Potential-energy surface for the electronic ground state of NH3 up to 20,000 cm-1 above equilibrium

Ab initio coupled cluster calculations with single and double substitutions and a perturbative treatment of connected triple excitations [CCSD(T)] with the augmented correlation-consistent polarized valence triple-zeta aug-cc-pVTZ basis at 51 816 geometries provide a six-dimensional potential-energy surface for the electronic ground state of NH3. At 3814 selected geometries, CBS+ energies are obtained by extrapolating the CCSD(T) results for the aug-cc-pVXZ(X=T,Q,5) basis sets to the complete basis set (CBS) limit and adding corrections for core-valence correlation and relativistic effects. CBS** ab initio energies are generated at 51,816 geometries by an empirical extrapolation of the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ results to the CBS+ limit. They cover the energy region up to 20,000 cm-1 above equilibrium. Parametrized analytical functions are fitted through the ab initio points. For these analytical surfaces, vibrational term values and transition moments are calculated by means of a variational program employing a kinetic-energy operator expressed in the Eckart-Sayvetz frame. Comparisons against experiment are used to assess the quality of the generated potential-energy surfaces. A "spectroscopic" potential-energy surface of NH3 is determined by a slight empirical adjustment of the ab initio potential to the experimental vibrational term values. Variational calculations on this refined surface yield rms deviations from experiment of 0.8 cm-1 for 24 inversion splittings and 0.4 (3.0) cm-1 for 34 (51) vibrational term values up to 6100 (10,300) cm-1.     

Molecular simulation of surfactant-assisted protein refolding

Protein refolding to its native state in vitro is a challenging problem in biotechnology, i.e., in the biomedical, pharmaceutical, and food industry. Protein aggregation and misfolding usually inhibit the recovery of proteins with their native states. These problems can be partially solved by adding a surfactant into a suitable solution environment. However, the process of this surfactant-assisted protein refolding is not well understood. In this paper, we wish to report on the first-ever simulations of surfactant-assisted protein refolding. For these studies, we defined a simple model for the protein and the surfactant and investigated how a surfactant affected the folding behavior of a two-dimensional lattice protein molecule. The model protein and model surfactant were chosen such that we could capture the important features of the folding process and the interaction between the protein and the surfactant, namely, the hydrophobic interaction. It was shown that, in the absence of surfactants, a protein in an "energy trap" conformation, i.e., a local energy minima, could not fold into the native form, which was characterized by a global energy minimum. The addition of surfactants created folding pathways via the formation of protein-surfactant complexes and thus enabled the conformations that fell into energy trap states to escape from these traps and to form the native proteins. The simulation results also showed that it was necessary to match the hydrophobicity of surfactant to the concentration of denaturant, which was added to control the folding or unfolding of a protein. The surfactants with different hydrophobicity had their own concentration range on assisting protein refolding. All of these simulations agreed well with experimental results reported elsewhere, indicating both the validity of the simulations presented here and the potential application of the simulations for the design of a surfactant on assisting protein refolding.     

An Efficient Amide‐Aldehyde‐Alkene Condensation: Synthesis for the N‐Allyl Amides

The allylamine skeleton represents a significant class of biologically active nitrogen compounds that are found in various natural products and drugs with well‐recognized pharmacological properties. In this personal account, we will briefly discuss the synthesis of allylamine skeletons. We will focus on showing a general protocol for Lewis acid‐catalyzed N‐allylation of electron‐poor N‐heterocyclic amides and sulfonamide via an amide‐aldehyde‐alkene condensation reaction. The substrate scope with respect to N‐heterocyclic amides, aldehydes, and alkenes will be discussed. This method is also capable of preparing the Naftifine motif from N‐methyl‐1‐naphthamide or methyl (naphthalene‐1‐ylmethyl)carbamate, with paraformaldehyde and styrene in a one‐pot manner.     

Assessment of silver(I) complexes of salicylaldehyde derivatives—histidine Schiff base as novel α-glucosidase inhibitors

In this study, a novel class of histidine Schiff base silver (I) complexes derived from salicylaldehyde, 1a-9a, was found to be an effective inhibitor of α-glucosidase. The results of this study showed that the newly synthesized complexes inhibited α-glucosidase through noncompetitive mechanisms; the IC₅₀ values were ranging from 0.00431 μmol L^-1 to 0.492 μmol L^-1. The structure-activity relationship was established as well. These results demonstrated that compound 7a, 5-nitro salicylaldehyde Schiff base silver complex, is the most promising α-glucosidase inhibitor with the lowest IC₅₀ value, which could be exploited as a drug candidate to alleviate postprandial hyperglycemia in the treatment of type Ⅱ diabetes mellitus. This research provided a catalyst-free, simple, and environmentally benign reaction to synthesize compounds using mechanochemistry.     

