Trimethylsilyl fluorosulfonyldifluoroacetate (TFDA): a new, highly efficient difluorocarbene reagent

TFDA is readily prepared from the reaction of fluorosulfonyldifluoroacetic acid with trimethylsilyl chloride, and it is a very effective and efficient source of difluorocarbene for use in addition reactions to alkenes of a broad scope of reactivities. Acid-sensitive substrates may require an additional purification step involving treatment of the distilled TFDA with sufficient Et₃N to remove the acid impurity. Other trialkylsilyl fluorosulfonyldifluoroacetates can also be prepared, and they have been found to have reactivities similar to TFDA. The triethyl derivative, TEFDA is more convenient to prepare in a pure state and has similar reactivity to TFDA. Thus, it may prove to be a superior reagent.     

NMR Wool Tube: a novel method for NMR solution analysis of derivatized glass surfaces

Glass wool was placed within an NMR tube as a solid support for the covalent attachment of a molecule to allow for a simple one-dimensional 1H FT NMR solution analysis. This novel procedure avoids the use of expensive sample tubes or platforms, as required for magic angle or fast spinning, exotic pulse sequences, isotopic labeling or the use of a large number of scans to provide the ability to analyze the structure, mobility, ligand binding, and solvent interactions of the surface bound molecule.     

Orchid flowers tolerance to gamma-radiation

Cut flowers are fresh goods that may be treated with fumigants such as methyl bromide to meet the needs of the quarantine requirements of importing countries. Irradiation is a non-chemical alternative to substitute the methyl bromide treatment of fresh products. In this research, different cut orchids were irradiated to examine their tolerance to gamma-rays. A 200 Gy dose did inhibit the Dendrobium palenopsis buds from opening, but did not cause visible damage to opened flowers. Doses of 800 and 1000 Gy were damaging because they provoked the flowers to drop from the stem. Cattleya irradiated with 750 Gy did not show any damage, and were therefore eligible for the radiation treatment. Cymbidium tolerated up to 300 Gy and above this dose dropped prematurely. On the other hand, Oncydium did not tolerate doses above 150 Gy.     

Expeditious selective synthesis of primary rim tri-differentiated α-cyclodextrin

An expeditious synthesis of a cyclodextrin with three pairs of functionalities on its primary rim is presented. Compared to the previous one, this improved synthetic route yields the product in four steps and 70% yield, instead of six steps and 35% yield; it also bypasses two metathesis reactions and avoids the use of tin reagent.     

Explicit congruences modulo 2048 for overpartitions

The Ramanujan Journal - Let $${\bar{p}}(n)$$ denote the number of overpartitions of n. Recently, a number of congruences modulo powers of 2, 3 and 5 have been discovered. The moduli for these...     

Mapping C−H⋅⋅⋅M Interactions in Confined Spaces: (α-ICyDMe)Au,Ag, Cu Complexes Reveal “Contra-electrostatic H Bonds” Masquerading as Anagostic Interactions**

What happens when a C−H bond is forced to interact with unpaired pairs of electrons at a positively charged metal? Such interactions can be considered as “contra-electrostatic” H-bonds, which combine the familiar orbital interaction pattern characteristic for the covalent contribution to the conventional H-bonding with an unusual contra-electrostatic component. While electrostatics is strongly stabilizing component in the conventional C−H⋅⋅⋅X bonds where X is an electronegative main group element, it is destabilizing in the C−H⋅⋅⋅M contacts when M is Au(I), Ag(I), or Cu(I) of NHC−M−Cl systems. Such remarkable C−H⋅⋅⋅M interaction became experimentally accessible within (α-ICyD^Me)MCl, NHC-Metal complexes embedded into cyclodextrins. Computational analysis of the model systems suggests that the overall interaction energies are relatively insensitive to moderate variations in the directionality of interaction between a C−H bond and the metal center, indicating stereoelectronic promiscuity of fully filled set of d-orbitals. A combination of experimental and computational data demonstrates that metal encapsulation inside the cyclodextrin cavity forces the C−H bond to point toward the metal, and reveals a still attractive “contra-electrostatic” H-bonding interaction.     

Intramolecular Carbonyl–Carbonyl Interaction as the Directing Motif of the Opposed Conformational Preferences Among [4?+?2] Cycloadducts of 3-Ethoxycarbonyl- and 3-Acetyl-Coumarins with 2,3-Dimethyl-1,3-Butadiene

Abstract  

In this work, the molecular structures of the Diels–Alder adducts: ethyl (6aR/S,10aR/S)-6a,7,10,10a-tetrahydro-8,9-dimethyl-6-oxodibenzo[b,d]pyran-6a-carboxylate C₁₈H₂₀O₄ 1 and (6aR/S,10aR/S)-6a-acetyl-6a,7,10,10a-tetrahydro-8,9-dimethyl-6-oxodibenzo[b,d]pyran C₁₇H₁₈O₃ 2; and the epoxide of this last (6aR/S,7aR/S,8aS/R,9aR/S)-6a-acetyl-6a,7,7a,8a,9,9a-hexahydro-7a,8a-dimethyl-6-oxo-6H-5,8-dioxacyclopropa[b]phenanthrene C₁₇H₁₈O₄ 3, are comparatively analyzed. Compound 1 is triclinic, space group P-1 with a = 7.7529(6) ?, b = 9.8625(8) ?, c = 11.3103(9) ?, α = 109.387(9)°, β = 95.484(1)°, γ = 99.753(1)°, Z = 2. Compound 2 is monoclinic, space group Cc, a = 7.7285(7) ?, b = 16.6813(15) ?, c = 11.3213(10) ?, β = 92.470(2)°, Z = 4. Compound 3 is monoclinic, space group P2 ₁ /c a = 11.2036(10), b = 15.8326(14), c = 8.3182(7), β = 90.600(2)°, Z = 4. The molecular structures of compounds 1–3 show conformational differences between lactone and 6a-acyl carbonyls. CO···CO dipolar interactions stabilize the less favoured syn conformation in 2–3, conclusions are supported on theoretical calculations. The molecular structure of compound 3 demonstrates that epoxidation of 2 leads to the stereo-selective addition of the oxygen atom.     

Temperature and pressure dependences of volumetric properties of two poly(propylene glycol) dimethyl ether lubricants

The densities at high pressures of two dimethoxy end-capped poly(propylene glycols), CH₃–O–[CH₂–CH(CH₃)–O]_m–CH₃, with average molar masses higher than 1300 g · mol^?1, were measured in the range (0.1 to 60) MPa at five different temperatures from (298.15 to 398.15) K. The measurements were performed in a high-pressure vibrating tube densimeter. A correction factor, due to the viscosity of the sample, was applied to the experimental density values. The pressure–volume–temperature behavior of these lubricants was evaluated accurately over wide temperature and pressure ranges and correlated successfully with the empirical Tammann–Tait equation. The experimental data and the correlations were used to study the behavior and the influence of temperature and pressure on the isothermal compressibility, the isobaric thermal expansivity, and the internal pressure, as well as the effect of the polyether molecular structure on these properties.