The effect of olefinic terminal chains on the mesomorphic properties of 4,4'-disubstituted diphenyldiacetylenes

New diphenyldiacetylenes of the type with A, B = H and/or F; m = 0, 1; n = 1-4; and X = C n H 2n + 1 , F, CF 3 or CN were synthesized and their mesomorphic properties determined by hot stage polarizing microscopy and DSC. When m = 0, all of these compounds showed only a nematic phase except when X = CF 3 when both nematic and smectic A phases were seen. Both clearing and melting temperatures were higher than those reported for substitution with the corresponding alkyl chains but the much larger increase in clearing temperatures produced considerably wider nematic phases. Eutectic mixtures of a few of these olefins yielded nematic materials also having much wider temperature ranges and higher clearing temperatures than the eutectic mixtures of the alkyl compounds, while retaining their high birefringence and low viscosities. Such materials are of interest for beam-steering devices.

Four of the diacetylenes with m = 1 ( A, B = H) were also prepared ( X = C 6 H 13 , F, n = 2, 3). When X was C 6 H 13 ( n = 2), the nematic range was smaller in the 2- than in the 1-olefin but wider than in the alkyl series. When X = F, either no nematic phase or a monotropic one was observed, whereas the 1-olefins gave a much wider nematic phase. Both transition temperatures were lower than those for the corresponding 1-olefin and alkyl analogues. The compound with X = C 6 H 13 and n = 2 had a melting temperature below room temperature.     

A chemoenzymatic approach to glycopeptide antibiotics

Many biologically active natural products are constrained by macrocyclization and modified with carbohydrates. These two types of modifications are essential for their biological activities. Here we report a chemoenzymatic approach to make carbohydrate-modified cyclic peptide antibiotics. Using a thioesterase domain from the decapeptide tyrocidine synthetase, 13 head-to-tail cyclized tyrocidine derivatives were obtained with one to three propargylglycines incorporated at positions 3-8. These cyclic peptides were then conjugated to 21 azido sugars via copper(I)-catalyzed cycloaddition. Antibacterial and hemolytic assays showed that the two best glycopeptides, Tyc4PG-14 and Tyc4PG-15, have a 6-fold better therapeutic index than the natural tyrocidine. We believe this method will also be useful for modifying other natural products to search for new therapeutics.     

A one-pot multicomponent coupling reaction for the stereocontrolled synthesis of (Z)-trisubstituted allylic alcohols

In this Communication, we outline a new one-pot, multicomponent coupling reaction that allows easy access to (Z)-trisubstituted allylic alcohols. Our strategy is based on E to Z isomerization of the 1-bromo-1-dialkylvinylborane upon reaction with dialkylzinc reagents, and subsequent transmetalation to give (Z)-trisubstituted vinylzinc species. In situ trapping of the reactive vinylzinc intermediates with aldehydes furnished a series of (Z)-trisubstituted allylic alcohols. This method represents a viable alternative to the Still-Gennari modification of the HWE olefination reaction, and it has the advantage that it allows coupling of larger fragments.     

Catalytic asymmetric vinylation of ketones

This communication describes the catalytic asymmetric 1,2-addition of vinylzinc reagents to aromatic, alpha,beta-unsaturated, and dialkyl ketones with enantioselectivities between 79 and 97% and with yields ranging from 84 to 98%. The products of these reactions are tertiary allylic alcohols with chiral quaternary centers that are useful in organic synthesis. The reaction involves hydrozirconation of a terminal alkyne, transmetalation to zinc, and addition to a ketone in the presence of a chiral titanium-based Lewis acid catalyst. The reactions proceed smoothly at room temperature in under 24 h.     

Practical and efficient applications of novel dioxaborolanes and dioxaborinanes in the synthesis of corresponding boronates and their use in the palladium-catalyzed cross coupling reactions

The syntheses of boronates derived from the reaction of dioxaborolanes and dioxaborinanes with either organolithium or organomagnesium reagents are investigated along with their subsequent use in the palladium cross coupling reaction. The intrinsic stability of these cyclic esters contributes to their facile reaction with both lithium and magnesium nucleophiles at mild and safe conditions. We have found that many of the reactions proceed at room temperature which is a significant improvement over the traditional routes which require cryogenic temperatures. The scope of these reactions and their practical application to large scale process synthesis is described.     

Determining a helical protein structure using peptide pixels

The residual dipolar coupling-periodicity planarity correlation makes it possible to determine peptide plane orientations in regular periodic protein secondary structure elements. Each peptide plane orientation represents a "pixel" of protein structure, and is expressed in terms of three angles referred to as tilt, phase, and pitch angles. In this report, we present the novel "3P" (periodicity, planarity, and pixels) method that allows one to determine secondary and tertiary structure of alpha-helical proteins. We demonstrate the 3P method by determining the structure of domain 1 of the receptor-associated protein (RAP) to a backbone accuracy of 1.0 Angstrom using RDCs measured in a single alignment medium, together with a minimal number of NOE distance restraints, using a new Xplor-NIH module.     

An Introduction to Influence Theory: Kinematics and Dynamics

Influence theory is a foundational theory of physics that is not based on traditional empirically defined concepts, such as positions in space and time, mass, energy, or momentum. Instead, the aim is to derive these concepts, and their empirically determined relationships, from a more primitive model. It is postulated that there exist things, which are call particles, that influence one another in a discrete and directed fashion resulting in a partially ordered set of influence events. The problem of consistent quantification of the influence events is considered. Observers are modeled as particle chains (observer chains) as if an observer were able to track a particle and quantify the influence events that the particle experiences. From these quantified influence events, consistent quantification of the universe of events based on the observer chains is studied. Herein, the kinematics and dynamics of particles from the perspective of influence theory are both reviewed and further developed.     

The three-gluon vertex of QCD

We show how the Q² evolution of gluon jets can be used to provide indirect but strong evidence for the three-gluon vertex of QCD. We propose looking for this evolution in the $Q\overline{Q}\to 3G\to$ hadrons decay of successive 1 ³S₁ quarkonium states. The results apply to other processes if G-jets can be isolated.     

The 3 gluon decay of quarkonium

We discuss the process $$e^ + e^ - \to Q\bar Q \to 3gluons \to 3jets$$ with attention to the kinematics and observability of the jets. We also show how to check the gluon spin through jet or hadron angular distributions. Gluon flavor can be checked by looking for quantum number correlations between opposite jets. We predict that correlations exist off resonance for \(e^ + e^ - \to q\bar q\) , but not on resonance for \(Q\bar Q \to 3g\) .