Fragmentation of a novel marine peptide, plicatamide, involves an unusual gas-phase intramolecular rearrangement

During our characterization of plicatamide 1, a modified octapeptide: Phe-Phe-His-Leu-His-Phe-His-dc deltaDOPA (where dc deltaDOPA = decarboxy-(E)-alpha,beta-dehydro-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine) from the blood cells of the ascidian Styela plicata, we noted a series of fragment ions from the [M + H]+ ion which could not be assigned. There was no evidence in the 1H NMR spectrum to support an alternative molecular structure and the series of fragment ions were not present in the tandem mass spectrometry analysis of the [M + Na]+ ion. In addition, there was no evidence that the sample was a mixture of isobaric compounds. We propose that an unusual C-terminal to N-terminal rearrangement is responsible for the series of fragment ions from the [M + H]+ ion. This rearrangement was not observed in peptide analogs of plicatamide which did not contain the dc deltaDOPA at the C-terminus suggesting that this moiety is critical for the rearrangement. The proposed reaction is analogous to that recently reported by Vachet et al. involving a fragment ion formed from leucine enkephalin.     

Pressure-induced enhancements of luminescence intensities and lifetimes correlated with emitting-state distortions for thiocyanate and selenocyanate complexes of platinum(II) and palladium(II)

The luminescence properties of thiocyanate and selenocyanate platinum(II) and palladium(II) complexes show strong variations with temperature and pressure. The d-d luminescence band maxima for [Pt(SCN)(4)](PPh(4))(2) (1), [Pt(SCN)(4)](n-Bu(4)N)(2) (2), and [Pt(SeCN)(4)](n-Bu(4)N)(2) (4) complexes are centered at ca. 14500 cm(-1) whereas those of the [Pd(SCN)(4)](n-Bu(4)N)(2) (3) and [Pd(SeCN)(4)](n-Bu(4)N)(2) (5) complexes are approximately 2000 cm(-1) lower in energy. Low-temperature luminescence spectra from single-crystal samples have broad bands with highly resolved vibronic structure indicating large displacements of the emitting-state potential energy minimum along several metal-ligand normal coordinates. The largest displacements involve the totally symmetric (a(1g)) stretching modes with frequencies of 295 cm(-1) (1), 303 cm(-1) (2), 274 cm(-1) (3), 195 cm(-1) (4), and 185 cm(-1) (5). The lower frequencies of these dominant progression-forming modes for the selenocyanate complexes lead to luminescence bands that are narrower by ca. 500 cm(-1) (fwhm) than those observed from the thiocyanate complexes. Under external pressures, the room-temperature luminescence intensities and lifetimes show considerable enhancement at pressures up to 40 kbar. This effect is largest for the palladium(II) complexes with lifetimes increasing from approximately 350 ns at ambient pressure up to 62 micros at 30 kbar, an increase by more than 2 orders of magnitude. The platinum(II) complexes exhibit a significant, but noticeably lesser increase of luminescence lifetimes and intensities with increasing pressure. The temperature- and pressure-dependent luminescence decay behavior is rationalized using the emitting-state molecular geometry determined from the resolved low-temperature luminescence spectra combined with the strong-coupling limit of radiationless decay theory.     

Kinetics and mechanism of the beta- to alpha-CuAlCl(4) phase transition: a time-resolved (63)Cu MAS NMR and powder X-ray diffraction study

The beta and alpha phases of CuAlCl(4) have been characterized by solid-state (27)Al and (63)Cu magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance. The very short spin--lattice relaxation times of the copper spins, and the sensitivity of the I = 3/2 (63)Cu nucleus to the small differences in the local structure of Cu in the two phases, allowed (63)Cu spectra to be acquired in very short time periods (1 min), in which the beta and alpha phases were clearly resolved. This time resolution was exploited to follow the phase transition from the pseudohexagonal close-packed beta-CuAlCl(4) into the pseudocubic close-packed alpha-CuAlCl(4), which occurs above 100 degrees C. In situ time-resolved (63)Cu MAS NMR and synchrotron X-ray diffraction experiments were used to measure the kinetics of this phase transition as a function of temperature. The transformation was shown to be a first-order phase transition involving no intermediate phases with an activation energy of 138 kJ/mol. The kinetic data obey a first-order Avrami--Erofe'ev rate law. A one-dimensional growth mechanism is proposed that involves a combination of Cu(+) ion self-diffusion and a translational reorganization of the close-packed anion layers imposed by the periodic rotations of [AlCl(4)](-) tetrahedra. This beta to alpha phase transformation can be induced at ambient temperatures by low partial pressures of ethylene.     

Investigation of the charge compensation mechanism on the electrochemically Li-ion deintercalated Li1-xCo1/3Ni1/3Mn1/3O2 electrode system by combination of soft and hard X-ray absorption spectroscopy

In situ hard X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) at metal K-edges and soft XAS at O K-edge and metal L-edges have been carried out during the first charging process for the layered Li1-xCo1/3Ni1/3Mn1/3O2 cathode material. The metal K-edge XANES results show that the major charge compensation at the metal site during Li-ion deintercalation is achieved by the oxidation of Ni2+ ions, while the manganese ions and the cobalt ions remain mostly unchanged in the Mn4+ and Co3+ state. These conclusions are in good agreement with the results of the metal K-edge EXAFS data. Metal L-edge XAS results at different charge states in both the FY and PEY modes show that, unlike Mn and Co ions, Ni ions at the surface are oxidized to Ni3+ during charge, whereas Ni ions in the bulk are further oxidized to Ni4+ during charge. From the observation of O K-edge XAS results, we can conclude that a large portion of the charge compensation during Li-ion deintercalation is achieved in the oxygen site. By comparison to our earlier results on the Li1-xNi0.5Mn0.5O2 system, we attribute the active participation of oxygen in the redox process in Li1-xCo1/3Ni1/3Mn1/3O2 to be related to the presence of Co in this system.     

Layered oxysulfides Sr2MnO2Cu2m-0.5Sm+1 (m = 1, 2, and 3) as insertion hosts for Li ion batteries

The layered oxysulfides Sr2MnO2Cu2m-0.5Sm+1 (m = 1-3) consist of alternating perovskite-type Sr2MnO2 layers and copper sulfide layers. The copper ions can be replaced electrochemically and reversibly by Li. The lithiated materials were studied by Li MAS NMR, and Li resonances were observed with shifts that could be rationalized based on the number of sulfide layers. The materials were cycled versus Li and showed enhanced capacity retention in comparison to pure Cu2S; the good electrochemical performance was ascribed to the presence of the layered framework structure and rapid Li+ and Cu+ conductivity in the sulfide layers.     

Large pressure-induced increase in luminescence intensity for the [Pd(SCN)(4)](2-) complex

Luminescence from a square planar [Pd(SCN)(4)](2-) complex shows very large increases in intensity and lifetime from ambient pressures up to 27 kbar. The band maximum shows a blue-shift of approximately 29 cm(-1)/kbar. These spectroscopic observations can be rationalized qualitatively by considering multiple effects, and they underline the strong interrelation between molecular structure, energies, and geometries of excited electronic states, and optical properties.