Silver–N‐Heterocyclic Carbene Complexes: Synthesis,Characterization, and Antimicrobial Properties

Six new silver complexes containing symmetrical N ‐heterocyclic carbene (NHC ) ligands were synthesized by the reaction of azolium salts with Ag₂O in CH₂Cl₂ . These complexes were tested against Gram‐negative bacterial strains (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ), Gram‐positive bacterial strains (Enterococcus faecalis and Staphylococcus aureus ), and fungal strains (Candida albicans and Candida tropicalis ), and all tested complexes showed good activity against the different microorganisms.     

Transition Metal Free Cycloamination of Prenyl Carbamates and Ureas Promoted by Aryldiazonium Salts

Upon treatment with aryldiazonium salts, prenyl carbamates and ureas undergo redox‐neutral azocycloamination. In general, N‐aryl O‐prenyl carbamates cyclize in a photocatalytic reaction with visible light and an organic dye. With electron‐deficient diazonium salts, electronic matching with an electron‐rich N‐aryl substituent results in a reaction proceeding in the ground state, without either light or photocatalyst. Cyclic voltammetry suggests that this radical reaction is initiated by hydrogen‐atom abstraction mediated by an aryl radical, followed by a radical addition cascade and proton‐coupled hole propagation. The reaction proceeds at room temperature in short reaction times, and a range of functional groups is tolerated.     

Copper‐Catalyzed Enantioselective Arylative Desymmetrization of Prochiral Cyclopentenes with Diaryliodonium Salts

A copper‐catalyzed enantioselective arylative desymmetrization of prochiral cyclopentenes with diaryliodonium salts was developed. In the presence of a catalytic amount of a chiral copper–bisoxazoline complex, which was generated in situ, the reaction of 4‐substituted or 4,4‐disubstituted cyclopent‐1‐enes with diaryliodonium hexafluoroarsenates afforded the chiral arylated products in good yields with excellent enantioselectivity. A cyclohexyl‐containing Box ligand was essential for the high enantioselectivity. Transformation of the enantiomerically enriched adducts into other chiral building blocks is also documented.     

Influence of some inorganic salts on the polarity of apolar polymer phases in capillary gas chromatography

Different stationary phases were prepared by mixing a series of inorganic salts with dimethylsiloxane polymer (SE-30) and then tested by capillary gas chromatography. It was demonstrated that the polarity (as evaluated by measurement of Rohrschneider constants) of the mixed stationary phases, which is inferior or equal to that of a medium-polar OV-25 phases, reached even lower values than SE-30 alone. The influence of NaF, NaCl, NaBr, AgNO₃, and other inorganic salts on the polarity of capillaries is reflected by a better resolution and shorter retention time of cis/trans isomers of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMES) as well as positional isomers of triglycerides.     

Antibacterial poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate‐co‐4‐hydroxybutyrate) fibrous membranes containing quaternary ammonium salts

In this study, antimicrobial membranes based on biodegradable material poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate‐co‐4‐hydroxybutyrate) [P(3HB‐4HB)] and quaternary ammonium salts (QASs) by two methods have been performed. Three QASs with varied alkyl chain lengths have been synthesized successfully and characterized by ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance and Fourier transform infrared. The synthesized QASs were blended with P(3HB‐4HB) and electrospun into composite fibrous membranes or casted into conventional membranes. Electrospun fibrous membranes with large surface areas are a superior type of antimicrobial biomaterials, and they exhibit preferable properties than solution casting membranes. Specifically, electrospun fibrous membranes are tougher and can inactivate both Gram‐positive Staphylococcus aureus and Gram‐negative Escherichia coli O157:H7 in a contact time of 30 min, whereas the solution casting membranes cannot. The length of alkyl chain in the quaternary ammonium groups on the modified P(3HB‐4HB) membranes is able to influence the antimicrobial activity. This type of antimicrobial material may have potential applications in biomaterial field. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Purine 3′:5′‐cyclic nucleotides with the nucleobase in a syn orientation: cAMP,cGMP and cIMP