Highly active rhodium/phosphorus catalytic system for the hydroformylation of α-methylstyrene

Rhodium catalyzed hydroformylation of a-methylstyrene was investigated in the presence of monodentate phosphine ligands L1–L6. We found that the phosphine with good p-acceptability could efficiently improve the activity of the a-methylstyrene hydroformylation. The big steric hindrance of a-C in a-methylstyrene enhanced the regioselectivity towards the linear aldehyde, which resulted in3-phenylbutanal as the predominant product(99.0%). When tris(N-pyrrolyl)phosphine(L1) modified Rh(acac)(CO)_2was employed as the catalyst, the TOF could reach up to 5786 h~(-1)in the a-methylstyrene hydroformylation at relatively mild conditions(110 8C, 6 MPa).     

Study on the inclusion behavior and solid inclusion complex of 5-amino-6-methyl-2-benzimidazolone with cyclodextrins

The inclusion behaviors of three native or modified CDs including p-CD,2-hydroxypropyl-β-CD(2-Hp-β-CD) and 2,6-dimethyl-β-CD(Me-β-CD) toward 5-amino-6-methyl-2-benzimidazolone(AMBI) were comparatively investigated by NMR and fluorescence titration in combination with IR spectra,X-ray diffractometry and scanning electron microphotographs.The experimental results jointly demonstrated that the phenyl ring of AMBI entered into the cavity of the CDs and located close to the narrow rims accompanied by the formation of the 1:1 inclusion complex with large stability constant in aqueous solution.The introduction of the hydroxypropyl unit to the host improved the solubility,ultimately effecting an obvious promoting in the fluorescence intensity and the stability constant     

Structures and luminescent properties of four compounds based on binuclear metal-terpyridine building blocks

Four new coordination polymers, [Cd(3-TPTP)Cl]₂ (3-HTPTP = 4′-(3-tetrazolylphenyl)2,2′:6′2′′-terpyridine, 1), {[Cd(3-TPTP)(pBDC)_0.5]?4H₂O}_n (pH₂BDC = 1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid, 2), {[Mn(3-TPTP)(mBDC)_0.5]?5H₂O}_n (mH₂BDC = 1,3-benzenedicarboxylic acid, 3), and [Pb(3-TPTP)(H₂O)₂]?OH (4), were obtained. Compounds 1–3 are composed of binuclear [M₂(3-TPTP)₂] ring as building unit. In 1, the binuclear rings pack into a 3-D supramolecular framework via various hydrogen bonds. In 2 and 3, the binuclear rings are connected by mBDC^2? and pBDC^2?, respectively, resulting in two types of 1-D chains. In 4, the mononuclear [Pb(3-TPTP)] units are connected by Pb?N weak interactions, giving a chiral 1-D coordination chain, which is further connected by O–H?N interaction to form a chiral 3-D supramolecular framework. The phase purity of 1–4 and luminescence properties of 1, 2, and 4 were also investigated.     

A CO2-Switchable Polymer Surfactant Copolymerized with DMAEMA and AM as a Heavy Oil Emulsifier

A CO₂-switchable polymer surfactant was synthesized with acrylamide (AM) and 2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA). The changes in conductivity, particle size, and ζ-potential were adopted to illustrate its switchability. The CMC of the surfactant was determined by the break point of the curve of surface tension versus concentration. An oil emulsion with 8 g/L surfactant almost reached the highest stability. The thermodynamic stability of the emulsion decreased sharply upon increase of the temperature. Adding an inorganic salt was hard to affect the emulsion stability because the surfactant is non-ionic. The emulsion could maintain its stability even if the concentration of NaCl was as high as 10 g/L. The emulsion could easily be broken by bubbling CO₂. Its dehydration rate was 155 times faster than that without the presence of CO₂, and the amount of residual oil in water was only 32.22 ppm, which displayed brilliant performance of de-emulsification.     

A new phenolic compound with antioxidant activity from the branches and leaves of Pyrus pashia

The branches and leaves of Pyrus pashia are used to cure abdominal pain and diarrhoea in Chinese folk medicine. A new phenilic compound, 4-O-β-d-glucopyranosylbenzyl-benzoate ester (1), along with 21 known ones (2–22) were isolated from the branches and leaves of this plant. Compounds 2 and 3 displayed remarkable antioxidant activities against 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (IC₅₀ = 13.26 ± 0.04 μM, 13.28 ± 0.11 μM, respectively), which were at the same grade as positive control rutin. The caffeoyl group in compounds 2 and 3 was supposed to play an important role in the antioxidant activities.