Parametric Modelling of the Crystalline Microstructure of the MCM41-Type Mesoporous Silica Modified with Derivatives of Alkyls.

A siliceous material in which a framework order was established with a surfactant with sixteen carbon atoms in alkyl chains, MCM-41-C16, was synthesised, surface-modified, and tested regarding the selected physical properties. The pristine material was extracted in an acidic aqueous alcohol and then lined with different surface groups. The properties of four adsorbents were investigated using XRD, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and N2 physisorption techniques. The unit-cell constant was determined from X-ray diffractograms, being in fixed relation to the edge length of the hexagonal frame. The specific surface areas of mesopores and whole crystallites were determined from low-temperature N2-physisorption isotherms. The novelty of this work is a mathematical model of a crystalline microstructure explaining the sizes and shapes of crystalline grains in relation to adsorption features, proposed and successfully tested with the aforementioned experimental data. The roughness of the surface is different from one that is necessary to explain the experimental characteristics quantitatively.

Luminescent Hybrid BPA.DA-NVP@Eu2L3 Materials: In Situ Synthesis, Spectroscopic, Thermal, and Mechanical Characterization.

A series of homogeneous hybrid BPA.DA-NVP@Eu2L3 materials were obtained through an in situ approach where the luminescent dopant was formed at the molecular level with different contents (0.1; 0.2; 0.5; 1; and 2% by weight). A Europium(III) complex (Eu2L3) with quinoline-2,4-dicarboxylic acid was applied as a luminescence additive while a polymer matrix consisted of a combination of bisphenol A diacrylate (BPA.DA) and N-vinylpyrrolidone (NVP) monomers. Synthesis steps and the final materials were monitored by NMR and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The emission, excitation spectra, lifetime, and quantum yield measurements were applied for the determination of the photophysical characteristics. The thermal and mechanical properties of the obtained materials were tested via thermal analysis methods (TG/DTG/DSC and TG-FTIR) in air and nitrogen atmospheres, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), and hardness and bending measurements. Generally, even a small addition of the metal complex component causes changes in the thermal, mechanical, and luminescent properties. Hybrid materials with a greater europium complex content are characterized by a lower stiffness and hardness while the heterogeneity and the flexibility of the samples increase. A very small amount of an Eu2L3 admixture (0.1% wt.) in a hybrid material causes an emission in the red spectral range and the luminescence intensity was reached for the BPA-DA-NVP@1%Eu2L3 material. These materials may be potentially used in chemical sensing, security systems, and protective coatings against UV.

Qualitative and Quantitative Evaluation of Rosavin, Salidroside, and p-Tyrosol in Artic Root Products via TLC-Screening, HPLC-DAD, and NMR Spectroscopy.

Artic root is a well-known plant adaptogen with multipotential pharmacological properties. Thin-layer chromatography (TLC)-screening followed by diode-array high-performance liquid chromatography and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy proved to be a reliable and convenient method for the simultaneous determination of the quality of various herbal raw materials and supplements. This combination allowed for comparing and differentiating arctic root samples as well as defining their authenticity. The study provided information on the chemical and biological properties of the seven chosen samples as well as qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the quality markers: rosavin, salidroside, and p-tyrosol. The absence of rosavin, salidroside, and p-tyrosol in three samples was detected using TLC screening and confirmed by HPLC-DAD and NMR. The paper highlighted the importance of quality control and strict regulation for herbal medicine supplements and preparations.

Sordarin- An anti-fungal antibiotic with a unique modus operandi.

Fungal infections cause serious problems in many aspects of human life, in particular infections in immunocompromised patients present serious problems. Current anti-fungal antibiotics target various metabolic pathways, predominantly the cell wall or cellular membrane metabolism. Numerous compounds are available to combat fungal infections, but their efficacy is far from satisfactory and some of them display high toxicity. The emerging antibiotic resistance represents a serious issue as well. Hence, there is a considerable need for new anti-fungal compounds with lower toxicity and higher effectiveness. One of the unique anti-fungal antibiotics is sordarin, the only known compound that acts on the fungal translational machinery per se. Sordarin inhibits protein synthesis at the elongation step of the translational cycle, acting on eukaryotic translation elongation factor 2. In this review, we deliver a robust scientific platform promoting the development of anti-fungal compounds, in particular focusing on the molecular action of sordarin.

