DEUSS: a perdeuterated poly(oxyethylene)-based resin for improving HRMAS NMR studies of solid-supported molecules

A novel resin called DEUSS (perdeuterated poly(oxyethylene)-based solid support) has been prepared by anionic polymerization of deuterated [D4]ethylene oxide, followed by cross-linking with deuterated epichlorohydrin. DEUSS can be suspended in a wide range of solvents including organic and aqueous solutions, in which it displays a high swelling capacity. As measured by proton HRMAS of the swollen polymer, the signal intensity of the oxyethylene protons is reduced by a factor of 110 relative to the corresponding nondeuterated poly(oxyethylene)poly(oxypropylene) (POEPOP) resin, thus facilitating detailed HRMAS NMR studies of covalently linked molecules. This 1H NMR invisible matrix was used for the solid-phase synthesis of peptides, oligoureas, and a series of amides as well as their characterization by HRMAS NMR spectroscopy. On-bead NMR spectra of high quality and with resolution comparable to that of liquid samples were obtained and readily interpreted. The complete absence of the parasite resin signals will be of great advantage, for example, for the optimization of multistep solid-phase stereoselective reactions, and for the conformational study of resin-bound molecules in a large variety of solvents.     

Siloxane-Based Nanobuilding Blocks by Reaction Between Silanediol and Trifunctional Silicon Alkoxides

The preparation of nanostructured organic-inorganic materials by assembling of nanobuilding blocks allows controlling the extent of phase interaction, which in its turn governs structure-properties relationships. We present here the synthesis of siloxane-based nanobuilding blocks prepared by reacting diphenylsilanediol with vinyltriethoxysilane and triethoxysilane. The reaction products were obtained by non-hydrolytic condensation between silanediol and ethoxide groups in inert atmosphere, in the presence of pyridine, triethylamine or butyl lithium. Different synthetic conditions were examined by means of ATR-FTIR and NMR spectroscopies, showing the formation of siloxane bonds. In the case of triethoxysilane the reaction carried out in the presence of pyridine leads to Si–H bond preservation in the final product. Air stable products with improved Si–O–Si hydrolytic stability can be obtained by removal of the base after the reaction completion. The condensation products can be described as a mixture of siloxane rings involving difunctional and trifunctional silicon units.     

Transition state geometry in radical abstraction reactions: comparison of interatomic distances in the intersecting parabolas and Morse curves models with quantum-chemical calculations

Interatomic distances in the transition state were estimated for the reactions of radical abstraction: H^· + H₂, H^· + HCl, H^· + CH₄, N^·H₂ + NH₃, HO^· + H₂O, HO₂ ^· + HOOH, and C^·H₃ + SiH₄. The calculation was performed by the quantum-chemical density functional method or coupled clusters method (QCH), as well as by the methods of intersecting parabolas (IPM) and Morse curves (IMM), using experimental data (activation energies and reaction enthalpies). The results of the latter two methods are close to the quantum-chemical calculation and differ only by the increment a: r(IPM or IMM) = a + r(QCH), where a = –4.5·10^–12 m for IPM and a = +1.9·10^–12 m for IMM.     

Formation and Physicochemical Features of Hybrid Threadlike Micelles in Aqueous Solution

We investigate the construction of long, stable hybrid threadlike micelles consisting of polyelectrolytes and oppositely charged surfactants in aqueous solution and examine the physicochemical features such as their structure and viscoelastic behavior in aqueous solution. The most important point for their construction is the careful control of interactions, especially electrostatic interactions, caused between the surfactants and polyelectrolytes. Incorporated polyelectrolytes are fully extended in these hybrid threadlike micelles irrespective of the molecular weight of the polymer. The viscoelastic behavior of the hybrid threadlike micellar solution is similar to that of ordinary threadlike micellar systems consisting of low‐molecular‐weight substances. However, the inclusion of polymers in the micelles causes differences in their mechanical properties.     

Theoretical study of PO and PO−

The diatomic systems, PO and PO^– are studied, using numerical Hartree-Fock (NHF) and coupled-cluster calculations. The latter employs a hybrid NHF and Slater orbital basis set. Highly accurate CCSD methods predict bond lengths accurate to <0.004 Å and frequencies to 60 cm^–1. In addition the electron affinity of PO is computed to be 0.89 eV compared to an experimental value of 1.09±0.01. Comparisons are made with SCF and MBPT(2) results for PO⁺ using conventional basis sets.Dedicated to Professor J. Koutecký on the occasion of his 65th birthdayGuggenheim Fellow     

Photochemistry of molecules relevant to the atmosphere: photodissociation of nitric acid in the gas phase.

This Minireview gives an account of the photochemical decay of nitric acid HNO3 in the gas phase, which has been well investigated under bulk and molecular-beam conditions. Due to the importance of this molecule in atmospheric chemistry, attention was paid to the irradiation regions around 300 and 200 nm, where solar photolysis of HNO3 is expected to be particularly efficient. While the low-energy region is characterized by the products OH and NO2, the high-energy region gives rise to a variety of photochemical decay pathways, dominated by channels which lead to the products HONO + O in different electronic states.     

Inclusion of molybdenocene dichloride (Cp2MoCl2) in 2-hydroxypropyl- and trimethyl-β-cyclodextrin: Structural and biological properties

Organometallic-cyclodextrin inclusion compounds were obtained by the treatment of molybdenocene dichloride (Cp₂MoCl₂) with the modified cyclodextrins (CDs) heptakis-2,3,6-tri-O-methyl-β-CD (TRIMEB) and 2-hydroxypropyl-β-CD (HPβCD) in aqueous solution. The products were isolated by liophilisation and characterised in the solid-state by powder XRD, thermogravimetric analysis, Raman and FTIR spectroscopy, and ¹³C CP MAS NMR spectroscopy. The results are consistent with inclusion of Cp₂MoCl₂, rather than hydrolysis products such as [Cp₂Mo(H₂O)X]⁺ (X = Cl, OH) or [Cp₂Mo(H₂O)₂]²⁺. The pure non-included metallocene Cp₂MoCl₂ and its inclusion compounds with unmodified β-CD, TRIMEB and HPβCD were screened for their potential antiproliferative and cytotoxic activity, in both human cancer and healthy cell lines. Inclusion in CD was found to enhance the cytotoxic effect of Cp₂MoCl₂, with the TRIMEB adduct displaying the highest anti-tumour activity, along with the lowest toxicity towards non-neoplastic cells.     

Two-photon absorption in quadrupolar pi-conjugated molecules: influence of the nature of the conjugated bridge and the donor-acceptor separation

Quadrupolar-type substitution of pi-conjugated chromophores with donor and acceptor groups has been shown to increase their two-photon absorption (TPA) response by up to two orders of magnitude. Here, we apply highly correlated quantum-chemical calculations to evaluate the impact of the nature of conjugated bridge and the charge-transfer distance on that enhancement. We compare chromophores with phenylenevinylene-, thienylenevinylene-, polyene-, and indenofluorene-type backbones substituted by dimethylamino and cyano groups. In all compounds, we find a strongly TPA-active A(g) state (either 2A(g) or 3A(g)) in the low-energy region, as well as a higher lying TPA-active state (mA(g)) at close to twice the energy of the lowest lying one-photon allowed state; the smaller energy detuning in the mA(g) states results in very large TPA cross sections delta. We also investigate the influence of the degree of ground-state polarization on TPA. Independent of the nature of the backbone and the donor-acceptor separation, delta displays the same qualitative evolution with a maximum before the cyanine-like limit; the highest TPA cross sections are calculated for distirylbenzene- and polyene-based systems.