Routes to unique palladium A-frame complexes with a bridging fluoro-ligand

Treatment of a toluene solution of [PdMe(2)(Cy(2)PCH(2)PCy(2))](1) with pentafluoropyridine in the presence of traces of water affords the generation of the A-frame complexes [(PdMe)(2){mu-kappa(2)(P,P)Cy(2)PCH(2)PCy(2)}(2)(mu-F)][SiMeF(4)]() and [(PdMe)(2){mu-kappa(2)(P,P)Cy(2)PCH(2)PCy(2)}(2)(mu-F)][OC(5)NF(4)](2b). If the reaction is performed in an NMR tube equipped with a PFA inliner, complex 2b is produced, only. Treatment of 1 with pentafluoropyridine in the presence of an excess water yields the pyridyloxy complex [PdMe(OC(5)NF(4))(Cy(2)PCH(2)PCy(2))](3). Compound [(PdMe)(2){mu-kappa(2)(P,P)Cy(2)PCH(2)PCy(2)}(2)(mu-F)][FHF](2c) bearing a bifluoride anion instead of SiMeF(4)(-) or OC(5)NF(4)(-) can be generated by reaction of 1 with substoichiometric amounts of Et(3)N.3HF. The analogous complex [(PdMe)(2){mu-kappa(2)(P,P)Ph(2)PCH(2)PPh(2)}(2)(mu-F)][FHF] (5c) has been synthesized by addition of Ph(2)PCH(2)PPh(2) to a solution of [PdMe(2)(Me(2)NCH(2)CH(2)NMe(2))](4) in THF and subsequent treatment of the reaction mixture with Et(3)N.3HF. The structure of the A-frame complex 5c has been determined by X-ray crystallography.     

Toward the development of new photolabile protecting groups that can rapidly release bioactive compounds upon photolysis with visible light

The synthesis and characterization of a new photolabile protecting group (caging group) for carboxylic acids, the 2-(dimethylamino)-5-nitrophenyl (DANP) group, is described. This compound has a major absorption band in the visible wavelength region with a maximum near 400 nm (epsilon400 = 9077 M(-1) cm(-1) at pH 7.4 and 21 degrees C). The caging group is attached through an ester linkage to the carboxyl functionality of beta-alanine, which activates the inhibitory glycine receptor in the mammalian central nervous system. Such caged compounds play an important role in transient kinetic investigations of fast cellular processes. Upon photolysis of DANP-caged beta-alanine, the caging group is released within 5 micros. Quantum yields of 0.03 and 0.002 were obtained in the UV region (308 and 360 nm) and the visible region (450 nm), respectively. Laser-pulse photolysis experiments, using 337 or 360 nm light, were performed with the caged compound equilibrated with HEK 293 cells transiently transfected with cDNA encoding the alpha1 homomeric, wild-type glycine receptor. The experiments demonstrated that neither DANP-caged beta-alanine nor its byproducts inhibit or activate the glycine receptors on the cell surface. Under physiological conditions, the DANP-caged beta-alanine is water-soluble and stable and can be used for transient kinetic measurements.     

Interpretation of contact angle measurements on two different fluoropolymers for the determination of solid surface tension

Contact angle measurements with a large number of liquids on the semi-fluorinated acryl polymer EGC-1700 films are reported. The surface tension was determined to be gammasv=13.84 mJ/m2 from contact angles of octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (OMCTS) and decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (DMCPS). Inertness of these two liquids makes them ideal for determination of surface tension of low-energy fluoropolymers. On the other hand, contact angles of many other liquids deviated somewhat from a smooth contact angle pattern that represents the EGC-1700 surface tension. It is argued that noninertness of the molecules of these liquids gives rise to specific interactions with the polymer film, causing the deviations. Furthermore, contact angles of a series of n-alkanes (n-hexane to n-hexadecane) showed systematic deviations from this curve, similar to the trend observed for n-alkanes/Teflon AF 1600 systems studied earlier. Adsorption of vapor of short-chain liquids onto the polymer film caused their contact angles to fall above the gammasv=13.84 mJ/m2 curve, and a parallel alignment of molecules of the long-chain n-alkanes in the vicinity of the solid was the explanation for the deviation of their contact angles below it. It is found that vapor adsorption effect is more significant in the case of Teflon AF 1600, while the alignment of liquid molecules close to the surface is more pronounced for EGC-1700.     

Photophysical characterization of mixed micelles of n-butanol/SDS and n-hexanol/SDS. A study at low alcohol concentrations

 The effect of the addition of n-butanol (BuOH) and n-hexanol (HexOH) on the micellization of sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) has been investigated using fluorescence quenching methods. The binding constants were calculated using an expression which relates the total concentration of alcohols and the micelle concentration. The values of K were 4.67 and 17.6 M^-1 for BuOH/SDS and HexOH/SDS, similar to values obtained by other methods. The cmc of SDS decreases on addition of alcohols and goes through a minimum for the BuOH/SDS system. Micellar aggregation numbers (N) were determined from linear plots of Ln (I ⁰/I) against [Quencher] at low alcohol concentrations. For 15 mM SDS, in the presence of BuOH the N values decrease on addition of alcohol up to 0.2 M. For HexOH, N can be assumed to be constant up to 4.8 mM, after which N decreases. The polarity of the micellar core containing alcohol was evaluated from the I ₁/I ₃ ratio of monomeric pyrene. The effect of addition of the alcohol causes a decrease in the I ₁/I ₃, which corresponds to a decrease in the polarity of the pyrene solubilization site. Received: 28 October 1996 Accepted: 10 January 1997     

2-Benzoylamino-6,7-dimethoxy-4H-3,1-benzoxazin-4-one: Synthesis and investigation of serine protease inactivation

Summary 2-Benzoylamino-6,7-dimethoxy-4H-3,1-benzoxazin-4-one was prepared by thermal treatment of 2-(3-benzoylthioureido)-4,5-dimethoxybenzoic acid and by benzoylation of 2-amino-6,7-dimethoxy-4H-3,1-benzoxazin-4-one. The inactivation of chymotrypsin and human leukozyte elastase by the title compound and 2-benzoylamino-4H-3,1-benzoxazin-4-one is reported.

