Photoisomerization and photodissociation of aniline and 4-methylpyridine

Photoisomerization and photodissociation of aniline and 4-methylpyridine at 193 nm were studied separately using multimass ion imaging techniques. Photofragment translational energy distributions and dissociation rates were measured. Our results demonstrate that more than 23% of the ground electronic state aniline and 10% of 4-methylpyridine produced from the excitation by 193 nm photons after internal conversion isomerize to seven-membered ring isomers, followed by the H atom migration in the seven-membered ring, and then rearomatize to both methylpyridine and aniline prior to dissociation. The significance of this isomerization is that the carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen atoms belonging to the alkyl or amino groups are involved in the exchange with those atoms in the aromatic ring during the isomerization.     

Zinkkomplexe eines neuen N,N, O‐Liganden

Zinc Complexes of a New N, N, O Ligand The tridentate ligand N, N(2‐dimethylaminoethyl)‐3, 5‐di‐tert.‐butyl‐salicylaldimine ( L H) results from the corresponding salicylic aldehyde and N, N‐dimethyl ethylenediamine. With zinc salts it forms the mononuclear halide complexes [ L ZnCl ˙ CH₃OH] ( 1 ) and [ L ZnI ˙ CH₃OH] ( 2 ) and the presumably polymeric acetate [ L ZnOCOCH₃] ( 3 ). With diethyl zinc and diphenylphosphoric acid it yields the phosphate complex [ L Zn‐OPO(OPh)₂ ˙ CH₃OH] ( 4 ). The coordination of the complexes, which is between trigonal bipyramidal and square pyramidal, and the character of the five donors in the phosphate complex represent the transition state of a hydrolytic substrate cleavage in a zinc enzyme.     

Variable Mott-Schottky plots acquisition by potentiodynamic electrochemical impedance spectroscopy

Potentiodynamic electrochemical impedance spectroscopy provides extraction of potential-dependent space charge layer capacitance from potentiodynamic impedance spectra of non-stationary semiconductor–electrolyte interface. The new technique has been applied for acquisition of Mott-Schottky plots of cathodically treated TiO₂ anodic films. Cathodic treatment in 1 M H₂SO₄ increases donor density and flat band potential of TiO₂. Freshly doped films show hysteresis in the space charge layer capacitance in cyclic potential scans. The subsequent cycling eliminates the hysteresis but preserves the greater part of the doping effect. Presented at the 4th Baltic Conference on Electrochemistry, Greifswald, 13–16 March 2005     

Selective formation of heterodimeric resorcinarene capsules

C_2V-symmetrical resorcinarene tetraesters 1 form in CDCl₃ dimeric capsules encapsulating one Me₄N⁺ cation. The homodimeric capsules of the tetra(3,4,5-trimethoxybenzoate) 1d and tetrabenzoate 1b or tetrafuroylate 1c disproportionate in solution to give quantitatively the heterodimers. The higher stability of the heterodimer is, most probably, caused by π-π attractions between the π-basic trimethoxyphenyl rings of 1d and relatively more π-accepting phenyl or furyl fragments of 1b or 1c.     

Reintroducing anisotropic interactions in magic-angle-spinning NMR of half-integer quadrupolar nuclei: 3D MQMAS

Selective reintroduction of anisotropic interactions such as the chemical shift anisotropy (CSA) and homonucler dipolar (HMD) coupling were implemented in a high-resolution NMR spectroscopy for half-integer quadrupolar nuclei. Rotary resonance recoupling (R(3)) combined with the multiple-quantum magic-angle spinning (MQMAS) in a three-dimensional (3D) experiment provides not only site-specific high-resolution spectra to yield the quadrupolar interaction parameters but also the CSA or HMD interaction parameters. This 3D experiment provides an avenue for the complete local structural information of half-integer quadrupolar nuclei. Three-dimensional MQMAS experiments incorporating R(3) of HMD and CSA interactions were demonstrated on model compounds containing (11)B, (23)Na, and (87)Rb nuclei.     

