to keto relative energy, and geometry relaxation energies), ii) the geometrical structure (PYV3 to co-crystal and enol to keto geometrical variations), and iii) the electron distribution (PYV3 to co-crystal and enol to keto Mulliken charge variations). These allow i) explaining the preference for forming H-bonds with the nitrogen of the pyridine of PYV3 with respect to the oxygens and the importance of the crystal field, ii) distinguishing the peculiar behavior of the SulfonylDiPhenol (SDP) coformer, which stabilizes the keto form of PYV3, iii) describing the relative stabilization of the enol form upon co-crystallization (with the exception of SDP) and therefore iv) substantiating the co-crystallization-induced reduction of thermochromism observed for several PYV3 co-crystals.     

Synthesis of Non-Symmetrical Nitrogen-Containing Curcuminoids in the Pursuit of New Anticancer Candidates

Curcumin is known to display pronounced anticancer effects and a variety of other biological activities. However, the low bioavailability and fast metabolism of this molecule present an issue of concern with respect to its medicinal applications. To address this issue, structural modifications of the curcumin scaffold can be envisioned as a strategy to improve both the solubility and stability of this chemical entity, without compromising its biological activities. Previous work in our group targeted the synthesis of symmetrical azaheteroaromatic curcuminoids, which showed better solubility and cytotoxicity profiles compared to curcumin. In continuation of that work, we now focused on the synthesis of non-symmetrical nitrogen-containing curcuminoids bearing both a phenolic and an azaheteroaromatic moiety. In that way, we aimed to combine good solubility, antioxidant potential and cytotoxic properties into one molecule. Some derivatives were selected for further chemical modification of their rather labile β-diketone scaffold to the corresponding pyrazole moiety. In this way, thirteen new non-symmetrical aza-aromatic curcuminoids and four pyrazole-based analogues were successfully synthesized in a yield of 11–69 %. All newly synthesized analogues were evaluated for their antioxidant properties, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, water solubility and anticancer activities. Several novel derivatives displayed good cytotoxicity profiles compared to curcumin, in combination with an improved water solubility and stability, and were thus identified as potential hit scaffolds for further optimization studies.     

Synthesis of beta-lactams from a N-rhenaimine: effect of the transition metal on the energetic profile of the Staudinger reaction

As depicted in the scheme, the alkylidenamido complex 1, a N-rhenaimine, reacts with ketenes to afford the beta-lactams 2-4, which possess a {Re(CO)3(bpy)} fragment as substituent at nitrogen. Clean demetalations using HOTf or MeOTf yield the free beta-lactams or N-methyl-beta-lactams along with [Re(OTf)(CO)3(bpy)]. DFT calculations help to rationalize why the reaction is faster than those of non transition metal N-substituted imines.     

A theoretical study of the large Hg-Hg spin-spin coupling constants in Hg(2)(2+), Hg(3)(2+), and Hg(2)(2+)-crown ether complexes

Nuclear spin-spin coupling constants (1)J(Hg-Hg) in the systems Hg(2)(2+) and Hg(3)(2+) represent the largest coupling constants so far observed in NMR experiments. We have performed a computational study on these ions, on Hg(2)(2+) complexes with 18-crown-6 and 15-crown-5, and on Hg(3)(2+) with solvent molecules and counterions. The results obtained with our recently developed program for the density functional computation of heavy nucleus spin-spin coupling constants are in good agreement with experiments. The data reveal that the bare ions Hg(2)(2+) and Hg(3)(2+) would afford much larger coupling constants than those experimentally observed, with an upper limit of approximately 0.9 MHz for Hg(2)(2+). This limit is much larger than that previously estimated by Hückel theory. It is demonstrated that in solution or due to complexation the experimentally determined values are much smaller than the free ion's coupling constants. With the help of intuitive MO arguments, it is illustrated how the environment strongly reduces the coupling constants in Hg(2)(2+) and Hg(3)(2+). The two-bond coupling constant (2)J(Hg-Hg) in Hg(3)(2+) is also examined.     

High-throughput capillary electrophoretic method for determination of total aminothiols in plasma and urine.

Increased interest in the analysis of aminothiols in body fluids during the last years results in a request for high-throughput analytical methods for their determination. We report here a novel, high-throughput method for the determination of total concentrations of biogenous aminothiols - homocysteine, cysteine, glutathione, cysteinylglycine, gamma-glutamylcysteine, and of penicilamine, mercaptopropionylglycine, and cysteamine, three compounds used to treat disorders of aminothiol metabolism in plasma and urine. Samples were reduced with tris(carboxyethyl)phosphine and labeled with 5-(bromomethyl)fluorescein. Capillary electrophoretic separations were performed in 60 mmol/L borate - 15 mmol/L sodium dodecyl sulfate - 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol, pH 10.0, with laser-induced fluorescence detection. Analysis time was less than 2 min. The assay is linear (r > 0.999) up to 500 micromol/L. Reproducibilities of migration times (coefficient of variation, CV) were < 0.5%. Interassay repeatabilities (CV, n = 10) were 5.08% and 6.09% for 5 micromol/L addition of homocysteine and 0.60% and 3.78% for 100 micromol/L addition of cysteine in plasma and urine, respectively. Recovery values were within 94-106% and sensitivity was better than 0.19 micromol/L for all analyzed compounds. Results agreed well with a standard high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. The diagnostic usefulness of the method has been proven on 79 samples of cystinuric patients and 12 samples of homocystinuric patients. We report here a novel method for the determination of aminothiols in body fluids by capillary electrophoresis (CE). Determination is fast and sensitive enough for diagnostic purposes.     

