Preparation of chiral triarylphosphines by Pd-catalysed asymmetric P-C cross-coupling

Enantioselective C-P cross-coupling of diarylphosphines and ortho-substituted aryl iodides has been achieved with >90%ee, using an in situ catalyst prepared from Et,Et-FerroTANE, Pd(2)(dba)(3) x CHCl(3) and LiBr.     

A new ring transformation: Synthesis of 5,5-dimethyl-3-oxo-1-pyrroline 1-oxides from 6,6-dimethyl-4-oxo-5,6-dihydro-1,2,4h-oxazines

The nitrosation of some γ,δ-unsaturated β-diketo compounds affords the 3-substituted 4-oxo-5,6-dihydro-1,2,4H-oxazines. These compounds are converted to the isomeric 3-oxo-1-pyrroline 1-oxides by a facile thermal rearrangement.     

Asymmetric diels-alder reactions : facile preparation and structure of sulfonamido-isobornyl acrylates

The crystalline chiral auxiliaries $\text{2}$,$\text{3}$ and $\text{4}$ were prepared from camphor-10-sulfonyl chlorides in 2 steps. Their readily accessible acrylates underwent efficient asymmetric diels-alder additions to cyclopentadiene, the topicity of which agrees with X-ray evidence.     

Molecular dynamics simulation of the LOV2 domain from Adiantum capillus-veneris

The mechanism for signal transduction from the LOV-domains toward the kinase region of phototropin is still not well understood. We have performed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and CONCOORD calculations on the LOV2 domain of Adiantum capillus-veneris, with the goal to detect possible differences between the two forms of the LOV domain which may not show up in the static crystal structures. Since no such clear differences are found in the MD simulations also, we suggest that the real, biologically active conformation of the LOV domain within the whole phototropin is different from the crystal structure of the isolated LOV domains. The MD simulations do offer, however, insight into details of the dynamics of the dark and illuminated LOV domains, which are discussed in the light of recent experiments.     

Indium(III) one-dimensional polymers with pyrazine and pyrazine, 2-carboxylic acid as the spacer molecules

The reactions of indium(III) chloride tetrahydrate with pyrazine (C₄H₄N₂) and pyrazine, 2-carboxylic acid afford two polymeric frameworks, the structures of which were characterized in the solid state by single crystal analysis. The former is a one-dimensional infinite structure interlinked by the pyrazine spacer, while the latter is a one-dimensional ‘zigzag’ polymeric structure. A dimeric indium(III) pyrazine complex is also reported.     

Rapid 1H[13C]-resolved diffusion and spin-relaxation measurements by NMR spectroscopy

Hadamard-encoded heteronuclear-resolved NMR diffusion and relaxation measurements allow overlapping signal decays to be resolved with substantially shorter measuring times than are generally associated with 2D heteronuclear cross-correlation experiments. Overall measuring time requirements can be reduced by approximately an order of magnitude, compared to typical 2D heteronuclear single-quantum correlation-resolved diffusion or relaxation measurements. Specifically, in cases where chemical shift correlation information provides enhanced spectral resolution, the use of Hadamard encoding can be used to overcome uniqueness challenges that are associated with the analysis of concurrent dynamic processes and the extraction of time constants from overlapping exponential signal decays. This leads to substantially improved resolution of similar time constants than can be achieved solely through the use of post-acquisition processing techniques. In the ideal case of complete spectral separation of the signal decays, the usual constraint that time constants must be sufficiently different to resolve by exponential analysis can be circumvented entirely. Hadamard-based pulse sequences have been used to determine 1H[13C]-resolved diffusion coefficients and spin-relaxation time constants for the chemically similar components of an aqueous solution of ethanol, glycerol, and poly(ethylene glycol), and a dye-containing block-copolymer solution, which exhibit significant spectral overlap in their 1H NMR spectra.     

Pore formation in fluctuating membranes

We study the nucleation of a single pore in a fluctuating lipid membrane, specifically taking into account the membrane fluctuations, as well as the shape fluctuations of the pore. For large enough pores, the nucleation free energy is well-described by shifts in the effective membrane surface tension and the pore line tension. Using our framework, we derive the stability criteria for the various pore formation regimes. In addition to the well-known large-tension regime from the classical nucleation theory of pores, we also find a low-tension regime in which the effective line and surface tensions can change sign from their bare values. The latter scenario takes place at sufficiently high temperatures, where the opening of a stable pore of finite size is entropically favorable.     

Selective detection of Fe(III) ions in aqueous solution with a 1,8-diacridylnaphthalene-derived fluorosensor

The syn-isomer of 1,8-bis(4,4′-diisopropyl-9,9′-diacridyl)naphthalene, 1, has been prepared by two consecutive Pd(PPh₃)₄-catalyzed Stille cross-coupling steps. This highly congested sensor undergoes Fe(III)-selective fluorescence quenching in water/acetonitrile even in the presence of excess of other metal ions.