High-fidelity Recognition of Organotrifluoroborate Anions (R−BF3−) as Designer Guest Molecules

The recognition of boron compounds is well developed as boronic acids but untapped as organotrifluoroborate anions (R−BF₃⁻). We are exploring the development of these and other designer anions as anion-recognition motifs by considering them as substituted versions of the parent inorganic ion. To this end, we demonstrate strong and reliable binding of organic trifluoroborates, R−BF₃⁻, by cyanostar macrocycles that are size-complementary to the inorganic BF₄⁻ progenitors. We find that recognition is modulated by the substituent's sterics and that the affinities are retained using the common K⁺ salts of R−BF₃⁻ anions.     

On estimating pressure build-up in severely accelerated,shocked flow

A new approach to the calculation of the high pressures characterizing the flow field in front of a piston undergoing severe acceleration over the short term is presented. In contrast with previous approaches where the computational domain is altered but which stop short of transforming velocities, here the problem is solved in an accelerating non-Euclidean co-ordinate system where the piston is stationary. The method is applied to a study of the problem of premature sabot separation. Through use of Harten's second-order-accurate TVD scheme, flow simulations are performed for both 1D and 3D axisymmetric geometries. The simple 1D model gives pressure profiles surprisingly close to those of the more physical 3D model.     

Characterization of inclusion complexes of betamethasone-related steroids with cyclodextrins using high-performance liquid chromatography

HPLC was used to study the inclusion complexes formed between various beta- and gamma-cyclodextrins and a series of corticosteroids related to betamethasone. Apparent association constants were measured in acetonitrile-water for a set of 13 steroids. An increase in the stability of the steroid-cyclodextrin complex is observed at lower concentrations of acetonitrile. The effects of the nature of the halide at the 9-position, the location of a double bond within the C-ring, substitution at the 9- and 11-positions, and modification of the D-ring of the steroid backbone were studied. The 11- and 17-positions were found to be critically involved in the inclusion process. Larger apparent association constants were obtained with gamma-cyclodextrin (gamma-CD) than with beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) due to the increased diameter of the gamma-CD cavity. Van't Hoff plots were constructed to examine the thermodynamic properties of the inclusion process. Plots constructed using retention factors were found to be nonlinear when gamma-CD was present in the mobile phase. This is due to an increase in the strength of the inclusion complex as temperature decreases. Plots constructed using apparent association constants were linear, indicating that the mechanism of inclusion does not change over the range of temperatures studied (10 to 80 degrees C). Enthalpy-entropy compensation was observed for 11 of the 13 steroids studied. The usefulness of cyclodextrins to achieve the separation of steroids in HPLC is discussed and a practical application for the analysis of a steroid and three potential impurities is described.     

CW diode pumping and FM mode locking of a Nd: KGW laser

We have demonstrated cw diode end pumping of Nd: KGW, a novel solid-state gain medium, with up to 30% conversion efficiency into near-TEM₀₀ (M² < 1.05) output at = 1.067 µm for a pump level of 2.7 W. The slope efficiency was limited by intracavity reflections to 36%; however, direct comparison to a similar Nd:YAG laser indicates the same intrinsic slope efficiency of 60%. FM mode locking of this laser at 200 MHz has produced 12 ps pulses (compared to 16 ps for Nd: YAG), although an intracavity etalon was required. Considerable reduction in pulse width is possible (the line width limit is 0.5 ps) but different techniques may be necessary. Spatial hole burning was evident in both the 120 GHz free-running spectrum and the etalon-limited mode-locked spectrum.     

Efficient asymmetric epoxidation of alpha,beta-unsaturated ketones using a soluble triblock polyethylene glycol-polyamino acid catalyst

[reaction: see text]. Polyethylene glycol (PEG)-bound poly-L-leucine acts as a THF-soluble catalyst for the Juliá-Colonna asymmetric epoxidation of enones. Excellent enantioselectivities may be obtained even with short chain length polyleucine. FT-IR investigations have determined that the catalytically active polyleucine components of these copolymers have an alpha-helical structure.     

