17O NMR Investigation of Chemical Homogeneity in Hybrid Systems

¹⁷O NMR experiments using enriched water were performed to followthe hydrolysis-condensation process of dimethyldiethoxysilanetetraethoxysilane and a 1/1 mixture of dimethyldiethoxysilane andtetraethoxysilane (H₂O/OEt = 0.5; pH = 2). The spectrarecorded over several hours time period were simulated to followquantitatively the variations of residual water, hydroxyl groups(Si–¹⁷ H) and oxo bridges (Si–¹⁷ –Si). Presence of a resonance signal due oxo bridges between di- andtetrafunctional Si units clearly demonstrates that co-condensationreactions occur to a large extent between the two alkoxides, and that thesebonds are stable during the aging period.     

Prediction of retention time of phenols in liquid chromatography

The chromatographic behavior of phenols in reversed-phase mode liquid chromatography differs from that of non-ionic compounds such as alkyl alcohols, alkylbenzenes, halogenated benzenes, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and aromatic acids. Therefore, the retention times of 61 phenols were measured in a system of an octadecyl bonded silica gel and acetonitrile/water mixtures. The logarithm of the capacity ratio (log k') was found to be a linear function of the hydrophobicity (log P) in acidic acetonitrile/water mixtures. This result was applied to a different octadecyl bonded silica gel. Eight phenols were selected as standard compounds, and their log k' values were measured in 0.05 M phosphoric acid in 10 to 90% acetonitrile/water mixtures. An empirical polynomial relation was obtained between the concentration of acetonitrile and the slope of the log k' vs log P curve. Finally the capacity ratio of all phenols were calculated in given eluents by the equations derived from the measurements of standard compounds and the calculated log P values. The difference between predicted capacity ratios and measured ones was within 10%.     

Ferrocene incorporating host-guest dyads with electrochemically controlled three-pole hydrogen bonding properties

We describe the electrochemically controlled hydrogen bonding interactions between the isobutyl flavin/2,6-diferrocenylamidopyridine (2·5) and 9,10-phenanthrenequinone/1-ferrocenyl-3-hexylurea (4·6) dyads. Cyclic and square wave voltammetry studies have shown that the binding efficiencies between these moieties can be electrochemically actuated in non-polar (CH₂Cl₂ for 2·5) or polar (DMF for 4·6) organic solvents between three distinct states.     

Cyclic voltammetry of highly hydrophilic ions at a supported liquid membrane

Cyclic voltammetry has been used to study the coupling of ion transfer reactions at a liquid membrane. The liquids are either supported by a porous hydrophobic membrane (polyvinylidene difluoride, PVDF) when the organic solvent is non-volatile (o-nitrophenyloctylether) or are merely a free standing organic solvent layer such as 1,2-dichloroethane comprised between two hydrophilic dialysis membranes supporting the adjacent aqueous phases. The passage of current across the liquid membrane is associated with two ion transfer reactions across the two polarised liquid liquid interfaces in series. It is shown that it is possible to study the transfer of highly hydrophilic ions at one interface by limiting the mass transfer of the other ion transfer reaction at the other interface. Indeed, for systems comprising an ion M in one aqueous phase and a reference ion R partitioned between the membrane and the other aqueous phase, the observed and simulated cyclic voltammograms have a half-wave potential determined by the Gibbs energy of transfer of M transferring at one interface and by the limiting mass transfer of R at the other interface. This new methodology opens a way to measure the Gibbs energy of transfer of highly hydrophilic or hydrophobic ions, which usually limits the potential window at single liquid liquid interfaces (ITIES).     

Synthesis and characterization of mannosyl mimetic derivatives based on a beta-cyclodextrin core

The synthesis of branched beta-cyclodextrins substituted with mannosyl mimetic derivatives at one primary hydroxy group is described. It was shown that the self-inclusion phenomenon observed for the target compounds in water did not preclude the inclusion properties of the cyclodextrin moiety.     

