On the photoreactivity of diacetylene containing thermoplastic block copolymers

A group of block copolymers containing diacetylenes as chain extenders in their hard segments was prepared, based on urethanes, esters, ureas, and amides as hard segments and polybutadienes, polyethers, polyesters, and polysiloxanes as soft segments. Almost all block copolymers were photoreactive, but there was a wide range of sensitivities. The photoreactivity of the copolymers was found to depend on the reactivity of the monomer unit, on the width of the diacetylene stacks in the hard segments, and on the degree of phase separation in the solid films. To explore the range of monomer reactivities we prepared 15 crystalline monomers. Urethanes were in general the most reactive, and this was attributed in part to the specific effect of hydrogen bonding which brings about a shortening of the C₁ to C₄ distance between diacetylenes tend to reduce the photoreactivity. The behavior of identical diacetylene units in the monomer crystal, in the homopolymer, and in the block copolymer is discussed in this paper.     

Homogenization Efficiency of Two Immiscible Fluids in Static Mixer Using Droplet Tracking Technique

Comprehensive understanding of the mechanism of two-phase flow agitation is essential to control the mixing performance in chemical processes. The aim of the present study is to understand mixing behavior of two phase flow emulsification process in details by utilizing a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) scheme and predicting the flow characteristics of O/W emulsion in a Kenics static mixer (KSM) operating as an in line continuous homogenizer. The overall study is carried out in three steps: (a) a turbulent flow analysis, to obtain an overall characteristic of the emulsion resulting in CFD model and (b) comparing theoretical data of model with those of experimental studies in order to validate the CFD approach; (c) a droplet tracking step, to extensively study the distribution of marked droplets during the mixing procedure. To achieve this goal, the individual droplets being numerically labeled and visually colored regarding their droplet size; a quantitatively scrutiny of mixing for the droplet distribution was introduced. As a result, the droplet tracking using CFD has successfully evaluated the mixing performance and is proposed as a practical numerical scheme for predicting the KSM behavior.     

Efficient Aerobic Wacker Oxidation of Styrenes Using Palladium Bis(isonitrile) Catalysts

The palladium‐catalyzed aerobic oxidation of alkenes and especially styrenes (Wacker oxidation) by using chiral pseudo C₂‐symmetrical bis(isonitrile) ligands in the absence of further cocatalysts gives rise to methyl ketones in a highly chemoselective manner. The palladium bis(isonitrile) catalyst was characterized by NMR spectroscopy and X‐ray structure analysis, revealing a dissymmetric coordination of palladium by the two isonitrile moieties.     

An oligomeric ser-pro dipeptide mimetic assuming the polyproline II helix conformation

A hexapeptide assembled from dipeptide building blocks assumes the secondary structure of the polyproline II (PPII) helix. Side chain-to-backbone hydrogen bonds stabilize peptide torsions next to the fused ring systems. The solution structure of the polyhydroxylated peptide was studied by spectroscopic methods.     

Production of Siderophores by an Apple Root-Associated Streptomyces ciscaucasicus Strain GS2 Using Chemical and Biological OSMAC Approaches

Apple Replant Disease (ARD) is a significant problem in apple orchards that causes root tissue damage, stunted plant growth, and decline in fruit quality, size, and overall yield. Dysbiosis of apple root-associated microbiome and selective richness of Streptomyces species in the rhizosphere typically concurs root impairment associated with ARD. However, possible roles of Streptomyces secondary metabolites within these observations remain unstudied. Therefore, we employed the One Strain Many Compounds (OSMAC) approach coupled to high-performance liquid chromatography-high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-HRMSⁿ) to evaluate the chemical ecology of an apple root-associated Streptomyces ciscaucasicus strain GS2, temporally over 14 days. The chemical OSMAC approach comprised cultivation media alterations using six different media compositions, which led to the biosynthesis of the iron-chelated siderophores, ferrioxamines. The biological OSMAC approach was concomitantly applied by dual-culture cultivation for microorganismal interactions with an endophytic Streptomyces pulveraceus strain ES16 and the pathogen Cylindrocarpon olidum. This led to the modulation of ferrioxamines produced and further triggered biosynthesis of the unchelated siderophores, desferrioxamines. The structures of the compounds were elucidated using HRMSⁿ and by comparison with the literature. We evaluated the dynamics of siderophore production under the combined influence of chemical and biological OSMAC triggers, temporally over 3, 7, and 14 days, to discern the strain’s siderophore-mediated chemical ecology. We discuss our results based on the plausible chemical implications of S. ciscaucasicus strain GS2 in the rhizosphere.     

Role of electron-transfer processes in reactions of diarylcarbenium ions and related quinone methides with nucleophiles

Second-harmonic alternating current voltammetry has been used to determine one-electron reduction potentials of 15 diarylcarbenium ions and 5 structurally analogous quinone methides, which have been employed as reference electrophiles for the development of nucleophilicity scales. A linear correlation (r(2) = 0.993) between the empirical electrophilicity parameters E and the reduction potentials in acetonitrile (E = 14.091E degrees (red) - 0.279) covering a range of 1.64 V (or 158 kJ mol(-)(1)) has been observed. For a large number of nucleophiles, it has been demonstrated that the observed activation free energies of the electrophile-nucleophile combinations are 61-195 kJ mol(-)(1) smaller than the free energy change of electron transfer from nucleophile to electrophile, which definitely excludes outer-sphere electron transfer occurring during these reactions.     

Carboxamides of Dihydropyridin-2(1<Emphasis Type="Italic">H</Emphasis>)-ones

Summary. 3-Carboxamides and 3-carboxanilides of 6-alkyl and 6-aryldihydropyridin-2(1H)-ones have been prepared via different reaction pathways. All synthesized amides show hydrogen bonds in their NMR spectra. The 4-hydroxy compounds were obtained as a mixture of tautomers. Their configurations were elucidated by NMR experiments.Received December 16, 2002; accepted December 20, 2002 Published online June 2, 2003     

Pentopyranosyl Oligonucleotide Systems. 9th Communication

Pyranosyl‐RNA (‘p‐RNA’ ) is an oligonucleotide system isomeric to natural RNA and composed of the very same building blocks as RNA. Its generational, chemical, and informational properties are deemed to be those of an alternative nucleic acid system that could have been a candidate in Nature's evolutionary choice of the molecular basis of genetic function. We consider the study of the chemistry of p‐RNA as etiologically relevant in the sense that knowledge of its structural, chemical, and informational properties on the chemical level offers both a perspective and reference points for the recognition of specific structural assets of the RNA structure that made it the (supposedly) superior system among possible alternatives and, therefore, the system that became part of biology as we know it today. The paper describes the chemical synthesis of β‐d‐ (and L )‐ribopyranosyl‐(4′→2′)‐oligonucleotide sequences, presents a resume of their structural and chemical properties, and cautiously discusses what we may and may not have learned from the pyranosyl isomer of RNA with respect to the conundrum of RNA's origin.