Butadienyloxiran-Dihydrooxepin-Isomerisierung. Ringerweiterungsreaktionen von sterisch fixierten und benzoanellierten Epoxyhexadienen durch 1,7-Elektrocyclisierung konjugierter Carbonyl-Ylide

Butadienyloxirane-Dihydrooxepine Isomerisation. Ring Expansion Reactions of Sterically Fixed and Benzoannelated Epoxyhexadienes by 1,7-Electrocyclisation of Conjugated Carbonyl Ylides Thermal ring cleavage of specifically substituted oxiranes results in the formation of conjugated carbonyl ylide intermediates which react by 1,5- and/or 1,7-electrocyclisation to give ring-expanded products. While the spirooxiranes 5t, 6t , and 12t are transformed, as expected, only into 2,3-dihydrofurans ( 21, 22, 50 ), the geometrically fixed compounds give rise to the formation of seven-membered ring isomers either partially ( 6c ), or predominantly ( 5c ), or exclusively ( 7 – 11, 12c ). 1,7-Dipolar cyclisations also take place with participation of one or even two aromatic double bonds ( 7 → 52, 8 → 53, 9 → 54, 12c → 57 , and 10 → 55, 11 → 56 , resp.) affording mono- and dibenzo-dihydrooxepines, respectively. The rearrangements of 5c to 27 and 6c to 28 show for the first time that the 8π-ring closure of 2-oxaheptatrienyl dipoles proceeds in the theoretically predicted conrotatory manner. The exclusive, i.e. periselective formation of dihydrooxepines during the thermolysis of compounds 7 – 11, 12c is explained by assuming a helical geometry of the dipolar intermediates in which the stereoelectronic situation is specially suitable for the – entropically less advantageous – 1,7-cyclisation process.     

Quantification of surface functional groups on polymer microspheres by supramolecular host-guest interactions

We introduce a method to determine the number of accessible functional groups on a polymer microsphere surface based on the interaction between the macrocyclic host cucurbit[7]uril (CB7) and a guest reacted to the microsphere surface. After centrifugation, CB7 in the supernatant is quantified by addition of a fluorescent dye. The difference between added and detected CB7 affords the number of accessible surface functional groups.     

Single channel recordings of alpha-hemolysin reconstituted in S-layer-supported lipid bilayers.

Previous studies demonstrated that lipid membranes attached to a proteinaceous crystalline surface-layer (S-layer) revealed a prolonged lifetime and showed a reduced tendency to rupture in the presence of membrane active molecules. In addition, comparative studies on folded and S-layer-supported lipid membranes (SsLM) revealed an uniform capacitance of 0.64 +/- 0.04 microF/cm(2) for both composite membranes. In the present study, the feasibility to reconstitute the channel-forming protein alpha-hemolysin (alpha HL) into SsLM at single channel resolution was investigated. Single alpha HL channels could be recorded and the intrinsic properties like unitary conductance, current-voltage characteristics, and closure was found to be similar at both membranes. Thus, the tightly attached S-layer allowed complete reconstitution of alpha HL channels in SsLM.     

Ultrafast electron transfer, localization and solvation at ice–metal interfaces: Correlation of structure and dynamics

The interaction of an excess electron with a polar molecular environment is well known as electron solvation. This process is characterized by an energetic stabilization and by changes of the electronic spatial extent due to screening of the localized charge through molecular rearrangement. At metal–ice interfaces we photo-inject delocalized electrons from the metal substrate into adsorbed ice layers and analyze the ultrafast dynamics of electron transfer, localization and solvation by femtosecond time- and angle-resolved two-photon photoemission spectroscopy. To acquire further understanding of the individual steps of the complex process we vary the interfacial structure. The substrate is changed between Cu(1 1 1) and Ru(0 0 1) and the electron dynamics in ice islands are compared to closed D₂O layers. Contrasting crystalline and amorphous ice we found that electron solvation is mediated through electron localization at favorable structural sites, which occurs very efficiently in amorphous ice, but is less likely in a crystalline layer. Next, we find that in an open ice structure like ice islands the energetic stabilization due to electron solvation proceeds at a rate of 1 eV/ps which is three times faster than in a closed ice layer. We attribute this behavior to differences in the molecular coordination, which determines the molecular mobility and, thus, the transfer rate of electronic energy to solvent modes. The substrate’s electronic structure, on the other hand, is important to understand the transfer rates from electrons in ice back to the metal. First experiments on trapped electrons in crystalline ice underline the potential to study electron solvation not only during the equilibration process, but also in quasi-static conditions, where we find that the stabilization continues, although at much weaker rates.     

Phase separation of Lal3 inside single-walled carbon nanotubes.

Simple binary solids can be found to adopt unprecedented structures when confined into nanometre-sized cavities, such as the inner cylindrical bore of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT). In the case of the discussed Lal(x)@SWNT encapsulation composite, the Lal2 "crystal" fragment adopts the structure of bulk Lal3, with one third of the iodine positions unoccupied. A complete characterisation of the encapsulation composite was achieved using an enhanced digital restoration approach of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) images. The resulting complex exit surface wave provides information about the precise structural data of both filling material and host SWNT, establishing the SWNT's chirality and thus enabling a prediction of the composite's overall electron-transport properties.     

Generation of new landomycins by combinatorial biosynthetic manipulation of the LndGT4 gene of the landomycin E cluster in S. globisporus

A 3 kb DNA fragment from the Streptomyces globisporus 1912 landomycin E (LaE) biosynthetic gene cluster (lnd) was completely sequenced. Three open reading frames were identified, lndGT4, lndZ4, and lndZ5, whose probable translation products resemble a glycosyltransferase, a reductase, and a hydroxylase, respectively. Studies of generated mutants from disruption and complementation experiments involving the lndGT4 gene allowed us to determine that LndGT4 controls the terminal L-rhodinose sugar attachment during LaE biosynthesis and that LndZ4/LndZ5 are responsible for the unique C11-hydroxylation of the landomycins. Generation of the novel landomycins F, G, and H in the course of these studies provided evidence for the flexibility of lnd glycosyltransferases toward their acceptor substrates and a basis for initial structure-activity relationships within the landomycin family of antibiotics.