Preparative isolation of (+)-beta-eudesmol fromAmyris balsamifera

Summary Optically pure (+)-beta-eudesmol is a possible starting material for the synthesis of several termite defense compounds. A two step procedure for the isolation of gram quantities of (+)-beta-eudesmol from commercially availableAmyris balsamifera oil (syn. West Indian sandalwood oil), containing 8% beta-eudesmol, was developed. Step one consisted of an efficient vacuum distillation of the total oil. Step two was a medium pressure LC separation with an AgNO₃ impregnated silica gel stationary phase. Several other separation procedures failed due to the presence of many closely related sesquiterpene alcohols (75% of the oil).     

Multinuclear NMR Studies of the Substitlent Effects in N-Phenyl-P,P,P-Triarylphospha-λ5-Azenes,Triaryl-Phosphines and Triarylphosphine Oxides

Abstract

A series of N-phenyl-P,P,P-triarylphospha-λ⁵-azenes (1) as well as their ^l5N labeled analogs was synthesized. The ¹³C, ³¹P, and ¹⁵N NMR spectra of this series and those of two other series of related compounds, namely triarylphosphines (2) and triarylphosphine oxides (3), were measured and are reported. Many satisfactory correlations using the mono-substituent parameter (MSP) and the Taft dual-substituent parameter (DSP) treatments with the ¹³C substituent chemical shifts (SCS), ³¹P SCS, ¹⁵N SCS and the one bond P-N, P-C and C-N coupling constants were observed and will be discussed. Thus, for example, the ³¹P and ¹⁵N chemical shifts in 1 correlated with [sgrave]^?with negative slopes while the ³¹P chemical shifts in 3 correlated with those in 1 with a slope of 2.0. The ¹³C chemical shifts in 1 correlated excellently with the corresponding ones in 3 with slopes very close to unity. The substituent effects on the chemical shifts of the various nuclei were shown to be mainly due to changes in the charge distribution on those nuclei. In 1 the one bond P-N and P-C coupling constants correlated with [sgrave]_p and [sgrave]_R respectively. The one bond P-C coupling constants of 1 correlated quite well with those of 3 with a slope of 0.93 while the corresponding correlation of 1 with 2 was quite poor. Taft DSP treatment of ¹J_PCin 1 and 3 were quite similar, ρI and ρR were both negative and ρR was much larger than ρI. Series 2 showed behavior which was different from that shown by 1 and 3 but similar to that shown by other systems with a lone electron pair on the atom bound to the phenyl ring. The substituent effects on the one bond P-N, P-C and C-N coupling constants will be discussed in terms of bonding and hybridization changes between the directly bonded nuclei.     

Synthesis and Study of a Sulfur Heterocycle Fused p-Phenylene Vinylene Conducting Polymer

Abstract

Poly(benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene-4,8-diyl vinylene) (1) has been prepared by the pyrolysis of the precursor polymer 2 and studied. Quantum mechanical calculations on the aromatic and quinoid monomers, oligomers and polymers indicate that 1 is a planar aromatic polymer.     

Synthesis and solid-state structures of dimethyl 2,2'-bithiophenedicarboxylates

The syntheses of dimethyl 2,2'-bithiophene-4,4'-dicarboxylate (3), dimethyl 2,2'-bithiophene-3,4'-dicarboxylate (4), and dimethyl 2,2'-bithiophene-3,3'-dicarboxylate (5) are described. Single-crystal X-ray structural analysis of these compounds shows that the thiophene rings in 3 and 4 are nearly coplanar (dihedral angle close to 0 degrees ) and they adopt the anti sulfur conformation in the solid state. Further, the structure of 4 is in agreement with our previous suggestion that there is an electrostatic stabilization of the planar structure due to attraction of the 3-carbonyl oxygen to the sulfur of the distal ring. In 5, however, the thiophene rings are nearly perpendicular (dihedral angle 75 degrees ), indicating considerable steric hindrance between the two large ester groups at the 3- and 3'-positions. Unlike compounds 3 and 4, where the thiophene rings have the sulfur atoms anti, the sulfur atoms in 5 are completely syn. This is the first instance where a bithiophene has been shown to adopt a conformation where the sulfur atoms are completely syn. The solid-state conformations of 3, 4, and 5 are in agreement with ab initio theoretical calculations on these compounds; particularly, the planar conformations of 3 and 4 reflect the previously calculated low rotation barriers of these molecules.     

Rovibrational product state distribution for inelastic H+D2 collisions

Experimental measurements of rovibrational product state distributions for the inelastic scattering process H + D2(nu=0,j)-->H + D2(nu' = 1,2,j') are presented and compared with the results of quasiclassical and quantum mechanical calculations. Agreement between theory and experiment is almost quantitative. Two subtle trends are found: the relative amount of energy in product rotational excitation decreases slightly with increasing collision energy and increases slightly with increasing product vibrational excitation. These trends are the reverse of what has been found for reactive scattering in which the opposite trends are much more pronounced.     

Luminescent polymers with discrete emitter units

Optical absorption and photo-luminescence measurements were performed on a series of semiconducting polymers, based upon phenylene linkages, that have discrete emitter units. In these polymers, broken conjugation has been achieved in two ways: by introducing metalinkages between various numbers of para-connected aromatic groups or by severe steric distortion of a fully conjugated main chain. In either case, electronic states are localized on relatively small units, resulting in a large (π, π^*) band gap. The band gap decreases with increasing emitter unit conjugation, as expected. Blue light emission was observed from these materials, with the peak emission wavelength red shifted (by greater than 1 eV on average) from the peak absorption. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Microwave propagation through granular superconductors

It is shown that, for frequencies less than twice the energy gap, a granular superconductor in the paracoherent state may be highly transparent to electromagnetic radiation. An effective medium theory predicts the limits of concentration and grain size for which this phenomenon may be observed.     

Origins of the high 14-helix propensity of cyclohexyl-rigidified residues in beta-peptides

[structure: see text] beta-Peptides containing residues derived from trans-2-aminocyclohexanecarboxylic acid (ACHC) display high population of 14-helical secondary structure in aqueous solution. We show that hydrophobic interactions between cyclohexyl rings are not responsible for this conformation-promoting effect, and that polar groups may be attached to the cyclohexyl ring without diminishing the effect.     

Bulk and single-molecule characterization of an improved molecular beacon utilizing H-dimer excitonic behavior

Pairs of fluorophores in close proximity often show self-quenching of fluorescence by the well-known H-dimer mechanism. We use a pair of fluorophores in the new dicyanomethylenedihydrofuran (DCDHF) dye family in the design and characterization of a new fluorescent probe for nucleic acid detection, which we refer to as a self-quenched intramolecular dimer (SQuID) molecular beacon (MB). We obtain a quenching efficiency of 97.2%, higher than the only other reported value for a MB employing fluorophore self-quenching by H-dimer formation. Furthermore, the excellent single-molecule (SM) emitter characteristics of the DCDHF dyes allow observation of individual SQuID MB-target complexes immobilized on a surface, where the doubled SM emission intensity of our target-bound beacon ensures a higher signal-to-background ratio than conventional fluorophore-quencher MBs. Additional advantages of the SQuID MB are single-pot labeling, visible colorimetric detection of the target, and intrinsic single-molecule two-step photobleaching behavior, which offers a specific means of discriminating between functional MBs and spurious fluorescence.