Reactivity of acid fluoride-terminated self-assembled monolayers on gold

This report describes the reactivity of acid fluoride (AF)-terminated self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on gold toward amine and alcohol compounds and the potentiality of AF as a reactive intermediate for surface functionalizations. The AF group was generated in situ on a gold surface by reacting the terminal carboxylic acid group in the SAM of 16-mercaptohexadecanoic acid with cyanuric fluoride and pyridine under the optimized conditions. AF was found to be highly reactive toward various amine groups, such as primary and secondary amines, but it did not react effectively with alcohol. In addition, the amide coupling reaction by microcontact printing (microCP) was compared with the solution-based reaction: when amine-derivatized ferrocene compound was used for 1-min microCP on the AF-activated surface, the surface coverage of the reaction product was about 83% of 3.45 x 1014 cm-2, the coverage obtained in the solution-based reaction. On the basis of the high reaction efficiency of microCP, the AF-activated surface was also used as a platform for patterning a biological ligand, biotin.     

Poly(allylamine)-encapsulated water-soluble CdSe nanocrystals

Water-soluble CdSe nanocrystal/poly(allylamine) clusters with sizes ranging between 50 and 200 nm were prepared using 3-amino-1-propanol as a compatibilizing agent. Photoluminescence (PL) quantum yields (QY) up to 20% were achieved in water without the need to clad these CdSe nanocrystals (NCs) with higher band gap inorganic layers. The polymer-to-nanocrystal ratio plays an important role in the internal structure and stability of these polymer/NC clusters, as determined by static and dynamic light scattering in conjunction with PL studies. These results were modeled by using an effective-mass approximation and perturbation theory on the change in dielectric constant of the immediate NC environment. The time evolution of the average cluster radius of gyration and hydrodynamic radius revealed that a higher polymer-to-NC ratio leads to increased PL stability and QY. This is a result of a denser cluster configuration, which affords improved NC passivation. Increasing the ionic strength results in greater nanocluster compaction and higher PL QYs. Decreasing the pH value below 12 resulted in dramatic reduction in PL brightness, despite cluster densification, due to partial ionization and dissolution of the amine-based NC surface-capping agents.     

Nickel(II) complexes of bidentate N-heterocyclic carbene/phosphine ligands: efficient catalysts for Suzuki coupling of aryl chlorides

Nickel(II) complexes of bidentate N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)/phosphane ligand L were prepared and structurally characterized. Unlike palladium, which forms [PdCl(2)(L)], the stable nickel product isolated is the ionic [Ni(L)(2)]Cl(2). These Ni(II) complexes are highly robust in air. Among different N-substituents on the ligand framework, the nickel complex of ligand L bearing N-1-naphthylmethyl groups (2 a) is a highly effective catalyst for Suzuki cross-coupling between phenylboronic acid and a range of aryl halides, including unreactive aryl chlorides. The activities of 2 a are largely superior to those of other reported nickel NHC complexes and their palladium counterparts. Unlike the previously reported [NiCl(2)(dppe)] (dppe=1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane), 2 a can effectively catalyze the cross-coupling reaction without the need for a catalytic amount of PPh(3), and this suggests that the PPh(2) functionality of hybrid NHC ligand L can partially take on the role of free PPh(3). However, for unreactive aryl chlorides at low catalyst loading, the presence of PPh(3) accelerates the reaction.     

Chiral molecular squares based on angular bipyridines: self-assembly, characterization, and photophysical properties

Chiral molecular squares 1-12 based on [M(dppe)](2+) metallocorners (M = Pd or Pt, and dppe = bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane) and new angular bipyridine bridging ligands derived from the 1,1'-binaphthyl framework were readily assembled and characterized by a variety of techniques including infrared, UV-vis, circular dichroism (CD), and NMR spectroscopy, and ESI mass spectrometry. All these chiral metallocycles are highly luminescent in solution at room temperature with quantum efficiency of 0.06-0.63. Interestingly, when equal molar enantiopure molecular squares of opposite handedness were mixed in solution, a new meso dimeric metallocycle with C(2) symmetry formed. This result indicates the lability of the M-pyridyl bonds in these metallocycles, which may hinder their applications in many enantioselective processes.     

Silicon-assisted propargylic transfer to aldehydes

A new and efficient method of obtaining homopropargylic alcohols via homopropargylic transfer from the allenic alcohol to various aldehydes in the presence of Lewis acid catalysts is described; stereochemical studies have shown that this process is the first oxonium [3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement of an allenic alcohol to a homopropargylic alcohol in the presence of aldehydes and Lewis acid.     

Reactivity of acyclic (pentadienyl)iron(1+) cations: synthetic studies directed toward the frondosins

A short, 4-step route to the scaffold of frondosin A and B is reported. The [1-methoxycarbonyl-5-(2',5'-dimethoxyphenyl)pentadienyl]Fe(CO)(3)(+) cation was prepared in two steps from (methyl 6-oxo-2,4-hexadienoate)Fe(CO)(3). Reaction of this cation with isopropenyl Grignard or cyclohexenyllithium reagents affords (2-alkenyl-5-aryl-1-methoxycarbonyl-3-pentene-1,5-diyl)Fe(CO)(3) along with other addition products. Oxidative decomplexation of these (pentenediyl)iron complexes, utilizing CuCl(2), affords 6-aryl-3-methoxycarbonyl-1,4-cycloheptadienes via the presumed intermediacy of a cis-divinylcyclopropane.     