Purine 3′:5′‐cyclic nucleotides are very well known for their role as the secondary messengers in hormone action and cellular signal transduction. Nonetheless, their solid‐state conformational details still require investigation. Five crystals containing purine 3′:5′‐cyclic nucleotides have been obtained and structurally characterized, namely adenosine 3′:5′‐cyclic phosphate dihydrate, C₁₀H₁₂N₅O₆P·2H₂O or cAMP·2H₂O, (I), adenosine 3′:5′‐cyclic phosphate 0.3‐hydrate, C₁₀H₁₂N₅O₆P·0.3H₂O or cAMP·0.3H₂O, (II), guanosine 3′:5′‐cyclic phosphate pentahydrate, C₁₀H₁₂N₅O₇P·5H₂O or cGMP·5H₂O, (III), sodium guanosine 3′:5′‐cyclic phosphate tetrahydrate, Na⁺·C₁₀H₁₁N₅O₇P⁻·4H₂O or Na(cGMP)·4H₂O, (IV), and sodium inosine 3′:5′‐cyclic phosphate tetrahydrate, Na⁺·C₁₀H₁₀N₄O₇P⁻·4H₂O or Na(cIMP)·4H₂O, (V). Most of the cyclic nucleotide zwitterions/anions [two from four cAMP present in total in (I) and (II), cGMP in (III), cGMP⁻ in (IV) and cIMP⁻ in (V)] are syn conformers about the N‐glycosidic bond, and this nucleobase arrangement is accompanied by C_rib—H…N_pur hydrogen bonds (rib = ribose and pur = purine). The base orientation is tuned by the ribose pucker. An analysis of data obtained from the Cambridge Structural Database made in the context of syn–anti conformational preferences has revealed that among the syn conformers of various purine nucleotides, cyclic nucleotides and dinucleotides predominate significantly. The interactions stabilizing the syn conformation have been indicated. The inter‐nucleotide contacts in (I)–(V) have been systematized in terms of the chemical groups involved. All five structures display three‐dimensional hydrogen‐bonded networks.     

CsSc3F6[SeO3]2: A New Rare‐Earth Metal(III) Fluoride Oxoselenate(IV) With Sections Of The ReO3‐Type Structure

A new representative of rare‐earth metal(III) fluoride oxoselenates(IV) derivatized with alkali metals could be synthesized via solid‐state reactions. Colorless single crystals of CsSc₃F₆[SeO₃]₂ were obtained through the reaction of Sc₂O₃, ScF₃, and SeO₂ (molar ratio 1:1:3) with CsBr as reactant and fluxing agent. For this purpose, corundum crucibles embedded as liners into evacuated silica ampoules were applied as containers for these reactions at 700 °C for seven days. The new quintenary compound crystallizes in the trigonal space group P3m1 with a = 565.34(4) and c = 1069.87(8) pm (c/a = 1.892) for Z = 1. The crystal structure of CsSc₃F₆[SeO₃]₂ contains two crystallographically different Sc³⁺ cations. Each (Sc1)³⁺ is surrounded by six fluoride anions as octahedron, while the octahedra about (Sc2)³⁺ are formed by three fluoride anions and three oxygen atoms from three terminal [SeO₃]^2– anions. The [(Sc1)F₆]^3– octahedra link via common F^– vertices to six fac‐[(Sc2)F₃O₃]^6– octahedra forming ²_∞{[Sc₃F₆O₆]^9–} layers parallel to (001). These layers are separated by oxygen‐coordinated Cs⁺ cations (C.N. = 12), arranging for the charge compensation, while Se⁴⁺ cations within the layers surrounded by three oxygen atoms as ψ¹‐tetrahedral [SeO₃]^2– units complete the structure. EDX measurements confirmed the composition of the title compound and single‐crystal Raman studies showed the typical vibrational modes of isolated [SeO₃]^2– anions with ideal C_3v symmetry.     

