Soluble and polymer-supported 2- and 3-benzylated furans for the preparation of α,β-ethylenic carbonyl compounds

Soluble and polymer-supported 2- and 3-benzylated furans were subjected to a sequence involving a Diels-Alder reaction with α,β-acetylenic carbonyl compounds, a Michael addition, and a subsequent retro-Diels-Alder reaction to yield olefinic compounds. On solid support, this traceless strategy is advantageous since pure compounds were released in the thermal cycloreversion step. The fur-2-ylated resin allowed a highly diastereoselective synthesis.     

Cycloaddition chemistry of 2-vinyl-substituted indoles and related heteroaromatic systems

[reaction: see text] The intramolecular Diels-Alder cycloaddition reaction (IMDAF) of several N-phenylsulfonylindolyl-substituted furanyl carbamates containing a tethered pi-bond on the indole ring were examined as an approach to the iboga alkaloid catharanthine. Only in the case where the tethered pi-bond contained two carbomethoxy groups did the [4 + 2]-cycloaddition occur. Push-pull dipoles generated from the Rh(II)-catalyzed reaction of diazo imides, on the other hand, undergo successful intramolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition across both alkenyl and heteroaromatic pi-bonds to provide novel pentacyclic compounds in good yield and in a stereocontrolled fashion. The facility of the cycloaddition was found to be critically dependent on conformational factors in the transition state. Ligand substitution in the rhodium(II) catalyst markedly altered the product ratio between [3 + 2]-cycloaddition and intramolecular C-H insertion. The variation in reactivity reflects the difference in electrophilicity between the various rhodium carbenoid intermediates. Intramolecular C-H insertion is enhanced with the more electrophilic carbene generated using Rh(II) perfluorobutyrate.     

Chiral organometallic triangles with Rh-Rh bonds. 2. Compounds prepared from enantiopure cis-Rh2(C6H4PPh2)2(OAc)2(HOAc)2 and their catalytic potentials

Enantiomers of the orthometalated dirhodium compound cis-Rh2(C6H4PPh2)2(OAc)2(HOAc)2 (R-1 and S-1) were prepared from carboxylate exchange reactions of the resolved diasteroisomers of cis-Rh2(C6H4PPh2)2(protos)2(H2O)2 (protos = N-4-methylphenylsulfonyl-l-proline anion) and acetic acid. These compounds react with excess Me3OBF4 in CH3CN, producing the enantiomers of [cis-Rh2(C6H4PPh2)2(CH3CN)6](BF4)2 (R-2 and S-2) which have six labile and replaceable CH3CN ligands in equatorial and axial positions. Reactions of R-2 and S-2 with tetraethylammonium salts of the linear dicarboxylic acids, terephthalic acid (HO2CC6H4CO2H), oxalic acid (HO2CCO2H), and 4,4'-diphenyl-dicarboxylic acid (HO2CC6H4C6H4CO2H) afford the enantiopure triangular supramolecules [cis-Rh2(C6H4PPh2)2(O2CC6H4CO2)(py)2]3, RRR-3 and SSS-3, Rh6(cis-C6H4PPh2)6(O2CCO2)3(py)5(CH2Cl2), RRR-4 and SSS-4, and Rh6(cis-C6H4PPh2)6(O2CC6H4C6H4CO2)3(py)4(CH2Cl2)2, RRR-5 and SSS-5, respectively. The absolute structures of each of the enantiomers of 1, 3, 4, and 5 were determined by X-ray diffraction analyses. The enantiomers of 3, 4, and 5 were found to be enantiomorphically isostructural, whereas R-1 and S-1 crystallized in different space groups. In 4 and 5, CH2Cl2 molecules coordinate to rhodium atoms in the axial positions. The 1H and 31P[1H] NMR spectra of all compounds are reported. The triangular compounds are redox-active, and their electrochemistry is also discussed. An assay of the catalytic activity/selectivity performance of the triangles for typical metal carbene transformation, using the model intermolecular cyclopropanation of styrene with ethyl diazoacetate in both homogeneous and heterogeneous phases, show that these chiral triangles are very active and have remarkable selectivity when compared with simple Rh2 paddle-wheel catalysts with chiral amidate ligands.     

