Towards the design of novel boron‐ and nitrogen‐substituted ammonia‐borane and bifunctional arene ruthenium catalysts for hydrogen storage

Electronic‐structure density functional theory calculations have been performed to construct the potential energy surface for H₂ release from ammonia‐borane, with a novel bifunctional cationic ruthenium catalyst based on the sterically bulky β‐diketiminato ligand (Schreiber et al., ACS Catal. 2012, 2, 2505). The focus is on identifying both a suitable substitution pattern for ammonia‐borane optimized for chemical hydrogen storage and allowing for low‐energy dehydrogenation. The interaction of ammonia‐borane, and related substituted ammonia‐boranes, with a bifunctional η⁶‐arene ruthenium catalyst and associated variants is investigated for dehydrogenation. Interestingly, in a number of cases, hydride‐proton transfer from the substituted ammonia‐borane to the catalyst undergoes a barrier‐less process in the gas phase, with rapid formation of hydrogenated catalyst in the gas phase. Amongst the catalysts considered, N,N‐difluoro ammonia‐borane and N‐phenyl ammonia‐borane systems resulted in negative activation energy barriers. However, these types of ammonia‐boranes are inherently thermodynamically unstable and undergo barrierless decay in the gas phase. Apart from N,N‐difluoro ammonia‐borane, the interaction between different types of catalyst and ammonia borane was modeled in the solvent phase, revealing free‐energy barriers slightly higher than those in the gas phase. Amongst the various potential candidate Ru‐complexes screened, few are found to differ in terms of efficiency for the dehydrogenation (rate‐limiting) step. To model dehydrogenation more accurately, a selection of explicit protic solvent molecules was considered, with the goal of lowering energy barriers for H‐H recombination. It was found that primary (1°), 2°, and 3° alcohols are the most suitable to enhance reaction rate. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

不同结构的DNA激活序列对Cas12a反式切割活性的影响

CRISPR－Cas12a系统的反式切割活性在其识别特定的DNA激活序列后被激活,这不仅能实现特定DNA靶标的直接定量分析,同时也为构建针对多种生物标志物的体外传感体系带来了新的思路。然而,已有文献中所采用的双链DNA（dsDNA）和单链DNA（ssDNA）激活序列结构多种多样,缺乏全面、系统的设计指导原则。针对该问题,该文系统研究了不同结构的DNA激活序列对LbaCas12a反式切割活性的影响。通过对比研究,得出以下结论：（1）前间区序列邻近基序（PAM）位点有助于LbaCas12a更高效地靶向结合dsDNA激活序列和ssDNA激活序列;（2）PAM近端区域缺少序列片段会降低Cas12a-crRNA定位激活序列的效率;（3）删除PAM远端序列片段有利于增强LbaCas12a的反式切割活性;（4）由于省略了dsDNA解链过程,ssDNA激活序列在激活LbaCas12a的反式切割活性方面普遍比dsDNA激活序列产生的效果更好。根据这些发现,该文提出了一种LbaCas12a所青睐的高效激活序列结构,其激活的LbaCas2a反式酶切活性较采用含PAM位点的标准dsDNA激活序列高出3.7倍。研究结果为构建基于CRISPR-Cas12a的高效体外生物传感系统提供了重要支撑。     

核壳结构Cu@CoW的合成和对硼氨配合物水解的催化性能

分别以硼氨配合物和硼氢化钠为还原剂合成了核壳结构的Cu@CoW三元合金催化剂和非核壳结构的CuCoW三元合金催化剂,25℃下,Cu0.4@Co0.5W0.1三元合金催化剂对于硼氨配合物水解反应的TOF(转换频率)值达到0.369 0 molH2·molcat-1·s-1,明显高于非核壳结构的Cu0.4Co0.5W0.1催化剂,接近Pt、Pd等贵金属的催化活性,反应的活化能为49 kJ·mol-1。与非核壳结构的CuCoW合金相比,核壳结构的Cu@CoW三元合金催化剂的催化性能及稳定性均有明显提高。     

