Asymmetric Synthesis of Calyculin C. 2. Synthesis of the C(26)-C(37) Fragment and Model Wittig Couplings

We report our synthesis of the C(26)-C(37) fragment of serine/threonine protein phosphatase PP1 and PP2A inhibitor calyculin C (1). Outlined in this paper are synthetic approaches to the two components based on disconnection at the C(33)-N(3) amide bond. We report the successful synthesis of the C(33)-C(37) aza-sugar derived from D-lyxose which was coupled onto a C(26)-C(32) aminooxazole originating from L-pyroglutamic acid. Elaboration of the resulting amide to a fully deprotected C(26)-C(37) fragment of calyculin C completed our synthesis. This provided an appropriate phosphonium salt for use in a Wittig olefination for joining both halves of the natural product.     

Stabilisation of [Fe2(CO)9] and [Ru2(CO)9] bu substitution with bridging diphosphorus ligands

Reaction of [Fe₂(CO)₉] with a half molar amount of R₂PYPR₂ (Y = CH₂, R = Ph, Me, OMe or OPrⁱ; Y = N(Et), R = OPh, OMe or OCH₂; Y = N(Me), R = OPrⁱ or OEt) leads to the ready formation of a product which on irradiation with ultraviolet light rapidly decarbonylates to the heptacarbonyl derivative [Fe₂(μ-CO)(CO)₆{μ-R₂PYPR₂}]. Treatment of the latter with a slight excess of the appropriate ligand results, under photochemical conditions, in the formation of the dinuclear pentacarbonyl complex [Fe₂(μ-CO)(C))₄{μ-R₂PYPR₂}₂] but under thermal conditions in the formation of the mononuclear species [Fe(CO)₃{R₂PYPR₂}]. Reaction of [Ru₃(CO)₁₂] with an equimolar amount of (RO)₂PN(R′)P(OR)₂ (R′ = Me, R = Prⁱ or Et; R′ = Et, R = Ph or Me) under either thermal or photochemical conditions produces [Ru₃(CO)₁₀{μ-(RO)₂PN(OR)₂}] which reacts further with excess (RO)₂PN(R′)P(OR)₂ on irradiation with ultraviolet light to afford the dinuclear compound [Ru₂(μ-CO)(CO₄{μ-(RO)₂PN(R′)P(OR)₂}₂]. The molecular structure of [Ru₂(μ-CO)(CO)₄{μ-(MeO)₂PN(Et)P(OMe)₂}₂], which has been determined by X-ray crystallography, is described.     

The ground-state singlet potential surface for C2H4

Calculations with an extended polarized basis set and Møller-Plesset perturbation theory including triple substitution correlation corrections in the fourth-order treatment indicate that singlet ethylidene (CH₃CH:) is not a local minimum on the C₂H₄ potential energy surface. Rearrangement to ethylene occurs without actuation. Barriers for hydrogen scrambling and for 1,1-hydrogen elimination are estimated.     

Electron transfer dissociation of peptide anions

Ion/ion reactions of multiply deprotonated peptide anions with xenon radical cations result in electron abstraction to generate charge-reduced peptide anions containing a free-radical site. Peptide backbone cleavage then occurs by hydrogen radical abstraction from a backbone amide N to facilitate cleavage of the adjacent C-C bond, thereby producing a- and x-type product ions. Introduction of free-radical sites to multiply charged peptides allows access to new fragmentation pathways that are otherwise too costly (e. g., lowers activation energies). Further, ion/ion chemistry, namely electron transfer reactions, presents a rapid and efficient means of generating odd-electron multiply charged peptides; these reactions can be used for studying gas-phase chemistries and for peptide sequence analysis.     

