Total synthesis of antheliolide A

The first synthesis of the structurally unique marine natural product antheliolide A (1) has been accomplished by the pathway outlined in Scheme 1. The sequence is stereocontrolled and has led to the synthesis of (+/-)-1, and ent-1 as well as 1. The route contains a number of noteworthy or novel steps including (1) formation of the mixed acetal 7, (2) the diastereoselective bicyclization to form 8 in which stereocenters are correctly established at each carbon of the four-membered ring, (3) the chain extension 8 --> 11, (4) the efficient closure of the nine-membered ring of 12, (5) the mild oxidative cleavage sequence 14 --> 17, and (6) the successful and quick formation of the last three rings of 1 from aldehyde 17 via 18. The synthesis of 1 has also resulted in the clarification of its absolute configuration, which had not been determined previously.     

Highly regio- and chemoselective ring opening of oxa-bridged piperidinones toward functionalized furanones and piperidines

Lewis acid mediated competitive ring-opening reactions of N-tosyl-substituted oxa-bridged piperidinone ring systems are demonstrated. A majority of the Lewis acids furnished the regio- and chemoselective reductive ring opening at the C(1)-N bond, whereas TiCl(4) furnished at the C(1)-O bond in the presence of triethylsilane, affording functionalized furanones and dihydroxypiperidines, respectively. [reaction: see text]     

Direct separation of boron from Na- and Ca-rich matrices by sublimation for stable isotope measurement by MC-ICP-MS

An improved technique for precise and accurate determination of boron isotopic composition in Na-rich natural waters (groundwater, seawater) and marine biogenic carbonates was developed. This study used a ‘micro-sublimation’ technique to separate B from natural sample matrices in place of the conventional ion-exchange extraction. By adjusting analyte to appropriate pH, quantitative recovery of boron can be achieved (>98%) and the B procedural blank is limited to <8 pg. An additional mass bias effect in MC-ICP-MS was observed which could not be improved via the standard-sample-standard bracketing or the ‘pseudo internal’ normalization by Li. Therefore a standard other than NBS SRM 951 was used to monitor plasma condition in order to maintain analytical accuracy. An isotope cross-calibration with results from TIMS shows that the space-charge mass bias on MC-ICP-MS can be successfully corrected using off-line mathematical manipulation. Several reference materials, including the seawater IAPSO and two groundwater standards IAEA-B-2 and IAEA-B-3, were used to validate this approach. We found that the δ¹¹B of the reference coral JCp-1 was 24.22 ± 0.28‰, corresponding to seawater pH based on the coral δ¹¹B-pH function.     

Revised thermochemistry of gaseous ammonium nitrate, NH₄NO₃(g)

In an earlier paper (Hildenbrand, D. L., Lau, K. H., and Chandra, D. J. Phys. Chem. B 2010, 114, 330.), we detected the presence of NH?NO?(g) in the vapor over the solid nitrate and evaluated its partial pressure along with those of HNO? and NH?. The molecular constants of the gaseous nitrate were estimated in the absence of experimental values in an attempt to derive its enthalpies of sublimation and formation. After publication, we became aware of the sought molecular data, evaluated primarily from high-level theoretical calculations, and revised the analysis to yield Δ(f)H???°(NH?NO?(g)) = ?61.8 ± 5 kcal mol?1.     

Effect of Oxygen Partial Pressure on the Nucleation Kinetics of Orthorhombic YBCO

Effect of oxygen partial pressure on the nucleation kinetics of orthorhombic YBCO from tetragonal phase has been studied using classical nucleation theory. The free energy of formation of orthorhombic YBCO has been evaluated as a function of oxygen partial pressure.     

Probing the pore wall structure of nanoporous carbons using adsorption

Hitherto, adsorption has been traditionally used to study only the porous structure in disordered materials, while the structure of the solid phase skeleton has been probed by crystallographic methods such as X-ray diffraction. Here we show that for carbons density functional theory, suitably adapted to consider heterogeneity of the pore walls, can be reliably used to probe features of the solid structure hitherto accessibly only approximately even by crystallographic methods. We investigate a range of carbons and determine pore wall thickness distributions using argon adsorption, with results corroborated by X-ray diffraction.