Block copolymers derived from polyisobutylene oligomers

The synthesis of polyvalent functionalized polyisobutylene (PIB) oligomers containing multiple polar groups via radical polymerization is described. Polymerizations from PIB macroinitiators via alkylborane intermediates can form block copolymers but the polar block is consistently larger than the PIB block and unless a hydrophobic monomer is used, the products are insoluble in alkanes. Block copolymer products from ATRP macroinitiators are formed with more control over the degree of polymerization of a polar block from a 1000 Da PIB starting material but are still alkane insoluble because the degree of polymerization of the polar block was consistently equal to or greater than the degree of polymerization of the PIB block. RAFT polymerization using 5 mol % of azoisobutyronitrile relative to a PIB macroinitiator however was successful in producing acceptable yields of alkane soluble block copolymers using a 1000 Da PIB starting material and monomers like methyl methacrylacrylate, ethyl methacrylate, N,N‐dimethylacrylamide, and N‐isopropylacrylamide. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2018 , 56, 1860–1867     

Synthesis, structure determination, and (radio-)fluorination of novel functionalized phosphanes suitable for the traceless Staudinger ligation

An elegant and efficient synthesis approach for the preparation of novel benzoate and nicotinate containing phosphanes is presented. This reaction path has a broad substrate scope. Thus, various functionalized phosphanes were obtained in high yields using an esterification procedure under Steglich conditions. A facile blocking of the phosphorus atom with BH₃ was carried out. BH₃ as easily insertable and removable protecting group enables a further derivatization of the benzoate residue. The prepared phosphane derivatives proved to be valuable labeling building blocks for the implementation of a bioorthogonal (radio-)fluorination strategy and were applied for labeling purposes using the traceless Staudinger ligation. For this purpose, a selection of azide-functionalized small organic and bioactive sample molecules was prepared. Furthermore, a mild and selective (radio-)fluorination of these derivatives is demonstrated adopting this bioorthogonal ligation method.     

Catalyst-free alcoholysis of phosphane-boranes: a smooth, cheap, and efficient deprotection procedure

Catalyst-free alcoholytic deprotection of borane-protected phosphorus compounds offers a smooth, efficient, and clean alternative to existing deprotection methods. In this paper we report our results on the general applicability of deprotecting phosphane- and phosphite-borane adducts by means of simple alcoholysis without the use of molecular sieves as a catalyst. Phosphane-boranes bearing at least one aromatic substituent are readily deprotected in high yields. Borane complexes of trialkylphosphanes or phosphites, however, cannot be deprotected in this way. The main merit of our method is its simplicity: apart from evaporation of the solvent, no further work-up or purification is needed.     

A molecular orbital explanation for the B?N bond shortening in H3BNH3 on going from the gaseous to the solid state

A simple molecular orbital model has been applied to explanation of the B? N bond shortening in H₃BNH₃ on going from the gaseous to the solid state. In this model, the shortening is attributed to the bond order increase that is caused by the fact that each atom in the crystal experiences different external electrostatic potential to each other and thus the orbital energy level of each atom is changed. To illustrate this model, Effective Fragment Potential (EFP) method has been applied to the system consisting of a H₃BNH₃ molecule and 30 dipole moments whose magnitudes are determined by Lorentz's local field theory. This EFP computation has brought significant B? N bond shortening (1.668 → 1.623 Å), which is about 50% of the actual shortening. The factor of the remaining discrepancy has been analyzed by Morokuma decomposition under EFP and localized orbital analysis. These analyses have revealed that the remaining discrepancy is almost compensated by incorporating the dihydrogen bonds (B? H···H? N) that are formed by the orbital interaction between the bonding orbital of the B? H and the antibonding orbital of the N? H. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2008     

Acid-catalyzed N-alkylation of tosylhydrazones using benzylic alcohols

N-Alkylation of tosylhydrazones in the presence of an acid catalyst is described for the first time. Tris(pentafluorophenyl) borane was found to be a mild and efficient catalyst when benzylic alcohols were used as the alkylating agents.     

Coordination and Dehydrogenation of Amine–Boranes at Metal Centers

There have been a number of approaches developed for the catalyzed dehydrogenation of amine–boranes as potential dihydrogen sources for hydrogen storage applications in recent years. Key advances in this area have been recently made thanks to catalytic and stoichiometric studies. In this Minireview, the fate of amine–boranes upon coordination to a metal center is discussed with a particular emphasis on B? H activation pathways. We focus on the few cases in which coordination of the resulting dehydrogenated product could be achieved, which includes the coordination of aminoborane, the simplest unit resulting from dihydrogen release of ammonia–borane.