Identifying Sn Site Heterogeneities Prevalent Among Sn‐Beta Zeolites

In recent years, various protocols on preparing Lewis acidic Sn‐β zeolite hydrothermally and postsynthetically have been reported. However, very little is known about the effects of different synthesis protocols on the Sn(IV) speciation in the final material. Even the effects of individual synthesis parameters within a certain preparation method have not been studied systematically. Here, we demonstrate that hydrothermally synthesized Sn‐β zeolites prepared via very similar recipes show significantly different ¹¹⁹Sn‐NMR spectra, suggesting different Sn site speciation. Among postsynthetically prepared Sn‐β zeolites, less variation in the resulting ¹¹⁹Sn‐NMR spectra have been observed, indicating a more reproducible synthesis procedure compared to hydrothermal synthesis in fluoride media. This work highlights the importance of ¹¹⁹Sn‐NMR measurements to elucidate the precise local geometry of the Sn heteroatoms in Sn‐β, and the need to quantify the number of reactive Sn sites on each sample that participate in a given catalytic reaction, in order to accurately compare materials prepared by different routes.     

Computational SN2‐Type Mechanism for the Difluoromethylation of Lithium Enolate with Fluoroform through Bimetallic C−F Bond Dual Activation

The reaction mechanism for difluoromethylation of lithium enolates with fluoroform was analyzed computationally (DFT calculations with the artificial force induced reaction (AFIR) method and solvation model based on density (SMD) solvation model (THF)), showing an S_N2‐type carbon–carbon bond formation; the “bimetallic” lithium enolate and lithium trifluoromethyl carbenoid exert the C?F bond “dual” activation, in contrast to the monometallic butterfly‐shaped carbenoid in the Simmons–Smith reaction. Lithium enolates, generated by the reaction of 2 equiv. of lithium hexamethyldisilazide (rather than 1 or 3 equiv.) with the cheap difluoromethylating species fluoroform, are the most useful alkali metal intermediates for the synthesis of pharmaceutically important α‐difluoromethylated carbonyl products.     

Synthetic Studies towards the Calcium-Dependent Lipopeptide Antibiotic Cadaside B

In the current global crisis of antimicrobial resistance, antimicrobial peptides represent a promising source of alternative antibiotics. Recently discovered cadaside B, a novel calcium-dependent antibiotic, exhibits potent antimicrobial activity towards Gram-positive pathogens including multi-drug resistant strains. These properties, coupled with a novel structure, non-cytotoxicity, and low likelihood of developing resistance render cadaside B an important synthetic target. Herein, a synthetic strategy towards cadaside B is reported with the key steps involving on-resin depsipeptide bond formation and solution-phase macrolactamization. Good agreement of the synthetic cadaside B MS/MS fragmentation pattern was observed with the natural product, but a different ¹H NMR spectrum and absence of antimicrobial activity suggest an undetected epimerization event took place during the synthesis. Herein the findings of our synthetic journey and suggestions for future directions are presented.     

Solid‐state NMR spectroscopy of Pb‐rich apatite

Pb‐containing hydroxylapatite phases synthesized under aqueous conditions were investigated by X‐ray diffraction and solid‐state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques to determine the Pb, Ca distribution. ³¹P and ¹H magic‐angle spinning (MAS) NMR results indicate slight shifts of the isotropic chemical shift with increased Ca content and complex lineshapes at compositions with near equal amounts of Ca and Pb. ³¹P{²⁰⁷Pb} and ¹H{²⁰⁷Pb} rotational‐echo double resonance (REDOR) results for intermediate compositions show that resolved spectral features cannot be assigned simply in terms of local Ca, Pb configurations or coexisting phases. ²⁰⁷Pb MAS NMR spectra are easily obtained for these materials and contain well‐resolved resonances for crystallographically unique A1 and A2 Pb sites. Splitting of the A1 and A2 ²⁰⁷Pb resonances for pure hydroxyl‐pyromorphite (Pb₁₀(PO₄)₆(OH)₂) compared to natural pyromorphite (Pb₅(PO₄)₃Cl) suggests symmetry reduced from hexagonal. We find that ²⁰⁷Pb{¹H} CP/MAS NMR is impractical in Pb‐rich hydroxylapatites due to fast ²⁰⁷Pb relaxation. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Discrete network models of interacting nephrons

The kidney is one of the major organs involved in whole-body homeostasis, and exhibits many of the properties of a complex system. The functional unit of the kidney is the nephron, a complex, segmented tube into which blood plasma is filtered and its composition adjusted. Although the behaviour of individual nephrons can fluctuate widely and even chaotically, the behaviour of the kidney remains stable.In this paper, we investigate how the filtration rate of a multi-nephron system is affected by interactions between nephrons. We introduce a discrete-time multi-nephron network model. The tubular mechanisms that have the greatest effect on filtration rate are the transport of sodium and water, consequently our model attempts to capture these mechanisms. Multi-nephron systems also incorporate two competing coupling mechanisms–vascular and hemodynamic–that enforce in-phase and anti-phase synchronisations respectively. Using a two-nephron model, we demonstrate how changing the strength of the hemodynamic coupling mechanism and changing the arterial blood pressure have equivalent effects on the system. The same two-nephron system is then used to demonstrate the interactions that arise between the two coupling mechanisms. We conclude by arguing that our approach is scalable to large numbers of nephrons, based on the performance characteristics of the model.