Enumeration of polycarborane isomers: especially dicarboranes

Various sorts of isomer enumeration problems are addressed in the context of polycarboranes, with special illustrative focus on the case of dicarboranes, for which then various numerical results are given. A systematic and general Pólya-theoretic methodology is used to make the computations, including some new techniques being applicable to a wide range of nano-structures built from a framework of like local subunits.     

Phosphoramidites as Synthons for Polynucleotide Synthesis

Abstract

Methods for the rapid synthesis of DNA and RNA are described. The procedures involve using nucleoside phosphoramidites as synthons and silica as a polymeric support. Additionally, a novel reaction involving nucleoside O-alkyl methylphosphonothioates is described.     

Rapid Conventional and Microwave-Assisted Decarboxylation of L-Histidine and Other Amino Acids via Organocatalysis with R-Carvone Under Superheated Conditions

This article reports a new methodology taking advantage of superheated chemistry via either microwave or conventional heating for the facile decarboxylation of alpha amino acids using the recoverable organocatalyst, R-carvone. The decarboxylation of amino acids is an important synthetic route to biologically active amines, and traditional methods of amino acid decarboxylation are time consuming (taking up to several days in the case of L-histidine), are narrow in scope, and make use of toxic catalysts. Decarboxylations of amino acids including L-histidine occur in just minutes while replacing toxic catalysts with green catalyst, spearmint oil. Yields are comparable to or exceed previous methods and purification of product ammonium chloride salts is aided by an isomerization reaction of residual catalyst to phenolic carvacrol. The method has been shown to be effective for the decarboxylations of a range of natural, synthetic, and protected amino acids.     

A cytotoxic dimeric furanoheliangolide from Piptocoma rufescens

A new sesquiterpene lactone, rufescenolide C (1), the first furanoheliangolide dimer, was isolated from the leaves of Piptocoma rufescens, collected in the Dominican Republic. Its structure was determined by interpretation of its spectroscopic data, with the absolute configuration being established by analysis of the CD spectrum. A plausible biogenesis of this dimer is proposed. This compound showed potent cytotoxicity with an IC₅₀ value of 150 nM, when tested against HT-29 human colon cancer cells.     

Enumeration of substitutional isomers with restrictive mutual positions of ligands: I. Overall counts

We address systematics for the enumeration of substitutional isomers when there is constrained positioning of ligands on a molecular skeleton. One constraint involves ‘restrictive ligands’ where two of the same kind are forbidden to occupy adjacent sites in a molecular skeleton. This may arise because of steric hindrance, or because of groups which in neighbor proximity react to eliminate one. For instance, no pair of –OH groups attach to the same C atom in a molecular skeleton. In another case, malonic acid residues decarboxylate leaving no more than one decarboxylation in each residue. The enumeration with such restrictive ligands may be addressed via a Polya-theoretic cycle index hybridized with the graph-theoretic independence polynomial (when there is just a single such neighbor-excluding ligand and another which is not), while more generally a hybridization with the chromatic polynomial is needed. Another substitional-isomer constraint involves bidentate ligands, with each ligand-part occupying adjacent sites, and possibly also with additional separate unidentate ligands. Here, the set of all pure & mixed such ligand placements is analytically represented by a ‘symmetry-reduced’ matching polynomial (which is a hybrid now of the matching polynomial and Polya’s cycle index). This result gives the generating function for isomer enumeration, taking into account every possible so-restricted assortment of the employed ligands. Here we make such novel hybridizations (for these and other graphtheoretic polynomials) to deal with such oft-encountered chemical problems, which nevertheless transcend typical earlier unconstrained formulizations. Further subsymmetry classification & enumerations, along with examples are considered in a further article.     

Simulations of ferrite-dielectric-wire composite negative index materials

We perform extensive finite difference time domain simulations of ferrite based negative index of refraction composites. A wire grid is employed to provide negative permittivity. The ferrite and wire grid interact to provide both negative and positive index of refraction transmission peaks in the vicinity of the ferrite resonance. Notwithstanding the extreme anisotropy in the index of refraction of the composite, negative refraction is seen at the composite air interface allowing the construction of a focusing concave lens with a magnetically tunable focal length.     

Silicon nanowire grid polarizer for very deep ultraviolet fabricated from a shear-aligned diblock copolymer template

A silicon (Si) nanowire grid ultraviolet (UV) transmission polarizer has been fabricated, and its performance was measured over the visible to deep UV range. A cylinder-forming polystyrene-b-poly(hexylmethacrylate) diblock copolymer was coated onto an amorphous Si layer supported on a fused silica substrate, then shear aligned and employed as a mask for reactive-ion etching, resulting in a Si grid of 33 nm period and multi-centimeter-squared area. Due to the high plasma frequency and UV reflectance of the deposited Si, this nanowire grid was able to polarize light down into the deep UV, including 193 nm.     

Conformational and dynamic effects of pendant-PEK chains on rigid-rod polymers by molecular dynamics simulation

Molecular dynamics simulations were performed with models of a single-component ‘hairy-rod’ molecular composite composed of flexible meta poly(aryl ether ketone) (mPEK) chains (the ‘hairs’) grafted to a poly(p-phenylene benzobisthiazole) (PBZT) rigid-rod backbone. The molecular-composite concept, conceived to circumvent solubility problems and improve compressive strength of PBZT, relies on an even distribution of rods in a coil-like matrix. Two-molecule simulations show that the pendant mPEK chains associate with the rods causing large bends in the rod backbone. Simulations of bulk systems imply that the mPEK chains greatly reduce the correlation of rod orientation without altering rod spacing. Radial distribution and orientation correlation functions as well as correlation volumes are computed.