ISOMER COMPOSITION and SPECTRA OF THE DARK and LIGHT ADAPTED FORMS OF ARTIFICIAL BACTERIORHODOPSINS*

Abstract– The isomer composition and spectral properties of 15 artificial bacteriorhodopsin (bR) pigments, based on a series of retinal analogs with polyene residue modified below C₉ are determined for both dark-adapted (DA) and light-adapted (LA) forms. Similarly to native bR, in all cases only two isomers, C₁₃=C₁₄cis (13-cis) and M-trans, are observed. However, the artificial DA pigments have a lower 13-d.s content than native DA bR (? 66%) while the corresponding LA pigments have a much higher 13-cis content (11-69%) than native LA bR (<2%). Thus, in variance with the native pigment, in all of the artificial systems light also induced the reversed all-trans13-cis process. The data are accounted for in terms of specific steric interactions between the polyene and the protein binding site which allow a (C₁₅-anti)(C_ls-syn) isomerization during the photocycle of the artificial pigments, but not in the case of native bR. This accounts for the high proton pumping efficiency of the natural pigment. The nature of a highly red shifted light-adapted form of two of the artificial pigments is investigated and discussed. It is also shown that, in variance with native bR, several artificial pigments exhibit identical absorption spectra for their 13-cis and all-trans isomers. It is concluded that the spectral data for the above species of artificial pigments do not lead to a clear molecular model for the origin of the spectral shift between 13-cis and all-trans bR.     

Measurements and Utilization of Consistent Gibbs Energies of Transfer of Single Ions: Towards a Unified Redox Potential Scale for All Solvents

Utilizing the “ideal” ionic liquid salt bridge to measure Gibbs energies of transfer of silver ions between the solvents water, acetonitrile, propylene carbonate and dimethylformamide results in a consistent data set with a precision of 0.6 kJ mol⁻¹ over 87 measurements in 10 half-cells. This forms the basis for a coherent experimental thermodynamic framework of ion solvation chemistry. In addition, we define the solvent independent - and the values that account for the electronating potential of any redox system similar to the value of a medium that accounts for its protonating potential. This scale is thermodynamically well-defined enabling a straightforward comparison of the redox potentials (reducities) of all media with respect to the aqueous redox potential scale, hence unifying all conventional solvents′ redox potential scales. Thus, using the Gibbs energy of transfer of the silver ion published herein, one can convert and unify all hitherto published redox potentials measured, for example, against ferrocene, to the scale.     

Benzo[h]cinnolin

The synthesis of benzo[h]cinnolin ( 3 ) is reported. Its spectroscopic properties (uv, luminescence, pmr, ms) are similar to the other diazaphenanthrenes containing a diazine ring. The lowering of the basicity of 3 compared with a monoazaphenanthrene like other diaza-aromatic compounds appears to be due to an electrostatic field effect and not to an inductive effect.     

Synthesis and Reactivity of Stannyloligosilanes IV [1]: From Hydrido Substituted Stannasilanes Towards Stannasiloxanes

Summary.  Hydrido substituted stannasilanes of the type or (Z = H, Me, Ph; R, R′ = alkyl, Ph) are accessible by reaction of either alkali metal stannides (MSn(Z)R ₂; M = Li, Na) with halogen substituted silanes (; X = F, Cl) or chlorostannanes (R ₂SnCl₂, Ph₃SnCl) and fluorosilanes in the presence of magnesium. Stannasilanes with halogen substituents at the silicon as well as the tin atom are formed by treatment of the hydrido substituted stannasilanes with CHCl₃ or CCl₄. The hydrido substituted stannasilanes decompose in contact with air to distannanes and siloxanes or to the linear ( ^t Bu₂Sn(–O– ^t Bu₂Si–OH)₂) and cyclic ((– ^t Bu₂Sn–O– ⁱ Pr₂Si–O–)₂) stannasiloxanes. Received November 29, 2001. Accepted (revised) January 16, 2002     

Targeted ferromagnetic coupling in a trinuclear copperII complex: analysis of the St = 3/2 spin ground state

The trinuclear Cu(II) complex [(talen)Cu(II)(3)] (1) using the new triplesalen ligand H(6)talen has been synthesized and structurally characterized. The three Cu(II) ions are bridged in a m-phenylene linkage by the phloroglucinol backbone of the ligand. This m-phenylene bridging mode results in ferromagnetic couplings with an S(t) = (3)/(2) spin ground state, which has been analyzed by means of EPR spectroscopy and DFT calculations. The EPR spectrum exhibits an unprecedented pattern of 10 hyperfine lines due to the coupling of three Cu(II) ions (I = (3)/(2)). Resonances around g = 4 in both perpendicular and parallel mode EPR spectra demonstrate a zero-field splitting of D approximately 74 x 10(-4) cm(-1) arising from anisotropic/antisymmetric exchange interactions. The DFT calculations show an alteration in the sign of the spin densities of the central benzene ring corroborating the spin-polarization mechanism as origin for the ferromagnetic coupling.     

Comparison of Force Fields on the Basis of Various Model Approaches—How To Design the Best Model for the [CnMIM][NTf2] Family of Ionic Liquids

In this contribution, we present two new united‐atom force fields (UA‐FFs) for 1‐alkyl‐3‐methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide [C_nMIM][NTf₂] (n=1, 2, 4, 6, 8) ionic liquids (ILs). One is parametrized manually, and the other is developed with the gradient‐based optimization workflow (GROW). By doing so, we wanted to perform a hard test to determine how researchers could benefit from semiautomated optimization procedures. As with our already published all‐atom force field (AA‐FF) for [C_nMIM][NTf₂] (T. Köddermann, D. Paschek, R. Ludwig, ChemPhysChem­ 2007, 8, 2464 ), the new force fields were derived to fit experimental densities, self‐diffusion coefficients, and NMR rotational correlation times for the IL cation and for water molecules dissolved in [C₂MIM][NTf₂]. In the manual force field, the alkyl chains of the cation and the CF₃ groups of the anion were treated as united atoms. In the GROW force field, only the alkyl chains of the cation were united. All other parts of the structures of the ions remained unchanged to prevent any loss of physical information. Structural, dynamic, and thermodynamic properties such as viscosity, cation rotational correlation times, and heats of vaporization calculated with the new force fields were compared with values simulated with the previous AA‐FF and the experimental data. All simulated properties were in excellent agreement with the experimental values. Altogether, the UA‐FFs are slightly superior for speed‐up reasons. The UA‐FF speeds up the simulation by about 100 % and reduces the demanded disk space by about 78 %. More importantly, real time and efforts to generate force fields could be significantly reduced by utilizing GROW. The real time for the GROW parametrization in this work was 2 months. Manual parametrization, in contrast, may take up to 12 months, and this is, therefore, a significant increase in speed, though it is difficult to estimate the duration of manual parametrization.