Mehrfachbindungen zwischen hauptgruppenelementen und übergangsmetallen: VII. Oxidative decarbonylierungsprozessein der photochemie von tricarbonyl(η5-pentamethylcyclopentadienyl)rhenium: Neue oxo—rhenium-komplexe

Short-wavelength photolysis of tricarbonyl(η⁵-pentamethylcyclopentadienyl)rhenium (1) (λ < 300 nm, quartz-glass) in tetrahydrofuran yields under partial or complete decarbonylation three novel organorhenium compounds, with the relative yields depending upon the irradiation time. Formed by exhaustive oxidative decarbonylation, the complex trioxo(η⁵-pentamethylcyclopentadienyl)rhenium(VII) (5) represents the first example of the new class of oxo half-sandwich complexes. The derivatives (μ-O)[(η⁵-C₅Me₅)Re(CO)₂]₂ (2; Me = CH₃) and (η⁵-C₅Me₅)₂Re₂(CO)₂O₂ (3; Me = CH₃) containing both oxo and carbonyl ligands are formed from 1 at shorter irradiation times. Both compounds are isolable intermediates along the mechanistically not yet fully established sequence 1 → → 5 as they are degraded to 5 under CO₂ elimination in the presence of air and/or light. The mixed oxo carbonyl complex 2 has been characterized by means of single-crystal X-ray diffraction techniques (triclinic, space group P$\text{1}$-C_i¹; a 907.4(2), b 1040.2(3), c 1414.3(4) pm; α 79.99(2), β 88.42(2), γ 66.18(2)°; R_iso = 0.068, R_aniso = 0.037, R_w = 0.031). The molecular structure centres around an isosceles Re₂O triangle whose metal centres exhibit a strongly distorted square-pyramidal geometry; the metal-metal distance recorded at 281.7(1) pm is in agreement with a single bond by the EAN rule. The centrically coordinated, planar five-membered ring ligands are parallel to each other (interplanar angle 2°) and occupy trans-positions with respect to the central Re₂O geometry.     

Hartree-Fock energy partitioning in terms of Hirshfeld atoms.

A Hirshfeld decomposition scheme of the Hartree-Fock total molecular energy into atomic energies is presented. The calculations are performed by direct numerical integration and the results are compared for a set of 28 molecules containing different kinds of atoms. The calculated atomic energies show a strong dependency on changes of atomic electron population and hybridization. Linear correlations are found between the energy and the population for H, these being related to the electronegativity of this atom and to the external potential created by the remaining atoms. The proposed energy partitioning scheme appears to be useful for studies such as proton acidity, the anomeric effect and group transferability, and allows atomic virial ratios to be obtained. Finally, the atomic potential energies are found to mimic trends based on exact expressions as well as trends displayed by molecular quantities, thus lending credibility to the partitioning scheme used.     

Studies on isocyanides and related compounds. A convenient synthesis of 2,3-disubstituted spiroimidazolones

The four-component condensation between cycloketones 1 , ammonium formate, and isocyanides 2 afforded formamides 3 , which were dehydrated to the corresponding isocyanides 4 . Upon treatment with n-butyllithium, compounds 4 cyclized to spiroimidazolones 6 , via the carbanions 5 . A series of 2,3-disubstituted spiroimidazolones 8 was obtained by reacting 5 with aldehydes 7 .     

Characterization of a β-glucanase produced by Rhizopus microsporus var. microsporus, and its potential for application in the brewing industry

Background  

In the barley malting process, partial hydrolysis of β-glucans begins with seed germination. However, the endogenous 1,3-1,4-β-glucanases are heat inactivated, and the remaining high molecular weight β-glucans may cause severe problems such as increased brewer mash viscosity and turbidity. Increased viscosity impairs pumping and filtration, resulting in lower efficiency, reduced yields of extracts, and lower filtration rates, as well as the appearance of gelatinous precipitates in the finished beer. Therefore, the use of exogenous β-glucanases to reduce the β-glucans already present in the malt barley is highly desirable.     

A unique tautomer of 1‐n‐hexyl‐3‐phenyl‐1H‐pyrazol‐5‐ol

In the title compound, C₁₅H₂₀N₂O, the bond distances and angles are consistent with the presence of the hydroxy tautomer. This tautomer was unambiguously determined by the clear presence of a H atom bonded to oxygen, as well as the total absence of any residual electron density around the N atom in the heterocycle, thus precluding any possibility of desmotropism.     