Order from Chaos: Self‐Assembly of Nanoprism from a Mixture of Tetratopic Terpyridine‐Porphyrin Conformers

Porphyrins have been widely used in the self‐assembly of metallo‐supramolecules. In this study, we introduced 2,2':6,2"‐terpyridine (tpy) into a porphyrin core to synthesize a tetratopic building block with multiple conformers. During the self‐assembly with Zn(II), such a mixture of conformers was able to form a discrete nanoprism with all building blocks in one conformation. Detailed characterizations, including NMR, ESI‐MS and traveling‐wave ion mobility‐mass spectrometry (TWIM‐MS), all supported the formation of the desired assemblies. AFM and TEM further confirmed the dimensions of assembled nanoprisms. Moreover, the photophysical properties of the ligands and complexes were noticeably different depending upon size and metal ion center.     

Rearrangement of 5-trimethylsilylthebaine on treatment with L-selectride: an efficient synthesis of (+)-bractazonine

Treatment of 5-trimethylsilylthebaine with L-Selectride gave rise to a rearrangement to 10-trimethylsilylbractazonine through migration of the phenyl group, whereas treatment of thebaine with strong Lewis acids is known to lead to a similar rearrangement through migration of the alkyl bridge to give, after reduction, (+)-neodihydrothebaine. It is suggested that the rearrangement of the alkyl group of thebaine is favored due to the formation of a tertiary benzylic cation. However, for 5-trimethylsilylthebaine, the lithium ion of L-Selectride acts as the Lewis acid and the beta-silyl effect dominates in the stabilization of any positive charge. This rearrangement provides a clear example of the greater relative migratory aptitude of phenyl groups over alkyl groups, and provides an efficient synthesis of (+)-bractazonine from thebaine.     

Structural basis for discriminative regulation of gene expression by adenine- and guanine-sensing mRNAs

Metabolite-sensing mRNAs, or "riboswitches," specifically interact with small ligands and direct expression of the genes involved in their metabolism. Riboswitches contain sensing "aptamer" modules, capable of ligand-induced structural changes, and downstream regions, harboring expression-controlling elements. We report the crystal structures of the add A-riboswitch and xpt G-riboswitch aptamer modules that distinguish between bound adenine and guanine with exquisite specificity and modulate expression of two different sets of genes. The riboswitches form tuning fork-like architectures, in which the prongs are held in parallel through hairpin loop interactions, and the internal bubble zippers up to form the purine binding pocket. The bound purines are held by hydrogen bonding interactions involving conserved nucleotides along their entire periphery. Recognition specificity is associated with Watson-Crick pairing of the encapsulated adenine and guanine ligands with uridine and cytosine, respectively.     

Characterization of a Nudix hydrolase from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Deinococcus radiodurans</Emphasis> with a marked specificity for (deoxy)ribonucleoside 5'-diphosphates

Background  

Nudix hydrolases form a protein family whose function is to hydrolyse intracellular nucleotides and so regulate their levels and eliminate potentially toxic derivatives. The genome of the radioresistant bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans encodes 25 nudix hydrolases, an unexpectedly large number. These may contribute to radioresistance by removing mutagenic oxidised and otherwise damaged nucleotides. Characterisation of these hydrolases is necessary to understand the reason for their presence. Here, we report the cloning and characterisation of the DR0975 gene product, a nudix hydrolase that appears to be unique to this organism.     

Solvent intercalation in cobalt dimethylglyoximato complexes: A miniature host-guest system

When crystallized from appropriate solvents, the complex aqua-bis(dimethylglyoximato)nitrocobalt (III) may incorporate solvent molecules, thus forming a variety of mixed crystals. In the resulting host-guest crystals, the space groupP2_l/m and the packing motif of the pure host compound are retained. Lattice constantsa andb remain essentially unaltered upon intercalation, whereasc and the monoclinic angle depend largely on the clathrated guest. Space filling and intermolecular contacts are discussed.Dedicated to Professor Peter Paetzold at the occasion of his 60th birthday. A preliminary account of this work has been given at the Spring Meeting of the British Crystallographic Association, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1994.