Reaction of α,β-unsaturated Fischer carbene complexes with allyl alkoxide

Optically enriched homo-binuclear Fischer chromium carbene complexes with planar chiral arene chromium complexes gave α-allyl β-arylpropionates up to 97% ee by reaction with allyl alkoxide and subsequent photo-oxidative demetalation. The chiral hetero-binuclear tungsten carbene complexes afforded anti α-allyl β-hydroxy β-arylpropionates as a major product up to 92/8 dr by the same reaction sequence. High diastereoselectivity in these reactions is contributed to the planar chirality of the arene chromium complex, even though the reaction was carried out under vigorous basic media. The reaction products, α-allyl β-arylpropionates were derived by 1,3-M(CO)₅ shift and subsequent [3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement. Also, the corresponding chromium-uncomplexed α,β-unsaturated Fischer carbene complexes afforded α-allyl β-arylpropionates under the same conditions. Formation of β-allyl β-arylpropionates via 1,2-M(CO)₅ shift followed by [3,4]-sigmatropic rearrangement was not observed in both reactions of chromium-coordinated and the corresponding chromium-uncoordinated α,β-unsaturated Fischer carbene complexes with allyl alkoxide in the presence of base.     

Two-dimensional reversed-phase liquid chromatography using two monolithic silica C18 columns and different mobile phase modifiers in the two dimensions

Comprehensive two-dimensional (2D) HPLC in the reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) mode using C18 silica monolith columns at first dimension (1st-D) (10 cm x 4.6mm I.D.) and second dimension (2nd-D) (5 cm x 4.6mm I.D.) was carried out successfully. A mixture of water and tetrahydrofuran (THF) was used as a mobile phase in the 1st-D separation, and a mixture of water and methanol (CH3OH) in the 2nd-D separation. Sample fractions from 1st-D column were directly loaded into an injection loop of the 2nd-D HPLC equipped with two injector valves for one column. The fractionation time at the 1st-D that was equal to the separation time at the 2nd-D was 45 or 60s. Total peak capacity up to 900 was obtained in about 60 min for the isocratic mode separation of aromatic compounds in this system. Gradient elution mode applied to both 1st-D and 2nd-D separations resulted in shorter separation time and better separation efficiencies than the isocratic mode. It was demonstrated that 2D-HPLC systems employing popular C18 stationary phases with different organic modifiers in mobile phases for each dimension could produce large peak capacity. The different selectivities were provided by the difference in polar interactions between a solute and the organic modifier existing in the stationary phase.     

Simultaneous construction of the polymer backbone and side chains by three‐component polycondensation: The synthesis of polyurethanes with allyl side chains from dialdehydes,alkylene N,N′‐bis(trimethylsilyl) carbamates,and allyltrimethylsilane

Polyurethanes with allyl side chains were synthesized by the simultaneous acid‐catalyzed reaction of dialdehydes ( 1 ), alkylene N,N′‐bis(trimethylsilyl) carbamates ( 4 ), and allyltrimethylsilane ( 5 ). When 5 was added to a mixture of 1 , 4 , and the catalyst, a low molecular weight polymer was formed, as well as a large amount of an insoluble gel. However, when a mixture of 1 , 4 , and 5 was added to the catalyst, the formation of gel was depressed, and the desired polyurethanes, consisting of 1 , 4 , and 5 in a molar ratio of 1/1/2, were obtained in good yields. This polyurethane synthesis is unusual in that it concurrently constructs both the polymer backbone and the functional side chains from three starting compounds. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 40: 1236–1242, 2002     

Intermolecular propargyl/allenyl group transfer from Pd(II) to Pt(0) and Pt(II) to Pd(0). Key reaction in metal-catalyzed isomerization between propargyl and allenyl metal complexes

Isomerization of phenyl-substituted propargylplatinum(II) complex, trans-Pt(CH₂CCPh)(Cl)(PPh₃)₂ (1) to allenyl complex, trans-Pt(CPh=C=CH₂)(Cl)(PPh₃)₂ (2) was found to be catalyzed by zerovalent complex Pd(PPh₃)₄. The reaction was proposed to proceed through the transfer of the propargyl/allenyl ligand both from Pt(II) to Pd(0) and Pd(II) to Pt(0). The former transfer, which seemingly has a thermodynamic disadvantage, has unambiguously been confirmed to take place; treatment of 1 with Pd(PPh₃)₄ or a mixture of Pd₂(dba)₃ and PPh₃ resulted in the formation of Pd(I) complex, Pd₂(μ-PhCCCH₂)(μ-Cl)(PPh₃)₂ which lies in equilibrium with a mixture of propargyl/allenylpalladium(II) and Pd(0) complexes.     

