Design and modeling of a Laue lens for radiation therapy with hard x-ray photons.

We have designed and modeled a novel optical system composed of a Laue lens coupled to an x-ray tube that produces a focused beam in an energy range near 100 keV (λ= 12.4 picometer). One application of this system is radiation therapy where it could enable treatment units that are considerably simpler and lower in cost than present technologies relying on linear accelerators. The Laue lens is made of Silicon Laue components which exploit the silicon pore optics technology. The lens concentrates photons to a small region thus allowing high dose rates at the focal area with very much lower dose rates at the skin and superficial regions. Monte Carlo simulations with Geant4 indicate a dose deposition rate of 0.2 Gy min-1in a cylindrical volume of 0.7 mm diameter and 10 mm length, and a dose ratio of 72 at the surface (skin) compared to the focus placed 10 cm within a water phantom. Work is ongoing to newer generation crystal technologies to increase dose rate.

The Thermal Instability of 2,4 and 2,6-N-Alkylamino Disubstituted and 2-N-Alkylamino Substituted Nitrobenzenes in Weakly Alkaline Solution: sec-Amino Effect.

We report herein the preparation of two families of secondary amines by the reactions of two equivalents of monoamines with either 2,4 or 2,6-difluoronitrobenzenes in N,N-dimethylacetamide in the presence of anhydrous potassium carbonate, as precursors of biologically important nitric oxide donating N-nitrosamines. In both instances, these compounds could be prepared in quantitative yield when the reaction temperature was held below 130°C. Above this reaction temperature, an unexpected cyclization reaction between the nitro and newly formed adjacent secondary amine group leads to the formation of benzimidazole or quinoxaline rings in low yields. Reasonable reaction mechanisms for the cyclization reaction are proposed.

A series of N-(2-phenylethyl)nitroaniline derivatives as precursors for slow and sustained nitric oxide release agents.

2,4-Dinitro-N-(2-phenylethyl)aniline, C14H13N3O4, (I), crystallizes with one independent molecule in the asymmetric unit. The adjacent amine and nitro groups form an intramolecular N-H...O hydrogen bond. The anti conformation about the ethyl C-C bond leads to the phenyl and aniline rings being essentially parallel. Molecules are linked into dimers by intermolecular N-H...O hydrogen bonds, such that each amine H atom participates in a three-centre interaction with two nitro O atoms. Though the dimers pack so that the arene rings of adjacent molecules are parallel, the rings are staggered and π-π interactions do not appear to be favoured. 4,6-Dinitro-N,N'-bis(2-phenylethyl)benzene-1,3-diamine, C22H22N4O4, (II), differs from (I) in the presence of a second 2-phenylethylamine group on the substituted ring. Compound (II) also crystallizes with one unique molecule in the asymmetric unit. Both amine groups are involved in intramolecular N-H...O hydrogen bonds with adjacent nitro groups. Although one ethyl group adopts an anti conformation as in (I), the other is gauche, with the result that the pendant phenyl rings are not parallel. The amine group that is part of the gauche conformation participates in a three-centre N-H...O hydrogen bond with the nitro group of a neighbouring molecule, leading to dimers as in (I). The other amine H atom does not form any intermolecular hydrogen bonds. The packing leads to separations of ca 3.4 Šof the parallel anti phenyl and aminobenzene rings. 2-Cyano-4-nitro-N-(2-phenylethyl)aniline, C15H13N3O2, (III), differs from (I) only in having a cyano group in place of the 2-nitro group. The absence of the adjacent nitro group eliminates the intramolecular N-H...O hydrogen bond. Molecules of (III) adopt the same anti conformation about the ethyl group as in (I), but crystallize in the higher-symmetry monoclinic space group P21/n. The molecules are linked into dimers via N-H...N amine-cyano hydrogen bonds, while the nitro groups are not involved in any N-H...O interactions. Owing to the different symmetry, the molecules pack in a herringbone pattern with fewer face-to-face interactions between the rings. The closest such interactions are about 3.5 Šbetween rings that are largely slipped past one another. 4-Methylsulfonyl-2-nitro-N-(2-phenylethyl)aniline, C15H16N2O4S, (IV), differs from (I) in having a methylsulfonyl group in place of the 4-nitro group. The intramolecular N-H...O hydrogen bond is present as in (I). However, unlike (I), the conformation about the ethyl group is gauche, so the two arene rings are nearly perpendicular rather than parallel. The packing is significantly different from the other three structures in that there are no intermolecular hydrogen bonds involving the N-H groups. The molecules are arranged in tetragonal columns running along the c axis, with the aniline rings mostly parallel and separated by ca 3.7 Å. Taken together, these structures demonstrate that modest changes in functional groups cause significant differences in molecular conformation, intermolecular interactions and packing.