Self-Replication of Oligonucleotides in Reverse Micelles

The coupling between the tri(deoxynucleotides) d[(MeO)C-G-Ap] ( 1 ) and d[(NH₂)T_d5′-C-G-] ( 2 ) to yield the phosphoramidate-linked (hexadeoxy-nucleotide) d[(MeO)C-G-Anh⁵′T_d5′-C-G] ( 3 ) was investigated both in aqueous solution and in reverse micelles constituted of CTAB (cetyl(trimethyl)ammonium bromide) in hexane/pentan-1-ol 9:1. No siginificant difference was found concerning the yield and the kinetics of the reaction in the two systems. The coupling between 1 and 2 was also carried out in the presence of the template d[(MeO)C-G-A-T-C-G] ( 4 ), an analogue of 3 , so as to reproduce the conditions of template-directed self replication. It was shown that the trinucleotide coupling in the presence of a template obeys the so-called square-root law both in H₂O and in reverse micelles. No significant difference of the time course of the reaction in H₂O and in reverse micelles was observed. This shows that self-replication of oligonucleotides occurs within geometrically bounded structures, which represents a step forward in the mimicking of minimal life processes.     

Umcyclopropanisierung bei der Tetrabromierung eines tricyclischen Ketons zu 3exo, 4endo, 6exo-Tribrom-7-brommethyl-1,5-dimethyl-tricyclo[3.2.1.02,7]octan-8-on

Transcyclopropanation during the Tetrabromination of a Tricyclic Ketone to 3 exo, 4 endo, 6exo-Tribromo-7-bromomethyl-1,5-dimethyl-tricyclo[3.2.1.0^2,7]octan-8-one Bromination of the tricyclic ketone 1 with an excess of bromine at low temperature gives in approximately 30% yield the highly crystalline tricyclic tetrabromide 2 (Scheme 1). The structure of 2 was established by NMR.- and especially X-ray-analysis (Fig.1). Treatment of 1 with 1 mol-equ. of bromine gives an unstable dibromide, to which the structure 3 was assigned on the basis of its NMR.-spectrum and its further bromination to 2 (Scheme 1). In the course of the tetrabromination of 1 the original cyclopropane ring is opened in the first step ( 1 → 3 ) and another cyclopropane ring is formed in the second step ( 3 → 2 ) (cf. Scheme 3).     

Quantitative Bestimmung von Mono- und Dienen in Kohlenwasserstoffgemischen

Zusammenfassung Konjugierte Diene und Monoene werden colorimetrisch in Kohlenwasserstoffgemischen durch Kupplung mit diazotiertem p-Phenylendiamin bestimmt. Die Methode ermöglicht auch die Bestimmung beider Kohlenwasserstoffgruppen nebeneinander.

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Summary Conjugated dienes and monoenes may be determined in mixtures of hydrocarbons by colorimetry of the dye obtained by coupling with diazotized p-phenylenediamine. Both groups of hydrocarbons can also be determined in presence of each other.

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Der ESSO-AG Hamburg danken wir für weitreichende Unterstützung der vorliegenden Arbeit und für die Erlaubnis, die gefundenen Resultate zu veröffentlichen.

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Herrn Prof. Dr. C. Mahr zum 65. Geburtstag gewidmet.

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Marxmeier, H.: Diplom-Arbeit, Marburg 1960.

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Wolf, W.: Staatsexamensarbeit, Marburg 1962.     

A Semi-Empirical Model of the Energy Barrier of Proton Transfer Reactions

The energy barrier in proton transfer reactions is described by a Johnston-type equation (1) (n = order of bond to be broken). The barrier model is discussed in terms of free energies. The V_i values are free energies of ionic cleavage in aqueous solution of the X? H and Y? H bonds; they are computed from eqns. (4c) and (4d). The values of p₁ and p₂ affect curvature (absence or presence of maximum) and symmetry of the barrier. It is postulated that pi is a typical constant of the reacting bond and can be transferred from one transition state to another. With the aid of eqn. (1) and its first derivative, values of pi and n_m (bond order at maximum of barrier) can be based on quantities determined experimentally, Δ≠ and ΔG. For O? H bonds, pi ≈ 1.0. For C? H bonds pi is larger than 1.0 and depends on the structure of the carbanionic moiety (influence of resonance and inductive effects). As there cannot be a maximum if p₁ = p₂ = 1.0, the suggested model of the barrier leads to a better understanding why proton transfer must be ‘fast’ in some reactions and ‘slow’ in others. The computed values of n_m may be utilized to gain some insight into the nature of the transition states; they supply a basis for the discussion of primary hydrogen isotope effects.     

