Development of a Neutral Diketopyrrolopyrrole Phosphine Oxide for the Selective Bioimaging of Mitochondria at the Nanomolar Level

Development of novel bioimaging materials that exhibit organelle specific accumulation continues to be at the forefront of research interests and efforts. Among the various subcellular organelles, mitochondria, which are found in the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells, are of particular interest in relation to their vital function. To date, most molecular probes that target mitochondria utilise delocalised lipophilic cations such as triphenylphosphonium and pyridinium. However, the use of such charged motifs is known to be detrimental to the working function of the mitochondrial transmembrane potential and there remains a strong case for development of neutral mitochondrial fluorescent probes. Herein, we demonstrate for the first time the exploitation of diketopyrrolopyrrole-based chemistries for the realisation of a neutral fluorescent probe that exhibits organelle specific accumulation within the mitochondria at the nanomolar level. The synthesised probe, which bears a neutral triphenylphosphine oxide moiety, exhibits a large Stokes shift and high fluorescence quantum yield in water, both highly sought-after properties in the development of bioimaging agents. In vitro studies reveal no interference with cell metabolism when tested for the human MCF7 breast cancer cell and nanomolar subcellular organelle colocalisation with commercially available mitochondrial staining agent Mitotracker Red. In light of its novelty, neutral structure and the preferential accumulation at nanomolar concentrations we anticipate this work to be of significant interest for the increasingly larger community devoted to the realisation of neutral mitochondrial selective systems and more widely to those engaged in the rational development of superior organic architectures in the biological field.     

Phonon-mediated heat dissipation in a monatomic lattice: case study on Ni

The recently introduced analytical model for the heat current autocorrelation function of a crystal with a monatomic lattice [Evteev et al., Phil. Mag. 94 (2014) p. 731 and 94 (2014) p. 3992] is employed in conjunction with the Green–Kubo formalism to investigate in detail the results of an equilibrium molecular dynamics calculations of the temperature dependence of the lattice thermal conductivity and phonon dynamics in f.c.c. Ni. Only the contribution to the lattice thermal conductivity determined by the phonon–phonon scattering processes is considered, while the contribution due to phonon–electron scattering processes is intentionally ignored. Nonetheless, during comparison of our data with experiment an estimation of the second contribution is made. Furthermore, by comparing the results obtained for f.c.c. Ni model to those for other models of elemental crystals with the f.c.c. lattice, we give an estimation of the scaling relations of the lattice thermal conductivity with other lattice properties such as the coefficient of thermal expansion and the bulk modulus. Moreover, within the framework of linear response theory and the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, we extend our analysis in this paper into the frequency domain to predict the power spectra of equilibrium fluctuations associated with the phonon-mediated heat dissipation in a monatomic lattice. The practical importance of the analytical treatment lies in the fact that it has the potential to be used in the future to efficiently decode the generic information on the lattice thermal conductivity and phonon dynamics from a power spectrum of the acoustic excitations in a monatomic crystal measured by a spectroscopic technique in the frequency range of about 1–20 THz.     

Asymmetric syntheses of (R)-4-halo-6,6a,7,8,9,10-hexahydro-5H-pyrazino[1,2-a][1,n]naphthyridines,important 5-HT2C agonist precursors

Asymmetric syntheses of N-protected (R)-4-halo-6,6a,7,8,9,10-hexahydro-5H-pyrazino[1,2-a][1,n]naphthyridines, advanced intermediates for the synthesis of highly potent and selective 5-HT_2C agonists, are described. The key transformation involves ring opening of N-protected bicyclic sulfamidate (R)-hexahydro-3H-pyrazino[1,2-c][1,2,3]oxathiazine 1,1-dioxide with (4-halo-2-fluoropyridin-3-yl)lithiums or (3-bromo-5-fluoropyridin-4-yl)lithium. In situ hydrolyses of the resultant sulfamic acids and subsequent intramolecular nucleophilic aromatic substitutions (S_NAr) produce the enantiopure tricycles. The two step procedure represents new methodology for the stereoselective syntheses of tetrahydronaphthyridines.     

A Metal–Organic Framework with Cooperative Phosphines That Permit Post‐Synthetic Installation of Open Metal Sites

PCM‐101 is a phosphine coordination material comprised of tris(p‐carboxylato)triphenylphosphine and secondary pillaring groups coordinated to [M₃(OH)]⁵⁺ nodes (M=Co, Ni). PCM‐101 has a unique topology in which R₃P: sites are arranged directly trans to one another, with a P???P separation distance dictated by the pillars. Post‐synthetic coordination of soft metals to the P: sites proceeds at room temperature to provide X‐ray quality crystals that permit full structural resolution. Addition of AuCl groups forces a large distortion of the parent framework. In contrast, CuBr undergoes insertion directly between the trans‐P sites to form dimers that mimic solution‐phase complexes, but that are geometrically strained due to steric pressure exerted by the MOF scaffold. The metalated materials are active in heterogeneous hydroaddition catalysis under mild conditions, yielding different major products compared to their molecular counterparts.     

Toeplitz operators with noncommuting symbols

LetM be a von Neumann algebra with a faithful normal tracial state and letH be a finite maximal subdiagonal subalgebra ofM. LetH ² be the closure ofH in the noncommutative Lebesgue spaceL ²(M). We consider Toeplitz operators onH ² whose symbol belong toM, and find that they possess several of the properties of Toeplitz operators onH ²( ) with symbol fromL ( ), including norm estimates, a Hartman-Wintner spectral inclusion theorem, and a characterisation of the weak^* continuous linear functionals on the space of Toeplitz operators.     

