Inhibition of a palladium(II) catalyst upon formation of a di‐μ‐chloro complex: di‐μ‐chloro‐bis­[1,2‐bis­(di­phenyl­phosphino)­ethane‐P,P′]dipalladium(II) bis­(tetra­fluoro­borate) bis­(deutero­chloro­form) solvate

The title compound was formed upon slow evaporation of a solution of the solvated dicationic complex bis­(aceto­nitrile)­bis­[1,2‐bis­(di­phenyl‐phosphino)­ethane]­palladium(II) bis(tetra­fluoro­borate) in deuterated chloro­form. The dinucleur palladium complex forms triclinic crystals and there is an inversion center between the Pd atoms. Compared to the corresponding monomeric compound, the Cl—Pd—Cl angles decrease upon briding from 94.19 (7) to 86.96 (4)°.     

A homogeneous quenching resonance energy transfer assay for the kinetic analysis of the GTPase nucleotide exchange reaction

A quenching resonance energy transfer (QRET) assay for small GTPase nucleotide exchange kinetic monitoring is demonstrated using nanomolar protein concentrations. Small GTPases are central signaling proteins in all eukaryotic cells acting as a “molecular switches” that are active in the GTP-state and inactive in the GDP-state. GTP-loading is highly regulated by guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs). In several diseases, most prominently cancer, this process in misregulated. The kinetics of the nucleotide exchange reaction reports on the enzymatic activity of the GEF reaction system and is, therefore, of special interest. We determined the nucleotide exchange kinetics using europium-labeled GTP (Eu-GTP) in the QRET assay for small GTPases. After GEF catalyzed GTP-loading of a GTPase, a high time-resolved luminescence signal was found to be associated with GTPase bound Eu-GTP, whereas the non-bound Eu-GTP fraction was quenched by soluble quencher. The association kinetics of the Eu-GTP was measured after GEF addition, whereas the dissociation kinetics could be determined after addition of unlabeled GTP. The resulting association and dissociation rates were in agreement with previously published values for H-Ras^Wt, H-Ras^Q61G, and K-Ras^Wt, respectively. The broader applicability of the QRET assay for small GTPases was demonstrated by determining the kinetics of the Ect2 catalyzed RhoA^Wt GTP-loading. The QRET assay allows the use of nanomolar protein concentrations, as more than 3-fold signal-to-background ratio was achieved with 50 nM GTPase and GEF proteins. Thus, small GTPase exchange kinetics can be efficiently determined in a HTS compatible 384-well plate format.

Aurophilicity as a cofactor in crystal engineering. Dicyanoaurate(I) anion as a building block in a novel Co(II)-Au(I) bimetallic assembly

A 2D grid-shaped cyanide-bridged Co(II)-Au(I) bimetallic coordination polymer, [Co(DMF)2(Au(CN)2)2], has been prepared from the [Au(CN)2]- building block; sheets associate pair-wise by aurophilic interactions and the compound exhibits zeolite-like properties.     

Internal rotation in propionic acid: near-infrared-induced isomerization in solid argon

The conformational system of propionic acid (CH3CH2COOH) is studied in solid argon. It is predicted by the ab initio calculations that this molecule has four stable conformers. These four structures are denoted Tt, Tg+/-, Ct, and Cg+/-, and they differ by the arrangement around the C-O and Calpha-C bonds. The ground-state Tt conformer is the only form present at 8 K after deposition of an argon matrix containing propionic acid. For the CH3CH2COOH and CH3CH2COOD isotopologues, narrow-band excitation of the first hydroxyl stretching overtone of the conformational ground state promotes the Calpha-C and C-O internal rotations producing the Tg+/- and Ct conformers, respectively. A subsequent vibrational excitation of the produced Tg+/- form induces its conversion to the Cg+/- conformer by rotation around the C-O bond. In the dark, all of the produced conformers decay to the conformational ground state at different rates. The decay kinetics and its temperature dependence allow the identification of the conformers by IR absorption spectroscopy, which is supported by ab initio calculations of their vibrational spectra. For the CH3CH2COOD isotopologue, the excitation of molecules isolated in different matrix sites results in site-dependent photoisomerization rates for the Calpha-C and C-O internal rotations, which also confirm the identification of the photoproducts.     