Complexity of coordinative bonding in thallium(I) anthranilates and salicylates

An inventory of the structural chemistry of thallium(I) shows many unexpected, almost random coordination numbers and coordination geometries that appear erratic and inconsistent. This nonstandard behavior is often ascribed to the specific lone-pair characteristics originating from relativistic effects. To provide data on a set of closely related compounds from which simple general rules of coordinative bonding at Tl(+) can be established, three thallium(I) anthranilates and three thallium(I) salicylates have been prepared from Tl(2)CO(3) and the corresponding 2-amino- and 2-hydroxy-benzoic acids and crystallized from aqueous solutions. All six compounds, the simple anthranilate (1) and salicylate (4) and the 3- and 4-methyl-substituted homologues (2, 3 and 5, 6) show different structures with large variations in the coordination motif. The coordination by oxygen in a geometry which covers less than a coordination hemisphere is the only common feature, complemented (only in 1) by a nitrogen coordination and by eta(6)-coordination of one (in 1, 2, 3, 6) or two phenyl rings (in 4). Tl-Tl contacts for which "thallophilic" bonding between closed shell metal atoms could be invoked, are generally very long (close to 4.0 A) or even well beyond the limit of standard van der Waals contacts. Hydrogen bonding is only obvious for the internal contacts of the amino- or hydroxy-benzoate ligands and does not contribute significantly to the assembly of the supramolecular structure which is dominated by oxygen bridges between thallium atoms. With the exception of 5, the formula units Tl[O(2)C(2-R)(3-R')(4-R')C(6)H(2)] are generally aggregated into dimers of various configurations depending on the relative orientation of the edge-sharing four-membered rings, and these dimers are further linked into strings or columns establishing N-Tl or Tl-O contacts and arene coordination. The drastic changes induced in the structures upon only small variations such as methyl substitution in 3- or 4-position of the ligand suggest that thallium(I) coordination is generally restricted to one hemisphere of nearest neighbors, but is extremely flexible in this realm. The open hemisphere may be partially capped by arene coordination (which is weak at a distance of ca. 3.1 A to the centroid of the ring) or feature very weak thallophilic contacts.     

Protein adsorption in static microsystems: effect of the surface to volume ratio

A numerical model for the adsorption kinetics of proteins on the walls of a microchannel has been developed using the finite element method (FEM) to address the coupling with diffusion phenomena in the restricted microchannel volume. Time evolutions of the concentration of one species are given, both in solution and on the microchannel walls. The model illustrates the adsorption limitation sometimes observed when the microdimensions of these systems induce a global depletion of the bulk solution. A new non-dimensional parameter is introduced to predict the final value of the coverage of any microsystem under static adsorption. A working curve and a criteria (h/K[Gamma](max) > 10) are provided in order to choose, for given adsorption characteristics, the value of the volume-to-surface ratio (i.e. the channel height h) avoiding depletion effects on the coverage (relative coverage greater than 90% of the theoretical one). Simulations were compared with confocal microscopy measurements of IgG antibody adsorption on the walls of a PET microchannel. The fit of the model to the experimental data show that the adsorption is under apparent kinetic control.     

Enantioselective monoreduction of 2-alkyl-1,3-diketones mediated by chiral ruthenium catalysts. dynamic kinetic resolution

The reduction of 2-alkyl-1,3-diketones using (R,R)- or (S,S)-RuCl[N-(tosyl)-1,2-diphenylethylenediamine](p-cymene) in the presence of formic acid and triethylamine affords syn-2-alkyl-3-hydroxy ketones as the major products with high enantioselectivity. [reaction: see text]     

Carbohydrate-based DNA ligands: sugar-oligoamides as a tool to study carbohydrate-nucleic acid interactions

Sugar-oligoamides have been designed and synthesized as structurally simple carbohydrate-based ligands to study carbohydrate-DNA interactions. The general design of the ligands 1-3 has been done as to favor the bound conformation of Distamycin-type gamma-linked covalent dimers which is a hairpin conformation. Indeed, NMR analysis of the sugar-oligoamides in the free state has indicated the presence of a percentage of a hairpin conformation in aqueous solution. The DNA binding activity of compounds 1-3 was confirmed by calf thymus DNA (ct-DNA) NMR titration. Interestingly, the binding of the different sugar-oligoamides seems to be modulated by the sugar configuration. Semiquantitative structural information about the DNA ligand complexes has been derived from NMR data. A competition experiment with Netropsin suggested that the sugar-oligoamide 3 bind to DNA in the minor groove. The NMR titrations of 1-3 with poly(dA-dT) and poly(dG-dC) suggested preferential binding to the ATAT sequence. TR-NOE NMR experiments for the sugar-oligoamide 3-ct-DNA complex both in D(2)O and H(2)O have confirmed the complex formation and given information on the conformation of the ligand in the bound state. The data confirmed that the sugar-oligoamide ligand is a hairpin in the bound state. Even more relevant to our goal, structural information on the conformation around the N-glycosidic linkage has been accessed. Thus, the sugar asymmetric centers pointing to the NH-amide and N-methyl rims of the molecule have been characterized.