Rapid chiral analysis based on liquid-phase cyclic chemiluminescence

Rapid chiral analysis has become one of the important aspects of academic and industrial research. Here we describe a new strategy based on liquid-phase cyclic chemiluminescence (CCL) for rapid resolution of enantiomers and determination of enantiomeric excess (ee). A single CCL measurement can acquire multistage signals that provide a unique way to examine the intermolecular interactions between chiral hosts and chiral guests, because the lifetime (τ) of the multistage signals is a concentration-independent and distinguishable constant for a given chiral host–guest system. According to the τ values, CCL allows discrimination between a wide range of enantiomeric pairs including chiral alcohols, amines and acids by using only one chiral host. Even the chiral systems hardly distinguished by nuclear magnetic resonance and fluorescence methods can be distinguished easily by CCL. Additionally, the τ value of a mixture of two enantiomers is equal to the weighted average of each enantiomer, which can be used for the direct determination of ee without the need to separate the chiral mixture and create calibration curves. This is extremely crucial for the cases without readily available enantiomerically pure samples. This strategy was successfully applied to monitoring of the Walden inversion reaction and analysis of chiral drugs. The results were in good agreement with those obtained by high-performance liquid chromatography, indicating the utility of CCL for routine quick ee analysis. Mechanism study revealed that the τ value is possibly related to the activity of the chiral substance to catalyze a luminol–H₂O₂ reaction. Our research provides an unprecedented and general protocol for chirality differentiation and ee determination, which is anticipated to be a useful technology that will find wide application in chirality-related fields, particularly in asymmetric synthesis and the pharmaceutical industry.

Rapid chiral analysis has become one of the important aspects of academic and industrial research.     

Studies on the Stereochemistry of 2-(Nitromethylidene)-Heterocycles

The ¹H-NMR spectra of 2-(nitromethylidene)pyrrolidine ( 7 ), 1-methyl-2-(nitromethylidene)imidazolidind ( 10 ) and 3-(nitromethylidene)tetrahydrothiazine ( 11 ) in CDCl₃ and (CD₃)₂SO indicate that these compounds have the intramolecularly H-bonded structures (Z)- 7 , (E)- 10 and (Z)- 11 while the N-methyl derivative 8 of 7 is (E)-configurated in both solvents. 1-Benzylamino-1-(methyltio)-2-nitroehtylene ( 13 ), an acylic model, has the H-bonded configuration (E)- 13 in CDCl₃ and in (CD₃)₂SO. 2-(Nitromethylidene)thiazolidine ( 3 ) has the (E)-configuration in CDCl₃ but exists in (CD₃)₂SO as a mixture of (Z)- and (E)-isomers with the former predominating. Both species are detected to varying proportions in a mixture of the two solvents. ¹⁵N-NMR spectroscopy of 3 ruled out unambiguously the nitronic acid structure 6 and the nitromethyleimine structure 5 . The N-methyl derivative 4 of 3 is (Z)-configurated in (CD₃)₂SO. Comparison of the olefinic proton shifts of (Z)- 3 and (Z)- 4 with those of analogues and also of 1,1-bis(methylti)-2-nitroethylene ( 12 ) shows decreased conjugation of the lone pair of electrons of the ring N-atom in (Z)- 3 and (Z)- 4 . This is also supported by ¹³C-NMR studies. Plausible explanations for the phenomenon are offered by postulating that the ring N-atoms are pyramidal in (Z)- 3 and (Z)- 4 and planar in other cases or, alternatively, that the conjugated nitroenamine system gets twisted due to steric interaction between the NO₂-group and the ring S-atom. Single-crystal X-ray studies of 3 and 8 show that the former exists in the (Z)-configuration and the latter in (E)-configuration; the ring N-atom in the former has slightly more pyramidal character than in the latter.     

