D3h‐Symmetric Porphyrin‐Based Rigid Macrocyclic Ligands for Multicofacial Multinuclear Complexes in a One‐Nanometer‐Sized Cavity

The one‐step synthesis of D_3h‐symmetric cyclic porphyrin trimers 1 composed of three 2,2′‐[4,4′‐bis(methoxycarbonyl)]bipyridyl moieties and three porphyrinatozinc moieties was achieved from a nickel‐mediated reductive coupling of meso‐5,15‐bis(6‐chloro‐4‐methoxycarbonylpyrid‐2‐yl)porphyrinatozinc. Although cyclic trimers 1 were obtained as a mixture that included other cyclic and acyclic porphyrin oligomers, an extremely specific separation was observed only for cyclic trimers 1 when using columns of silica gel modified with pyrenylethyl, cyanopropyl, and other groups. Structural analysis of cyclic trimers 1 was carried out by means of NMR spectroscopy and X‐ray crystallography. Treatment of an η³‐allylpalladium complex with a cyclic trimer gave a tris(palladium) complex containing three η³‐allylpalladium groups inside the space, which indicated that the bipyridyl moieties inside the ring could work as bidentate metalloligands.     

A convenient method for the preparation of α-vinylfurans by phosphine-initiated reactions of various substituted enynes bearing a carbonyl group with aldehydes

α-Vinylfurans were obtained by phosphine-initiated cyclization of various enynes bearing a carbonyl group at the ene end in the presence of various aldehydes, in moderate to high yields. The reaction may consist of 1,6-addition of phosphine to the enynes, ring closure, and Wittig reaction between the ylid resulting from cyclization and an aldehyde. Thus, various aldehydes were able to be used in the reaction. The reaction was influenced greatly by the substituents at the acetylene position (R¹) and the α-position of the carbonyl group (R³).     

Surfaces which contain helical geodesics

LetM be a complete smooth surface of constant mean curvature in the Euclidean 3-space. If there exists two helical geodesics onM through each point ofM, thenM is either a plane, a sphere, or a circular cylinder.     

Reversible formation of F+-centers over platinum promoted sulfated zirconia upon hydrogen treatment

Reversible formation of F⁺-centers was observed over platinum promoted sulfated zirconia in the presence and absence of hydrogen. The intensity of ESR signal of F⁺-centers was increased by treatment in He stream and it was decreased rapidly by supply of hydrogen in gas phase. This behavior seems to be related to proton spillover.     

UV-Vis, NMR, and time-resolved spectroscopy analysis of photoisomerization behavior of three- and six-azobenzene-bound tris(bipyridine)cobalt complexes

The photoisomerization properties of tris(bipyridine)cobalt complexes containing six or three azobenzene moieties, namely, [Co(II)(dmAB)3](BF4)2 [dmAB = 4,4'-bis[3'-(4'-tolylazo)phenyl]-2,2'-bipyridine], [Co(III)(dmAB)3](BF4)3, [Co(II)(mAB)3](BF4)2 [mAB = 4-[3' '-(4' '-tolylazo)phenyl]-2,2'-bipyridine], and [Co(III)(dmAB)3](BF4)3, derived from the effect of gathering azobenzenes in one molecule and the effect of the cobalt(II) or cobalt(III) ion were investigated using UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, femtosecond transient spectroscopy, and 1H NMR spectroscopy. In the photostationary state of these four complexes, nearly 50% of the trans-azobenzene moieties of the Co(II) complexes were converted to the cis isomer, and nearly 10% of the trans-azobenzene moieties of the Co(III) complexes isomerized to the cis isomer, implying that the cis isomer ratio in the photostationary state upon irradiation at 365 nm is controlled not by the number of azobenzene moieties in one molecule but rather by the oxidation state of the cobalt ions. The femtosecond transient absorption spectra of the ligands and the complexes suggested that the photoexcited states of the azobenzene moieties in the Co(III) complexes were strongly deactivated by electron transfer from the azobenzene moiety to the cobalt center to form an azobenzene radical cation and a Co(II) center. The cooperation among the photochemical structural changes of six azobenzene moieties in [Co(II)(dmAB)3](BF4)2 was investigated with 1H NMR spectroscopy. The time-course change in the 1H NMR signals of the methyl protons indicated that each azobenzene moiety in [Co(II)(dmAB)3](BF4)2 isomerized to a cis isomer with a random probability of 50% and without interactions among the azobenzene moieties.     

