Determination of ammonia based on the electro-oxidation of hydroquinone in dimethylformamide or in the room temperature ionic liquid, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide

The results detail a novel methodology for the electrochemical determination of ammonia based on its interaction with hydroquinone in DMF. It has been shown that ammonia reversibly removes protons from the hydroquinone molecules, thus facilitating the oxidative process with the emergence of a new wave at less positive potentials. The analytical utility of the proposed methodology has been examined with a linear range from 10 to 95 ppm and corresponding limit-of-detection of 4.2 ppm achievable. Finally, the response of hydroquinone in the presence of ammonia has been examined in the room temperature ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluormethylsulfonyl)imide, [EMIM][N(Tf)₂]. Analogous voltammetric waveshapes to that observed in DMF were obtained, thereby confirming the viability of the method in either DMF or [EMIM][N(Tf)₂] as solvent.     

Synthesis, structure, and alpha-elimination chemistry of hafnocene triarylstannyl complexes

New hafnocene triarylstannyl complexes were prepared and were shown to undergo clean thermal decompositions via alpha-aryl-elimination to produce the corresponding stannylene and a hafnocene aryl complex. The rate of the decomposition is highly dependent on the nature of the ancillary ligand, with the stabilities of the CpCp*Hf(SnPh(3))X compounds following the order X = NMe(2) > Np (alpha-agostic) > OMe > Cl > Me. Mechanistic information suggests that alpha-aryl-elimination may be viewed as a concerted process involving nucleophilic attack of the migrating aryl group onto the electrophilic metal center.     

Macrocyclic cobalt(III) complexes as precursors for metal-polythiophene hybrid materials

A thiophene-functionalised macrocyclic ligand trans-6,13-dimethyl-6-((thiophen-3-ylmethyl)amino)-1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane-13-amine (L¹) has been prepared and complexed with Co^III. The ligand L¹ binds as a pentadentate in the crystallographically characterised complexes [CoL¹(OAc)](ClO₄)₂ and [CoL¹Cl]Cl₂. Electro-copolymerisation of [CoL¹Cl]Cl₂ with 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) in a 1:2 ratio on a preformed poly-3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (PEDOT) film resulted in metal–polymer hybrid films of high quality, consistency and uniformity in appearance. The copolymerised films were characterised by XPS indicating a 1:11 ratio of incorporation of complex to EDOT. Electrochemistry of the Co-PEDOT film (cast on an indium-doped tin oxide working electrode) in water revealed a Co^III/II redox couple at a potential ca. −600 mV (vs Ag/AgCl) which is similar to that seen in solution for the monomeric aqua complex [CoL¹(OH₂)]³⁺.     

Efficient and practical Ag-catalyzed cycloadditions between arylimines and the Danishefsky diene

An efficient Ag-catalyzed method for asymmetric addition of the Danishefsky diene to various aryl imines to afford cycloadducts in > or =89% ee and > or =85% isolated yield is reported. Reactions are effected with 0.1-1 mol % catalyst (4 degrees C), and the chiral ligand is readily prepared from commercially available materials, including the inexpensive i-Leu. These catalytic asymmetric cycloadditions can be carried out without the use of solvent or with undistilled THF in air. A first generation supported chiral catalyst that effectively promotes the cycloaddition reaction and can be recycled (five cycles) is described.     

Tuning the optical properties of fluorinated indolylfulgimides

Photochromic fluorinated indolylfulgides have been identified as potential candidates for a wide range of applications including optical switches, photoregulators of biological processes, and optical memory media. In humid environments or biological systems, hydrolytic stability is essential. In an effort to improve hydrolytic stability, a series of indolylfulgimides has been synthesized from a parent trifluoromethyl-substituted indolylfulgide. The nitrogen of the succinimide moiety is linked to either a dimethyl amino or one of seven substituted phenyl groups. The phenyl groups feature substituents with increasing electron-withdrawing ability. The spectral characteristics of each compound have been examined, revealing that the wavelength absorption maxima of each form increases with increasing electron-withdrawing ability of the substituted N-phenyl ring. The quantum yields of the photoreactions have been determined with the N-(phenyl)fulgimide showing a ring closure value of nearly 0.30 in toluene. In addition, the hydrolytic, thermal, and photochemical stabilities of each compound have been measured. The fulgimides exhibit at least a 200-fold enhancement of hydrolytic stability for the Z-form and over a 1000-fold enhancement for the C-form in comparison to the same form of the parent fulgide. The N-(2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-4-trifluoromethylphenyl)fulgimide can undergo up to 3000 photochemical cycles (coloration followed by bleaching) before losing 20% of its initial absorbance at photostationary state.     

Correction: Click activated protodrugs against cancer increase the therapeutic potential of chemotherapy through local capture and activation

Correction for ‘Click activated protodrugs against cancer increase the therapeutic potential of chemotherapy through local capture and activation’ by Kui Wu et al., Chem. Sci., 2021, 12, 1259–1271, DOI: 10.1039/D0SC06099B.