Versatile self-complexing compounds based on covalently linked donor-acceptor cyclophanes

A range of covalently linked donor-acceptor compounds which contain 1) a hydroquinone (HQ) unit, 2) a 1,5-dioxynaphthalene (DNP) ring system, or 3) a tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) unit as the pi-donor, and 4) cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) (CBPQT(4+)) as the pi-accepting tetracationic cyclophane were prepared and shown to operate as simple molecular machines. The pi-donating arms can be included inside the cyclophane in an intramolecular fashion by virtue of stabilizing noncovalent bonding interactions. What amounts to self-complexing/decomplexing equilibria were shown to be highly temperature dependent when the pi-donating arm contains either an HQ or DNP moiety. The thermodynamic parameters associated with the equilibria have been unraveled by using variable-temperature (1)H NMR spectroscopy. The negative DeltaH degrees and DeltaS degrees values account for the fact that the "uncomplexed" conformation becomes the dominant species, since the entropy gain associated with the decomplexation process overcomes the enthalpy loss resulting from the breaking of the donor-acceptor interactions. The arm's in-and-out movements with respect to the linked cyclophanes can be arrested by installing a bulky substituent at the end of the arm. In the case of compounds carrying a DNP ring system in their side arm, two diastereoisomeric, self-complexing conformations are observed below 272 K in hexadeuterioacetone. By contrast, control over the TTF-containing arm's movement is more or less ineffective through the thermally sensitive equilibrium although it can be realized by chemical and electrochemical ways as a result of TTF's excellent redox properties. Such self-complexing compounds could find applications as thermo- and electroswitches. In addition, the thermochromism associated with the arm's movement could lead to some of the compounds finding uses as imaging and sensing materials.     

Structures and properties of self-assembled monolayers of bistable [2]rotaxanes on Au (111) surfaces from molecular dynamics simulations validated with experiment

Bistable [2]rotaxanes display controllable switching properties in solution, on surfaces, and in devices. These phenomena are based on the electrochemically and electrically driven mechanical shuttling motion of the ring-shaped component, cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) (CBPQT(4+)) (denoted as the ring), between a tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) unit and a 1,5-dioxynaphthalene (DNP) ring system located along a dumbbell component. When the ring is encircling the TTF unit, this co-conformation of the rotaxane is the most stable and thus designated the ground-state co-conformer (GSCC), whereas the other co-conformation with the ring surrounding the DNP ring system is less favored and so designated the metastable-state co-conformer (MSCC). We report here the structure and properties of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of a bistable [2]rotaxane on Au (111) surfaces as a function of surface coverage based on atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) studies with a force field optimized from DFT calculations and we report several experiments that validate the predictions. On the basis of both the total energy per rotaxane and the calculated stress that is parallel to the surface, we find that the optimal packing density of the SAM corresponds to a surface coverage of 115 A(2)/molecule (one molecule per 4 x 4 grid of surface Au atoms) for both the GSCC and MSCC, and that the former is more stable than the latter by 14 kcal/mol at the optimum packing density. We find that the SAM retains hexagonal packing, except for the case at twice the optimum packing density (65 A(2)/molecule, the 3 x 3 grid). For the GSCC and MSCC, investigated at the optimum coverage, the tilt of the ring with respect to the normal is theta = 39 degrees and 61 degrees, respectively, while the tilt angle of the entire rotaxane is psi = 41 degrees and 46 degrees , respectively. Although the tilt angle of the ring decreases with decreasing surface coverage, the tilt angle of the rotaxane has a maximum at 144 A(2)/molecule (the 4 x 5 grid/molecule) of 50 degrees and 51 degrees for the GSCC and MSCC, respectively. The hexafluorophosphate counterions (PF(6)(-)) stay localized around the ring during the 2 ns MD simulation. On the basis of the calculated density profile, we find that the thickness of the SAM is 40.5 A at the optimum coverage for the GSCC and 40.0 A for MSCC, and that the thicknesses become less with decreasing surface coverage. The calculated surface tension at the optimal packing density is 45 and 65 dyn/cm for the GSCC and MSCC, respectively. This difference suggests that the water contact angle for the GSCC is larger than for the MSCC, a prediction that is verified by experiments on Langmuir-Blodgett monolayers of amphiphilic [2]rotaxanes.