Control of dominant conduction orbitals by peripheral substituents in paddle-wheel diruthenium alkynyl molecular junctions

Control of charge carriers that transport through the molecular junctions is essential for thermoelectric materials. In general, the charge carrier depends on the dominant conduction orbitals and is dominantly determined by the terminal anchor groups. The present study discloses the synthesis, physical properties in solution, and single-molecule conductance of paddle-wheel diruthenium complexes 1R having diarylformamidinato supporting ligands (DArF: p-R-C₆H₄-NCHN-C₆H₄-R-p) and two axial thioanisylethynyl conducting anchor groups, revealing unique substituent effects with respect to the conduction orbitals. The complexes 1R with a few different aryl substituents (R = OMe, H, Cl, and CF₃) were fully characterized by spectroscopic and crystallographic analyses. The single-molecule conductance determined by the scanning tunneling microscope break junction (STM-BJ) technique was in the 10⁻⁵ to 10⁻⁴G₀ region, and the order of conductance was 1OMe > 1CF3 ≫ 1H ∼ 1Cl, which was not consistent with the Hammett substituent constants σ of R. Cyclic voltammetry revealed the narrow HOMO–LUMO gaps of 1R originating from the diruthenium motif, as further supported by the DFT study. The DFT-NEGF analysis of this unique result revealed that the dominant conductance routes changed from HOMO conductance (for 1OMe) to LUMO conductance (for 1CF3). The drastic change in the conductance properties originates from the intrinsic narrow HOMO–LUMO gaps.

Dominant conduction orbitals of paddle-wheel organodiruthenium complexes can be facilely controlled by the substituents embedded in the amidinato ligands.     

(-)-Axinyssene: a novel cytotoxic diterpene from a Japanese marine sponge Axinyssa sp

[structure: see text] A novel diterpene, (-)-axinyssene, was isolated from the Japanese marine sponge Axinyssa sp. The structure of (-)-axinyssene was determined on the basis of spectroscopic and synthetic evidence to be 1-methyl-4-[(4E)-5',9'-dimethyl-1'-methylene-4',8'-decadienyl]-(4S)-cyclohexene. (-)- and (+)-axinyssene showed mild cytotoxicity against acute promyelocytic leukemia, HL-60 cells.     

Structure-based design of a highly selective catalytic site-directed inhibitor of Ser/Thr protein phosphatase 2B (calcineurin)

Protein serine/threonine phosphatases (PP1, PP2A and PP2B) play important roles in intracellular signal transductions. The immunosuppressant drugs FK506 and cyclosporin A (CsA) bind to immunophilins, and these complexes selectively inhibit PP2B (calcineurin), leading to the suppression of T-cell proliferation. Both FK506 and CsA must, however, form complexes with immunophilins to exert their inhibitory action on PP2B. Thus, it is of interest to find a direct and selective inhibitor of PP2B that does not involve the immunophilins as a biological tool for studies of PP2B and also as a candidate therapeutic agent. We selected the simple natural product cantharidin, a known PP2A-selective inhibitor, as a lead compound for this project. Primary SAR indicated that norcantharidin (7-oxabicyclo[2.2.1]heptane-2,3-dicarboxylic anhydride) inhibits not only PP1 and PP2A but also PP2B, and a binding model of norcantharidin carboxylate to the PP2B catalytic site was computationally constructed. Based on this binding model, we designed and synthesized several cantharidin derivatives. Among these compounds, 1,5-dibenzoyloxymethyl-substituted norcantharidin was found to inhibit PP2B without inhibiting PP1 or PP2A. To our knowledge, this is the first highly selective catalytic site-directed inhibitor of PP2B.     

New Acylated Saponins from Polygala myrtifolia

The ten new acylated presenegenin (=(2β,3β,4α)‐2,3,27‐trihydroxyolean‐12‐ene‐23,28‐dioic acid) glycosides 1 – 10 have been isolated by successive MPLC from the roots of Polygala myrtifolia L. as five inseparable mixtures of the trans‐ and cis‐4‐methoxycinnamoyl derivatives, i.e., myrtifoliosides A₁/A₂ ( 1 / 2 ), B₁/B₂ ( 3 / 4 ), C₁/C₂ ( 5 / 6 ), D₁/D₂ ( 7 / 8 ), and E₁/E₂ ( 9 / 10 ). Their structures were elucidated mainly by extensive spectroscopic experiments, including 2D NMR techniques, as 3‐O‐(β‐D ‐glucopyranosyl)presenegenin 28‐{O‐β‐D ‐galactopyranosyl‐(1→3)‐O‐β‐D ‐xylopyranosyl‐(1→4)‐O‐[D ‐apio‐β‐D ‐furanosyl‐(1→3)]‐O‐α‐L ‐rhamnopyranosyl‐(1→2)‐O‐[α‐L ‐arabinopyranosyl‐(1→3)]‐4‐O‐(trans‐4‐methoxycinnamoyl)‐β‐D ‐fucopyranosyl} ester ( 1 ) and its cis‐isomer 2 , 3‐O‐(β‐D ‐glucopyranosyl)presenegenin 28‐{O‐β‐D ‐galactopyranosyl‐(1→3)‐O‐β‐D ‐xylopyranosyl‐(1→4)‐O‐[D ‐apio‐β‐D ‐furanosyl‐(1→3)]‐α‐L ‐rhamnopyranosyl‐(1→2)‐4‐O‐(trans‐4‐methoxycinnamoyl)‐β‐D ‐fucopyranosyl} ester ( 3 ) and its cis‐isomer 4 , 3‐O‐(β‐D ‐glucopyranosyl)presenegenin 28‐{O‐β‐D ‐galactopyranosyl‐(1→3)‐O‐β‐D ‐xylopyranosyl‐(1→4)‐O‐α‐L ‐rhamnopyranosyl‐(1→2)‐4‐O‐(trans‐4‐methoxycinnamoyl)‐β‐D ‐fucopyranosyl} ester ( 5 ) and its cis‐isomer 6 , 3‐O‐(β‐D ‐glucopyranosyl)presenegenin 28‐{O‐D ‐apio‐β‐D ‐furanosyl‐(1→3)‐O‐[β‐D ‐xylopyranosyl‐(1→4)]‐O‐α‐L ‐rhamnopyranosyl‐(1→2)‐4‐O‐(trans‐4‐methoxycinnamoyl)‐β‐D ‐fucopyranosyl} ester ( 7 ) and its cis‐isomer 8 , and 3‐O‐(β‐D ‐glucopyranosyl)presenegenin 28‐{O‐α‐L ‐arabinopyranosyl‐(1→3)‐O‐[β‐D ‐xylopyranosyl‐(1→4)]‐O‐α‐L ‐rhamnopyranosyl‐(1→2)‐4‐O‐(trans‐4‐ methoxycinnamoyl)‐β‐D ‐fucopyranosyl} ester ( 9 ) and its cis‐isomer 10 .     

