Sarin and Soman: Structure and Properties

The most stable conformers of sarin (isopropyl methylphosphonoflouridate) and soman (pinacolyl methylphosphonofluoridate) are determined in high-level-correlated calculations with extended Gaussian basis sets. The two molecules are found to have three low-energy conformers each. For both molecules two of the lowest energy conformers have almost the same energies with a very small barrier separating the corresponding minima. The third conformer of sarin is found to lie about 1 kcal/mol above the lowest energy form. For soman the corresponding value is equal to about 4 kcal/mol. The significance of these data for the mechanism of the toxic action of sarin and soman is discussed. According to our investigations sarin and soman are highly similar electronically and differences in their features arise mostly from the size and spatial arrangement of the alkoxy substituent at phosphorus. Also the influence of solvents on the conformations and solvation energies of sarin and soman is investigated.     

Model Calculations of Radiation-Induced Damage in Thymine Derivatives

When the thymine base is oxidized, the resulting cation may deprotonate reversibly at N3, or irreversibly at >C5-CH₃. In all thymine derivatives studied so far in the solid state, there is always a significant concentration of a radical formed by net H-abstraction from the >C5-CH₃. DFT calculations on this allyl-like radical are in good agreement with the experimental results for both the isotropic and anisotropic hyperfine couplings. There is a tendency for the thymine cation to deprotonate at N3 in solution. Calculations on the N3 deprotonated thymine cation yield two structures, one planar radical with an unusually large N1-C2 bond length, and one nonplanar radical with the N3 more than 25° out of the molecular plane. Calculations show that the structure with the lowest energy is the allyl-like radical.     

Rare tautomer hypothesis supported by theoretical studies: ab initio investigations of prototropic tautomerism in the N-methyl-p base

Density functional theory calculations were applied to the prediction of the tautomeric properties of N-methyl-P (6-methyl-3,4-dihydro-8H-pyrimido[4,5-c][1,2]oxazin-7-one), a base of the nucleoside analogue dP (6-(2-deoxy-beta-D-ribofuranosyl)-3,4-dihydro-8H-pyrimido[4,5-c][1,2]oxazin-7-one), for which water-solution experimental data have become available recently. The calculations have been performed for three tautomers in the gas phase, with various numbers of water molecules, and within the polarizable continuum model (PCM) of solvation. The obtained results correctly predict the presence of two tautomers and reproduce accurately the experimentally obtained ratio of the two most stable tautomeric forms when using a combination of explicit water molecules and the PCM of solvation. This lends additional support to the rare tautomer hypothesis of substitution mutagenesis in DNA replication.     

Erratum to: Conformations,vibrational spectra and force field of 1-methyl-2-(2′-pyridyl)benzimidazole: experimental data and density functional theory investigation in comparison with 2-(2′-pyridyl)benzimidazole

Structural Chemistry -     

Sorption-Catalytic Determination of Imazapyr on a Copper-Containing Sorbent

 Sorption of copper on filter-paper with chemically attached hexamethylenediamino-groups (HMDA-filter) allows to obtain the sorbent (Cu/HMDA-filter) stable in respect to desorption of copper. A nitrogen-containing herbicide imazapyr (imaz) is retained on Cu/HMDA-filters at pH 5.5–7.0 forming a relatively stable complex. Imazapyr is determined directly on the sorbent by its activating effect in the oxidation of hydroquinone with H₂O₂ catalyzed by Cu(II) with the formation of a product absorbing at 490 nm. The copper ions serve both to preconcentrate imazapyr and to catalyze the indicator reaction. The use of 1-μL sample aliquots pipetted onto the Cu/HMDA-filters allows to determine 1 × 10⁻³–0.03 μmol of imazapyr, whereas preconcentration of the analyte by pumping of its solution through the same sorbent expands the linear range to 1 × 10⁻⁴–1 × 10⁻¹ μmol of imazapyr. When the indicator reaction is carried out in solution, the range of activating action of imazapyr is narrower (0.06–0.1 μmol a for a solution volume of 10 mL). The determination is selective: 5–100-fold amounts of amines, aminoacids, carboxylic acid derivatives and other model compounds do not interfere. Soil extracts and carrot juice samples spiked with imazapyr have been analyzed. Received January 10, 2000. Revision July 28, 2000.     

The first synthesis of nitro-substituted cyclopropanes and spiropentanes via oxidation of the corresponding amino derivatives

A novel approach to nitro-substituted cyclopropanes and spiropentanes via oxidation of the corresponding amines with dimethyldioxirane is reported. The method is used successfully for the preparation of a series of nitrocyclopropanes as well as for the first synthesis of 1,4-dinitrospiro[2.2]pentane.     

Reaction of sodium N-benzylideneglycinate with dialkyl chlorophosphites in the presence of water

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