The authors regret that the reference to the bond-breaking bioorthogonal chemistry, termed ‘click-to-release’ was omitted from the original article. In addition, we would like to include a reference describing the synthesis of compound 1, which is an intermediate to the protodrugs described in the original article. These references are listed below as ref. 1 and 2.The Royal Society of Chemistry apologizes for these errors and any consequent inconvenience to authors and readers.     

Dipole-bound anions of highly polar molecules: ethylene carbonate and vinylene carbonate

Results of experimental and theoretical studies of dipole-bound negative ions of the highly polar molecules ethylene carbonate (EC, C3H4O3, mu=5.35 D) and vinylene carbonate (VC, C3H2O3, mu=4.55 D) are presented. These negative ions are prepared in Rydberg electron transfer (RET) reactions in which rubidium (Rb) atoms, excited to ns or nd Rydberg states, collide with EC or VC molecules to produce EC- or VC- ions. In both cases ions are produced only when the Rb atoms are excited to states described by a relatively narrow range of effective principal quantum numbers, n*; the greatest yields of EC- and VC- are obtained for n*(max)=9.0+/-0.5 and 11.6+/-0.5, respectively. Charge transfer from low-lying Rydberg states of Rb is characteristic of a large excess electron binding energy (Eb) of the neutral parent; employing the previously derived empirical relationship Eb=23/n*(max)(2.8) eV, the electron binding energies are estimated to be 49+/-8 meV for EC and 24+/-3 meV for VC. Electron photodetachment studies of EC- show that the excess electron is bound by 49+/-5 meV, in excellent agreement with the RET results, lending credibility to the empirical relationship between Eb and n*(max). Vertical electron affinities for EC and VC are computed employing aug-cc-pVDZ atom-centered basis sets supplemented with a (5s5p) set of diffuse Gaussian primitives to support the dipole-bound electron; at the CCSD(T) level of theory the computed electron affinities are 40.9 and 20.1 meV for EC and VC, respectively.     

Inclusion-exclusion: Exact and approximate

It is often required to find the probability of the union of givenn eventsA ₁ ,...,A _n . The answer is provided, of course, by the inclusion-exclusion formula: Pr(A _i )= _i – _i<j Pr(A _i A _j )±.... Unfortunately, this formula has exponentially many terms, and only rarely does one manage to carry out the exact calculation. From a computational point of view, finding the probability of the union is an intractable, #P-hard problem, even in very restricted cases. This state of affairs makes it reasonable to seek approximate solutions that are computationally feasible. Attempts to find such approximate solutions have a long history starting already with Boole [1]. A recent step in this direction was taken by Linial and Nisan [4] who sought approximations to the probability of the union, given the probabilities of allj-wise intersections of the events forj=1,...k. The developed a method to approximate Pr(A _i ), from the above data with an additive error of exp . In the present article we develop an expression that can be computed in polynomial time, that, given the sums _|S|=j Pr( _iS A _i ) forj=1,...k, approximates Pr(A _i ) with an additive error of exp . This error is optimal, up to the logarithmic factor implicit in the notation.The problem of enumerating satisfying assignments of a boolean formula in DNF formF=v _l ^m C _i is an instance of the general problem that had been extensively studied [7]. HereA _i is the set of assignments that satisfyC _i , and Pr( _iS A _i )=a _S /2ⁿ where _iS C _i is satisfied bya _S assignments. Judging from the general results, it is hard to expect a decent approximation ofF's number of satisfying assignments, without knowledge of the numbersa _S for, say, all cardinalities . Quite surprisingly, already the numbersa _S over |S|log(n+1)uniquely determine the number of satisfying assignments for F.We point out a connection between our work and the edge-reconstruction conjecture. Finally we discuss other special instances of the problem, e.g., computing permanents of 0,1 matrices, evaluating chromatic polynomials of graphs and for families of events whose VC dimension is bounded.Work supported in part by a grant of the Binational Israel-US Science Foundation.Work supported in part by a grant of the Binational Israel-US Science Foundation and by the Israel Science Foundation.     

Electronic and vibrational second-order nonlinear optical properties of protein secondary structural motifs

A perturbation theory approach was developed for predicting the vibrational and electronic second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) polarizabilities of materials and macromolecules comprised of many coupled chromophores, with an emphasis on common protein secondary structural motifs. The polarization-dependent NLO properties of electronic and vibrational transitions in assemblies of amide chromophores comprising the polypeptide backbones of proteins were found to be accurately recovered in quantum chemical calculations by treating the coupling between adjacent oscillators perturbatively. A novel diagrammatic approach was developed to provide an intuitive visual means of interpreting the results of the perturbation theory calculations. Using this approach, the chiral and achiral polarization-dependent electronic SHG, isotropic SFG, and vibrational SFG nonlinear optical activities of protein structures were predicted and interpreted within the context of simple orientational models.     

N-(6-甲基-2-亚甲基吡啶)-( )-樟脑亚胺体系的不对称烷基化反应

目前,不对称合成光学活性化合物取得了较大进展,不对称合成α-氨基酸、β-氨基醇、α-取代苄胺的报道很多。但是,不对称合成生物碱类物质——α-取代氨甲基吡啶类化合物还未见文献报道,而此类化合物有潜在的应用前景。为此,我们以( )-樟脑为手性试剂