Geometry and bond‐length alternation in nonlinear optical materials. II. Effects of donor strength in two push–pull molecules

The compounds N‐[2‐(4‐cyano‐5‐dicyanomethylene‐2,2‐dimethyl‐2,5‐dihydrofuran‐3‐yl)vinyl]‐N‐phenylacetamide, C₂₀H₁₆N₄O₂,(I), and 2‐{3‐cyano‐5,5‐dimethyl‐4‐[2‐(piperidin‐1‐yl)vinyl]‐2,5‐dihydrofuran‐2‐ylidene}malononitrile 0.376‐hydrate, C₁₇H₁₈N₄O·0.376H₂O, (II), are novel push–pull molecules. The significant bonding changes in the polyene chain compared with the parent molecule 2‐dicyanomethylene‐4,5,5‐trimethyl‐2,5‐dihyrofuran‐3‐carbonitrile are consistent with the relative electron‐donating properties of the acetanilido and piperidine groups. The packing of (I) utilizes one phenyl–cyano C—H...N and two phenyl–carbonyl C—H...O hydrogen bonds. Compound (II) crystallizes with a partial water molecule (0.376H₂O), consistent with cell packing that is dominated by attractive C—H...N(cyano) interactions. These compounds are precursors to novel nonlinear optical chromophores, studied to assess the impact of donor strength and the extent of conjugation on bond‐length alternation, crystal packing and aggregation.     

'Lock and key' control of optical properties in a push-pull system

We report the modulation of the absorbance of a flavin push-pull derivative through specific recognition by a complementary diamidopyridine (DAP), shifting the flavin intramolecular charge transfer band by approximately 30 nm.     

Tuneable pseudorotaxane formation between a biotin-avidin bioconjugate and CBPQT4+

A biotinylated 1,5-dialkoxynaphthalene derivative has been shown to have the ability to bind strongly to avidin and thus act as an artificial binding site for cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) thereby facilitating the formation of a tuneable pseudorotaxane-based bioconjugate.     

Reaction of [Ru3(CO)12] with tri(2-furyl)phosphine: Di- and tri-substituted triruthenium and phosphido-bridged diruthenium complexes

Reaction of [Ru₃(CO)₁₂] with tri(2-furyl)phosphine, P(C₄H₃O)₃, at 40 °C in the presence of a catalytic amount of Na[Ph₂CO] furnishes two triruthenium complexes [Ru₃(CO)₁₀{P(C₄H₃O)₃}₂] (1) and [Ru₃(CO)₉{P(C₄H₃O)₃}₃] (2) with the ligand coordinated through the phosphorus atom. Treatment of 1 and 2 with Me₃NO at 40 °C affords the dinuclear phosphido-bridged complexes [Ru₂(CO)₆(μ-η¹,η²-C₄H₃O){μ-P(C₄H₃O)₂}] (3) and [Ru₂(CO)₅(μ-η¹,η²-C₄H₃O){μ-P(C₄H₃O)₂}{P(C₄H₃O)₃}] (4), respectively, that are formed via phosphorus–carbon bond cleavage of a coordinated phosphine followed by coordination of the dissociated furyl moiety to the diruthenium center in a σ,π-alkenyl mode. Reaction of [Ru₃(CO)₁₂] with tri(2-furyl)phosphine in refluxing benzene gives, in addition to 3 and 4, low yields of the cyclometallated complex [Ru₃(CO)₉{μ-η¹,η¹-P(C₄H₃O)₂(C₄H₂O)}₂] (5). Treatment of 3 with EPh₃ (E = P, As, Sb) at room temperature yields the monosubstituted derivatives [Ru₂(CO)₅(μ-η¹,η²-C₄H₃O){μ-P(C₄H₃O)₂}(EPh₃)] (E = P, 8; E = As, 9; E = Sb, 10). Similar reactions of 3 with P(C₄H₃O)₃, P(OMe)₃ and Bu^tNC yield 4, [Ru₂(CO)₅(μ-η¹,η²-C₄H₃O){μ-P(C₄H₃O)₂}{P(OMe)₃}] (11) and [Ru₂(CO)₅(μ-η¹,η²-C₄H₃O){μ-P(C₄H₃O)₂}(NCBu^t)] (12), respectively. The molecular structures of complexes 3, 4 and 8 have been elucidated by single crystal X-ray diffraction studies. Each complex contains a bridging σ,π-alkenyl group and while in 4 the phosphine is bound to the σ-coordinated metal atom, in 8 it is at the π-bound atom. Protonation of 3 and 4 gives the hydride complexes [(μ-H)Ru₂(CO)₆(μ-η¹,η²-C₄H₃O){μ-P(C₄H₃O)₂}]⁺ (6) and [(μ-H)Ru₂(CO)₅(μ-η¹,η²-C₄H₃O){μ-P(C₄H₃O)₂}{P(C₄H₃O)₃}]⁺ (7), respectively, while heating 3 with dimethylacetylenedicarboxylate (DMAD) in refluxing toluene gives the cyclotrimerization product, C₆(CO₂Me)₆.