An efficient and direct route to the synthesis of diaryl sulfoxides catalyzed by heteropoly acid

Heteropoly acid tungstophosphoric acid (H₃PW₁₂O₄₀) was found to be an excellent catalyst for the synthesis of symmetrical diaryl sulfoxides. The reaction was carried out in various organic solvents or ionic liquids and under solventfree condition. The reaction exhibited better results in terms of the yield and rate under solventfree condition. The catalyst was efficiently recovered from the reaction mixture and reused. The highlighting features of the present protocol are short reaction times, high yields of the products, ambient conditions, and simple workup.     

Photophysical study of 3-acetyl-4-oxo-6,7-dihydro-12H-indolo[2,3-a]quinolizine in biomimetic reverse micellar nanocavities: a spectroscopic approach

Photophysical properties of 3-acetyl-4-oxo-6,7-dihydro-12H-indolo[2,3-a]quinolizine (AODIQ), a bioactive molecule, has been investigated in well-characterized, monodispersed biomimicking nanocavities formed by sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate (AOT) in heptane using steady-state and picosecond time resolved fluorescence and fluorescence anisotropy. The emission behavior of AODIQ is very much dependent upon the water/surfactant mole ratio (W), i.e., on the water pool size of the reverse micellar core. AODIQ exhibits a sharp decrease in fluorescence anisotropy with increasing W, implying that the overall motional restriction experienced by the molecule is decreased with increased hydration. Some of the depth-dependent relevant fluorescence parameters, namely, fluorescence maxima and fluorescence anisotropy (r), have been monitored for exploiting the distribution and microenvironment around the probe in the reverse micelles. Fluorescence spectral position and fluorescence quenching studies suggest that the probe does not penetrate into the reverse micellar core; rather it binds at the interfacial region. Quantitaive estimates of the micropolarity and microviscosity at the binding sites of the probe molecule have been determined as a function of W.     

Direct allylic substitution of allyl alcohols by carbon pronucleophiles in the presence of a palladium/carboxylic acid catalyst under neat conditions

The reaction of allylic alcohols with carbon pronucleophiles in the presence of the Pd(PPh₃)₄/carboxylic acid combined catalytic system, under neat conditions (without an organic solvent or without water as the solvent) enabled the direct allylation of the pronucleophiles, giving the corresponding allylated products in high yields.     

Chemistry of 1,2,4-trioxanes relevant to their mechanism of action. Part 1: Reaction with Fe(II) salts

Reactions of 6-(1′-phenylvinyl)-1,2,4-trioxanes 2-5, with FeCl₂·4H₂O, FeBr₂, and a combination of hemin (bovine) and reduced glutathione (GSH) under various conditions have been studied.     

Palladium catalyzed three component coupling reaction between chromones, alcohols, and allylic acetates: diversity-oriented synthesis of highly substituted chromones

This paper describes the palladium catalyzed highly efficient three component coupling (TCC) reactions between chromones, allylic acetates, and alcohols, which lead to a library of multiply substituted chromones. The activity of various palladium catalysts, such as Pd(PPh₃)₄ and Pd₂dba₃·CHCl₃ and their combination with various bisphosphine ligands, was investigated by using THF as a solvent, which revealed that Pd(PPh₃)₄ catalyst was the best one. The reaction most probably proceeds via the formation of benzopyrilium cation, generated from the reaction between chromones and allyl acetate, in the presence of palladium catalyst. The subsequent trapping of the benzopyrilium cation by alcohols would give the corresponding products in excellent yields. This alkoxy-allylation reaction was highly diastereoselective and only one diastereomer was obtained in all the cases.     

