The Rabe amination after a century: direct addition of N-heterocycles to carbonyl compounds

A catalytic version of the Rabe electrophilic amination is presented. This kind of reaction was originally employed in 1918 in a key step for the conversion of quinotoxine to quinine. Ketones and α-substituted aldehydes give the corresponding α-aminated carbonyl compounds in moderate yield. α,α-Unsubstituted aldehydes give rise to amino ketones via a novel rearrangement.     

N-Heterocyclic Carbenes and Imidazole-2-thiones as Ligands for the Gold(I)-Catalysed Hydroamination of Phenylacetylene

Gold(I) complexes of 1-[1-(2,6-dimethylphenylimino)alkyl]-3-(mesityl)imidazol-2-ylidene (C^Imine(R) ), 1,3-dimesitylimidazol-2-ylidene (IMes) and of the corresponding thione derivatives (S^Imine(R) and IMesS) were prepared and structurally characterised. The solid-state structure of the C^Imine(R) and S^Imine(R) gold(I) complexes showed monodentate coordination of the ligand and a dangling imine group that could bind reversibly to the metal centre to stabilise otherwise unstable catalytic intermediates. Interestingly, reaction of C^Imine(tBu) with [AuCl(SMe(2) )] led to the formation of [(C^Imine(tBu) )AuCl], which rearranges upon crystallisation into the unusual complex cation [(C^Imine(tBu) )(2) Au](+) , with AuCl(2) (-) as the counterion. The activity of the gold complexes in the hydroamination of phenylacetylene with substituted anilines was tested and compared to control catalyst systems. The best catalytic performance was obtained with [(C^Imine(tBu) )AuCl], with the exclusive formation of the Markovnikov addition product in excellent yield (>95?%) regardless of the substituents on aniline.     

Organic nanostructures on hydrogen-terminated silicon report on electric field modulation of dangling bond charge state

We pursue dynamic charge and occupancy modulation of silicon dangling bond sites on H-Si(100)-2 × 1 with a biased scanning tunneling microscope tip and demonstrate that the reactivity and mechanism of product formation of cyclobutylmethylketone (CBMK) on the surface at the active sites may be thus spatially regulated. Reactivity is observed to be dependent on the polarity between tip and surface while the area over which reactivity modulation is established scales according to the dopant concentration in the sample. We account for these observations with examination of the competition kinetics applicable to the CBMK/H-Si reaction and determine how said kinetics are affected by the charge state of DB sites associated with reaction initiation and propagation. Our experiments demonstrate a new paradigm in lithographic control of a self-assembly process on H-Si and reveal a variant to the well-known radical mediated chain reaction chemistry applicable to the H-Si surface where self-assembly is initiated with dative bond formation between the molecule and a DB site.     

Ground-state structures and vertical excitations for the kindling fluorescent protein asFP595

Geometry configurations of a large fraction of the kindling fluorescent protein asFP595 around the chromophore region were optimized by using the effective fragment potential quantum mechanical-molecular mechanical (QM/MM) method. The initial coordinates of heavy atoms were taken from the structure from the Protein Data Bank archive corresponding to the dark-adapted state of the Ala143 --> Gly mutant of asFP595. Optimization of geometry parameters was performed for all internal coordinates in the QM part composed of the chromophore unit and the side chains of His197, Glu215, and Arg92 as well as for positions of effective fragments constituting the MMpart. The structures corresponding to the anion trans, anion cis, and zwitterion trans moieties were considered among various alternatives for the chromophore unit inside the protein matrix. The QM/MM simulations show that the protein environment provides stabilization for the trans-zwitterion isomer compared to the gas-phase conditions. By using the multiconfigurational CASSCF and the time-dependent density functional theory calculations, we estimated positions of spectral bands corresponding to vertical S(0)-S(1) transitions. The results of simulations support the assumption that the dark state of asFP595 corresponds to the anionic or zwitterionic trans-conformation, while the kindled state corresponds to the anionic cis-conformation.     

Use of LIBS for rapid characterization of parchment

Parchment from different sources has been analyzed by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) for determination of Ca, Na, K, Mg, Fe, Cu, and Mn. The LIBS results were compared with results from inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy (ICP) and good correlation was obtained. Rapid distinction between modern and historical samples was achieved by discriminant analysis of the LIBS data. Animal type recognition was also possible on the basis of Mg/Cu emission peak ratio and Mg depth profiling.     

Isomerization of triphenylmethoxyl and 1,1-diphenylethoxyl radicals. Revised assignment of the electron-spin resonance spectra of purported intermediates formed during the ceric ammonium nitrate mediated photooxidation of aryl carbinols

Grossi and Strazzari have reported (J. Org. Chem. 2000, 65, 2748-2754) that the ceric ammonium nitrate modulated photooxidation of triphenylmethanol and 1,1-diphenylethanol yielded ESR spectra of the putative spiro-cyclohexadienyl intermediates in the O-neophyl rearrangements of the corresponding alkoxyl radicals, Ph2(R)CO* (R = Ph, CH3), to the phenoxymethyl radicals, Ph(R)C*OPh. Both ESR spectra are reassigned to the phenoxyl radical, C6H5O*, and the probable mechanism by which phenoxyl is formed in these systems is presented.     

