Advanced kinetic tools for the evaluation of decomposition reactions

Summary An advanced kinetic study on the thermal behaviour of pyrotechnic ignition mixtures has been carried out by differential scanning calorimetry using different B/KNO3 mixtures (50:50, 30:70, 20:80) as a model reaction. The experimental conditions applied (isochoric conditions/closed crucibles and isobaric conditions/open crucibles) as well as the composition of the mixtures noticeably influences the relative thermal stabilities of the energetic materials. The kinetic study focused on the prediction of the thermal stability of the different mixtures both in extended temperature ranges and under temperature conditions at which ordinary investigation would be very difficult. Using advanced numerical tools [1], thermal ageing and influence of the complex thermal environment on the heat accumulation conditions were computed. This can be done for any surrounding temperature profile such as isothermal, non-isothermal, stepwise, modulated, shock, adiabatic conditions and additionally for temperature profiles reflecting real atmospheric temperature changes (yearly temperature profiles of different climates with daily minimal and maximal fluctuations). Applications of accurate decomposition kinetics enabled the determination of the time to maximum rate under adiabatic conditions (TMR_ad) with a precision given by the confidence interval of the predictions. This analysis can then be applied for the examination of the effects of the surrounding temperature for safe storage or transportation conditions (e.g. determination of the safe transport or storage temperatures).     

Enantioselective acylation of silyl ketene acetals through fluoride anion-binding catalysis

A highly enantioselective acylation of silyl ketene acetals with acyl fluorides has been developed to generate useful α,α-disubstituted butyrolactone products. This transformation is promoted by a new thiourea catalyst and 4-pyrrolidinopyridine and represents the first example of enantioselective thiourea anion-binding catalysis with fluoride.     

A master-equation approach to the description of proton-driven spin diffusion from crystal geometry using simulated zero-quantum lineshapes

Measurements of proton-driven carbon-13 spin diffusion (PDSD) by NMR spectroscopy are a central component of structural analyses of biomolecules in the solid-state. However, the quantitative link between experimental PDSD data and structural information is difficult to make. Here we observe that a master-equation approach can be used to model full PDSD dynamics accurately in polycrystalline (13)C-labelled L-histidine·HCl·H(2)O under magic-angle spinning. In the master-equation approach, PDSD rates and effective dipolar couplings are related by a function of the carbon-carbon zero-quantum lineshapes; we find that numerical simulations of the zero-quantum lineshapes are sufficiently accurate so as to allow the calculation of PDSD rates that are in good agreement with the measured rates, directly from crystal geometry and with no adjustable parameters. Finally, using carbon-carbon internuclear distances we illustrate the potential of the master-equation approach for structural studies. Generalisation of these results to proton-driven carbon-13 spin diffusion in more complex molecular systems is readily envisaged.     

Quasi-equilibria in reduced Liouville spaces

The quasi-equilibrium behaviour of isolated nuclear spin systems in full and reduced Liouville spaces is discussed. We focus in particular on the reduced Liouville spaces used in the low-order correlations in Liouville space (LCL) simulation method, a restricted-spin-space approach to efficiently modelling the dynamics of large networks of strongly coupled spins. General numerical methods for the calculation of quasi-equilibrium expectation values of observables in Liouville space are presented. In particular, we treat the cases of a time-independent Hamiltonian, a time-periodic Hamiltonian (with and without stroboscopic sampling) and powder averaging. These quasi-equilibrium calculation methods are applied to the example case of spin diffusion in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance. We show that there are marked differences between the quasi-equilibrium behaviour of spin systems in the full and reduced spaces. These differences are particularly interesting in the time-periodic-Hamiltonian case, where simulations carried out in the reduced space demonstrate ergodic behaviour even for small spins systems (as few as five homonuclei). The implications of this ergodic property on the success of the LCL method in modelling the dynamics of spin diffusion in magic-angle spinning experiments of powders is discussed.     

Synthesis and NMD A Antagonistic Properties of the Enantiomers of 4-(3-phosphonopropyl)piperazine-2-carboxylic acid (CPP) and of the unsaturated analogue (E)-4-(3-phosphonoprop-2-enyl)piperazine-2-carboxylic acid (CPP-ene)

The (R)- and (s)-enantiomers of 4-(3-phosphonopropyl)piperazine-2-carboxylic acid (D - and L -CPP, resp.; 15 and 16 , resp.), and of its unsaturated analogue (E)-4-(3-phosphonoprop-2-enyl)piperazine-2-carboxylic acid (D - and L -CPP-ene, resp.; 13 and 14 , resp.) were prepared. The absolute configuration of the enantiomers was determined by a chemical correlation of the menthyl ester 7 with D -asparagine. The affinity of these derivatives for the NMDA receptor was determined by displacement of [³H]CPP in rat cerebral cortical membranes. In two functional tests (the frog hemisected spinal cord preparation and the sodium efflux test from rat brain slices), D -CPP-ene appears to be the most potent, enantiomerically pure, competitive NMDA antagonist known to date.     

Deoxy-nitrosugars. 9th communication. Chain elongation of 1-C -nitroglycosyl halides by substitution with some weakly basic carbanions

The 1-C-nitroglycosyl chloride reacted with the anions form 2-nitropropane, nitromethane, and diethyl malonate, to give the chain-extended products 2 (81%), 5 (72%), and 6 (83%), respectively. Treatment of the 1-C -nitroglycosyl bromide 7 by the lithium salt obtained form 8 gave the dodecodiulose derivative 9 (76%). Th β-D-configuration of 2 and 9 was inferred form their NMR and CD spectra. Treatment of 2 and 9 with sodium sulfide gave the enol ethers 3 (96%) and 10 (92%), respectively. The (Z)-configuration of 10 was deduced form the configuration of its hydrogenation product 11 .