Capillary liquid chromatography-microcoil 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and liquid chromatography-ion trap mass spectrometry for on-line structure elucidation of isoflavones in Radix astragali

Miniaturization and hyphenation of chromatographic separation techniques to nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy is being increasingly demanded in the field of biomedical, drug metabolite and natural product analysis. Herein, capillary liquid chromatography was coupled on-line to microcoil 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (capLC-NMR) equipped with a 1.5 microL solenoidal probe for structure elucidation of isoflavones in Radix astragali. The extract was screened by HPLC-UV-MS as the preliminary step and four major peaks were identified tentatively by ion trap mass spectrometry molecular weights and characteristic fragments. Then, stopped-flow capLC-UV-NMR was performed using 33 microg extract injected on-column. The four peaks were parked manually in the micro probe one by one and corresponding 1H NMR spectra were recorded with good resolutions under the applied capLC-NMR conditions (120 and 220 ng injected on-column for peaks 2 and 4, respectively). All aromatic regions of 1H NMR spectra correlated well to the characteristic signals of isoflavone aglycone protons. And the signal corresponding to the anomeric proton of the glucopyranoside of isoflavone glycoside was also obtained for peak 1. Therefore, these four peaks are determined as calycosin-7-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (1), ononin (2), calycosin (3) and formononetin (4) unambiguously. The capLC-NMR results indicate that this hyphenated technique could be used for the determination of a great variety of natural products from small sample amounts, e.g., only 5 g R. astragali in this study.     

Splitless on-line coupling of capillary high-performance liquid chromatography,capillary electrochromatography and pressurized capillary electrochromatography with nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

A mixture of unsaturated fatty acid methyl esters was separated with a new splitless capillary set-up. With the employed apparatus configuration different capillary separation techniques such as capillary high-performance liquid chromatography (cHPLC), capillary electrochromatography (CEC) and pressurized capillary electrochromatography (pCEC) could be applied. The detection and identification of the sample compounds were accomplished by hyphenating these capillary separation techniques with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy using a novel configuration of the detection capillary set-up. Using modified electrokinetically driven separation techniques, the electric field was applied solely across the separation column. With this improved interface for capillary liquid chromatography-NMR on-line coupling, the stereochemical assignment of the cis and trans configuration of unsaturated fatty acids could be easily accomplished. Finally, the results of cHPLC-NMR, CEC-NMR and pCEC-NMR coupling experiments were compared.Dedicated to Professor Günter Häfelinger on the occasion of his 65th birthday     

Anodic oxidation of methyl alpha-dimethylsilyldihydrocinnamate. A novel silicon gamma-aryl effect

The anodic oxidation of methyl 3-phenyl-2-dimethylsilylpropionate occurs at a potential almost 1 V positive of that required to oxidize other alpha-silyl esters. Semiempirical and ab initio calculations on the model compound 1-phenyl-2-trimethylsilylethane indicate that electron removal from these two compounds is highly stereoelectronically dependent. Both molecules exist almost exclusively in a conformation in which the phenyl group and silicon atom are anti and the side chain is perpendicular to the aromatic ring. This conformation has a higher energy HOMO orbital and lower computed ionization potential than the only other significantly populated conformation of 1-phenyl-2-trimethylsilylethane. Finally, the ab initio calculations show that in the cation radical of this model compound the ipso carbon of the aromatic ring and the side chain carbon bound to silicon draw significantly closer together than in the neutral species; an electrostatic potential map of the cation radical shows that the ipso carbon bears the highest degree of positive charge of any of the benzenoid carbons. We interpret these data, taken together, as an indication that this cation radical is stabilized by overlap of the rear lobe of the carbon-silicon bond with the p-orbital of the ipso carbon.     

