Dipolar and nonpolar altitudinal molecular rotors mounted on an Au(111) surface

We describe the preparation of a compound whose molecules consist of two metal sandwich stands carrying tentacles with affinity to metal surfaces and holding an axle that carries a dipolar or a nonpolar rotator. The dipolar rotor exists as three pairs of enantiomers, rapidly interconverting at room temperature. When mounted on a gold surface, each molecule represents a chiral altitudinal rotor, with the rotator axle parallel to the surface. The surface-mounted rotor molecules are characterized by several spectroscopic and imaging techniques. At any one time, in about one-third of the dipolar rotors the rotator is free to turn and the direction of its dipole can be flipped by the electric field applied by an STM tip, as revealed by differential barrier height imaging. Molecular dynamics calculations suggest that electric field normal to the surface causes members of one pair of enantiomers to rotate unidirectionally.     

Further insights on the high-low spin interconversion in nickel(II) tetramine complexes. Solvent and temperature effects

The spin interconversion equilibrium involving the [Ni(II)(cyclam)]2+ complex has been investigated in a variety of polar solvents, at varying temperatures. The greater the donor tendencies of the solvent, the higher the endothermicity of the high-to-low-spin conversion. In particular, a positive linear relationship exists between DeltaHdegrees and Gutmann's Donor Number (DN). In the same way, higher donor tendencies of the solvent favour the occurrence of the Ni(II)-to-Ni(III) oxidation process and negative linear relationship has been found between the E1/2(Ni(III)/Ni(II)) and DN. General behaviour is related to the intensity of the metal-solvent axial bonds in the octahedrally elongated cyclam complexes (of both Ni(II) and Ni(III)).     

The XXXV International IUPAC Symposium on macromolecular chemistry (MACROACRON-94)

Information Congresses, Conferences, Symposia, Workshops, and Seminars in the Field of Chemical Sciences held with Participation of the Russian Academy of Sciences

The XXXV International IUPAC Symposium on macromolecular chemistry (MACROACRON-94)     

Studying ancient crop provenance: implications from δ(13)C and δ(15)N values of charred barley in a Middle Bronze Age silo at Ebla(NW Syria)

The discovery of a storeroom full of barley and other cereals (L.9512) in the proto-historic site of Ebla has provided a unique opportunity to study the centralized storage system of the early city-state from a different perspective. Epigraphic evidence available within the site reveals a complex system of taxation which included gathering grain tributes from satellite sites and redistributing semi-finished products such as flour. In this paper, we intend to explore the possibilities of a combined approach to studying the storage system, based on estimated barley grain volumes and δ(13)C-δ(15)N analyses. This approach is used to distinguish between grain from different harvesting sites and to identify any grain cultivated using special agricultural practices (e.g. manuring or irrigation). The basic assumption for this kind of analysis is that the growth-site conditions, natural or anthropogenic, of harvested cereals are reflected in their grain size and δ(13)C-δ(15)N values. Since the remains found in the storeroom were charred, the first task was to evaluate the effect of carbonization on the δ(13)C-δ(15)N and the size of the grains. Thus, the effect of charring was tested on modern samples of Syrian barley landraces. Once it had been ascertained that fresh grains reduced to charred remains retain their original biometric and isotopic traits, the ancient material was examined. Thirteen groups were identified, each characterized by a specific average volume and specific carbon and nitrogen values. The analysis revealed that what had first appeared to be a homogeneous concentration of grain was in fact an assemblage of barley harvested from different sites.     

