Effect of temperature on the luminescence processes of SrAl2O4:Eu

The UV excited and persistent luminescence properties as well as thermoluminescence (TL) of Eu²⁺ doped strontium aluminates, SrAl₂O₄:Eu²⁺ were studied at different temperatures. Two luminescence bands peaking at 445 and 520 nm were observed at 20 K but only the latter at 295 K. Both Sr-sites in the lattice are thus occupied by Eu²⁺ but at room temperature efficient energy transfer occurs between the two sites. The UV excited and persistent luminescence spectra were similar at 295 K but the excitation spectra were different. Thus the luminescent centre is the same in both phenomena but excitation processes are different. Two TL peaks were observed between 50 and 250 °C in the glow curve. Multiple traps were, however, observed by preheating and initial rise methods. With longer delay times only the high temperature TL peak was observed. The persistent luminescence is mainly due to slow fading of the low temperature TL peak but the step-wise feeding process from high temperature traps is also probable.     

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     

9-acetoxyanthracene derivatives. Part VIII. The mechanism of degradation of 9-acetoxy-10-arylanthracenes to anthraquinone

The mechanism of degradation of 9-acetoxy-10-arylanthracenes to anthraquinose with the use of HNO₃ in AcOH has been reported. This was proved by way of example on 9-acetoxy-10-(4′-acetoxyphenyl )anthracene (1) by means of separation and identification of intermediate products $\text{2}$, $\text{3}$ and $\text{4}$.     

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.     

The synthesis and the solvent and substituent effect on the spectroscopic characteristic of 3-ethyl-2-(p-substitued styryl)benzothiazolium iodides

The photophysical and photochemical properties of p-substitued 2-styryl-ethylbenzothiazolium iodides, possessing different electron-withdrawing or electron-donating groups are described. The dyes were prepared by the condensation of 3-ethyl-2-methylbenzothiazole salts with p-substituted benzaldehydes. The synthesis of suitable substrates is presented as well. We describe here the absorption, emission spectra and the luminescence quantum yield of hemicyanine dyes (SH) measured in 11 different organic solvents of varying polarity. Molecular structure of the synthesized dyes was established by (1)H NMR, electronic absorption and fluorescence spectrometry. The spectral data confirmed that all the compounds exist in E-configuration of their styryl residues. The planar molecular conformation is typical for the compounds with five-membered side aromatic moieties (for example benzothiazole). The compounds possessing N-alkyl substituent in phenyl ring, in contrast to the compounds with other substituents, exhibit low fluorescence quantum yield in THF solution. This indicates that for N-alkyl derivatives the non-radiative processes are much more effective than the radiative ones. The electronic absorption and fluorescence emission spectra of tested dyes demonstrate high sensitivity to the nature of substituent introduced into the aromatic ring.     

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.     

Malatoplatinum(II) complexes – carboplatin analogs

A series of new neutral dicarboxylatoplatinum(II) complexes, containing D(+), L(−) or DL-malate dianion and ethylenediamine, 1-ethylimidazole or 1-propylimidazole as amine ligands, have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, t.l.c., conductance, i.r., n.m.r., mass spectra (m/z) and electronic spectra. The new cytotoxic malatoplatinum(II) complexes are very soluble in water and resist hydrolysis. Their reactivity against glutathione is comparable with the reactivity of carboplatin, which suggests that these new complexes may be promising candidates in the search for low toxicity platinum cytostatics. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.