Synthesis of 3‐(substituted)‐2,4,8,15‐tetroxa‐3‐phosphadispiro[5.2.5]hexadecane‐3‐oxides

Novel 3‐(substituted)‐2,4,8,15‐tetroxa‐3‐phosphadispiro[5.2.5]hexadecane‐3‐oxides (3‐12) have been synthesized by cyclization of 1,5‐dioxaspiro[5.5]undecande‐3,3‐dimethanol (1) with various substituted aryl phosphorus dichloridates (2) in dry toluene‐THF in the presence of triethylamine at 40‐60 ^oC. Their molecular structures were determined by ir, nmr and mass spectral studies and were screened for antifungal activity against Curvularia lunata and Aspergillus niger, and antibacterial activity on Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Most of them possess significant activity.     

Tailoring approach for exploring electron densities and electrostatic potentials of molecular crystals

Experimental and theoretical studies of electron densities and the corresponding derived entities such as electrostatic potentials have been the primary means of understanding the chemical nature and electronic properties of crystalline substances. Conventional crystal calculation methods such as the embedded cluster models are capable of performing calculations on small and medium-sized molecules, while periodic ab initio methods can treat crystals with up to 200 atoms per unit cell. A linear scaling method, viz. the molecular tailoring approach, has recently been developed for obtaining ab initio quality one-electron properties. In the present study, the molecular tailoring approach is employed to generate electron density, electrostatic potential and interaction density maps with the ibuprofen crystal as a test case. The interaction density and electrostatic potential maps produced in the present work succinctly bring out the actual crystalline environment around a given reference molecule by including the interactions with atoms in its neighborhood. The results obtained from the molecular tailoring approach may thus be expected to enhance our understanding of the environment in the crystalline material with reasonably small computational effort.Contribution to the Jacopo Tomasi Honorary Issue     

Asymmetric synthesis of 2,3-dihydrofurans and of unsaturated bicyclic tetrahydrofurans through alpha-elimination and migratory cyclization of silyloxy alkenyl aminosulfoxonium salts. Generation and intramolecular O,Si-bond insertion of chiral disubstituted beta-silyloxy alkylidene carbenes

Treatment of the bis(allylsulfoximine)titanium complexes derived from the beta-methyl-substituted acyclic allylic sulfoximines 13a and 13b with aldehydes gave with high selectivities the corresponding sulfoximine-substituted homoallylic alcohols which were isolated as the silyl ethers 15a-h. Methylation of sulfoximines 15a-h afforded the aminosulfoxonium salts 5a-h which upon treatment with LiN(H)tBu gave in high yields the enantio- and diastereomerically pure silyl-substituted 2,3-dihydrofurans 4a-h. Treatment of the titanium complexes derived from the cyclic allylic sulfoximines 17a, 17b, and ent-17c with p-MeOC(6)H(4)CHO delivered with high selectivities the corresponding sulfoximine-substituted cyclic homoallylic alcohols which were isolated as the silyl ethers 18a, 18b, and ent-18c, respectively. Methylation of sulfoximines 18a, 18b, and ent-18c furnished the aminosulfoxonium salts 8a, 8b, and ent-8c, respectively, whose treatment with LiN(H)t-Bu gave the enantio- and diastereomerically pure fused bicyclic 2,3-dihydrofurans 6a, 6b, and ent-6c, respectively, in good yields. It is proposed that the 1-alkenyl aminosulfoxonium salts 5a-h, 8a, 8b, and ent-8c react with the base under alpha-elimination and formation of the acyclic and cyclic beta-silyloxy alkylidene carbenes 2a-h, 7a, 7b, and ent-7c, respectively, which then undergo a 1,5-O,Si-bond insertion and 1,2-silyl migration. The cyclic aminosulfoxonium salts 8a, 8b, and ent-8c upon treatment with 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]-7-undecene did not undergo an alpha-elimination but suffered a novel migratory cyclization with formation of the enantio- and diastereomerically pure bicyclic tetrahydrofurans 9a, 9b, and ent-9c, respectively. It is proposed that the 1-alkenyl sulfoxonium salts 8a, 8b, and ent-8c are isomerized to the allylic aminosulfoxonium salts 10a, 10b, and ent-10c, respectively, which then suffer an intramolecular substitution of the (dimethylamino)sulfoxonium group by the silyloxy group followed by a desilylation. The syntheses of the 2,3-dihydrofurans 4a-h, 6a, and 6b and of the tetrahydrofurans 9a and 9b are accompanied by the formation of sulfinamide 16 of >or=98% ee, which can be converted via sulfoxide 28 of >or=98% to the starting sulfoximine 11 of >or=98% ee.     

