Supraicosahedral indenyl cobaltacarboranes.

13-vertex indenyl cobaltacarboranes with 4,1,6-, 4,1,10- and 4,1,2-CoC(2)B(10) architectures have been synthesised by reduction of the corresponding closo carborane and metallation with an {(eta-C(9)H(7))Co} fragment. Variants of the 4,1,6-isomer were prepared with no, one and two methyl groups on cage C atoms, whilst 4,1,2-species were obtained both with two methyl groups and a trimethylene tether on the cage C atoms. Thermolysis of the 4,1,6-isomers yielded the corresponding 4,1,8-isomers, which in turn were converted to 4,1,12-isomers by thermolysis at higher temperatures. Alternatively relatively mild heating of the 4,1,10-isomer led to the 4,1,12-isomer directly. Products were characterised by mass spectrometry, (1)H and (11)B NMR spectroscopies and, in most cases, elemental analysis, and nine compounds were studied crystallographically. The 4,1,6-, 4,1,8-, 4,1,10- and 4,1,12- species have docosahedral cages whilst the 4,1,2-species are henicosahedral. In the structural studies attention focused on the orientation of the indenyl ligand with respect to the carborane ligand since this affords experimental information on the metal-cage bonding through the structural indenyl effect. There is a general tendency for the indenyl ligand to adopt orientations in which the ring junction C atoms lie trans to cage B atoms. In cases where the orientation is not compromised by the presence of a non-H substituent on the face of the carborane there is generally good agreement between the experimental orientation and that computed by DFT calculations for the related naphthalene ferracarboranes (eta-C(10)H(8))FeC(2)B(10)H(12). The presence of C-methyl substituents in the indenyl cobaltacarboranes tends to override this preference except in the case of 1,6-Me(2)-4-(eta-C(9)H(7))-4,1,6-closo-CoC(2)B(10)H(10) where the indenyl ligand instead is forced to incline away from the cage methyl groups. In DCM solution the 4,1,6-, 4,1,8-, 4,1,10- and 4,1,12- isomers of (eta-C(9)H(7))CoC(2)B(10)H(12) exhibit two, stepwise, 1-electron reductions assigned to Co(III)/Co(II)/Co(I) couples at less negative potentials than those of the corresponding Cp compounds. Moreover these reductions are easier for those isomers (4,1,6- and 4,1,10-) in which there are two cage C atoms in the carborane face to which the metal atom is bound. By spectroelectrochemical and EPR measurements it is concluded that the reductions of these indenyl cobaltacarboranes are largely metal-based.

Model systems for flavoenzyme activity: a tuneable intramolecularly hydrogen bonded flavin-diamidopyridine complex.

We report the electrochemically tuneable intramolecular hydrogen bonding interactions between a covalently linked flavin-diamidopyridine unit.

The first supraicosahedral p-block metallacarboranes.

Reaction of Na2[7,9-C2B10H12] or its C-dimethyl analogue with SnCl2 in THF affords 4,1,6-closo-SnC2B10H12 or 1,6-Me2-4,1,6-closo-SnC2B10H10 respectively, the first 13-vertex metallacarboranes involving p-block metals; spectroscopic, structural and theoretical studies, including an analysis of fluctionality in solution, are reported.

JM47, a cyclic tetrapeptide HC-toxin analogue from a marine Fusarium species.

The known metabolite, enniatin B, and a cyclic tetrapeptide, JM47, which is a new natural product, were extracted from brown rice cultures of a marine fungus, identified as a Fusarium species, isolated from the marine alga Codium fragile. NMR studies, including 15N HMQC and 15N HMBC, established the structure of JM47 as cyclo(Ala-Ala-Aoh-Pro), where Aoh is the amino acid, (2S,9S)-2-amino-8-oxo-9-hydroxydecanoic acid. The absolute stereochemistry of the Aoh side chain carbinol centre was determined using Mosher ester methodology. Analysis of NOESY data assisted by molecular modelling revealed an alternating L-, D-, L-, D-configuration for the tetrapeptide core. The absolute stereochemistry of the core was determined by acidic hydrolysis and chiral TLC analysis of the proline residue. JM47 belongs to the HC-toxin family of cyclic tetrapeptides which possess a 2-amino-8-oxo-9,10-epoxydecanoic acid residue in place of the Aoh unit. This is the first report of an analogue of HC-toxin from a marine Fusarium species.