Initiation of polymer degradation via transfer of infectious species

A novel dual stage chemiluminescence detection system incorporating individually controlled hot stages has been developed and applied to probe for material interaction effects during polymer degradation. Utilization of this system has resulted in experimental confirmation for the first time that in an oxidizing environment a degrading polymer A (in this case polypropylene, PP) is capable of infecting a different polymer B (in this case polybutadiene, HTPB) over a relatively large distance. In the presence of the infectious degrading polymer A, the thermal degradation of polymer B is observed over a significantly shorter time period. Consistent with infectious volatiles from material A initiating the degradation process in material B it was demonstrated that traces (micrograms) of a thermally sensitive peroxide in the vicinity of PP could induce degradation remotely. This observation documents cross-infectious phenomena between different polymers and has major consequences for polymer interactions, understanding fundamental degradation processes and long-term aging effects under combined material exposures.     

Geometric and electronic structure of clusters

The interplay between electronic and geometric structure is investigated for covalently bonded phosphorus clusters. We use a modification of the molecular dynamics/ density functional (MD/DF) method of Car and Parrinello, describing the electronic structure by a simplified linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO) approach. The results show clearly the tendency of phosphorus to threefold coordination, and substantial variations in bond angles lead to a large variety of isomers.     

Extreme stability of an unsolvated alpha-helix

High-temperature ion mobility measurements have been performed for alpha-helical Ac-A15K+H+ and globular Ac-KA15+H+ peptides. The alpha-helical and globular conformations do not melt into random coils as the temperature is raised. Instead, both conformations survive to the point where the peptide signals vanishes due to fragmentation. This occurs at 600 K for the globular Ac-KA15+H+ peptide and at 725 K for the alpha-helical Ac-A15K+H+. For the helical Ac-A15K+H+ peptide it appears that fragmentation is triggered by disruption of the helical conformation.     

Infrared spectra and rotational isomerism of epifluorohydrin and other propene oxide derivatives

The infrared spectrum for the vapour, liquid and solid states of epifluorohydrin has been studied, and evidence has been obtained for the presence of rotational isomers. The dominant conformer in all phases corresponds to a gauche structure, which was the only form identified in the vapour by microwave spectroscopy [1]. Similar evidence for conformational equilibria has been found for the chloro, bromo and iodo derivatives, and the enthalpy differences between the rotational isomers of these compounds were measured respectively as 4580 ± 970, 3950 ± 400, and 2350 ± 170 J mol^?1 respectively. At low temperatures, epiiodohydrin was found to crystallize in one of two possible crystalline phases. These two phases correspond to the two rotational isomeric conformations of the molecule.     

Differential binding of Mg2+, Zn2+, and Cd2+ at two sites in a hammerhead ribozyme motif, determined by 15N NMR

A decamer duplex model of Domain II of the hammerhead ribozyme was synthesized with [8-13C-1,7,NH2-15N3]-guanosine at the known metal binding site, G10.1 and, for comparison, [2-13C-1,7,NH2-15N3]-guanosine at G16.2. The 15N NMR chemical shifts of the labeled N7s monitored during addition of Mg2+, Cd2+, and Zn2+ showed the same preference for binding at G10.1 over G16.2 for each metal. These results demonstrate that 15N labeling can be used to evaluate the binding of different metals, including Mg2+, to a given nitrogen, as well as to compare the binding potential of different sites.     

Platinum(II) and palladium(II) complexes of bisphosphine ligands bearing o-N,N-dimethylanilinyl substituents: a hint of catalytic olefin hydration

Platinum(II) and palladium(II) complexes of the potentially hexadentate P,N-donor ligand family Ar2P-X-PAr2 (X = (CH2)2 [dmape], cyclic-C5H8 [dmapcp]; Ar = o-N,N-dimethylanilinyl) are described. In CH2Cl2, the dmape complexes exist as equilibrium mixtures of MCl2(P,P'-dmape) and [MCl(P,P',N-dmape)]Cl isomers (M = Pd, Pt), governed by deltaH(o) = -19 +/- 4 kJ mol(-1) and deltaS(o) = -100 +/- 30 J mol(-1) K(-1) for M = Pt, and deltaH(o) = -11 +/- 7 kJ mol(-1) and deltaS(o) = -60 +/- 20 J mol(-1) K(-1) for M = Pd. The water-soluble dmapcp complexes exist solely in the [MCl(P,P',N-dmapcp)]Cl form, but the free and coordinated anilinyl rings in these complexes are in slow diastereoselective exchange. X-ray crystal structures for MCl2(P,P'-dmape) (M = Pd, Pt), and the [PdCl(P,P',N-dmape)]+ and [PtCl(P,P',N-dmapcp)]+ cations, are presented. Some of the complexes show marginal activity in water for the catalyzed hydration of maleic to malic acid, giving about 6-7% conversion in 24 h at 100 degrees C and substrate:catalyst loadings of 100:1. Attempts to synthesize a PdCl(P,P',N-dmapm)+ species led instead to isolation of [Pd(mu-Cl)(P,P'-dmapm)]2[PF6]2 (dmapm = Ar2PCH2Ar2).     

Reactions of a carbene stabilised indium trihydride complex, [InH3{CN(Mes)C2H2N(Mes)}] Mes = mesityl,with transition metal complexes

The reactivity of the carbene stabilised indium trihydride complex, [InH₃(IMes)] IMes = 1,3-dimesitylimidazol-2-ylidene, toward a variety of transition metal complexes has been investigated. The study has shown that the InH₃ complex can act as a carbene and/or hydride transfer reagent to transition metal centres but does not yield heterobimetallic materials. Two new complexes, [Cp₂Ti(-Cl)₂Zn(IMes)Cl] and [CpNi(H)(IMes)], have resulted from this work, both of which have been spectroscopically and structurally characterised.