Dramatic pressure-dependent quenching effects in supercritical CO2 assessed by the fluorescence of 4'-dimethylamino-3-hydroxyflavone. Thermodynamic versus kinetics control of excited-state intramolecular proton transfer

Steady-state fluorescence of 4'-dimethylamino-3-hydroxyflavone (DMA3HF) was observed in supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO(2)). Excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) occurs resulting in two well-separated emission bands corresponding to the normal and tautomer forms. As the scCO(2) density exceeds 0.7 g/mL, the relative intensity of the two bands tends to a constant value, comparable to that observed for organic solvents with ET(30) = 33.0 +/- 0.5 kcal/mol, such as toluene and di-n-butyl ether. At lower densities, the substantial decrease of the total fluorescence intensity (a 600-fold decrease as the pressure decreases from 100 to 80 bar) is accompanied by an even more accentuated decrease of the tautomer fluorescence. This can be explained by a shift in the equilibrium between normal and tautomer forms, concomitant with a more efficient quenching of the less solvated fluorophore, that may change the thermodynamic control of the relative population of the two emissive species to a kinetic control.     

Photophysics and dynamics of a β-carboline analogue in room temperature ionic liquids

Room temperature ionic liquids are rapidly emerging as a new class of media that are ideally suited for various applications including carrying out chemical reactions. In the present article, we report the photophysics of a β-carboline analogue, namely, 3-acetyl-4-oxo-6,7-dihydro-12H indolo-[2,3-a] quinolizine (AODIQ), in three room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs), 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium methyl sulfate ([BMIM][MeSO(4)]), 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium octyl sulfate ([BMIM][C(8)SO(4)]) and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium methyl sulfate ([EMIM][MeSO(4)]). Out of these, [BMIM][C(8)SO(4)] is a typical RTIL that forms micellar aggregates above a critical micellar concentration (CMC). Steady state absorption, steady state and time resolved fluorescence techniques are used to probe the properties of these systems. The investigation reveals that the photophysics of AODIQ is modified significantly in the micelle-forming RTIL as compared to that in the other two. A comparative study with the fluorophore in [BMIM][C(8)SO(4)] and a conventional anionic surfactant of a similar hydrophobic chain length from the sodium-n-alkyl sulfate series, viz., sodium octyl sulfate (S(8)S), reveals that the fluorophore experiences a more constrained environment in the RTIL micelle as compared to the conventional anionic micelle.     

Multiple emissions of benzil at room temperature and 77 K and their assignments from ab initio quantum chemical calculations

Multiple emissions have been observed from benzil under different conditions in solutions at room temperature as well as in low temperature glass matrices at 77 K. Low temperature emission has been monitored in rigid matrices frozen under different conditions of illumination. Steady state and time-resolved results together with the ab initio quantum chemical calculations provide, for the first time, the assignments of the different fluorescence bands to the different geometries and∕or electronic states of the fluorophore molecule. It is revealed that the skew form of benzil emits from the first (S(1)) as well as the second excited singlet (S(2)) states depending on the excitation wavelength, while the relaxed transplanar conformer fluoresces only from the S(1) state. The yet unexplored emission band peaking at around 360 nm has been assigned to originate from the S(2) state. Ab initio calculations using the density functional theory at B3LYP∕6-31G?? level corroborate well with the experimental observations.     

Interaction of pyrene-end-capped poly(ethylene oxide) with bovine serum albumin and human serum albumin in aqueous buffer medium: a fluorometric study

The photophysical behavior of a hydrophobically tailored water-soluble polymer, pyrene-end-capped poly(ethylene oxide) (PYPY), has been studied in aqueous buffered bovine serum albumin (BSA) and human serum albumin (HSA) media. In buffered aqueous solution the polymer shows dual emission corresponding to the monomer and the excimer of pyrene moiety. The relative intensity of the monomer to the excimer emission shows interesting variation with the addition of BSA and HSA and is indicative of significant interaction of these albumin proteins with the polymer. The binding interaction has been shown to have a prominent role on the steady state fluorescence anisotropy of the two emission bands. Attempt has been made to determine the micropolarities of the protein microenvironments from a comparison of the variation of the monomer to excimer relative fluorescence intensities of the probe in water–dioxane mixtures with varying composition.