Structural aspects and electronic absorption of the hydroxyphenanthroperylene quinones fringelit D,hypericin, and stentorin

Summary PPP type semiempirical quantum chemical calculations of absorption spectra were performed for hypericin, fringelit D, stentorin, and their respective conformers, tautomers, and deprotonated species. The results agree with the experimental absorption spectra of hypericin, stentorin, and fringelit D, their deprotonated species, and the polarized absorption spectra of an ,-long chain appended hypericin derivative embedded in stretched polyethylene.

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Strukturelle Aspekte und elektronische Absorptionseigenschaften der Hydroxyphenanthroperylenchinone Fringelit D, Hypericin und Stentorin

Zusammenfassung Semiempirische quantenchemische Rechnungen (PPP-Typ) der Absorptions-spektren von Hypericin, Fringelit D, Stentorin und ihrer Konformeren, Tautomeren und deren Deprotonierungsprodukten wurden durchgeführt. Die Resultate stehen in Einklang mit den experimentellen Absorptionsspektren von Hypericin, Fringelit D, Stentorin, ihrer Deprotonierungsprodukte und dem polarisierten Absorptionsspektrum eines in gestrecktem Polyethylen eingebetteten ,-substituierten Hypericinderivates.

     

β-lithiations of carboxamides. Synthesis of β-substituted-α,β-unsaturated amides

N-Methyl-2-methyl-3-(benzotriazol-l-yl)propanamide, on treatment with butyllithium forms a dianion which on treatment with alkyl and benzyl halides, aldehydes and ketones affords monosubstituted products; with ethyl p-toluate, a lactam is formed. The alkylated derivatives eliminate benzotriazole in the presence of base to afford trisubstituted α,β-unsaturated amides.     

Solid-phase synthesis of pyrazolines and isoxazolines with sodium benzenesulfinate as a traceless linker

[reaction: see text] The preparation of pyrazoline and isoxazoline derivatives with traceless solid-phase sulfone linker strategy is described. Key steps involved in the solid-phase synthetic procedure include (i) sulfinate S-alkylation, (ii) sulfone anion alkylation, (iii) gamma-hydroxy sulfone --> gamma-ketosulfone oxidation, and (iv) traceless product release via elimination-cyclization. A library of 12 pyrazolines and isoxazolines was synthesized.     

Determination of sugar structures in solution from residual dipolar coupling constants: methodology and application to methyl beta-D-xylopyranoside

We have developed methodology for the determination of solution structures of small molecules from residual dipolar coupling constants measured in dilute liquid crystals. The power of the new technique is demonstrated by the determination of the structure of methyl beta-d-xylopyranoside (I) in solution. An oriented sample of I was prepared using a mixture of C(12)E(5) and hexanol in D(2)O. Thirty residual dipolar coupling constants, ranging from -6.44 to 4.99 Hz, were measured using intensity-based J-modulated NMR techniques. These include 15 D(HH), 4 (1)D(CH), and 11 (n)D(CH) coupling constants. The accuracy of the dipolar coupling constants is estimated to be < +/- 0.02 Hz. New constant-time HMBC NMR experiments were developed for the measurement of (n)D(CH) coupling constants, the use of which was crucial for the successful structure determination of I, as they allowed us to increase the number of fitted parameters. The structure of I was refined using a model in which the directly bonded interatom distances were fixed at their ab initio values, while 16 geometrical and 5 order parameters were optimized. These included 2 CCC and 6 CCH angles, and 2 CCCC and 6 CCCH dihedral angles. Vibrationally averaged dipolar coupling constants were used during the refinement. The refined solution structure of I is very similar to that obtained by ab initio calculations, with 11 bond and dihedral angles differing by 0.8 degrees or less and the remaining 5 parameters differing by up to 3.3 degrees . Comparison with the neutron diffraction structure showed larger differences attributable to crystal packing effects. Reducing the degree of order by using dilute liquid crystalline media in combination with precise measurement of small residual dipolar coupling constants, as shown here, is a way of overcoming the limitation of strongly orienting liquid crystals associated with the complexity of (1)H NMR spectra for molecules with more than 12 protons.     

Effects of thioamide substitutions on the conformation and stability of alpha- and 3(10)-helices

Thiopeptides, formed by replacing the amide oxygen atom with a sp(2) sulfur atom, are useful in protein engineering and drug design because they confer resistance to enzymatic degradation and are predicted to be more rigid. This report describes our free molecular dynamics simulations with explicit water and free energy calculations on the effects of thio substitutions on the conformation of alpha-helices, 3(10)-helices, and their relative stability. The most prominent structural effect of thio substitution is the increase in the hydrogen bond distance from 2.1 A for normal peptides to 2.7 A for thiopeptides. To accommodate for the longer C[double bond]S...H-N hydrogen bond, the (phi, psi) dihedral angles of the alpha-helix changed from (-66 degrees, -42 degrees) to (-68 degrees, -38 degrees), and the rise per turn increased from 5.5 to 6.3 A. For 3(10)-helices, the (phi, psi) dihedral angles (-60 degrees, -20 degrees) and rise per turn (6.0 A) changed to (-66 degrees, -12 degrees) and 6.8 A, respectively. In terms of relative stability, the most prominent change upon thio substitution is the decrease in the free energy difference, Delta A(alpha --> 3(10)), from 14 to 3.5 kcal/mol. Therefore, normal peptides are less likely to form 3(10)-helix than are thiopeptides. Component analysis of the Delta A(alpha --> 3(10)) reviews that the entropy advantage of the 3(10)-helix for both Ac-Ala(10)-NHMe and Act-Alat(10)-NHMe is attributed to the 3(10)-helix being more flexible than the alpha-helix. Interestingly, upon thio substitution, this differential flexibility is even more apparent because the alpha-helix conformation of Act-Alat(10)-NHMe becomes more rigid due to the bulkier sulfur atom.