Immobilization of amyloglucosidase using two forms of polyurethane polymer

Amyloglucosidase was covalently immobilized using two hydrophilic prepolymers: Hypol FHP 2002 (creates foams) and Hypol FHP 8190H (creates gels). The foamable prepolymer was superior as a support for enzyme immobilization. The percent activity immobilized in the polyurethane foams was 25 +/- 1.5%. Large substrates (greater than 200,000 daltons in mol wt) were hydrolyzed as effectively as smaller ones by the immobilized enzyme. The Km value of the foam-immobilized enzyme increased from 0.76 mg/mL (free) to 0.86 mg/mL (immobilized), whereas the Vmax dropped from 90.9 (free) to 12.4 nmol glucose/min/mL (immobilized). The long-term (2 mo) storage stability of amyloglucosidase was enhanced by immobilization in foams (70% activity retained; free enzyme only retained 50%). Immobilization also improved the enzyme stability to various denaturing agents (sodium chloride, urea, and ethanol). The immobilized enzyme exhibited increased stability compared to the free enzyme at high temperatures (95 degrees C). Both glycogen and starch could be utilized by the immobilized enzyme, indicating that this technique could prove useful for starch hydrolysis.     

Mechanisms of decomposition of mixtures of ethyl acetate and isopropyl bromide subjected to pulsed infrared laser irradiation

The infrared laser induced decomposition of mixtures of ethyl acetate and isopropyl bromide has been studied. The ratio of the yields of products ethylene and propylene, arising from the unimolecular decomposition reactions: ethyl acetate → ethylene + acetic acid, and isopropyl bromide → propylene + hydrogen bromide, were measured as a function of the ratio of ethyl acetate to isopropyl bromide and pressure of added helium. The results indicate clearly that in these systems non-equilibrium behavior is found up to the highest pressures used (about one atmosphere). A two level kinetic model is suggested which qualitatively explains the observations.     

Synthesis,Characterization, Luminescence,and Electrochemistry of the Tetranuclear Gold(I) Amidinate Clusters,Precursors to CO Oxidation Catalysts: Au4[(ArNC(H)NAr)]4, Au4[(PhNC(Ph)NPh)]4 and Au4[PhNC(CH3)NPh)4]

A summary of the chemistry of the tetranuclear Au(I) amidinate complexes is presented. Tetranuclear Au(I) amidinate clusters are produced by the reaction of the sodium salt of a amidine ligand with the gold precursor Au(THT)Cl in a (1:1) stoichiometry. The structures of the tetranuclear Au₄[ArNC(H)NAr]₄, Ar = C₆H₄‐4‐OMe, C₆H₃‐3,5‐Cl, C₆H₄‐4‐Me, C₆H₄‐3‐CF₃, C₆F₅, C₁₀H₇ and the tetranuclear Au₄[(PhNC(Ph)NPh]₄ and Au₄[PhNC(CH₃)NPh]₄ have been characterized by X‐ray crystallography. The average Au···Au distance between adjacent Au(I) atoms is ?3.0 Å, typical of compounds having an aurophilic interaction. The four gold atoms are located at the corner of a rhomboid with the amidinate ligands bridged above and below the near plane of the four Au(I) atoms. The angles at Au···Au···Au in the cyclic units are between 70° and 116°. The tetranuclear gold(I) amidinate clusters each show different luminescence behavior. The tetranuclear clusters Au₄[(ArNC(H)NAr]₄, Ar = C₆H₄‐4‐OMe, Ar = C₆H₄‐3‐CF₃, Ar = C₆H₄‐4‐Me and Ar = C₆H₄‐3,5‐Cl are the first tetranuclear gold(I) cluster species from group 11 elements that show fluorescence at room temperature. The tetranuclear naphthyl derivative Ar = C₁₀H₇ is luminescent only at 77 K. The pentafluorophenyl derivative Ar = C₆F₅ does not show any photoluminescence in the solid state nor in the solution. The lifetimes of the naphthyl and trifluoromethylphenyl complexes are in the millisecond range indicating phosphorescent processes. Electrochemical and chemical oxidation studies of the tetranuclear Au(I) amidinate clusters are presented. The tetranuclear complexes Au₄[ArNC(H)NAr]₄, Ar = C₆H₄‐4‐OMe, Ar = C₆H₄‐4‐Me, and Ar = C₆H₃‐3,5‐Cl, show three reversible waves at 0.75, 0.95, 1.09 V vs. Ag/AgCl at a scan rate of 500 mV/s in 0.1 M Bu₄NPF₆/CH₂Cl₂ at a Pt working electrode in CH₂Cl₂. Three reversible waves at 0.87, 1.19, 1.42 V vs. Ag/AgCl at a scan rate of 100 mV/s are also observed for the tetranuclear complex Au₄[PhNC(Ph)NPh]₄ in CH₂Cl₂. The pentafluorophenyl amidinate derivative, Au₄[ArNC(H)NAr]₄, Ar = C₆F₅ shows no oxidation wave below 1.8 V. Recently it has been shown that Au₄[ArNC(H)NAr]₄ is a very effective catalyst precursor for room temperature CO oxidation.     