Construction of 4D-QSAR Models for Use in the Design of Novel p38-MAPK Inhibitors

The p38-mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38-MAPK) plays a key role in lipopolysaccharide-induced tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-1 (IL-1) release during the inflammatory process, emerging as an attractive target for new anti-inflammatory agents. Four-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (4D-QSAR) analysis [Hopfinger et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 119 (1997) 10509] was applied to a series of 33 (a training set of 28 and a test set of 5) pyridinyl-imidazole and pyrimidinyl-imidazole inhibitors of p38-MAPK, with IC50 ranging from 0.11 to 2100 nM [Liverton et al., J. Med. Chem., 42 (1999) 2180]. Five thousand conformations of each analogue were sampled from a molecular dynamics simulation (MDS) during 50 ps at a constant temperature of 303 K. Each conformation was placed in a 2 angstroms grid cell lattice for each of three trial alignments. 4D-QSAR models were constructed by genetic algorithm (GA) optimization and partial least squares (PLS) fitting, and evaluated by leave-one-out cross-validation technique. In the best models, with three to six terms, the adjusted cross-validated squared correlation coefficients, Q2adj, ranged from 0.67 to 0.85. Model D (Q2adj = 0.84) was identified as the most robust model from alignment 1, and it is representative of the other best models. This model encompasses new molecular regions as containing pharmacophore sites, such as the amino-benzyl moiety of pyrimidine analogs and the N1-substituent in the imidazole ring. These regions of the ligands should be further explored to identify better anti-inflammatory inhibitors of p38-MAPK.     

Easy α-alkylation of ketones with alcohols through a hydrogen autotransfer process catalyzed by RuCl2(DMSO)4

The electrophilic α-alkylation of ketones with alcohols is accomplished by a hydrogen autotransfer process catalyzed by RuCl₂(DMSO)₄. The reaction can produce either simple alkylated ketones or α,β-unsaturated ketones just by choosing the appropriate starting ketones (methyl ketones or bicyclic methylenic ketones, respectively), as well as quinolines (by using 2-aminobenzyl alcohol derivatives) or the corresponding alcohol derivatives by the addition of an extra equivalent of the initial alcohol. In the last case, after the above alkylation process reduction of the carbonyl compound takes place. A mechanistic study seems to indicate that the process goes through the oxidation of the alcohols with ruthenium (after a previous deprotonation) to yield the corresponding aldehyde and a ruthenium hydride intermediate. In turn, the aldehyde suffers a classical aldol reaction with the starting ketone to form the corresponding α,β-unsaturated ketone, which finally is reduced through a Michael-type addition by the aforementioned ruthenium hydride intermediate.     

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering in the ultraviolet spectral region: UV-SERS on rhodium and ruthenium electrodes

We report the first observation of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) excited with ultraviolet (UV) light from transition metal electrodes. Adsorbed pyridine and SCN- on rough rhodium (Rh) and ruthenium (Ru) electrodes, respectively, have been studied using 325 nm laser excitation. In contrast, the best enhancers in the visible and near infrared, silver and gold, do not produce UV-SERS. The experimental data of UV-SERS are in agreement with our preliminary theoretical calculation based on the electromagnetic enhancement mechanism. The enhancement factor is about 2 orders of magnitude for the Rh and Ru electrodes when they are excited at 325 nm.     

Asymptotic behavior of general M-estimates for regression and scale with random carriers

Summary Let (xini, y _i be a sequence of independent identically distributed random variables, where x _i R ^p and y _i R, and let R ^p be an unknown vector such that y _i =x _i +u _i (^*), where u _i is independent of x _i and has distribution function F(u/), where >0 is an unknown parameter. This paper deals with a general class of M-estimates of regression and scale, ( ^*,^*), defined as solutions of the system: , where r= (y _i –x _i ^1*/)^*, with R ^p ×RR and RR. This class contains estimators of (, ) proposed by Huber, Mallows and Krasker and Welsch. The consistency and asymptotic normality of the general M-estimators are proved assuming general regularity conditions on and and assuming the joint distribution of (x _i , y _i ) to fulfill the model (^*) only approximately.