Ion-orbital coupling in Car-Parrinello calculations of hydrogen-bond vibrational dynamics: case study with the NH3-HCl dimer

We have performed Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics (CPMD) calculations of the hydrogen-bonded NH(3)-HCl dimer. Our main aim is to establish how ionic-orbital coupling in CPMD affects the vibrational dynamics in hydrogen-bonded systems by characterizing the dependence of the calculated vibrational frequencies upon the orbital mass in the adiabatic limit of Car-Parrinello calculations. We use the example of the NH(3)-HCl dimer because of interest in its vibrational spectrum, in particular the magnitude of the frequency shift of the H-Cl stretch due to the anharmonic interactions when the hydrogen bond is formed. We find that an orbital mass of about 100 a.u. or smaller is required in order for the ion-orbital coupling to be linear in orbital mass, and the results for which can be accurately extrapolated to the adiabatic limit of zero orbital mass. We argue that this is general for hydrogen-bonded systems, suggesting that typical orbital mass values used in CPMD are too high to accurately describe vibrational dynamics in hydrogen-bonded systems. Our results also show that the usual application of a scaling factor to the CPMD frequencies to correct for the effects of orbital mass is not valid. For the dynamics of the dimer, we find that the H-Cl stretch and the N-H-Cl bend are significantly coupled, suggesting that it is important to include the latter degree of freedom in quantum dynamical calculations. Results from our calculations with deuterium-substitution show that both these degrees of freedom have significant anharmonic interactions. Our calculated frequency for the H-Cl stretch using the Becke-exchange Lee-Yang-Parr correlation functional compares reasonably well with a previous second-order M?ller-Plesset calculation with anharmonic corrections, although it is low compared to the experimental value for the dimer trapped in a neon-matrix.     

Silver-mediated trifluoromethylation of arenes using TMSCF3

The silver-mediated C-H trifluoromethylation of aromatic substrates using TMSCF(3) is described. The development, optimization, and scope of these transformations are reported. AgCF(3) intermediates are proposed.     

5-(4-Hydroxy-2,3,5-trimethylbenzylidene) thiazolidine-2,4-dione attenuates atherosclerosis possibly by reducing monocyte recruitment to the lesion

A variety of benzylidenethiazole analogs have been demonstrated to inhibit 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX). Here we report the anti-atherogenic potential of 5-(4-hydroxy- 2,3,5-trimethylbenzylidene) thiazolidin-2,4-dione (HMB-TZD), a benzylidenethiazole analog, and its potential mechanism of action in LDL receptor-deficient (Ldlr-/-) mice. HMB-TZD Treatment reduced leukotriene B4 (LTB4) production significantly in RAW264.7 macrophages and SVEC4-10 endothelial cells. Macrophages or endothelial cells pre-incubated with HMB-TZD for 2 h and then stimulated with lipopolysaccharide or tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) displayed reduced cytokine production. Also, HMB-TZD reduced cell migration and adhesion in accordance with decreased proinflammatory molecule production in vitro and ex vivo. HMB-TZD treatment of 8-week-old male Ldlr-/- mice resulted in significantly reduced atherosclerotic lesions without a change to plasma lipid profiles. Moreover, aortic expression of pro-atherogenic molecules involved in the recruitment of monocytes to the aortic wall, including TNF-α , MCP-1, and VCAM-1, was downregulated. HMB-TZD also reduced macrophage infiltration into atherosclerotic lesions. In conclusion, HMB-TZD ameliorates atherosclerotic lesion formation possibly by reducing the expression of proinflammatory molecules and monocyte/macrophage recruitment to the lesion. These results suggest that HMB-TZD, and benzylidenethiazole analogs in general, may have therapeutic potential as treatments for atherosclerosis.     

Quantitation of surface-bound proteins on biochips using MALDI-TOF MS

We report on a novel method for the quantitation of proteins specifically bound on a ligand-presenting biochip by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS). The bound protein was digested by trypsin, and the resulting peptide fragments were analyzed by MALDI-TOF MS in the presence of an isotope-labeled internal standard (IS). The IS has the same sequence as a reference peptide (RP) of the target protein digest, but a different molecular weight. The absolute amount of the specifically bound protein on a biochip is then quantitated by comparison of mass intensities between the RP and the IS. Because they have the same molecular milieu, the mass intensities of these two analytes represent the real amounts of analytes on the chip. As a model system, we tested glutathione s-transferase (GST) and a GST-fusion protein, which were captured on glutathione-presenting biochips. We observed that the glutathione densities on biochips showed a good correlation with the absolute quantity of the proteins. We believe that our method will provide an alternative to currently existing tools for the absolute quantitation of surface-bound proteins.