2,2′‐[2,3‐Di­hydro‐2‐(prop‐2‐enyl)‐1H‐isoindole‐1,3‐diyl­idene]bis(propane­di­nitrile)–tetra­thia­fulvalene (1/1), TCPI–TTF

The title complex, C₁₇H₉N₅·C₆H₄S₄, contains π‐deficient bis(di­nitrile) and TTF mol­ecules stacked alternately in columns along the a‐axis direction; the interplanar angle between the TTF molecule and the isoindolinyl C₄N[C(CN)₂]₂ moiety is 1.21 (4)°. The N‐allyl moiety in the TCPI mol­ecule is oriented at an angle of 87.10 (10)° with respect to the five‐membered C₄N ring, and the four C[triple‐bond]N bond lengths range from 1.134 (3) to 1.142 (3) Å, with C—C[triple‐bond]N angles in the range 174.3 (3)–176.9 (2)°. In the TTF system, the S—C bond lengths are 1.726 (3)–1.740 (3) and 1.751 (2)–1.763 (2) Å for the external S—C(H) and internal S—C(S) bonds, respectively.     

REACTIVITY OF SINGLET OXYGEN TOWARD LARGE PEPTIDES

Abstract— The reactions of singlet oxygen, ¹O₂, with amino acids and their derivatives have been studied previously. It was found that only five amino acid residues interact readily with ¹O₂. Here we describe its reactions with the large peptides melittin, neuropeptide Y (NPY) and insulin in their native and in their denatured forms. The singlet oxygen quenching by a polypeptide was compared with that of a solution at the same concentration as those of its constituent amino acids, which are known to react efficiently with ¹O₂. It was found that the quenching rate by such a mixture exceeded that of the polypeptides in their native form. The ratio of the rate constants for NPY to that of the corresponding amino acid mixture in solution was 0.75. For melittin in its monomeric form it was 0.83 and for a tetramer of melittin (at high ionic strength) it was 0.70. For native insulin the ratio of the rate constants was 0.55. For oxidized insulin with its -S-S- bridges opened the figure became 0.80. However, the quenching by all the polypeptides in their fully denatured form (in the presence of 6 M urea) equalled that of the corresponding amino acid mixtures. Although polypeptides are generally supposed not to possess a stable secondary structure in solution the effects are explained by shielding of some of the reactive amino acid residues in the chain by temporary folding or incipient secondary structures of the native polypeptide.
It is shown that the kinetics for a homogeneous solution of quenchers applies also to measurements in a polypeptide solution where the quenchers are localized along the polypeptide backbone and thus form clusters in solution.     

Electrocyclic ring opening reaction of a 1,3,4-oxadiazin-6-one into its azaketene tautomer

5-Methyl-2-phenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazin-6-one undergoes cycloaddition with 2-methylpropenylpyrrolidine. One of the cycloadducts is derived from the Diels-Alder reaction of a transient azaketene tautomer.     

Searching for precursors to metal-metal bonded dipalladium species: a study of Pd2(4+) complexes

Reactions of Pd3(OAc)6 with lithium salts of mononegative bidentate N,N-ligands, L, of various types, such as formamidinates, benzamidinates, triazinates, and guanidinates, were investigated in a search for ways to obtain Pd2(4+) compounds that could serve as precursors to paddlewheel complexes with a metal-metal bond and a Pd2(5+) core. It was found that the reactions are complex and that either square planar mononuclear or dinuclear species may be formed depending on the reaction conditions or the method of isolation. For Pd2L4 compounds, alpha and beta isomers were sometimes obtainable. In the alpha isomer, all N,N-ligands serve as bridges, whereas in the beta isomer, two ligands bridge the Pd2(4+) unit and each of the other two chelate to a metal atom. Electrochemistry shows that the paddlewheel compounds Pd2(TolNC(H)NTol)4, Pd2(PhNC(Ph)NPh)4, and Pd2(PhNC(Ph)NPh)3(OAc) and the orthometalated complex cis-Pd2[eta2-C6H4NC(Ph)N(H)Ph]2(mu-OAc)2 have reversible oxidation waves between 0.70 and 0.92 V vs Ag/AgCl, which makes them good candidates for chemical oxidation.