Copper—A “Modern” Bioelement

Copper is a bioessential element in biology with truly unique chemical characteristics in its two relevant oxidation states +I and +II. Significant progress has been made in recent years in the elucidation of the frequently surprising biochemistry of this trace element. Those advances were especially furthered through mutual stimulation involving results from biochemistry, molecular biology, and medicine on one hand and the synthesis as well as the structural and spectroscopic characterization of low molecular weight model complexes on the other. The most notable features of protein-bound active copper are its almost exclusive function in the metabolism of O₂ or N/O compounds (NO, N₂O) and its frequent association with oxidizing organic and inorganic radicals such as tyrosyl, semiquinones, superoxide, or nitrosyl. This unique biological role of copper can be rationalized given its chemical and assumed evolutionary background.     

Cover Picture: Trimeric Perfluoro‐ortho‐phenylenemercury: A Versatile Lewis Acidic Host (Chem. Eur. J. 21/2003)

The cover picture shows how trimeric perfluoro‐ortho‐phenylene mercury (center), one of the simplest trifunctional Lewis acidic hosts, interacts with organic molecules to afford various adducts. The planarity of this trinuclear complex as well as its overall polarizability compounded with relativistic effects at mercury permits the occurrence of noncovalent interactions and accounts for the tendency of this compound to form cofacial dimers as observed in the structure of the acetone adduct (top left). With a triply coordinated acetone molecule, the structure of this adduct also substantiates the cooperative effects that arise from the proximity and accessibility of the mercury centers. The complexation of arenes, such as benzene (bottom left) and naphthalene (bottom right), also occurs and leads to the formation of binary stacks in which the arene establishes multiple linkages with the mercury centers of the trifunctional Lewis acids. In addition to displaying unusual coordination environment, the arene units present in those stacks exhibit remarkable phosphorescent properties. For more details, see the paper by F. P. Gabbaï, R. E. Taylor, and M. R. Haneline on p. 5188 ff.     

Basis Set Orbital Relaxation in Atomic and Molecular Hydrogen Systems

Orbital relaxation (OR) amounts to variation of the orbital exponents in hydrogen molecules and ions relative to the exponents of the isolated atom; it is represented as the sum of the one- and two-center contributions depending on the effective atomic charge and on the presence of other atoms in the molecule. The procedure for isolating the contributions of the exponent includes treatment of the OR of hydrogen in a special set of neutral and charged atoms and molecules with certain multiplicities of their electronic states. Within the framework of the spin-unrestricted Hartree-Fock method, we found and discussed the optimal values of the exponents of the basis orbitals of hydrogen atoms and molecules using the minimal split valence-shell basis set, the basis set that includes the polarization function, and the expanded set of grouped natural orbitals. A simple energy model is suggested for OR. Expressions are derived for evaluating the exponents of the relaxed orbitals in hydrogen-containing systems.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2004 by A. I. Ermakov, A. E. Merkulov, A. A. Svechnikova, and V. V. Belousov__________Translated from Zhurnal Strukturnoi Khimii, Vol. 45, No. 6, pp. 973–978, November–December, 2004.     

Dynamic chirality: keen selection in the face of stereochemical diversity in mechanically bonded compounds

The template-directed syntheses, employing bisparaphenylene-[34]crown-10 (BPP34C10), 1,5-dinaphthoparaphenylene-[36]crown-10 (1/5NPPP36C10), and 1,5-dinaphtho-[38]crown-10 (1/5DNP38C10) as templates, of three [2]catenanes, whereby one of the two bipyridinium units in cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) is replaced by a bipicolinium unit, are described. The crude reaction mixtures comprising the [2]catenanes all contain slightly more of the homologous [3]catenanes, wherein a "dimeric" octacationic cyclophane has the crown ether macrocycles encircling the alternating bipyridinium units with the bipicolinium units completely unfettered. X-ray crystallography, performed on all three [2]catenanes and two of the three [3]catenanes reveals co-conformational and stereochemical preferences that are stark and pronounced. Both the [3]catenanes crystallize as mixtures of diastereoisomers on account of the axial chirality associated with the picolinium units in the solid state. Dynamic (1)H NMR spectroscopy is employed to probe in solution the relative energy barriers for rotations by the phenylene and pyridinium rings in the tetracationic cyclophane component of the [2]catenanes. Where there are co-conformational changes that are stereochemically "allowed", crown ether circumrotation and rocking processes are also investigated for the relative rates of their occurrence. The outcome is one whereby the three [2]catenanes containing BPP34C10, 1/5NPPP36C10, and 1/5DNP38C10 exist as one major enantiomeric pair of diastereoisomers amongst two, four, and eight diastereoisomeric pairs of enantiomers, respectively. The diastereoisomerism is a consequence of the presence of axial chirality together with helical and/or planar chirality in the same interlocked molecule. These [2]catenanes constitute a rich reserve of new stereochemical types that might be tapped for their switching and mechanical properties.     

