Synthesis and Characterization of 5‐Cyanotetrazolide‐Based Ionic Liquids

New salts based on imidazolium, pyrrolidinium, phosphonium, guanidinium, and ammonium cations together with the 5‐cyanotetrazolide anion [C₂N₅]^? are reported. Depending on the nature of cation–anion interactions, characterized by XRD, the ionic liquids (ILs) have a low viscosity and are liquid at room temperature or have higher melting temperatures. Thermogravimetric analysis, cyclic voltammetry, viscosimetry, and impedance spectroscopy display a thermal stability up to 230 °C, an electrochemical window of 4.5 V, a viscosity of 25 mPa s at 20 °C, and an ionic conductivity of 5.4 mS cm^?1 at 20 °C for the IL 1‐butyl‐1‐methylpyrrolidinium 5‐cyanotetrazolide [BMPyr][C₂N₅]. On the basis of these results, the synthesized compounds are promising electrolytes for lithium‐ion batteries.     

Thiol–norbornene materials: Approaches to develop high Tg thiol–ene polymers

The ability to prepare high T_g low shrinkage thiol–ene materials is attractive for applications such as coatings and dental restoratives. However, thiol and nonacrylated vinyl materials typically consist of a flexible backbone, limiting the utility of these polymers. Hence, it is of importance to synthesize and investigate thiol and vinyl materials of varying backbone chemistry and stiffness. Here, we investigate the effect of backbone chemistry and functionality of norbornene resins on polymerization kinetics and glass transition temperature (T_g) for several thiol–norbornene materials. Results indicate that T_gs as high as 94 °C are achievable in thiol–norbornene resins of appropriately controlled chemistry. Furthermore, both the backbone chemistry and the norbornene moiety are important factors in the development of high T_g materials. In particular, as much as a 70 °C increase in T_g was observed in a norbornene–thiol specimen when compared with a sample prepared using allyl ether monomer of analogous backbone chemistry. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 5686–5696, 2007     

Oxygen inhibition in thiol–acrylate photopolymerizations

The overall effects of oxygen on thiol–acrylate photopolymerizations were characterized. Specially, the choice of thiol monomer chemistry, functionality, and concentration on the extent of oxygen inhibition were considered. As thiol concentration was increased, the degree of oxygen inhibition was greatly reduced because of chain transfer from the peroxy radical to the thiol. When comparing the copolymerization of 1,6‐hexanediol diacrylate with the alkane‐based thiol (1,6‐hexane dithiol) to the copolymerization with the propionate thiol (glycol dimercaptopropionate), it was found that the propionate system was much more reactive and polymerized to a greater extent in the presence of oxygen. In addition, the functionality was considered where the glycol dimercaptopropionate was compared to a tetrafunctional propionate of similar chemistry (pentaerythritol tetrakis(mercaptopropionate)). Given the same thiol concentration, the higher functionality thiol imparted a faster polymerization rate, due to the increased polymer system viscosity, which limited oxygen diffusion and decreased the extent of overall oxygen inhibition. Thus, preliminary insight is provided into how thiol monomer choice affects the extent of oxygen inhibition in thiol–acrylate photopolymerization. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 2007–2014, 2006     

An integrated console for capsule-based,automated organic synthesis

The current laboratory practices of organic synthesis are labor intensive, impose safety and environmental hazards, and hamper the implementation of artificial intelligence guided drug discovery. Using a combination of reagent design, hardware engineering, and a simple operating system we provide an instrument capable of executing complex organic reactions with prepacked capsules. The machine conducts coupling reactions and delivers the purified products with minimal user involvement. Two desirable reaction classes – the synthesis of saturated N-heterocycles and reductive amination – were implemented, along with multi-step sequences that provide drug-like organic molecules in a fully automated manner. We envision that this system will serve as a console for developers to provide synthetic methods as integrated, user-friendly packages for conducting organic synthesis in a safe and convenient fashion.

Using a combination of reagent design, hardware engineering, and a simple operating system we provide an instrument capable of executing complex organic reactions using prepacked capsules with minimal user involvement.     