Antibacterial membranes based on chitosan and quaternary ammonium salts modified nanocrystalline cellulose

Etherification of nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) with three kinds of quaternary ammonium salts epoxypropyltrimethylammonium chloride, N,N‐dimethyl‐N‐dodecyl‐N‐(1,2‐epoxypropyl) ammonium chloride (DMDEPAC), and N,N‐dimethyl‐N‐octadecyl‐N‐(1,2‐epoxypropyl) ammonium chloride (DMOEPAC) was successfully performed via a nucleophilic addition reaction. The synthesized DMDEPAC and DMOEPAC were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance. The modified NCC particles, NCC epoxypropyltrimethylammonium chloride, NCC‐DMDEPAC, and NCC‐DMOEPAC, were characterized by energy dispersive spectrometer. Nanocomposite films based on chitosan (CS) containing quaternary ammonium salts modified NCC were prepared with nanoparticle loadings of 5.0, 7.5, and 10.0%, respectively. The effect of nanoparticle content on the tensile strength of composite films was studied. The results indicated that the films with 5.0% nanoparticle loading exhibited the biggest increase in tensile strength. Surface morphology, smoothness, and antibacterial properties of composite films containing 5% modified NCC were also studied. CS/NCC‐DMDEPAC‐5.0 and CS/NCC‐DMOEPAC‐5.0 displayed excellent biocidal abilities against both Gram‐positive Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 6538) and Gram‐negative Escherichia coli O157:H7 (ATCC 43895). The bio‐based nanocomposite films with increased mechanical strength and excellent antibacterial properties show great potential as food packaging materials. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Alkyne Difunctionalization by Dual Gold/Photoredox Catalysis

Highly selective tandem nucleophilic addition/cross‐coupling reactions of alkynes have been developed using visible‐light‐promoted dual gold/photoredox catalysis. The simultaneous oxidation of Au^I and coordination of the coupling partner by photo‐generated aryl radicals, and the use of catalytically inactive gold precatalysts allows for high levels of selectivity for the cross‐coupled products without competing hydrofunctionalization or homocoupling. As demonstrated in representative arylative Meyer–Schuster and hydration reactions, this work expands the scope of dual gold/photoredox catalysis to the largest class of substrates for gold catalysts and benefits from the mild and environmentally attractive nature of visible‐light activation.     

Flexible,dicationic imidazolium salts for in situ application in palladium‐catalysed Mizoroki–Heck coupling of acrylates under aerobic conditions

The synthesis, characterization and in situ catalytic performance of new unsymmetric N,N′‐disubstituted imidazolium‐based dicationic salts in Mizoroki–Heck coupling of acrylates with aryl bromides under aerobic conditions are described. A series of flexible dicationic salts with varying steric and electronic properties were synthesized in good to excellent yields. All the salts were well characterized using spectroscopic techniques. X‐ray diffraction analysis of two salts with the same dicationic backbone and different counter anions shows that the ligand adopts two different conformations which are influenced by the nature of the anion. Thus, the ligand is capable of changing its conformation according to the change in environment due to its flexible nature. All the synthesized imidazolium salts were found to be active in in situ palladium‐catalysed Mizoroki–Heck coupling under aerobic conditions. Amongst the salts, the hydroxyl‐functionalized imidazolium salt, incorporating the features of both bidentate chelating O,O ligand and carbene, shows the maximum catalytic activity. A variety of aryl and heteroaryl methyl and ethyl cinnamates were synthesized using these imidazolium salts as preligands. In addition, NMR studies confirm in situ generation of normal N‐heterocyclic carbenes from the C‐2 position of imidazol‐2‐ylidene ring. The mercury poisoning test was also performed to ascertain the nature of catalytically active palladium species. Aerobic conditions, low catalytic loading (0.5 mol%), shorter reaction times, broad functional group tolerance and good to excellent isolated yields are some of the significant features of the novel catalytic systems described here. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.