IonCCD Detector for Miniature Sector-Field Mass Spectrometer: Investigation of Peak Shape and Detector Surface Artifacts Induced by keV Ion Detection

A recently described ion charge coupled device detector IonCCD (Sinha and Wadsworth, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 76(2), 2005; Hadjar, J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom. 22(4), 612–624, 2011) is implemented in a miniature mass spectrometer of sector-field instrument type and Mattauch-Herzog (MH)-geometry (Rev. Sci. Instrum. 62(11), 2618–2620, 1991; Burgoyne, Hieftje and Hites J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom. 8(4), 307–318, 1997; Nishiguchi, Eur. J. Mass Spectrom. 14(1), 7–15, 2008) for simultaneous ion detection. In this article, we present first experimental evidence for the signature of energy loss the detected ion experiences in the detector material. The two energy loss processes involved at keV ion kinetic energies are electronic and nuclear stopping. Nuclear stopping is related to surface modification and thus damage of the IonCCD detector material. By application of the surface characterization techniques atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray photoelectrons spectroscopy (XPS), we could show that the detector performance remains unaffected by ion impact for the parameter range observed in this study. Secondary electron emission from the (detector) surface is a feature typically related to electronic stopping. We show experimentally that the properties of the MH-mass spectrometer used in the experiments, in combination with the IonCCD, are ideally suited for observation of these stopping related secondary electrons, which manifest in reproducible artifacts in the mass spectra. The magnitude of the artifacts is found to increase linearly as a function of detected ion velocity. The experimental findings are in agreement with detailed modeling of the ion trajectories in the mass spectrometer. By comparison of experiment and simulation, we show that a detector bias retarding the ions or an increase of the B-field of the IonCCD can efficiently suppress the artifact, which is necessary for quantitative mass spectrometry.     

Hydrogen-bonding dynamics in photoinduced electron transfer in a ferrocene-quinone linked dyad with a rigid amide spacer

A newly designed ferrocene-quinone dyad with an amide space (Fc-Q) is employed to examine formation of the hydrogen bonding in the one-electron reduced form (Q*-) and the dynamics in the photoinduced electron-transfer reaction from the ferrocene to the quinone moiety. Photoexcitation of the Q moiety in Fc-Q in deaerated PhCN with 388 nm results in intramolecular electron transfer from Fc to the singlet excited state of Q to produce Fc+-Q*- without changing the conformation (<1 ps), followed by hydrogen bond formation with the amide proton of the spacer (tau = approximately 5 ps). The resulting radical ion pair decays via a back electron transfer to the ground state at a longer time scale with a rate constant of 2.6 x 108 s-1.     

Light-harvesting heptadecameric porphyrin assemblies

New porphyrin assemblies containing 17 porphyrin molecules are constructed by using free base TPP-type porphyrins having eight pyrazine moieties 1. Spectroscopic titration of dimeric [meso-tetrakis(2-carboxy-4-nonylphenyl)porphyrinato]zinc(II) 2 with these porphyrins shows that the processes of the formation of the heptadecameric porphyrin assemblies may be analyzed as eight independent equilibrium processes with an identical binding constant. All binding constants are larger than 5 x 107 M-1 which is the determinable upper limit of the present titration method. In all cases, the fluorescence spectrum of the 1:8 mixture of 1 and 2 consists of the major fluorescence of 1 and the minor one of 2.pyrazine complex even in the presence of the large excess of the antenna pigments. The observed spectra are well reconstructed by the form of faF1 + fbF2, where F1 and F2 are the fluorescence of 1 and the 2.pyrazine complex measured separately at the corresponding concentrations. Interestingly, the general trend that values of fa are nearly equal to those of r564 x (1 - fb) in all cases is found, where r564 is the absorption ratios of the 2.pyrazine moiety and the central free base porphyrin in the assemblies at 564 nm. The observation indicates the excitation of the central porphyrin is directly enhanced by the absorption of the antenna pigments even in such large scale assemblies. Thus, the antenna effect for 1 having largest r564 results in 77 times fluorescence enhancement of the central free base porphyrin. The systems also show interesting dependency of energy-transfer efficiencies on the topological arrangement of the antenna elements.     

Design of a subnanometer resolution beam position monitor for dielectric laser accelerators

We present a new concept for a beam position monitor with the unique ability to map particle beam position to a measurable wavelength. Coupled with an optical spectrograph, this beam position monitor is capable of subnanometer resolution. We describe one possible design, and through finite-element frequency-domain simulations, we show a resolution of 0.7 nm. Because of its high precision and ultracompact form factor, this device is ideal for future x-ray sources and laser-driven particle accelerators "on a chip."     

Chromium(III) complexes as intermolecular probes

Metal ion complexes provide flexible paramagnetic centers that may be used to define intermolecular contacts in a variety of solution phase environments because both the charge and electronic relaxation properties of the complex may be varied. For most complex ions, there are several proton equilibria that may change the effective charge on the complex as a function of pH which in turn affects the efficacy of application for defining the electrostatic surfaces of co-solute molecules. We report here spectrophotometric and nuclear spin relaxation studies on aqueous solutions of chromium(III) complexes of EDTA, DTPA, and bis-amides of both. The effective charges available from these paramagnetic centers range from -3 to +1 and we report the pH ranges over which the effective charge is defined with confidence for application in magnetic relaxation experiments.     

Right preconditioned MINRES for singular systems†

We consider solving large sparse symmetric singular linear systems. We first introduce an algorithm for right preconditioned minimum residual (MINRES) and prove that its iterates converge to the preconditioner weighted least squares solution without breakdown for an arbitrary right‐hand‐side vector and an arbitrary initial vector even if the linear system is singular and inconsistent. For the special case when the system is consistent, we prove that the iterates converge to a min‐norm solution with respect to the preconditioner if the initial vector is in the range space of the right preconditioned coefficient matrix. Furthermore, we propose a right preconditioned MINRES using symmetric successive over‐relaxation (SSOR) with Eisenstat's trick. Some numerical experiments on semidefinite systems in electromagnetic analysis and so forth indicate that the method is efficient and robust. Finally, we show that the residual norm can be further reduced by restarting the iterations.