Determination of sulfates of androsterone and epiandrosterone in human serum using isotope diluted liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry

A promising liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS) for analysis of the sulfates of 5alpha-androgen, androsterone and epiandrosterone (A-S and EpiA-S) in human serum was developed. The method was used to assess one of the markers of 5alpha-reductase activity of males including patients with prostate cancer (PC). After deproteinization with acetonitrile, the androgen sulfates and the internal standard, [7,7,16,16-2H4]dehydroepiandrosterone-S, were extracted from human serum using a solid-phase extraction cartridge and washed with hexane. The extract was reconstituted and applied to the LC/ESI-MS system operated in the selected ion monitoring mode. The method was validated over the range 0.02-5 microg/mL (A-S) and 0.005-1.5 microg/mL (EpiA-S) using 10 microL of human serum. The method was a concise procedure without chemical or enzymatic hydrolysis of the conjugates, purification by high-performance liquid chromatography and/or derivatization, and proved to be satisfactory in its reproducibility and accuracy. The levels of these androgen sulfates tended to decrease during aging, and the A-S levels in the sera obtained from both healthy males and patients with PC were correlated with their EpiA-S levels.     

The synthesis of isoquinoline alkaloid and its related compounds using alanine derivatives as chiral auxiliaries

Chiral 1-substituted isoquinoline derivatives, which were obtained by the reaction using alanine derivatives as chiral auxiliaries, were transformed to (S)-2,3,9,10,11-pentamethoxyhomoprotoberberine (7) and a synthetic intermediate for O-methylkreysigine (9) in good yields and high stereoselectivity. The corresponding chiral allyl derivative of isoquinoline was transformed to a pyrrolidinoisoquinoline (16) in a highly enantioselective manner.     

Tandem base-promoted ring-opening/Brook rearrangement/allylic alkylation of O-silyl cyanohydrins of beta-silyl-alpha,beta-epoxyaldehyde: scope and mechanism

Metalated O-silyl cyanohydrins of beta-silyl-alpha,beta-epoxyaldehyde have been found to serve as functionalized homoenolate equivalents by a tandem sequence involving base-promoted ring opening of the epoxide, Brook rearrangement, and alkylation of the resulting allylic anion. On the basis of mechanistic studies involving competitive experiments using the diastereomeric cyanohydrins, we propose a reaction pathway involving a silicate intermediate 36 formed by a concerted process via an anti-opening of the epoxide followed by the formation of an O-Si bond.     

Quantum fluctuation of electronic wave-packet dynamics coupled with classical nuclear motions

An ab initio electronic wave-packet dynamics coupled with the simultaneous classical dynamics of nuclear motions in a molecule is studied. We first survey the dynamical equations of motion for the individual components. Reflecting the nonadiabatic dynamics that electrons can respond to nuclear motions only with a finite speed, the equations of motion for nuclei include a force arising from the kinematic (nuclear momentum) coupling from electron cloud. To materialize these quantum effects in the actual ab initio calculations, we study practical implementation of relevant electronic matrix elements that are related to the derivatives with respect to the nuclear coordinates. Applications of the present scheme are performed in terms of the configuration state functions (CSF) using the canonical molecular orbitals as basis functions without transformation to particular diabatic basis. In the CSF representation, the nonadiabatic interaction due to the kinematic coupling is anticipated to be rather small, and instead it should be well taken into account through the off-diagonal elements of the electronic Hamiltonian matrix. Therefore it is expected that the nonadiabatic dynamics based on this CSF basis neglecting the kinematic coupling may work. To verify this anticipation and to quantify the actual effects of the kinematic coupling, we compare the dynamics with and without the kinematic-coupling terms using the same CSF set. Applications up to the fifth electronically excited states in a nonadiabatic collision between H(2) and B(+) shows that the overall behaviors of these two calculations are surprisingly similar to each other in an average sense except for a fast fluctuation reflecting the electronic time scale. However, at the same time, qualitative differences in the collision events are sometimes observed. Therefore it turns out after all that the kinematic-coupling terms cannot be neglected in the CSF-basis representation. The present applications also demonstrate that the nonadiabatic electronic wave-packet dynamics within ab initio quantum chemical calculation is feasible.