Substituent electronic effects on the persistence and absorption spectra of (Z)-o-xylylenols. A nanosecond laser flash photolysis study

[reaction: see text] A systematic investigation on a broad set of aldehydes reveals that the lifetimes of (Z)-photoenols can be modulated by variation of the substituents. We have found that the lifetimes of (Z)-enols (in benzene) can be varied by more than 1 order of magnitude with a judicious choice of the substituents that exert mesomeric and inductive effects as, for example, in the case of pentamethylbenzaldehyde (tau = 35 ns) and dicyanomesitaldehyde (tau = 760 ns). This study thus points to the fact that the electronic factors in conjunction with hydrogen bonding stabilization can considerably broaden the uni- as well as bimolecular chemistry based on photoenolization. Further, we have shown that the photoenols exhibit dramatic shifts in their absorption properties with variation of the substituents; although the photoenols have long been considered to be colored, their absorption properties have not been heretofore comprehensively examined.     

Diastereoselective synthesis of 2,3,4,5-tetrasubstituted isoxazolidines via 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition

The 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions of α-2-methoxyaryl nitrones with nitrostyrenes and chalcones have been investigated. The regiochemistry and stereochemistry of the resultant cycloadducts have been determined with the help of NMR spectroscopy and X-ray analysis. β-Nitrostyrenes add to nitrones to give two geometrical isomers, while the β-methyl-β-nitrostyrene gives a single isomer in relatively low yield. The chalcones give a single cycloadduct upon 1,3-dipolar addition.     

The fast multipole boundary element method for molecular electrostatics: An optimal approach for large systems

We propose a fast implementation of the boundary element method for solving the Poisson equation, which approximately determines the electrostatic field around solvated molecules of arbitrary shape. The method presented uses computational resources of order O(N) only, where N is the number of elements representing the dielectric boundary at the molecular surface. The method is based on the Fast Multipole Algorithm by Rokhlin and Greengard, which is used to calculate the Coulombic interaction between surface elements in linear time. We calculate the solvation energies of a sphere, a small polar molecule, and a moderately sized protein. The values obtained by the boundary element method agree well with results from finite difference calculations and show a higher degree of consistency due to the absence of grid dependencies. The boundary element method can be taken to a much higher accuracy than is possible with finite difference methods and can therefore be used to verify their validity. © 1995 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Synthesis and binding studies of new bis-calix[4]arenes containing aromatic and heteroaromatic units

A series of new bis-calix[4]arenes containing different aromatic and heteroaromatic moieties have been synthesized. The complexing behavior of these bis-calix[4]arenes have been studied towards different metal ions and it has been found that these bis-calix[4]arenes bind silver ions selectively over other metal ions. The complexation has been studied by liquid-liquid extraction and by NMR and IR spectroscopy.     

Efficient photocyclization of o-alkylbenzaldehydes in the solid state: direct observation of E-xylylenols en route to benzocyclobutenols

The photocyclization to benzocyclobutenols of o-alkyl aromatic aldehydes that are predestined for gamma-hydrogen abstraction is found to occur efficiently in the solid state; in contrast, solution-phase photolysis is known to afford a mixture of several products. It is shown that mesitaldehyde, which is a liquid, also undergoes efficient cyclization when subjected to photolysis as a solid inclusion complex. The marginal energy differences in the relative energies of the E-enols and the corresponding cyclobutenols in the case of cyano-substituted mesitaldehydes has permitted direct observation, for the first time, of the E-enols en route to benzocyclobutenols. The AM1 calculations suggest that the cyano-substitution causes intrinsic stabilization of the E-enols relative to the corresponding cyclobutenols, while the bromo groups do the opposite. The lack of observation of the red color in bromo- and formyl-substituted aldehydes is attributed to rapid cyclization of the E-enols to the their respective cyclobutenols even at low temperatures.     

Glycidyl methacrylate–tert-butyl acrylate copolymers: Synthesis,characterization, and thermal studies

Glycidyl methacrylate was copolymerized with tert-butyl acrylate in bulk at 60°C using benzoyl peroxide as free radical initiator. The copolymer composition was determined by chemical analysis as well as from ¹³C-NMR data. The monomer reactivity ratios were calculated by using the YBR method. The number average sequence length of the copolymers was determined from ¹³C-NMR data and compared with those obtained from reactivity ratios. The intrinsic viscosity of the copolymers was determined in DMF, and thermal stability as well as mechanism of thermal degradation of the copolymers were evaluated.