Cyclooctatetraenes through Valence Isomerization of Cubanes: Scope and Limitations

The scope and limitations of Eaton's rhodium(I)-catalyzed valence isomerization of cubane to cyclooctatetraene (COT) were investigated in the context of functional group tolerability, multiple substitution modes and the ability of cubane-alcohols to undergo one-pot tandem Ley–Griffith Wittig reactions in the absence of a transition metal catalyst.     

Iminophosphines: synthesis, formation of 2,3-dihydro-1H-benzo[1,3]azaphosphol-3-ium salts and N-(pyridin-2-yl)-2-diphenylphosphinoylaniline, coordination chemistry and applications in platinum group catalyzed Suzuki coupling reactions and hydrosilylations

The aprotic and protic bi- and multidentate iminophosphines 2-Ph₂PC₆H₄N=CR¹R² (R¹=H, R²=Ph=2a; R¹=Me R²=Ph=2b; R¹=H, R²=2-thienyl=2c; R¹=H, R²=C₆H₄-2-PPh₂=2d; R¹=H, R²=C₆H₄-2-OH=2e, R¹=H, R²=C₆H₄-2-OH-3-Bu^t=2f; R¹=H, R²=CH₂C(O)Me=2g) have been prepared by the acid catalyzed condensation of 2-(diphenylphosphino)aniline with the corresponding aldehyde–ketone. Iminophosphine 2d can be reduced with sodium cyanoborohydride to give the corresponding amino-diphosphine 2-Ph₂PC₆H₄N(H)CH₂C₆H₄-2-PPh₂ (2h). In the presence of a stoichiometric quantity of acid, 2-(diphenylphosphino)aniline reacts in an unexpected manner with benzaldehyde, salicylaldehyde, or acetophenone to give the corresponding 2,3-dihydro-1H-benzo[1,3]azaphosphol-3-ium salts and with pyridine-2-carboxaldehyde to give N-(pyridin-2-ylmethyl)-2-diphenylphosphinoylaniline, the latter of which has been characterized by single-crystal X-ray crystallography, as its palladium dichloride derivative. The attempted condensation of 2-(diphenylphosphino)aniline with pyridine-2-carboxaldehyde to give the corresponding pyridine-functionalized iminophosphine resulted in an unusual transformation involving the diastereoselective addition of two equivalents of aldehyde to give 1,2-dipyridin-2-yl-2-(o-diphenylphosphinoyl)phenylamino-ethanol, which has been characterized by a single-crystal X-ray structure determination. The bidentate iminophosphine 2-Ph₂PC₆H₄N=C(H)Ph reacts with [(cycloocta-1,5-diene)PdClX] X=Cl, Me) to give [Pd{2-Ph₂PC₆H₄N=C(H)Ph}ClX] and the imino-diphosphine 2-Ph₂PC₆H₄N=C(H)C₆H₄-PPh₂ reacts with [(cycloocta-1,5-diene)PdClMe] to give [Pd{2-Ph₂PC₆H₄N=C(H)C₆H₄---PPh₂}ClMe] and each has been characterized by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. The monobasic iminophosphine 2-Ph₂PC₆H₄N=C(Me)CH₂C(O)Me reacts with [Ni(PPh₃)₂Cl₂] in the presence of NaH to give the phosphino–ketoiminate complex [Ni{2-Ph₂PC₆H₄N=C(Me)CHC(O)Me}Cl], which has been structurally characterized. Mixtures of iminophosphines 2a–h and a palladium source catalyze the Suzuki cross coupling of 4-bromoacetophenone with phenyl boronic acid. The efficiency of these catalysts show a marked dependence on the palladium source, catalysts formed from [Pd₂(OAc)₆] giving consistently higher conversions than those formed from [Pd₂(dba)₃] and [PdCl₂(MeCN)₂]. Catalysts formed from neutral bi- and terdentate iminophosphines 2a–d gave significantly higher conversions than those formed from their monobasic counterparts 2e–f. Notably, under our conditions the conversions obtained with 2a–c compare favorably with those of the standards; catalysts formed from tris(2-tolyl)phosphine and tris(2,4-di-tert-butylphenyl)phosphite and a source of palladium. In addition, mixtures of [Ir(COD)Cl]₂ and 2a–h are active for the hydrosilylation of acetophenone; in this case catalysts formed from monobasic iminophosphines 2e–f giving the highest conversions.     

A smooth‐particle mesh Ewald method for DL_POLY molecular dynamics simulation package on the Fujitsu VPP700

An N⋅ log (N) smooth‐particle mesh Ewald method has been incorporated into the DL_POLY molecular dynamics simulation package. The performance of the new code has been tested on a Fujitsu VPP700 for several DL_POLY‐specific benchmark systems. The new method is highly vectorizable, and makes use of the extremely efficient Fast Fourier Transforms on the Fujitsu vector machine. In calculations of the coulombic forces in periodic systems requiring large reciprocal space vectors, the new code was found to be considerably faster than the conventional Ewald method. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Comput Chem 21: 1187–1191, 2000