A Self‐Improved Water‐Oxidation Catalyst: Is One Site Really Enough?

The homogeneous catalysis of water oxidation by transition‐metal complexes has experienced spectacular development over the last five years. Practical energy‐conversion schemes, however, require robust catalysts with large turnover frequencies. Herein we introduce a new oxidatively rugged and powerful dinuclear water‐oxidation catalyst that is generated by self‐assembly from a mononuclear catalyst during the catalytic process. Our kinetic and DFT computational analysis shows that two interconnected catalytic cycles coexist while the mononuclear system is slowly and irreversibly converted into the more stable dinuclear system: an extremely robust water‐oxidation catalyst that does not decompose over extended periods of time.     

Privacy-preserving data splitting: a combinatorial approach

Privacy-preserving data splitting is a technique that aims to protect data privacy by storing different fragments of data in different locations. In this work we give a new combinatorial formulation to the data splitting problem. We see the data splitting problem as a purely combinatorial problem, in which we have to split data attributes into different fragments in a way that satisfies certain combinatorial properties derived from processing and privacy constraints. Using this formulation, we develop new combinatorial and algebraic techniques to obtain solutions to the data splitting problem. We present an algebraic method which builds an optimal data splitting solution by using Gröbner bases. Since this method is not efficient in general, we also develop a greedy algorithm for finding solutions that are not necessarily minimally sized.

     

An efficient solver for weighted Max-SAT

We present a new branch and bound algorithm for weighted Max-SAT, called Lazy which incorporates original data structures and inference rules, as well as a lower bound of better quality. We provide experimental evidence that our solver is very competitive and outperforms some of the best performing Max-SAT and weighted Max-SAT solvers on a wide range of instances.     

Synthesis of poly(ester amide)s with lateral groups from a bulk polycondensation reaction with formation of sodium chloride salts

Poly(ester amide)s with a regular sequence and derived from diamine, dicarboxylic acid, and glycolic acid units can be easily synthesized by using a thermal polycondensation method based on the formation of metal halide salts as a driving force. These new poly(ester amide)s have tuneable properties depending on the number of methylene groups and constitute a group of materials with potential interest as biodegradable materials in applications such as surgical sutures. The present work reveals that the proposed synthesis can also be applied when esters of L ‐lysine are used as a diamine unit since no secondary reactions such as transesterification occur under the required polymerization conditions. The possibility of linking compounds with pharmacological activity to the carboxylic acid groups of lysine extends the interest of the referred materials, for example, as drug delivery systems. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 661–667, 2008     

Insertion of acrylonitrile into palladium methyl bonds in neutral and anionic Pd(II) complexes

The reactions of a series of Pd(II) methyl compounds of general formula LPd(NCCH(3))CH(3), where L is a bulky phenoxydiazene or phenoxyaldimine ligand with the polar olefin acrylonitrile (AN), are reported. The compounds react with an excess of AN to give the products of 2,1 insertion into the Pd-Me bond, yielding dimers and/or trimers which feature bridging alpha-cyano groups. The reactions were studied by low temperature (1)H NMR spectroscopy, revealing an initial formation of compounds featuring N-bound AN, which isomerized to an (unobserved) pi-bound species that rapidly underwent 2,1 insertion into the Pd-Me bond. Intermediate oligomeric complexes retaining a Pd-Me function were observed at low [AN] in these reactions. Under pseudo first-order conditions, k(obs) values of 8.5 x 10(-5) to 2.68 x 10(-3) M(-1) (-22 degrees C to 10 degrees C, 100 equiv of AN) and activation parameters of DeltaH++ = 14.4(5) kcal mol(-1) and DeltaS++ = -19(5) eu were obtained in one case. Comparison of the overall rates of insertion between two LPd(NCCH(3))CH(3), differing in the overall charge on the supporting ligand L, showed that the complex bearing a negatively charged ligand reacts with AN twice as fast as one with no anionic charge. The rates of insertion in both of these complexes are significantly faster than reported rates for analogous reactions in cationic Pd(II) derivatives, indicating that increasing the negative charge on the complex enhances the rate of AN insertion. These results provide fundamental mechanistic insights into a crucial reaction for incorporation of polar comonomers into alpha olefins via a coordination polymerization mechanism.     

Systematic evaluation of the conformational properties of aliphatic omega-hydroxy acids

A systematic conformational study of omega-hydroxy acids, HO-(CH(2))(n)()-COOH with n ranging from 2 to 5, has been performed using quantum mechanical calculations at the MP2 level. To distinguish between intrinsic and environmentally induced conformational preferences, calculations have been carried out in both gas phase and chloroform solution, a polarizable continuum solvation model being used to represent the latter. Results indicate a consistent conformational behavior, as reflects the feature that the lowest energy minimum for n = 2, 3, 4, and 5 corresponds to the g+g-t, g+g+g-t, g-g+g+g-t, and g+g-g+g+g-t conformations, respectively. Furthermore, the stability of the extended and semi-extended conformations increases systematically with the size of the central aliphatic segment. The relationship between the size of the aliphatic segment and the stability of folded conformations is analyzed and discussed.     

Studies on the hydrogenation of 6-(hydroxymethyl)pyridine-2-carboxylates and its application to the synthesis of 6-(hydroxymethyl)piperidine-2-carboxylic acid derivatives

The synthesis of the novel amino acid 6-(hydroxymethyl)-2-piperidinecarboxylic acid ( 1a ) and its ethyl ester 1b is reported. In the hydrogenation of 6-(hydroxymethyl)pyridine-2-carboxylates, hydrogenolysis of the alcohol group appeared as an unusual side reaction. Optimization of the reaction conditions allowed us to minimize hydrogenolysis and afforded pure 1 .     

Backbone conformational preferences and pseudorotational ring puckering of 1-aminocyclopentane-1-carboxylic acid

We have used quantum mechanical calculations at the B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) level to determine the conformational preferences of the N-acetyl-N'-methylamide derivative of 1-aminocyclopentane-1-carboxylic acid in the gas phase, chloroform solution, and water solution. The backbone conformation of this dipeptide has been described through the dihedral angles varphi and psi, while the pseudorotational phase angle was used to define the conformation of the cyclopentane ring. Results indicate that the backbone flexibility of this amino acid is restricted by the cyclic nature of the side chain, the relative stability of the different conformations depending on the polarity of the environment. The potential energy of the pseudorotation was also studied as a function of the backbone conformation. Interestingly, the conformation of the cyclic side chain depends on the backbone arrangement. Furthermore, the number of pseudorotational states accessible at room temperature is high in all the investigated environments, especially in aqueous solution. Finally, a set of force-field parameters for classical molecular mechanics calculations was developed for the investigated amino acid. Molecular dynamics simulations in both chloroform and aqueous solutions were performed to demonstrate the reliability of such parameters.