Effect of Coulomb interaction between the electrons on two-electron redox-mediated tunneling

Two-electron non-adiabatic redox-mediated tunneling through a symmetric electrochemical contact with a bridge molecule having one electron energy level participating in tunneling is considered under ambient conditions. It is shown that the current/overpotential dependence in this system can disclose two distinct or overlapping clear-cut maxima depending on the value of the effective Coulomb repulsion energy. This new effect is due to the opening of the channel for tunneling of second electron with the variation of the electrode potential. The system manifests also a rectification effect in the current/bias voltage curve which depends on the value of the effective Coulomb repulsion energy.     

Contribution to the analysis of the essential oil of Helichrysum italicum (Roth) G. Don. Determination of ester bonded acids and phenols

The essential oil of Helichrysum italicum (Roth) G. Don (everlasting or Immortelle essential oil) was isolated by hydrodistillation and analysed by GC and GCMS. Forty four compounds were identified. The main components were alpha-pinene(12.8%), 2-methyl-cyclohexyl pentanoate (11.1 %), neryl acetate (10.4%), 1,7-di-epi-alpha-cedrene (6.8%) and other compounds. The oil was fractionated and ester-containing fraction was hydrolysed with KOH/H(2)SO(4). The liberated volatiles were analysed by GC and GC-MS: three phenols and twenty seven volatile carboxylic acids were identified[70% low fatty acids (C(2)-C(5)), 15% C(10)-C(12) acids and 15% other acids]. The main acids were acetic acid (24.3%) propanoic acid (17.2%), 2-methylpropanoic acid (11.4%),dodecanoic acid (8.7%), 2-methylbutanoic acid (8.3%), (Z)-2-methylbutenoic acid(5.1%) and decanoic acid (4.6%). With respect to the identified bonded carboxylic acids,the minimal number of esters in the oil was twenty seven, but their overall quantity was probably larger due to different possible combinations of alcohols with acids to form esters. On the other hand, only six main esters were identified in the oil before fractionation and hydrolysis.     

Cyclic oxonium derivatives of polyhedral boron hydrides and their synthetic applications

Cyclic oxonium derivatives of polyhedral boron hydrides are a relatively new class of boron compounds. They have great potential for the modification of various types of organic and bioorganic molecules and the synthesis of compounds that could be used in different fields from the treatment of nuclear wastes to the treatment of cancer. In the present Perspective we would like to present an overview of the results of the preparation and synthetic application of these compounds.     

FunCat functional inference with belief propagation and feature integration

Pairwise comparison of sequence data is intensively used for automated functional protein annotation, while graphical models emerge as promising candidates for an integration of various heterogeneous features. We designed a model, termed hRMN that integrates different genomic features and implemented a variant of belief propagation for functional annotation transfer. hRMN allows the assignment of multiple functional categories while avoiding common problems in annotation transfer from heterogeneous datasets, such as an independency of the investigated datasets. We benchmarked this system with large-scale annotation transfer (based on the MIPS FunCat ontology) to proteins of the prokaryotes Bacillus subtilis, Helicobacter pylori, Listeria monocytogenes, and Listeria innocua. hRMN consistently outperformed two competitors in annotation of four bacterial genomes. The developed code is available for download at http://mips.gsf.de/proj/bfab/hRMN.html.     

Designer aminoglycosides: the race to develop improved antibiotics and compounds for the treatment of human genetic diseases

Aminoglycosides are highly potent, broad-spectrum antibiotics that exert their bactericidal therapeutic effect by selectively binding to the decoding aminoacyl site (A-site) of the bacterial 16 S rRNA, thereby interfering with translational fidelity during protein synthesis. The appearance of bacterial strains resistant to these drugs, as well as their relative toxicity, have inspired extensive searches towards the goal of obtaining novel molecular designs with improved antibacterial activity and reduced toxicity. In the last few years, a new, aminoglycoside dependent therapeutic approach for the treatment of certain human genetic diseases has been identified. These treatments rely on the ability of certain aminoglycosides to induce mammalian ribosomes to readthrough premature stop codon mutations. This new and challenging task has introduced fresh research avenues in the field of aminoglycoside research. Recent observations and current challenges in the design of aminoglycosides with improved antibacterial activity and the treatment of human genetic diseases are discussed.     

Halogenation of ketones with N-halosuccinimides under solvent-free reaction conditions

Several aryl substituted ketones, cyclic ketones, 1,3-diketones and a β-ketoamide were halogenated with N-halosuccinimides under solvent-free reaction conditions (SFRC) at various temperatures (20-80 °C), whereas less enolized ketones required the presence of an acid catalyst (p-toluenesulfonic acid, PTSA). Bromination of substituted acetophenones obeys first order kinetics v=k_Br[ketone] and the following correlation with the keto-enol equilibrium constant: log k_Br=0.3pK_E+C₁, less enolized substrates being more reactive; the moderate positive charge developed in the rate determining step was confirmed by the Hammett correlation (ρ=−0.5). On the other hand, in cyclic ketones an opposite relation was observed: log k_Br=−0.6pK_E+C₂, indicating higher reactivity of substrates with higher enolization constant (K_E). The important role of the nature of the solvent (MeCN, MeOH) in preorganization of the ketone-NBS-PTSA mixture prior to SFRC bromination was found.     

Variable temperature NMR and theoretical study of the stereodynamics of 5-trifluoromethylsulfonyl-1,3,5-dioxaazinane: Perlin effect subject to heteroatom substitution

Multinuclear dynamic NMR spectroscopy of 5-trifluoromethylsulfonyl-1,3,5-dioxaazinane (4) revealed the existence of two close in energy chair conformers with differently oriented CF₃ groups with respect to the ring. Of the two alternative routes for their interconversion, the ring inversion path with intermediate formation of the corresponding 2,5-twist-conformer is preferred, with the energy barrier of 11.2 kcal/mol in excellent agreement with the experimental value (11.7 kcal/mol). The Perlin effect is studied experimentally and calculated theoretically for all CH₂ groups and found to be subject to the nature of the adjacent heteroatoms O and N, respectively.     

C‐O Bond Cleavage of Diethyl Ether and Tetrahydrofurane by [(dpp‐BIAN)AlI(Et2O)] [dpp‐BIAN = 1,2‐bis[(2,6‐di‐iso‐propylphenyl)‐imino]acenaphthene]

At elevated temperatures, the aluminum complex [(dpp‐BIAN)AlI(Et₂O)] ( 1 ) splits the C‐O bonds of diethyl ether and tetrahydrofurane yielding the dimeric alkoxides [(dpp‐BIAN)AlOEt]₂ ( 2 ) and [(dpp‐BIAN)AlO(CH₂)₄I]₂ ( 3 ), respectively. Already at ambient temperatures, a cleavage of the C‐O bond of THF is to observe in the reaction of 1 with CpNa in THF as confirmed by the formation of [(dpp‐BIAN)AlO(CH₂)₄C₅H₅]₂ ( 4a ) and [(dpp‐BIAN)Al{O(CH₂)₄C₅H₅}(THF)] ( 4b ) in a molar ratio of 1:2. The reaction of 1 with t‐BuOK affords the monomeric alkoxide [(dpp‐BIAN)AlO‐t‐Bu(Et₂O)] ( 5 ). Compounds 2 , 3 , and 4a/b were characterized by elemental analyses and IR spectra. Additionally, the structures of 2 and 3 were determined by single crystal X‐ray diffraction.