Protein secondary structure prediction with SPARROW

A first step toward predicting the structure of a protein is to determine its secondary structure. The secondary structure information is generally used as starting point to solve protein crystal structures. In the present study, a machine learning approach based on a complete set of two-class scoring functions was used. Such functions discriminate between two specific structural classes or between a single specific class and the rest. The approach uses a hierarchical scheme of scoring functions and a neural network. The parameters are determined by optimizing the recall of learning data. Quality control is performed by predicting separate independent test data. A first set of scoring functions is trained to correlate the secondary structures of residues with profiles of sequence windows of width 15, centered at these residues. The sequence profiles are obtained by multiple sequence alignment with PSI-BLAST. A second set of scoring functions is trained to correlate the secondary structures of the center residues with the secondary structures of all other residues in the sequence windows used in the first step. Finally, a neural network is trained using the results from the second set of scoring functions as input to make a decision on the secondary structure class of the residue in the center of the sequence window. Here, we consider the three-class problem of helix, strand, and other secondary structures. The corresponding prediction scheme "SPARROW" was trained with the ASTRAL40 database, which contains protein domain structures with less than 40% sequence identity. The secondary structures were determined with DSSP. In a loose assignment, the helix class contains all DSSP helix types (α, 3-10, π), the strand class contains β-strand and β-bridge, and the third class contains the other structures. In a tight assignment, the helix and strand classes contain only α-helix and β-strand classes, respectively. A 10-fold cross validation showed less than 0.8% deviation in the fraction of correct structure assignments between true prediction and recall of data used for training. Using sequences of 140,000 residues as a test data set, 80.46% ± 0.35% of secondary structures are predicted correctly in the loose assignment, a prediction performance, which is very close to the best results in the field. Most applications are done with the loose assignment. However, the tight assignment yields 2.25% better prediction performance. With each individual prediction, we also provide a confidence measure providing the probability that the prediction is correct. The SPARROW software can be used and downloaded on the Web page http://agknapp.chemie.fu-berlin.de/sparrow/ .     

New organic nitrates. II. Synthesis of 2H-pyrido[2,3-e]-1,3-oxazine-2,4(3H)-diones, 2H-pyrido[4,3-e]-1,3-oxazine-2,4(3H)-diones, 2H-pyrido[4,3-e]-1,3-oxazin-4(3H)-ones, 2H-thieno[2,3-e]-1,3-oxazin-4(3H)-ones and 2H-thieno[3,4-e]-1,3-oxazin-2,4(3H)-diones

The preparation and the physico-chemical characterization of 2H-pyrido[2,3-e]-1,3-oxazine-2,4(3H)-diones, 2H-pyrido[4,3-e]-1,3-oxazine-2,4(3H)-diones, 2H-pyrido[4,3-e]-1,3-oxazin-4(3H)-ones, 2H-thieno[2,3-e]-1,3-oxazin-4(3H)-ones and 2H-thieno[3,4-e]-1,3-oxazine-2,4(3H)-diones are reported.     

From Epiraikovenal,an Instrumental Niche-Exploitation Sesquiterpenoid of Some Strains of the Marine Ciliated Protist euplotes raikovi,to an unusual intramolecular tele-dienone-olefin [2+2] photocycloaddition

It is shown that strains of the marine ciliate Euplotes raikovi are subtly variable in their production of secondary metabolites. Strains GA8 and 39W from Mediterranean and SB8 from Californian coasts produce the sesquiterpenoid epiraikovenal ( 3 ), while strains GA8 and SB8 also produce secoepiraikovenal ( 4 ), which play an instrumental niche-exploitation role and have also taxonomic significance. Comparison of 3 and 4 with raikovenal ( 2 ) and its putative biogenetic precursor 1 , which have similar roles in the conspecific strain Morl from Casablanca coast in the Atlantic Ocean, inspired us the first case of intramolecular tele-dienone-olefin [2+2] photocycloaddition, exemplified here by the transformation of 1 into ent- 3 . This served also to unequivocally clarify the stereochemical relationship between 3 and 2 .     

Interfacial free energy driven nanophase separation in poly(3-hexylthiophene)/[6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester thin films

The nanostructure of thermally annealed thin films of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) blends on hydrophobic and hydrophilic substrates was studied to unravel the relationship between the substrate properties and the phase structure of polymer blends in confined geometry. Indeed, the nature of the employed substrates was found to affect the extent of phase separation, the PCBM aggregation state and the texture of the whole system. In particular, annealing below the melting temperature of the polymer yielded the formation of PCBM nanometric crystallites on the hydrophobic substrates, while mostly amorphous microscopic aggregates were formed on the hydrophilic ones. Moreover, while an enhanced in-plane orientation of P3HT lamellae was promoted on hydrophobic substrates, a markedly tilted geometry was produced on the hydrophilic ones. The observed effects were interpreted in terms of a simple model connecting the interface free energy for the blend films to the different polymer chain mobility and diffusion velocity of PCBM molecules on the different substrates.     

Four-component assembly of chiral N-B heterocycles with a natural product-like framework

The dative N-B bond was used to simply assemble heterocycles with a skeleton akin to the 5-oxofuro[2,3-b]furan motif. Twenty-five new N-B heterocycles were prepared via a highly efficient one-pot four-component reaction in yields and diastereoselectivities up to 95% and >97%, respectively. Several reaction intermediates were discovered using electrospray ionization mass spectroscopy which set the basis for the mechanism elucidation using DFT calculations.