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2-Benzoylamino-6,7-dimethoxy-4H-3,1-benzoxazin-4-on: Synthese und Untersuchung der Inaktivierung von Serin-Proteasen

Zusammenfassung 2-Benzoylamino-6,7-dimethoxy-4H-3,1-benzoxazin-4-on wurde durch thermische Behandlung von 2-(3-Benzoylthioureido)-4,5-dimethoxybenzoesäure und durch Benzoylierung von 2-Amino-6,7-dimethoxy-4H-3,1-benzoxazin-4-on hergestellt. Über die Inaktivierung von Chymotrypsin und humaner Leukozyten-Elastase durch die Titelverbindung und 2-Benzoylamino-4H-3,1-benzoxazin-4-on wird berichtet.

     

Synthesis of fluorescent oligonucleotide--EYFP conjugate: towards supramolecular construction of semisynthetic biomolecular antennae

A novel species of DNA--protein conjugate was synthesized by chemically linking DNA oligonucleotides to Aequorea victoria green fluorescent protein mutant EYFP. An additional cysteine was added to the C-terminus of the EYFP by genetic engineering and used to covalently attach amino-modified oligonucleotide with the aid of the heterobifunctional crosslinker sSMCC. EYFP maintained its fluorescence upon conjugation. The oligonucleotide provides an additional binding site to the fluorescent protein, and hence, the EYFP conjugate could be specifically hybridized with both complementary DNA-protein conjugates in-solution as well as immobilized at capture oligonucleotides attached to a solid substrate. These studies are paving the way for future applications in the self-assembly of photoactive supramolecular complexes, such as artificial light-harvesting systems.     

MS-Express: data-extracting and -processing software for high-throughput experimentation with mass spectrometry

High-throughput experiments (HTE) result in large amounts of raw data that have to be evaluated for sample classification. Especially mass spectrometry, a widely used detection method in catalytic HTE applications, produces enormous amounts of data. In the past few years, in catalysts research, several test rigs based on mass spectrometric detection have been independently reported by different groups. In a typical HTE, the catalysts are tested sequentially; the recording of the scans, however, occurs continuously. For this reason, the scans of interest have to be extracted from the raw data, and scans belonging to the same sample have to be averaged in a tedious procedure before further processing. In this publication, we present our custom-designed software MS-Express (mass spectrometry data-extracting and -processing software), an efficient tool for HTE MS data evaluation. MS-Express not only sorts the data, it also establishes statistical significance with the help of reference and blank data and provides concise information about abundance and intensity distributions of expected peaks. A special feature is that the program also reports unexpected MS signals, which potentially lead to unexpected discoveries.     

Validation of the extended simultaneous kinetics and ringdown model by measurements of the reaction NH2 + NO

The determination of rate constants for fast chemical reactions from nonexponential cavity ringdown profiles requires a consideration of the interfering laser bandwidth effect that arises if the line width of the ringdown probe laser exceeds the absorption line width of the detected species. The deconvolution of the kinetics and the bandwidth effect can be accomplished with the extended simultaneous kinetics and ringdown (eSKaR) model presented by Guo et al. (Guo, et al. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2003, 5, 4622). We present a detailed validation of this eSKaR model by a corresponding investigation of the well-known rate constant for the reaction NH2 + NO. Line profiles of the pulsed ringdown probe laser and the NH2 absorption line were determined from forward modeling of experimental ringdown profiles and verified by narrow-bandwidth laser absorption measurements. In addition, the rate constant for the title reaction was evaluated using the eSKaR model and also by means of a conventional pump-probe approach with variable time delays between the photolysis (pump) and ringdown (probe) laser pulses. The resulting room temperature rate constant for the NH2 + NO reaction, k1= (8.5 +/- 1.0) x 10(12) cm(3) mol(-1) s(-1), and the room temperature pressure broadening coefficient of NH2, = 2.27 GHz/bar, measured on the A2A1<-- X2B1 transition at wavelengths around lambda = 597 nm, were found to be in excellent agreement with the available literature data.     

Methyl rotational tunneling dynamics of p-xylene confined in a crystalline zeolite host

The methyl rotational tunneling spectrum of p-xylene confined in nanoporous zeolite crystals has been measured by inelastic neutron scattering (INS) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and analyzed to extract the rotational potential energy surfaces characteristic of the methyl groups in the host-guest complex. The number and relative intensities of the tunneling peaks observed by INS indicate the presence of methyl-methyl coupling interactions in addition to the methyl-zeolite interactions. The INS tunneling spectra from the crystals (space group P2(1)2(1)2(1) with four crystallographically inequivalent methyl rotors) are quantitatively interpreted as a combination of transitions involving two coupled methyl rotors as well as a transition involving single-particle tunneling of a third inequivalent rotor, in a manner consistent with the observed tunneling energies and relative intensities. Together, the crystal structure and the absence of additional peaks in the INS spectra suggest that the tunneling of the fourth inequivalent rotor is strongly hindered and inaccessible to INS measurements. This is verified by proton NMR measurements of the spin-lattice relaxation time which reveal the tunneling characteristics of the fourth inequivalent rotor.