Crystallization of Arthrobacter sp. strain 1C N-(1-D-carboxyethyl)-L-norvaline dehydrogenase and its complex with NAD+

The novel NAD+-linked opine dehydrogenase from a soil isolate Arthrobacter sp. strain 1C belongs to an enzyme superfamily whose members exhibit quite diverse substrate specificites. Crystals of this opine dehydrogenase, obtained in the presence or absence of co-factor and substrates, have been shown to diffract to beyond 1.8 ? resolution. X-ray precession photographs have established that the crystals belong to space group P21212, with cell parameters a = 104.9, b = 80.0, c = 45.5 ? and a single subunit in the asymmetric unit. The elucidation of the three-dimensional structure of this enzyme will provide a structural framework for this novel class of dehydrogenases to enable a comparison to be made with other enzyme families and also as the basis for mutagenesis experiments directed towards the production of natural and synthetic opine-type compounds containing two chiral centres.     

Structural studies on a novel reaction product of malononitrile with aβb,δ-unsaturated allene aldehyde

Condensation of 2,5,5-trimethylhexa-2,3-dien-6-a1 with malononitrile affords an unexpected product, C₁₅H₁₆N_4X, ($\text{3}$), the structure of which was partially characterized by spectral (infrared, ultraviolet, ¹H, and ¹³C nmr) methods and fully elucidated by single crystal X-ray analysis. $\text{3}$ is l-cyano-2-amino-3-(2-propenyl)-5,5-dimethy-6- dicyanomethycycohexa-l,3-diene in a half-chair conformation. Conjugation of the $\text{cis}$-aminocyanoethenyl moiety leads to intermolecular

hydrogen bonding in the crystal. A reaction sequence and its mechanistic implications are proposed.     

Enantioselective C−H Activation with Earth‐Abundant 3d Transition Metals

Molecular syntheses largely rely on time‐ and labour‐intensive prefunctionalization strategies. In contrast, C?H activation represents an increasingly powerful approach that avoids lengthy syntheses of prefunctionalized substrates, with great potential for drug discovery, the pharmaceutical industry, material sciences, and crop protection, among others. The enantioselective functionalization of omnipresent C?H bonds has emerged as a transformative tool for the step‐ and atom‐economical generation of chiral molecular complexity. However, this rapidly growing research area remains dominated by noble transition metals, prominently featuring toxic palladium, iridium and rhodium catalysts. Indeed, despite significant achievements, the use of inexpensive and sustainable 3d metals in asymmetric C?H activations is still clearly in its infancy. Herein, we discuss the remarkable recent progress in enantioselective transformations via organometallic C?H activation by 3d base metals up to April 2019.     

Two Stereoinduction Events in One C−H Activation Step: A Route towards Terphenyl Ligands with Two Atropisomeric Axes

Herein we disclose the synthesis of original chiral scaffolds—ortho‐orientated terphenyls presenting two atropisomeric Ar–Ar axes. These unusual structures were built up by using the C?H activation approach, and remarkably, both chiral axes were controlled with excellent stereoselectivity in a single transformation. During the reaction, not only does atroposelective functionalization of a biaryl precursor occur to establish one stereogenic axis, but an unprecedented atropo‐stereoselective C?H arylation also takes place to generate the second stereogenic element. These enantiomerically pure ortho‐terphenyls show an original tridimensional structure and thus constitute a unique foundation for building up a library of enantiomerically pure bidentate ligands, such as the new ligands S/N‐Biax and diphosphine BiaxPhos.     

Auto-Organisation in Silica-Based Organic-Inorganic Gels Obtained by Sol-Gel Process

A new type of hybrid material is prepared through sol-gel processing by the polycondensation of (MeO)₃Si–R–Si(OMe)₃ units containing a rigid organic anisotropic group R. The hybrid covalently bounded organic-inorganic gel shows an unexpected structural birefringence n (n = 2 × 10^–3). This birefringence is induced by a strain field anisotropy during gel aging as revealed by simultaneous dynamic light scattering and birefringence measurements. To better address the role of the strain field, we use a free interface sol-gel/air to control strain anisotropy and to measure the gel optical axis and its birefringence. We find that the birefringence is associated to a long-range orientational order of organic moieties induced by the strain anisotropy during the gel aging.