Uranium-sulfilimine chemistry. The preparation of Cp2*UCl2(HNSPh2) and its hydrolysis with HNSPh2 · H2O

The reaction of Cp₂*UCl₂ with HNSPh₂ produces Cp₂*UCl₂(HNSPh₂), which is the first structurally characterized complex of a sulfilimine. The hydrolysis of Cp₂*UCl₂(HNSPh₂) with HNSPh₂ · H₂O yields a tetrauranium cluster whose heavy atom structure has been determined by x-ray diffraction and which is formulated as a U^IV/U^V complex: [Cp*(Cl)(HNSPh₂)U(μ₃-O)(μ₂-O)₂U(Cl)(HNSPh₂)₂]₂.     

Structural and dynamic variations in DNA hexamers containing T-T and F-F single and tandem internal mispairs

Molecular dynamics simulations of double-helical DNA oligomers have been performed to investigate differences in the structure, dynamics, and hydration of F-F and T-T mispairs. Hexamers containing F-F pairs were found to be more dynamic, especially in the region of the mispair itself. This dynamic variability derives from greater flexibility of F-F pairs. The T-T mispairs, on the other hand, were found to be comparatively tightly bound as wobble pairs. The major and minor groove edges of the T-T pairs were observed to be solvated at exposed carbonyl positions by at least one water molecule, while F-F pairs lacked solvating waters. Stacking interactions were nearly identical for T-T and F-F pairs, leading to similar average structures, even though F stacking was more dynamically variable. Solvation differences between F-F and T-T therefore support the steric exclusion model for nucleotide incorporation in DNA replication. Large differences in the orientation of minor groove functional groups, in addition to differences in solvation, further rationalize why F bases present during DNA extension events induce stalls. Two novel nucleotides are proposed to further elucidate minor groove interactions of DNA with polymerase molecules.Electronic Supplementary Material This Material consists of equilibration protocol, plots of center-of-mass stacking, water radial distribution functions, helical parameter dynamics, and dynamics data for a control AT sequence. Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at Contribution to the Jacopo Tomasi Honorary Issue     

Implications of active site constraints on varied DNA polymerase selectivity

DNA polymerase selectivity often varies significantly depending on the DNA polymerase. The origin of this varying error propensity is elusive. It is assumed that DNA polymerases form nucleotide binding pockets that differ in properties such as shape and tightness. We tested this prediction and studied HIV-1 RT by employment of size-augmented nucleotides and site-directed mutagenesis of the enzyme. New valuable insights into the mechanism of DNA polymerase fidelity were obtained. The presented study provides experimental evidence that variations of steric constraints within the nucleotide binding pocket of at least two DNA polymerases cause variations in nucleotide incorporation selectivity. Thus, our results support the concept of active site tightness as a causative in differential fidelity among DNA polymerases.     

Anisotropic membranes with carboxypeptidase G1

Anisotropic polysulfone membranes were prepared with carboxypeptidase G₁ embedded in the polymer structure. The enzymatically active flat and hollow-fiber membranes were obtained by precipitating the polymer from solution in an organic mixture in which an aqueous solution of the enzyme had been dispersed. The process has been found to be particularly suitable for the immobilization of enzymes in anisotropic hollow fibers that exhibited no detectable enzyme leakage upon perfusion. The pH profiles measured with the enzyme in free solution and in the embedded form were similar. Kinetic parameters of multitubular enzyme reactors were investigated by measuring the rate of hydrolysis of glutamate from folic acid or methotrexate at different flow rates and substrate concentrations. The relatively slow mass transfer in such reactors was found to affect strongly the observed kinetics. The results of in vitro experiments with 5000 fiber reactors suggest that hollow fiber cartridges prepared with such membranes have clinical potential for the extracorporeal removal of methotrexate from blood.     

X-ray magnetic circular dichroism of Pseudomonas aeruginosa nickel(II) azurin

We show that X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) can be employed to probe the oxidation states and other electronic structural features of nickel active sites in proteins. As a calibration standard, we have measured XMCD and X-ray absorption (XAS) spectra for the nickel(II) derivative of Pseudomonas aeruginosa azurin (NiAz). Our analysis of these spectra confirms that the electronic ground state of NiAz is high-spin (S = 1); we also find that the L(3)-centroid energy is 853.1(1) eV, the branching ratio is 0.722(4), and the magnetic moment is 1.9(4) mu(B). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations on model NiAz structures establish that orbitals 3d(x2-y2) and 3d(z2) are the two valence holes in the high-spin Ni(II) ground state, and in accord with the experimentally determined orbital magnetic moment, the DFT results also demonstrate that both holes are highly delocalized, with 3d(x2-y2) having much greater ligand character.