The roles of ligands proton affinity, π-back donation and metal fragment hardness on the Au–N bond in N-donor heterocycles gold(III) complexes

A DFT study on the Au–N interaction for some groups of N-donor heterocycles L {L = pyridines (py), pyrimidines (pm), imidazoles (im), pyrazoles (pz) and isoxazoles (io)} in neutral AuX₃L complexes {AuX₃ = AuBr₃, AuCl₃, trans-AuCl(CN)₂, Au(CN)₃} is reported. Linear relationships between the AuX₃ Mulliken charge in AuX₃L and the computed proton affinity (PA) of the heterocycle were found for all the considered ligands. The different slopes found on changing the N-donor species represent a measure of the π-acidity of these nitrogen ligands once coordinated to the metal centre, by the consequence a π-acceptor ability scale has been derived. The π-acceptor ability of the 5-membered N-donor ligands resulted in all the cases greater than that of the 6-membered N-heterocycles. The proton affinity average value corresponding to a zero charge of the AuX₃ and L fragments in the AuX₃L species has been estimated. This parameter represents the minimum PA value for the formation of a bond between the N-heterocycles and gold(III) and it does not depend on the electronic features of the coordinated ligands. The sensitivity of the AuX₃ fragments towards ligands PA variations follows the order Au(CN)₃ < trans-AuCl(CN)₂ < AuCl₃ < AuBr₃ and this last result has been explained on the basis of the metal fragments relative hardness.     

Competition between glutathione and guanine for a ruthenium(II) arene anticancer complex: detection of a sulfenato intermediate

The organometallic anticancer complex [(eta6-bip)Ru(en)Cl]+ (1; bip = biphenyl, en = ethylenediamine) selectively binds to guanine (N7) bases of DNA (Novakova, O.; Chen, H.; Vrana, O.; Rodger, A.; Sadler, P. J.; Brabec, V. Biochemistry 2003, 42, 11544-11554). In this work, competition between the tripeptide glutathione (gamma-L-Glu-L-Cys-Gly; GSH) and guanine (as guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate, cGMP) for complex 1 was investigated using HPLC, LC-MS and 1H,15N NMR spectroscopy. In unbuffered solution (pH ca. 3), the reaction of 1 with GSH gave rise to three intermediates: an S-bound thiolato adduct [(eta6-bip)Ru(en)(GS-S)] (4) and two carboxylate-bound glutathione products [(eta6-bip)Ru(en)(GSH-O)]+ (5, 6) during the early stages (<6 h), followed by en displacement and formation of a tri-GS-bridged dinuclear Ru(II) complex [((eta6-bip)Ru)2(GS-mu-S)3]2- (7). Under physiologically relevant conditions (micromolar Ru concentrations, pH 7, 22 mM NaCl, 310 K), the thiolato complex 4 was unexpectedly readily oxidized by dioxygen to the sulfenato complex [(eta6-bip)Ru(en)(GS(O)-S)] (8) instead of forming the dinuclear complex 7. Under these conditions, competitive reaction of complex 1 with GSH and cGMP gave rise to the cGMP adduct [(eta6-bip)Ru(en)(cGMP-N7)]+ (10) as the major product, accounting for ca. 62% of total Ru after 72 h, even in the presence of a 250-fold molar excess of GSH. The oxidation of coordinated glutathione in the thiolato complex 4 to the sulfenate in 8 appears to provide a facile route for displacement of S-bound glutathione by G N7. Redox reactions of cysteinyl adducts of these Ru(II) arene anticancer complexes could therefore play a significant role in their biological activity.     

[2‐(2‐{Bis[2‐(1H‐imidazol‐2‐ylmethyleneamino)ethyl]amino}ethyliminomethyl)imidazolido]cobalt(III) bis(tetrafluoridoborate) monohydrate

The title compound, [Co(C₁₈H₂₃N₁₀)](BF₄)₂·H₂O, is the result of complexing a Co cation (initially in a Co^II state) with tris[2‐(1H‐imidazol‐2‐ylmethyleneamino)ethyl]amine (L), obtained by a condensation process involving imidazole‐2‐carbaldehyde and tris(2‐aminoethyl)amine. Both the Co cation and the ligand were modified in the synthesis process, the cation via oxidation to Co^III, and the ligand via deprotonation to convert it into the 2‐(2‐{bis[2‐(1H‐imidazol‐2‐ylmethyleneamino)ethyl]amino}ethyliminomethyl)imidazolide anion (L⁻). The ligand chelates the metal centre in a hexadentate fashion, forming a slightly distorted octahedral CoN₆ chromophore. Packing is governed by N—H...N hydrogen bonds defining zigzag chains. A similar structure in the literature is discussed, and the wrong assignment of the oxidation state, given therein to the Co cation, is corrected.