Reaction of Tetracopper(I)-Phosphonitocavitand with PhSeSiMe3: Synthesis and Structure of a Polyanionic Cluster [pyH]6[(CuCl)9(μ3-SePh)5(μ4-SePh)]

Treatment of tetracopper(I)-phosphonitocavitand [1·Cu₄(μ-Cl)₄(μ₄-Cl)] (2) (1 = tetraphosphonitocavitand [rccc-2,8,14,20-tetrakis-(iso-butyl)-phosphonitocavitand (C₄₄H₄₈O₈P₄Ph₄)]) with PhSeSiMe₃ in THF at low temperature afforded a novel polyanionic cluster [pyH]₆[(CuCl)₉(μ₃-SePh)₅(μ₄-SePh)] (4) as a major product along with a new tetracopper(I)-phosphonitocavitand (3) with a centered μ₃-Cl. Molecular structure of anionic cluster in 4 consists of six PhSe⁻ bridging ligands containing five μ₃-SePh and one exceptional μ₄-SePh bridging nine copper atoms, of which eight copper atoms have trigonal coordination geometry and the other has distorted tetrahedral geometry. Dedicated to Professor Han-Qin Liu on the occasion of his 70th birthday.     

Chemical Reactions and Kinetics of the Carbon Monoxide Coupling in the Presence of

The chemical reactions and kinetics of the catalytic coupling reaction of carbon monoxide to diethyl oxalate were studied in the presence of hydrogen over a supported palladium catalyst in the gaseous phase at the typical coupling reaction conditions. The experiments were performed in a continuous flow fixed-bed reactor. The results indicated that hydrogen only reacts with ethyl nitrite to form ethanol, and kinetic studies revealed that the rate-determining step is the surface reaction of adsorbed hydrogen and the ethoxy radical (EtO-). A kinetic model is proposed and a comparison of the observed and calculated conversions showed that the rate expressions are of rather high confidence.     

A bifunctional platinum(II) complex capable of intercalation and hydrogen-bonding interactions with DNA: binding studies and cytotoxicity

The interactions of [Pt(CNN)(4-dpt)]PF(6), (1; 4-dpt=2,4-diamino-6-(4-pyridyl)-1,3,5-triazine, HCNN=6-phenyl-2,2'-bipyridine) with double-stranded DNA, poly(dA-dT)(2), and poly(dG-dC)(2) were examined by spectroscopic, electrophoretic, and hydrodynamic methods. The spectroscopic data were analyzed with McGhee, van't Hoff, and Gibbs-Helmholtz equations. In a comparative study, [Pt(CNN)(py)]PF(6) (2; py=pyridine) was prepared and the nature of its binding towards DNA was investigated [preliminary results: ChemBioChem 2003, 4, 62-68]. For reactions with calf thymus DNA at 20 degrees C, the intrinsic binding constants for 1 and 2 are (4.6+/-0.2)x10(5) and (2.3+/-0.3)x10(4) mol(-1) dm(3), respectively. Results of DNA-binding reactions revealed that 1 and 2 preferentially bind to the AT sequence of duplex DNA. Intercalation is the preferred binding mode for 2, whereas both intercalation and minor-groove binding are observed for 1. Complex 1 is cytotoxic against a number of carcinoma cell lines, including KB-3-1, CNE-3, and HepG2, and remains potent against multidrug- or cisplatin-resistant KB-V-1 and CNE1 cell lines, for which the resistance ratios are 1.6 and 1.5, respectively. Importantly, 1 is almost an order of magnitude less toxic to the normal cell line CCD-19Lu (IC(50)=176+/-1.7 microM) and it selectively induced apoptosis leading to cancer cell death with less than 5 % detectable necrosis.     

Novel α-Aminophosphonates and α-Aminophosphonic Acids: Synthesis,Molecular Docking and Evaluation of Antifungal Activity against Scedosporium Species

The Scedosporium genus is an emerging pathogen with worldwide prevalence and high mortality rates that gives multidrug resistance to antifungals; therefore, pharmacological alternatives must be sought for the treatment of diseases caused by this fungus. In the present project, six new α-aminophosphates were synthesized by the Kabachnik–Fields multicomponent reaction by vortex agitation, and six new monohydrolyzed α-aminophosphonic acids were synthesized by an alkaline hydrolysis reaction. Antifungal activity was evaluated using the agar diffusion method as an initial screening to determine the most active compound compared to voriconazole; then it was evaluated against 23 strains of the genus Scedosporium following the M38-A2 protocol from CLSI (activity range: 648.76–700 µg/mL). Results showed that compound 5f exhibited the highest antifungal activity according to the agar diffusion method (≤1 mg/mL). Cytotoxicity against healthy COS-7 cells was also evaluated by the MTT assay and it was shown that compound 5f exhibits a lower toxicity in comparison to voriconazole at the same concentration (1000 µM). A docking study was conducted afterwards, showing that the possible mechanism of action of the compound is through the inhibition of allosteric 14-α-demethylase. Taking these results as a basis, 5f is presented as a compound with attractive properties for further studies.     

新版《高分子化学》解读

旨在剖析祖仁教授主编的《高分子化学》第四版的教学思想和撰写特点,涉及章节、内容的选择和安排、逻辑思维和教学方法,以及一些技术术语等。同时也指出了新版教材的一些印刷错误等。