Self-assembly of a hydrophobic groove

Heptakis(2,6-di-O-methyl)-β-cyclodextrin interacts with 5,15-diphenylporphine to produce a 2:1 complex in dimethyl sulfoxide. This complex possesses a hydrophobic groove that circumscribes the metal binding site of the porphyrin moiety.     

Molecular dynamics study of orientational order and rotational melting in clusters of TeF6

Molecular dynamics simulations of the behavior of molecules in crystalline clusters of TeF₆ were carried out on systems of 100, 150, 250, and 350 molecules. Several diagnostic functions were applied to investigate whether rotational melting occurred before translational melting. These functions included the coefficient of rotational diffusionD _θ(T), the “orientational Lindemann index” δ_θ(T), the “orientational angular distribution function”Q(θ,T), and the “orientational pair-correlation function”g _θ(r, T). All indicators implied that rotational melting occurred before translational melting, that it began with the outermost molecules, and that its onset for smaller clusters was at lower temperatures than for larger clusters. Results also showed that the rotational transition coincided with the transition from a lower symmetry phase (monoclinic) to cubic, a phenomenon that had been noted by others to occur with some regularity for systems of globular molecules.     

Elementary operators with H∞-symbols

Let T be a c.n.u. contraction on a Hilbert spaceH and let u-(u₁,...,u_n) be an n-tuple of H(T). We calculate various joint spectra of u(T) and apply the results to study the spectral and index theories of elementary operators associated with n-tuples of the above type.Both authors have been partially supported by NSF grants.     

Synthesis and antifolate activity of 8,10-dideazaminopterin

A synthesis of 8,10-dideazaminopterin, using 2,4-diamino-6-bromomethyl-8-deazapteridine ( 2 ) as a key intermediate, is described. Condensation of the triphenylphosphinylide derived from 2 with p-formylbenzoyl-L-glutamate afforded a 9,10-dehydro-8,10-dideazaminopterin ester intermediate 5 . Hydrogenation of the olefinic linkage and subsequent hydrolysis of the glutamate ester gave the title compound. 8,10-Dideazaminopterin was a potent growth inhibitor of folate dependent bacteria. It was 16 times more potent then methotrexate as an inhibitor of dihydrofolate reductase derived from L1210 leukemia cells, and showed strong activity against L1210 in mice.     

Multitechnique surface spectroscopic studies of plasma modified polymers III. H2O and O2/H2O plasma modified poly(methyl methacrylate)s

The surfaces of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) films modified by O₂H₂O and H₂O radio-frequency glow discharge plasmas were studied using electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA or XPS), low energy ion scattering (LEISS or ISS), Fourier transform IR spectroscopy (FTIR) with attenuated total reflectance (ATR) sampling, and critical surface energy from contact angle measurements. The extent and nature of modification with respect to promotion of a hydrophilic surface compared to the hydrophobic surface of the unmodified PMMA has been probed. Results show drastic decreases in C/O ratio at the near surface, which increases to that of the unmodified PMMA as deeper cross sections are analyzed. In addition peak fitting of ESCA data correlated with FTIR functional group information allows for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the resulting bonding and structure of the modified layer. From these results combined with the polarity and surface energy differences obtained from contact angle measurements, the structural changes are discussed with respect to plasma reaction mechanisms and differences in the structure of the modified polymer films.     

A density functional study on a biomimetic non-heme iron catalyst: insights into alkane hydroxylation by a formally HO-FeV=O oxidant

The reactivity of [HO-(tpa)Fe(V)=O] (TPA=tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine), derived from O-O bond heterolysis of its [H(2)O-(tpa)Fe(III)-OOH] precursor, was explored by means of hybrid density functional theory. The mechanism for alkane hydroxylation by the high-valent iron-oxo species invoked as an intermediate in Fe(tpa)/H(2)O(2) catalysis was investigated. Hydroxylation of methane and propane by HO-Fe(V)=O was studied by following the rebound mechanism associated with the heme center of cytochrome P450, and it is demonstrated that this species is capable of stereospecific alkane hydroxylation. The mechanism proposed for alkane hydroxylation by HO-Fe(V)=O accounts for the experimentally observed incorporation of solvent water into the products. An investigation of the possible hydroxylation of acetonitrile (i.e., the solvent used in the experiments) shows that the activation energy for hydrogen-atom abstraction by HO-Fe(V)=O is rather high and, in fact, rather similar to that of methane, despite the similarity of the H-CH(2)CN bond strength to that of the secondary C-H bond in propane. This result indicates that the kinetics of hydrogen-atom abstraction are strongly affected by the cyano group and rationalizes the lack of experimental evidence for solvent hydroxylation in competition with that of substrates such as cyclohexane.     

Anodic stripping voltammetry of sulphide at a nickel film: towards the development of a reagentless sensor

The determination of sulphide at an electrochemically generated nickel oxide layer at glassy carbon and screen-printed electrodes in acidic media has been examined and appraised. The NiO layer was found to produce a stripping-like signal to sulphide and gave a linear peak current response from 20 to 90 μM. The response was further enhanced by repetitive cycling allowing accumulation of nickel sulphide at the electrode surface such that lower micromolar levels of sulphide (i.e. 5 μM) can be determined. The response at the NiO layer to sulphide is shown to be reproducible over a period of 24 h, thereby offering the development of a disposable amperometric sensor for sulphide.     