Stability of stevioside in food processing conditions: unexpected recombination of stevioside hydrolysis products in ESI source.

Stevioside is the main and the sweetest glycoside of stevia plant. It is attractive as a natural sweetener to diabetics and others on carbohydrate-controlled diets. This paper discusses the stability of stevioside under food processing conditions. It was found that stevioside was transformed not only to rubusoside, steviolbioside, steviol monoside and steviol but also to previously unknown stevioside α-anomer and rubusoside α-anomer. Those two identified stevioside transformation products are formed not only during the heating of acidic, neutral and alkaline stevioside standard solutions and stevia leaves suspensions in water and ethanol/water solvents but also during the processing of foods containing stevia. Apart from presenting the new compounds, the paper additionally shows that the recombination of sugar moiety with steviolbioside molecule in MS/ESI source can occur. The effect of molecule recombination in the MS source is known from the literature; however, it has not been reported previously in relation to stevioside derivatives.

[1,3]/[1,4]-Sulfur atom migration in ß-hydroxyalkylphosphine sulfides.

ß-Hydroxyalkylphosphine sulfides undergo [1,3]- or [1,4]-sulfur atom phosphorus-to-carbon migration in the presence of Lewis or Brønsted acids. The direction of sulfur atom migration depends on the type of acid used for the reaction. In the presence of a Brønsted acid, mainly [1,3]-rearrangement is observed, whereas a Lewis acid catalyzes the [1,4]-sulfur migration. To gain insight into the mechanism of these transformations, the stereochemistry of these rearrangements have been tested, along with the conduction of some control experiments and DFT calculations.

Synthesis and Electrochemical and Spectroscopic Characterization of 4,7-diamino-1,10-phenanthrolines and Their Precursors.

New approaches to the synthesis of 4,7-dichloro-1,10-phenanthrolines and their corresponding 9H-carbazol-9-yl-, 10H-phenothiazin-10-yl- and pyrrolidin-1-yl derivatives were developed. Their properties have been characterized by a combination of several techniques: MS, HRMS, GC-MS, electronic absorption spectroscopy and multinuclear NMR in both solution and solid state including 15N CP/MAS NMR. The structures of 5-fluoro-2,9-dimethyl-4,7-di(pyrrolidin-1-yl)-1,10-phenanthroline (5d), 4,7-di(9H-carbazol-9-yl)-9-oxo-9,10-dihydro-1,10-phenanthroline-5-carbonitrile (6a) and 4,7-di(10H-phenothiazin-10-yl)-1,10-phenanthroline-5-carbonitrile (6b) were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction measurements. The nucleophilic substitutions of hydrogen followed by oxidation produced compounds 6a and 6b. The electrochemical properties of selected 1,10-phenanthrolines were investigated using cyclic voltammetry and compared with commercially available reference 1,10-phenanthrolin-5-amine (5l). The spatial distribution of frontier molecular orbitals of the selected compounds has been calculated by density functional theory (DFT). It was shown that potentials of reduction and oxidation were in consistence with the level of HOMO and LUMO energies.

Feruloyloacetone can be the main curcumin transformation product.

Curcumin is a phenolic compound produced by some plants, among which Curcuma longa is the reachest in this principal curcuminoid. At elevated temperature curcumin degrades to trans-6-(4'-hydroxy-3'-methoxyphenyl)-2,4-dioxo-5-hexenal, vanillin, ferulic acid and feruloylmethane, however, the formation of feruloyloacetone ((5E)-6-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)hex-5-ene-2,4-dione) in the curcumin degradation process has not been reported yet. As results from experiments, even 28.8% or 20.6% of the degraded curcumin is transformed to feruloyloacetone during 2 h heating of alkaline or acidic curcumin solution, respectively. The structure of the identified feruloyloacetone was confirmed by MSn, HRMS and NMR data. The presented results are important for food processing as feruloyloacetone is formed during food products preparation and its biological activity has not been fully recognized.