Catalytic asymmetric 1,4-addition reactions using alpha,beta-unsaturated N-acylpyrroles as highly reactive monodentate alpha,beta-unsaturated ester surrogates

Synthesis and application of alpha,beta-unsaturated N-acylpyrroles as highly reactive, monodentate ester surrogates in the catalytic asymmetric epoxidation and Michael reactions are described. alpha,beta-Unsaturated N-acylpyrroles with various functional groups were synthesized by the Wittig reaction using ylide 2. A Sm(O-i-Pr)(3)/H(8)-BINOL complex was the most effective catalyst for the epoxidation to afford pyrrolyl epoxides in up to 100% yield and >99% ee. Catalyst loading was successfully reduced to as little as 0.02 mol % (substrate/catalyst = 5000). The high turnover frequency and high volumetric productivity of the present reaction are also noteworthy. In addition, a sequential Wittig olefination-catalytic asymmetric epoxidation reaction was developed, providing efficient one-pot access to optically active epoxides from various aldehydes in high yield and ee (96-->99%). In a direct catalytic asymmetric Michael reaction of hydroxyketone promoted by the Et(2)Zn/linked-BINOL complex, Michael adducts were obtained in good yield (74-97%), dr (69/31-95/5), and ee (73-95%). This represents the first direct catalytic asymmetric Michael reaction of unmodified ketone to an alpha,beta-unsaturated carboxylic acid derivative. The properties of alpha,beta-unsaturated N-acylpyrrole are also discussed. Finally, the utility of the N-acylpyrrole unit for further transformations is demonstrated.     

An automated analyzer for methylated arginines in rat plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography with post-column fluorescence reaction

A fully automated analyzer for methylated L-arginine metabolites [N,N-dimethyl-L-arginine (ADMA), N-methylarginine (NMMA) and N,N'-dimethyl-L-arginine (SDMA)] by high-performance liquid chromatography with post-column fluorescence derivatization was developed. This system consists of an on-line extraction, a separation on a reversed phase ion-pair chromatograph, a post-column derivatization by o-phthaladehyde (OPA) and thiol reaction, and fluorescence detection. NMMA, ADMA and SDMA were separated in 40 min with isocratic elution by a combination of octanoate and cyclohexane carboxylate as ion-pair reagents. The eluate was monitored at 450 nm with excitation at 337 nm. The calibration curves for NMMA, ADMA and SDMA showed linearity over the range from 0.05 micromol l(-1) (0.5 pmol on column) to 5.0 micromol l(-1) (50 pmol on column). This method does not require any time-consuming pre-treatment and requires only 10 microl of plasma sample for assay.     

Two new triterpene saponins from Eryngium campestre

Two new triterpene saponins, 3-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->2)-[alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-->4)]-beta-D-glucuronopyranosyl-22-O-angeloyl-R1-barrigenol (1) and 3-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->2)-[alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-->4)]-beta-D-glucuronopyranosyl-22-O-beta,beta-dimethylacryloyl-A1-barrigenol (2), were isolated from the roots of Eryngium campestre (Apiaceae). Their structures were established mainly by 2D NMR techniques and mass spectrometry.     

An analytical molecular orbital approach for modeling of low‐dimensional conductors in molecular crystals

In low‐dimensional molecular crystals that exhibit Peierls instability, the intercolumnar interaction plays an important role in the determination of the conducting property. To predict the crystal structure that exhibits an electronic conduction, we proposed a simple formula based on the molecular orbital theory. In this approach, analytical molecular orbitals of polyene were extended to be applicable for molecular crystals of charge–transfer complexes, and the Peierls distortion was represented by using the first‐ and second‐order perturbation theory. It was concluded that the energetic behaviors and structures calculated by the analytical method developed in the present work are identical to those obtained by the tight‐binding ab initio molecular orbital calculation. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2001     

An analytical molecular orbital approach in tetrathiafulvalene tetracyanoquinodimethane (TTF-TCNQ)

In low-dimensional molecular crystals exhibiting the Peierls instability, intercolumnar interactions play an important role in electrical conduction. In this work, we propose an efficient method based on molecular orbital theory for studying the Peierls instability in molecular crystals composed of mixed-valence complexes. A perturbational approach to general N-merized systems is incorporated and applied to tetrathiafulvalene tetracyanoquinodimethane (TTF-TCNQ) crystals. From the results of the calculations, a mixed state of several commensurate distortions is proposed as another aspect of the incommensurate distortion in TTF-TCNQ under atmospheric pressure, and TTF^+0.5–TCNQ^?0.5 crystal is found to be expected as an electronic conductor under high pressure.