Voltammetric Detection of Free Sulfhydryl Compounds in Food Flours

Cyclic voltammetry has been applied to the rapid measurement of free SH‐compounds in food flours samples. The protocol is based on the electrochemical adaptation of the Ellman's test, where the DTNB reacts with SH‐compounds present in food flour extracts, resulting in the equimolar production of the electroactive compound TNBA which, in turns, reacts with phenylendiamine. The reaction is found to provide an analytical signal from which to quantify indirectly free sulfhydryl compounds in flours extracts.     

An insight into the aromaticity of fullerene anions: experimental evidence for diamagnetic ring currents in the five-membered rings of C(60)(6-) and C(70)(6-)

Reduction of the two "closed" [6,6] methanofullerenes, [6,6]C(61)H(2) (1) and [6,6]C(71)H(2) (5), to the corresponding hexaanions with lithium metal causes the bridgehead-bridgehead bonds to open, at least partially, and this change gives rise to diamagnetic ring currents in the resulting homoconjugated six-membered rings (6-MRs). These new ring currents shield the overlying hydrogen atoms on the methylene bridge and induce upfield shifts of 1.60 and 0.11 ppm in their (1)H NMR resonances, respectively. Analogous reduction of the already "open" [5,6]methanofullerenes, [5,6]C(61)H(2) (2) and [5,6]C(71)H(2) (3 and 4), only slightly enhances the shielding of the hydrogen atoms over the homoconjugated 6-MRs (upfield shifts of 0.13, 0.68, and 0.14 ppm, respectively) but leads to exceptionally strong diamagnetic ring currents in the homoconjugated five- membered rings (5-MRs), as evidenced by dramatic shielding of the hydrogen atoms situated over them (upfield shift of 5.01, 6.78, and 1.63 ppm, respectively). The strongest shielding is seen for the hydrogen atom sitting over the 5-MR at the pole of C(71)H(2)(6)(-) (delta = -0.255 ppm) indicating that the excess charge density is concentrated at the poles.     

Synthesis and characterization of Di-π-cyclopentadienyl- metal pentasulfides of titanium(IV) and vanadium (IV):an operational test of the influence of an unpaired electron on the molecular geometry

Our preparation of Ti(h⁵?C₅H₅)₂ S₅ by the reaction of elemental sulfur with Ti(h⁵?C₅H₅)₂(CO)₂ in hexane and of V(h⁵?C₅H₅)₂S₅?$\text{1}\text{2}$ H₂O by the reacti of V(h⁵?C₅H₅)₂ Cl₂ with Na₂S₅ in THF and structural analyses by single crystal X-ray diffraction (together with infrared, solution EPR, and temperaturedependent magnetic susceptibility measurements) represent an extension of our previous work on M(h⁵?C₅H₅)₂ (SC₆H₅)₂ (M = Ti, V). The crystallographic results provide further support of our previous conclusions that the Ballhausen—Dahl model is not valid for M(h⁵?C₅H₅)₂L₂ systems. The structuralfeatures of the chair-like titanium and vanadium pentasulfide molecules are compared to the corresponding phenylmercapto analogs and to the chair-like cyclohexasulfur molecule in rhombohedral sulfur. Ti(h⁵?C₅H₅)₂S₅ was isolated as a mixture of monoclinic and orthorhombic Crystalline phases-which were both characterized by preliminary X-ray data. A complete Structural determination and refinement of the monoclinic phase, which contains two independent molecules in a cell of dimensions a 22.843(2), b 7.958(1), c 14.465(1) Å, β 90.074(4)° and symmetry P2₁/c, yielded R₁ 5.3 % and R₂ 5.9 % for 2168 independent diffractometry-collected data with I≥ 2.5o(I). V(h⁵?C₅H₅)₂S₅-$\text{1}\text{2}$ H₂O contains four V(h⁵?C₅H₅)₂S₅ molecules and two water molecules of hydration (of crystallographic site symmetry C₂-2) in onorthorhombic unit cell of symmetry P2₁2₁2 and of dimensions a 13.491(1), b 12.748(1), c 7.715(1) Å. Least-squares refinement of 750 diffractometry data with I≥2.0σ(I) gave R₁ 2.4% and R₂ 3.0% Both of these compounds were independently synthesized and Spectroscopically characterized by Köpf and co-workers, and-a Complete X-ray diffraction study was performed by Epstein and Bernal on a different monoclinic phase of Ti(h⁵?C₅H₅)₂S₅ (isolated by-Köpf). An extraction of V(h⁵?C₅H₅)₂S₅ with re fluxing benzene under nitrogen atmosphere in a Soxhlet apparatus led to the formation of the previously reported [V₂ (h⁵?C₅H₅)₂S₅]_n compound which was characterized by physical measurements including a preliminary X-ray diffraction study.