Rapid determination of underivatized pyroglutamic acid, glutamic acid, glutamine and other relevant amino acids in fermentation media by LC-MS-MS

Determination of amino acids in a complex matrix without derivatization is advantageous, however, difficulties are found in both the detection and the separation of those compounds. In this study, a rapid and reliable LC-MS-MS method for the quantitation of underivatized amino acids in exocellular media was established. Injections were made directly after centrifugation of the samples, without further preparation. The separation of seven underivatized amino acids was achieved on a reversed-phase C18 column with pentadecafluorooctanoic acid as a volatile ion-pair reagent, and the specific detection of most amino acids was achieved by MS-MS of the specific transitions [M + H]+-->[M + H - 46]+. The calibration curves of all analytes were linear over the range of 1.0-1000 microg ml(-1) and the detection limits ranged from 0.1 to 5 ng ml(-1), with an injection volume of 20 microl. The inter-day and intra-day precisions ranged from 2.6 to 5.7% and 4.8 to 8.2%, respectively; the mean recoveries of the seven analytes were 81-104%, 91-107% and 93-101% respectively at the spiked level of 10, 40 and 200 microg ml(-1). A large number of fermentation samples were analysed using this method. The technique is simple, rapid, selective and sensitive, and shows potential for the high-throughput quantitation of amino acids from other biological matrices.     

Implicit solvent simulations of DPC micelle formation

The formation of micelles by dodecylphosphocholine (DPC) is modeled by treating the surfactants in atomic detail and the solvent implicitly, in the spirit of the EEF1 solvation model for proteins. The solvation parameters of the DPC atoms are carried over from those of similar atoms in proteins. A slight adjustment of the parameters for the headgroup was found necessary for obtaining an aggregation number consistent with experiment. Molecular dynamics simulations of 960 DPC molecules at different concentrations are used to obtain the aggregation number, the micelle size distribution, and the CMC. At 20 mM concentration we obtain an aggregation number of 53-56 and a CMC of 1.25 mM, values close to the experimental ones. At 100 mM the aggregation number increases to 90. Simulations of individual micelles of varying size show that the effective energy per surfactant molecule is initially a decreasing function of aggregation number but stabilizes at about 60 molecules. The van der Waals term and the desolvation of nonpolar groups contribute to micellization, whereas the desolvation of polar groups opposes it. From the difference between the effective energy and the free energy (calculated from the CMC), the translational and rotational entropy contributions to the free energy are estimated at about 7 kcal/mol per monomer. The micelles obtained here are more irregular than those obtained in explicit water simulations. This modeling approach allows the study of larger surfactant aggregates for longer times and the extraction of thermodynamic in addition to structural information.     

Luminescent heteronuclear Au(I)5Ag(I)8 complexes of [1,2,3-C6(C6H4R-4)3]3- (R = H, CH3, But) by cyclotrimerization of arylacetylides

Unusual AuI-AgI heterometallic complexes [Au5Ag8(mu-dppm)4{1,2,3-C6(C6H4R-4)3}(CCC6H4R-4)7]3+ (R = H 1, CH3 2, But 3) were isolated by reactions of polymeric silver arylacetylides (AgCCC6H4R-4)n with binuclear gold component [Au2(mu-dppm)2(MeCN)2]2+ (dppm = bis(diphenylphosphino)methane), in which cyclotrimerization of arylacetylide -CCC6H4R-4 affords trianion {1,2,3-C6(C6H4R-4)3}3- with an unprecedented mu5-bonding mode. Compounds 1(SbF6)3-3(SbF6)3 exhibit intense photoluminescence derived from an MLCT (Au5Ag8 --> CCC6H4R-4) transition, mixed with a metal cluster-centered excited states.     

Synthesis of conducting polyaniline using novel anionic Gemini surfactant as micellar stabilizer

The Gemini surfactant 9B-4-9B containing sodium sulfonate as hydrophilic head group was synthesized based on nonylphenol and characterized by FTIR, ¹H NMR spectroscopy and the surface tension measurement. The CMC and C₂₀ of the 9B-4-9B were smaller than that of sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate and sodium dodecylsulfate, respectively, indicating excellent efficiency of micelle formation and reduced surface tension. Conducting polyaniline salts were synthesized by chemical oxidative micellar polymerization of aniline in water firstly using Gemini surfactant 9B-4-9B as the micelle stabilizer and ammonium peroxydisulfate as the oxidant at 0 °C. The stable polyaniline dispersions have been obtained when the molar ratio of the 9B-4-9B to aniline was equal to or above 0.5 used in the polymerization system. The obtained granular polyaniline particles with the size of 1-2 μm were characterized by FTIR, UV-Vis, SEM, WAXD and conductivity measurement.