SYNTHESIS OF TRIFLUOROMETHYL-IMINES BY SOLID ACID/SUPERACID CATALYZED MICROWAVE ASSISTED APPROACH

A new solid acid/superacid catalyzed microwave assisted synthesis of trifluoromethyl-imines is described. Various α,α,α-trifluoromethylketones react readily with primary amines to produce the corresponding imines. Two different strategies have been employed; one is the application of microwave irradiation coupled with solvent-free solid acid catalysis. The other method, for highly deactivated substrates includes the use of a pressure vessel at 175 °C temperature, with solid superacid catalysis. Using the solid acid K-10 montmorillonite or the superacidic perfluorinated resinsulfonic acid Nafion-H, a wide variety of trifluoromethylated imines have been synthesized using the above methods. The products have been isolated in good to excellent yields and high selectivities. This new environmentally friendly synthetic methodology provides significantly higher yields than traditional methods during relatively short reaction times for the preparation of the target compounds.     

Coordination of pyridinethiols in gold(I) complexes

High-yield synthesis of gold(I) thionato complexes, bis(pyridine-2-thionato)gold(I) chloride (1) and bis(pyridine-4-thionato)gold(I) chloride (2), are described. According to their solid-state structures, a linear coordination of Au(I), equiplanar coordination of the ligands and two weak gamma-agostic interactions are found in both of these complexes despite of different relative positions of N and S atoms in the pyridinethionato ligands. Density functional theory calculations on 1 and 2 reproduce the observed X-ray structures. Even though the C-H...Au interactions of Au(I) and two pyridine moieties (2.83 and 2.88 A in 1 and 2.86 A in 2) are relatively weak, according to calculations they seem to provide further stabilization for the coordination and orientation of the ligands. In 1 the shortest Au...Au distances of 3.50 A indicate that aurophilic interactions, even though weak, are present in the solid state, whereas in 2 these interactions are absent.     

Computational study of the reaction between biogenic stabilized Criegee intermediates and sulfuric acid

We have postulated a mechanism for the reaction of sulfuric acid with stabilized Criegee intermediates (sCIs). We have computed Gibbs free energies for the reaction of sulfuric acid with two biogenic sCIs and three smaller model species. We have also calculated Gibbs free energies for two competing sink reactions. Due to the large size of the biogenic sCIs, the computations have been performed at the relatively modest B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) and B3LYP/6-311+G(2d,p) levels. However, single-point RI-CC2/def2-QZVPP calculations for the (CH3)(2)COO model species are in good agreement with the B3LYP results. The reaction is found to be strongly exothermic for all studied species. Activation barrier calculations on the (CH3)(2)COO model species further indicate that the reaction with sulfuric acid may proceed significantly faster than the sink reaction with water. If the same applies to the biogenic sCIs, the proposed reactions could account for some part of the organically assisted new particle formation events observed in the atmosphere.     

Thermal and IR-induced conformer interconversion processes for 2-chloroallyl alcohol in Low-temperature matrices: Wavelength-dependent conformer steady states

2-chloroallyl alcohol has been studied in low-temperature Ar, Kr, Xe, N₂ and CH₄ matrices. An IR-induced process was found in all media except CH₄ and resulted in a steady state dependent on the Wavelength of the irradiation. At elevated temperatures thermal conformer interconversions occurred. The energetics of the processes are discussed and their potential barriers determined. No mode selectivity was found.     

Activation of hafnocene catalyzed polymerization of 1-hexene with MAO and borate

A study of 1-hexene polymerization with ethylene-bis(9-fluorenyl) hafnium dichloride has been carried out using two different cocatalyst systems, methyl-aluminoxane/trimethylaluminum (MAO/TMA) and tris-isobutyl-aluminum/N,N-dimethylanilinium tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl) borate (TIBA/borate). When MAO/TMA was used, 1-hexene polymerized into a low molar mass poly(1-hexene) with low catalytic activity. Activation with TIBA/borate increased polymerization activity drastically as well as the molar mass of the polymers. In order to analyze differences in the activity profiles, UV-Vis spectroscopy was employed to investigate ligand to metal charge transitions (LMCT) of the hafnocene dichloride during the activation process. The low catalytic activity and the fast chain transfer to the cocatalyst with MAO/TMA may originate from strong bonding between the metallocene cation and the MAO/TMA species thus obstructing monomer coordination and insertion.     

Fabrication of blazed gratings by area-coded effective medium structures

Area-coded effective medium structures (ACES) are a recently presented novel type of diffractive structure. Because of their higher stability compared to 2D binary blazed gratings, they have the potential of a broader use in micro-optics applications. The first fabrication with electron-beam lithography validate the theoretical model of blazed ACES. The measured diffraction efficiencies are in very good agreement with the values obtained from rigorous electromagnetic analysis.