Gating the mechanistic pathway to the elusive 4-membered ring azeteoporphyrin

Photolysis of metalated (Cu and Ni) and free base 2-diazo-3-oxochlorins within a frozen matrix (λ = 457.9 nm, toluene, 80 K) generates a single photointermediate with a hypsochromically shifted electronic absorption spectrum relative to the starting diazochlorins. The appearance of ketene (~2131 cm(-1)) and azete (~1670 cm(-1)) vibrations in infrared absorption and Raman spectra, respectively, identifies this intermediate as resulting from the Wolff rearrangement of the diazochlorins upon N(2) loss. Computational modeling of the vibrational spectra and TDDFT simulation of the electronic transitions of potential photointermediates corroborate this assignment. Isolation and analysis of photoproducts of these diazochlorins formed within n-butanol-doped frozen toluene matrices indicate near exclusive formation of azeteoporphyrins. In sharp contrast, room temperature laser photolysis of these materials yields a mixture of photoproducts deriving from the presence of both carbene and ketene intermediates. Computational modeling of the intramolecular reactivity of the proposed sp(2) carbene intermediate shows exclusive bond insertion to the adjacent phenyl group, and no evidence of Wolff rearrangement. Computational reaction profile analyses reveal that the barrierless Wolff rearrangement proceeds via an out-of-plane carbene electronic configuration that is generated directly during the loss of N(2). The formation of out-of-plane carbene, resulting in the exclusive formation of the observed ketene photointermediate at low temperatures, is consistent with orbital symmetry considerations and by the geometric constraints imposed by the frozen matrix. Combined, this leads to a model showing that azeteoporphyrin formation via the Wolff rearrangement is dependent upon the structural disposition of the adjacent framework, and the specific reaction intermediate formed is very sensitive to this feature.     

Synthesis and Crystal Structure of MnII(OAc)2[15-MC MnIII(N)shi-5](Im)3(EtOH)3 (shi3??=?salicylhydroximate, ?OAc?=?acetate, Im?=?imidazole, and EtOH?=?ethanol)

Abstract  

The metallacrown complex Mn^II(OAc)₂[15-MC_Mn^III _(N)shi-5](Im)₃(EtOH)₃ has been synthesized and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy. The compound crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P2₁/c with a = 24.3326(15) ?, b = 24.0354(15) ?, c = 27.0531(17) ?, α = 90.00°, β = 100.3883(11)°, γ = 90.00°, V = 15562.5(17) ?³, Z = 4, and Z′ = 2. Four of the five manganese(III) ions of the metallacrown ring adopt a distorted octahedral coordination geometry, and the fifth manganese(III) ion is five coordinate and exhibits a distorted square pyramidal environment. The configuration of the manganese(III) ions about the ring follows a pattern of ΔΛΔPP, with P representing planar. In addition, the imidazole units are bound to three separate ring manganese(III) ions, and the imidazole units are directed to the outside of the molecule. A manganese(II) ion is encapsulated in the central core of the molecule, and the central ion is seven coordinate with a face-capped trigonal prismatic geometry.     

Doping dependence of irreversibility line in Y1−xCaxBa2Cu3O7−δ

The irreversibility lines (IL) for series of Y_1?xCa_xBa₂Cu₃O_7?δ (x = 0.025; 0.10 and 0.20) polycrystalline samples with different overdoping were investigated. The irreversibility fields were determined from measurements of third harmonics AC susceptibility as a function of DC field at constant temperature. For the weakly overdoped sample (with x = 0.025) H_irr(77 K) is about 7 T, which is higher than the previously reported for the non-substituted one. The irreversibility line behavior is typical for glass–liquid phase transition and this is confirmed by transport measurements. On increasing the overdoping the irreversibility fields were shifted towards lower temperatures. The behavior of H_irr(T) for the highly overdoped sample (with x = 0.20) is influenced by the surface barrier effect. It is supposed that in highly overdoped specimen the process of phase separation is enhanced and the Fermi clusters grow in size. This leads to a suppression of the bulk pinning and to a domination of the surface barrier effects and flux creep as well. As a confirmation, the obtained quadratic J_c(T) dependences were presented demonstrating the existence of S–N–S type inter-grain joints in the highly overdoped samples.     

Local structure and magnetism of Fe, Co and Ni doped Cr3Si

The lattice site occupation of 3d-type impurities in Cr₃Si doped with Fe, Co and Ni were studied using the Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) technique, X-rays and magnetic susceptibility measurements. The EXAFS measurements were performed particularly carefully on the K-edge of chromium and cobalt. EXAFS data strengthened by simulations of the spectra show unambiguously that the impurities are occupying mostly Cr-sites. The magnetic state of the alloys has been studied theoretically using the Wien2k code. It is observed that if calculations are not carried out on an appropriately fine mesh of points in k-space, one can get the result indicating ferromagnetism although the overall magnetic moment per formula unit is weak.     

Identification of a set of genes showing regionally enriched expression in the mouse brain

Background

We have recorded responses from single neurons in murine visual cortex to determine the effectiveness of the input from the two murine cone photoreceptor mechanisms and whether there is any unique selectivity for cone inputs at this higher region of the visual system that would support the possibility of colour vision in mice. Each eye was stimulated by diffuse light, either 370 (strong stimulus for the ultra-violet (UV) cone opsin) or 505 nm (exclusively stimulating the middle wavelength sensitive (M) cone opsin), obtained from light emitting diodes (LEDs) in the presence of a strong adapting light that suppressed the responses of rods.

Results

Single cells responded to these diffuse stimuli in all areas of striate cortex. Two types of responsive cells were encountered. One type (135/323 – 42%) had little to no spontaneous activity and responded at either the on and/or the off phase of the light stimulus with a few impulses often of relatively large amplitude. A second type (166/323 – 51%) had spontaneous activity and responded tonically to light stimuli with impulses often of small amplitude. Most of the cells responded similarly to both spectral stimuli. A few (18/323 – 6%) responded strongly or exclusively to one or the other spectral stimulus and rarely in a spectrally opponent manner.

Conclusion

Most cells in murine striate cortex receive excitatory inputs from both UV- and M-cones. A small fraction shows either strong selectivity for one or the other cone mechanism and occasionally cone opponent responses. Cells that could underlie chromatic contrast detection are present but extremely rare in murine striate cortex.     

Tetra­kis(1‐eth­yl‐1H‐1,2,4‐triazole‐κN4)bis­(nitrato‐κO)copper(II) and bis­(nitrato‐κO)tetra­kis­(1‐prop­yl‐1H‐1,2,4‐triazole‐κN4)copper(II)

The copper(II) environments for tetra­kis­(1‐eth­yl‐1,2,4‐triaz­ole)­dinitratocopper(II), [Cu(NO₃)₂(C₄H₇N₃)₄], and tetrakis­(1‐prop­yl‐1,2,4‐triazole)dinitratocopper(II), [Cu(NO₃)₂(C₅H₉N₃)₄], are distorted square bipyramidal. Both structures are centrosymmetric, with the copper(II) ions located at inversion centers coordinated by four N atoms of four triazole mol­ecules and by two O atoms of two nitrate ions in an elongated octa­hedral geometry. This elongation is a result of the Jahn–Teller effect. The largest distortion is that of the N—Cu—O angles, which differ from 90° by 5.68 (10)° in the eth­yl and 5.59 (8)° in the prop­yl derivative.