Synthese und Reaktionen 8-gliedriger Heterocyclen aus 3-Dimethylamino-2,2-dimethyl-2H-azirin und Saccharin bzw. Phthalimid

Synthesis and Reactions of 8-membered Heterocycles from 3-Dimethylamino-2,2-dimethyl-2H-azirine and Saccharin or Phthalimide 3-Dimethylamino-2,2-dimethyl-2H-azirine ( 1 ) reacts at 0-20° with the NH-acidic compounds saccharin ( 2 ) and phthalimide ( 8 ) to give the 8-membered heterocycles 3-dimethylamino-4,4-dimethyl-5,6-dihydro-4 H-1,2,5-benzothiadiazocin-6-one-1,1-dioxide ( 3a ) and 4-dimethylamino-3,3-dimethyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydro-2,5-benzodiazocin-1,6-dione ( 9 ), respectively. The structure of 3a has been established by X-ray (chap. 2). A possible mechanism for the formation of 3a and 9 is given in Schemes 1 and 4. Reduction of 3a with sodium borohydride yields the 2-sulfamoylbenzamide derivative 4 (Scheme 2); in methanolic solution 3a undergoes a rearrangement to give the methyl 2-sulfamoyl-benzoate 5 . The mechanism for this reaction as suggested in Scheme 2 involves a ring contraction/ring opening sequence. Again a ring contraction is postulated to explain the formation of the 4H-imidazole derivative 7 during thermolysis of 3a at 180° (Scheme 3). The 2,5-benzodiazocine derivative 9 rearranges in alcoholic solvents to 2-(5′-dimethylamino-4′,4′-dimethyl-4′H-imidazol-2′-yl) benzoates ( 10 , 11 ), in water to the corresponding benzoic acid 12 , and in alcoholic solutions containing dimethylamine or pyrrolidine to the benzamides 13 and 14 , respectively (Scheme 5). The reaction with amines takes place only in very polar solvents like alcohols or formamide, but not in acetonitrile. Possible mechanisms of these rearrangements are given in Scheme 5. Sodium borohydride reduction of 9 in 2-propanol yields 2-(5′-dimethylamino-4′,4′-dimethyl-4′H-imidazol-2′-yl)benzyl alcohol ( 15 , Scheme 6) which is easily converted to the O-acetate 16 . Hydrolysis of 15 with 3N HCl at 50° leads to an imidazolinone derivative 17a or 17b , whereas hydrolysis with 1N NaOH yields a mixture of phthalide ( 18 ) and 2-hydroxymethyl-benzoic acid ( 19 , Scheme 6). The zwitterionic compound 20 (Scheme 7) results from the hydrolysis of the phthalimide-adduct 9 or the esters 11 and 12 . Interestingly, compound 9 is thermally converted to the amide 13 and N-(1′-carbamoyl-1′-methylethyl)phthalimide ( 21 , Scheme 7) whose structure has been established by an independent synthesis starting with phthalic anhydride and 2-amino-isobutyric acid. However, the reaction mechanism is not clear at this stage.     

Wavelet approximations on closed surfaces and their application to boundary-value problems of potential theory

Wavelets on closed surfaces in Euclidean space ℝ³ are introduced starting from a scale discrete wavelet transform for potentials harmonic down to a spherical boundary. Essential tools for approximation are integration formulas relating an integral over the sphere to suitable linear combinations of function values (resp. normal derivatives) on the closed surface under consideration. A scale discrete version of multiresolution is described for potential functions harmonic outside the closed surface and regular at infinity. Furthermore, an exact fully discrete wavelet approximation is developed in case of band-limited wavelets. Finally, the role of wavelets is discussed in three problems, namely (i) the representation of a function on a closed surface from discretely given data, (ii) the (discrete) solution of the exterior Dirichlet problem, and (iii) the (discrete) solution of the exterior Neumann problem. © 1998 by B. G. Teubner Stuttgart–John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

On a system of quasilinear parabolic functional differential equations

Summary We consider initial boundary value problems for a system of second order quasilinear parabolic equations where also the main part contains functional dependence on the unknown function. This system is of type, considered in [6], [7] by U. Hornung, W. J?ger and A. Mikelic.