Synthesis, Characterization, and Physical Properties of Two Trinuclear, Mixed-Valence Species of Type [μ3-OMnIIMnIII 2(O2CCF3)6(R)3] (R=H2O, CH3COOH)

The preparation and characterization of two new mixed-valence, trinuclear species, [Mn₃O(O₂CCF₃)₆(H₂O)₃]CF₃COOH4/3H₂O (1) and [Mn₃O(O₂CCF₃)₆(CH₃COOH)₃] (2), is reported. Compound 1 crystallizes in the triclinic space group, P¯1 (No. 2), with the parameters, a=12.3131(9) Å, b=12.4427(9) Å, c=12.965(1) Å, =72.593(4)°, =73.453(5)°, =68.345(4)°, V=1727.2(2) ų, and Z=2. A total of 14060 reflections were collected in the range 1.6827.52°. The final weighted and non-weighted agreement indices, R1=0.0589 and wR2=0.1445 were based on a total of 6953 unique reflections with an R _int value of 0.0542. Compound 2 crystallizes in the monoclinic space group, P2₁/n (No. 14), with the parameters, a=12.876(3) Å, b=12.212(4) Å, c=17.732(4) Å, =100.40(3)°, V=3640.4(1) ų, and Z=4. A total of 32197 reflections were collected in the range 1.7227.13°. The final weighted and non-weighted agreement factors, R1=0.0647 and wR2=0.1609 were based on a total of 8018 unique reflections with an R _int value of 0.0462. An investigation of the physical properties revealed that both compounds display an intermediate ground state of S=3/2 as a consequence of intramolecular antiferromagnetic coupling. The magnetic data for compound 1 was best fit to the parameters g=2.09, J=–5.5 cm^–1, J=–3.4 cm^–1, and D _Mn(III)=–4.5 cm^–1; the data for compound 2 was best fit to the parameters g=2.10, J=–2.9 cm^–1, J=–5.5 cm^–1, and D _Mn(III)=–4.5 cm^–1.     

Biosynthesis of anthecotuloide,an irregular sesquiterpene lactone from Anthemis cotula L. (Asteraceae) via a non-farnesyl diphosphate route

Retrobiosynthetic analysis of the allergenic sesquiterpene lactone, anthecotuloide, suggested that this natural product could be formed either by head to head condensation of geranyl diphosphate with dimethylallyl diphosphate, or from farnesyl diphosphate (FPP), the accepted regular sesquiterpene precursor via the rearrangement of a germacranolide precursor. Isotopic labelling of anthecotuloide has now been achieved by feeding [1-(13)C]-glucose, [U-13C6]-glucose and [6,6-(2)H2]-glucose to aseptically grown plantlets of Anthemis cotula(family Asteraceae). Analysis of labelling patterns and absolute 13C abundances using quantitative 13C NMR spectroscopy showed that the isoprene building blocks of this sesquiterpene are formed exclusively via the MEP terpene biosynthetic pathway. This was supported by results from an experiment using [U-13C6]-glucose. A deuterium labelling experiment using [6,6-(2)H2]-glucose supported the original proposal and showed that anthecotuloide is formed from a non FPP precursor. Isotope ratio mass spectrometry suggested that there were two pathways for sesquiterpene biosynthesis in A. cotula.