Pd-catalyzed intramolecular addition of active methylene compounds to alkynes with subsequent cross-coupling with (hetero)aryl halides.

We report an efficient protocol for tandem Pd-catalyzed intramolecular addition of active methylene compounds to alkynes, followed by subsequent cross-coupling with (hetero)aryl bromides and chlorides. The reaction proceeds under mild conditions, providing excellent functional group tolerance, including unprotected OH, NH2 groups, enolizable ketones, or a variety of heterocycles. Mechanistic studies point towards a catalytic cycle involving oxidative addition, intramolecular nucleophilic addition to the Pd(ii)-activated alkyne, and reductive elimination, with 5-exo-dig cyclization being the rate limiting step.

Formation of aqueous and alcoholic adducts of curcumin during its extraction.

Curcumin is a phenolic compound produced by some plants, among which Curcuma longa is the reachest in this principal curcuminoid. Curcumin is known from its lability, however, the structural curcumin transformations and the formation of hydroxy and alkoxy adducts has not been reported yet. The formation of the mentioned derivatives is favoured by an alkaline environment. The presented results are important both from the analytical and food processing point of view as curcumin transformation products can be mistakenly treated as new components naturally present in turmeric, while in fact they may be formed during food products preparation, causing consumer misinformation about their bioactivity. In this context, an attempt has been made to investigate this problem. The present paper shows that curcumin easily transforms into ketonic/enolic structural isomers and forms adducts with water and alcohols. All structures of these compounds were confirmed by MSn, HRMS and partly also by NMR data.

Intramolecular Nucleophilic Substitution of ω-Haloalkylphosphine Derivatives.

ω-Haloalkylphosphine derivatives undergo the intramolecular nucleophilic substitution reaction upon treatment with a strong base, yielding either cycloalkylphosphine derivatives or heterocyclic phosphine derivatives. The selectivity of the cyclization of (ω-haloalkyl)alkylarylphosphine derivatives depends strongly on the distance between the electrophilic and nucleophilic carbon atoms and the structure of the phosphorus moiety. The desymmetrization of dimethylphenylphosphine sulfide followed by haloalkylation and cyclization led to the enantiomerically enriched tertiary phosphine sulfide, possessing a cyclohexyl fragment at the phosphorus.

Stereoselectivity of Michael Addition of P(X)-H-Type Nucleophiles to Cyclohexen-1-ylphosphine Oxide: The Case of Base-Selective Transformation.

Michael addition of phosphorus nucleophiles to the unsymmetrically substituted tert-butyl(1,4-cyclohexadien-3-yl)phosphine oxide and its derivatives has been described. The addition proceeds with the formation of the mixture of two isomeric products with good yield and diastereoselectivity. The reaction of tert-butyl(cyclohexen-1-yl)methylphosphine oxide with phosphorus nucleophiles is base sensitive and might afford two epimers which differ at one chirality center. The absolute configuration of the products has been assigned on the basis of conformational and (1)H NMR analysis, and the mechanism of the reaction has been discussed. The Michael addition of phosphorus nucleophiles is postulated to proceed with or without consecutive epimerization of two α-carbanions.

Reduction of functionalized tertiary phosphine oxides with BH3.

A direct stereoselective conversion of tertiary hydroxyalkylphosphine oxides to the corresponding tertiary hydroxyalkylphosphine-boranes involving facile reduction of the P═O bond by BH3 under mild conditions has been developed. The unprecedented facility of reduction of the strong P═O bond by BH3, a mild reducing agent, has been achieved through an intramolecular P═O···B complexation directed by proximal α- or ß-hydroxy groups present in the phosphine oxide structures. As established by two chemical correlations, the developed transformation of hydroxyalkylphosphine oxides into hydroxyalkylphosphine-boranes takes place with complete inversion of configuration at P.

Diastereoselective desymmetrization of diarylphosphinous acid-borane amides under Birch reduction.

Treatment of diarylphosphinous acid-borane amides possessing chiral amido functionality with an alkali metal solution in liquid ammonia induced a preferential dearomatization of one aryl substituent at phosphorus leading to the formation of non-equimolar amounts of diastereomers. Diastereoselectivity of dearomatization depends strongly on the structure of a chiral auxiliary.

Two-fold modification of the phenyl substituent in phenylphosphonic acid monoester monoamides.

Phenylphosphonic acid ethyl ester N,N-diethylamide was subjected to a double modification of its phenyl substituent through directed ortho-metalation followed by dearomatization of the aryl substituent under Birch reduction conditions. Application of the same methodology to a diastereomerically pure phenylphosphonic acid monoester monoamide led to the formation of P-stereogenic cyclohexadienyl-phosphonic acid derivatives. The method offers a simple and efficient modification of phenyl substituent in organophosphorus compounds.

Diastereoselective synthesis and coordination chemistry of enantiopure keto-bis-(2-phosphametallocene)s.

Enantiopure 2-(chlorocarbonyl)phosphametallocenes [MCp*(2-{COCl}-3,4-Me(2)-5-Ph-PC(4))] (M = Fe, Ru) react with phospholide anions to give 2-phosphametallocene-2'-acylphospholides K[MCp*(2-CO-2'-{3',4'-Me(2)-5'-PhPC(4)}-3,4-Me(2)-5-Ph-PC(4))] (M = Fe, Ru) and these have been converted into keto-bis-(2-phosphametallocene)s through reaction with [FeClCp*(tmeda)]; templation of this process with CuBr gives rise to the C(2)- (or pseudo-C(2)- when M = Ru) symmetric form of [{MCp*(3,4-Me(2)-5-Ph-PC(4))}(2)-2,2'-(CO)] (M = Fe, Ru; Fe, Fe) with high (>95%) diastereoselectivity. X-Ray structures of these ligands coordinated to [RuCp*Cl] and [PtCl(2)] centres show that the spatial orientation of the very flexible keto-bis-(2-phosphametallocene) structure is highly responsive to the coordination sphere of the chelated platinum or ruthenium centre.

Michael-type addition of secondary phosphine oxides to (1,4-cyclohexadien-3-yl)phosphine oxides.

Base-induced reaction between (1,4-cyclohexadien-3-yl)phosphine oxides and secondary phosphine oxides gives 3,4-bis(phosphinoyl)cyclohexenes and 2,3-bis(phosphinoyl)cyclohexenes through an in situ isomerization of one of the cyclohexadienyl double bonds and a subsequent Michael-type addition of the secondary phosphine oxide.

A comparison of phosphaferrocene and phospharuthenocene ligands in Rh+-catalysed enamide hydrogenation reactions: superior performance of the phospharuthenocene.

Enantiopure Cp*-substituted 3,4-dimethyl-5-phenylphosphametallocene-2-methanols (M=Fe, Ru) have been prepared from the corresponding 2-carboxy-(-)-menthylphospholide anion and elaborated into 2-CH(2)PPh(2) phosphametallocenes (13: M=Fe; 14: M=Ru) and 2-CH(2)PtBuR substituted phospharuthenocenes (R=tBu, Me). The crystal structures of complexes [Rh(1,5-cod)(eta(2)-L)](+)BF(4)(-) (L=13, 14) reveal significantly different aryl group configurations. Comparative studies of the hydrogenation of para-substituted N-acetylcinnamate esters with these pre-catalysts show a superior performance for the phospharuthenocene derivative in terms of both rate and enantioselectivity.

Resolution and stereochemistry of tert-butylphenylphosphinous acid-borane.

A combined use of ephedrine and cinchonine as resolving agents enabled facile resolution of racemic tert-butylphenylphosphinous acid-borane (1) into the two enantiomers in ca. 31-32% yield each. The resolved 1 served as a model substrate to study stereoselective synthetic transformations of phosphinous acid-boranes yielding optically active phosphinite-borane, boranatophosphinous-sulfonic anhydride, secondary phosphine-borane, tertiary phosphine-borane, secondary phosphine oxide, and phosphinic halides. By the judicious choice of the reaction paths, either enantiomer of tert-butylphenylphosphine-borane and of tert-butylmethylphenylphosphine-borane could be stereoselectively obtained from a single enantiomer of 1.