In this study, the photosensitive nature of reactive enamine and polyenamine intermediates is investigated to improve our understanding of light-mediated aminocatalytic reactions. Experimental ...optical absorption data and TD-DFT calculations reveal that these intermediates are excited directly from the HOMO on the enamine moiety to low-lying unoccupied orbitals localized on the catalyst scaffold. This indicates that the photophysical properties of enamine intermediates can be tuned for visible light-mediated reactions by modifications to the aminocatalyst.
Heteroaromatic aldehydes have recently received a lot of attention as a scaffold for aminocatalytic functionalization as they allow for the construction of remote stereocenters and highly complex ...heterocyclic compounds. In this paper, we employ computational methods (M06-2X/cc-pVTZ//M06-2X/6-31 + G(d,p) and MP2/cc-pVTZ//M06-2X/6-31 + G(d,p)) to examine the abilities of secondary amines to activate several model heteroaromatic aldehydes by promoting loss of aromaticity and formation of the reactive trienamine intermediate. The hyperhomodesmotic equations used to assess the energy penalty for dearomatization show that the formation of the iminium ion decreases the energy cost for dearomatization, especially when X = O and S. Furthermore, we also investigated the role that the catalyst and heteroatom may have on the orbital coefficients of the various positions of the trienamine intermediary in order to better understand and/or predict the regioselectivity these systems may showcase. Synergistic effects between the catalyst and the heteroatom of the aromatic ring were observed to increase electron density at the most remote positions of several of the model systems studied.
Chiral epoxides serve as versatile building blocks in the synthesis of complex organic frameworks. The high strain imposed by the three‐membered ring system makes epoxides prone to a variety of ...nucleophilic ring‐opening reactions. Since the development of the Sharpless epoxidation, there have been many important contributions and advances in this area. With the rapid development of the field of asymmetric organocatalysis, a wide range of organocatalysts is now able to catalyze the epoxidation of broad class of unsaturated carbonyl compounds. In this Minireview, recent progress in the development of organocatalytic asymmetric epoxidation methods, the proposed mechanisms of these reactions and their applications as intermediates is reported.
Pick your type: In the past several decades, highly useful epoxidation protocols have been developed with a variety of activation modes using a wide range of asymmetric organocatalysts. This review documents the rapid and expansive development in this area, thus providing a clear overview of the various catalyst types available for asymmetric organocatalytic epoxidations, as well as their mechanisms and applications.
To shed light on: The title reaction allows the generation of a variety of functionalized phenols and analogues using Ru(bpy)3Cl2⋅6 H2O as the photocatalyst under very mild reaction conditions. This ...reaction not only incorporates an oxygen atom from molecular oxygen directly into the product, but also expands the application of visible‐light photocatalysis. bpy=bipyridine.
A new concept in organocatalysis allowing for the construction of cyclobutanes with four contiguous stereocenters with complete diastereo- and enantiomeric control by a formal 2 + 2-cycloaddition is ...presented. The concept is based on simultaneous dual activation of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes and nitroolefins by amino- and hydrogen-bonding catalysis, respectively. A new bifunctional squaramide-based aminocatalyst has been designed and synthesized in order to enable such an activation strategy. The potential and scope of the reaction are demonstrated, and computational studies which account for the stereochemical outcome are presented.
Objective
To report the clinical features of anti–N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis in patients ≤ 18 years old.
Methods
Information was obtained by the authors or referring ...physicians. Antibodies were determined by immunocytochemistry and enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using HEK293 cells ectopically expressing NR1.
Results
Over an 8‐month period, 81 patients (12 male) with anti‐NMDAR encephalitis were identified. Thirty‐two (40%) were ≤18 years old (youngest 23 months, median 14 years); 6 were male. The frequency of ovarian teratomas was 56% in women >18 years old, 31% in girls ≤18 years old (p = 0.05), and 9% in girls ≤14 years old (p = 0.008). None of the male patients had tumors. Of 32 patients ≤18 years old, 87.5% presented with behavioral or personality change, sometimes associated with seizures and frequent sleep dysfunction; 9.5% with dyskinesias or dystonia; and 3% with speech reduction. On admission, 53% had severe speech deficits. Eventually, 77% developed seizures, 84% stereotyped movements, 86% autonomic instability, and 23% hypoventilation. Responses to immunotherapy were slow and variable. Overall, 74% had full or substantial recovery after immunotherapy or tumor removal. Neurological relapses occurred in 25%. At the last follow‐up, full recovery occurred more frequently in patients who had a teratoma that was removed (5/8) than in those without a teratoma (4/23; p = 0.03).
Interpretation
Anti‐NMDAR encephalitis is increasingly recognized in children, comprising 40% of all cases. Younger patients are less likely to have tumors. Behavioral and speech problems, seizures, and abnormal movements are common early symptoms. The phenotype resembles that of the adults, although dysautonomia and hypoventilation are less frequent or severe in children. Ann Neurol 2009;66:11–18
Replacing current benchmark rare-element photosensitizers with ones based on abundant and low-cost metals such as iron would help facilitate the large-scale implementation of solar energy conversion. ...To do so, the ability to extend the lifetimes of photogenerated excited states of iron complexes is critical. Here, we present a sensitizer design in which iron(II) centres are supported by frameworks containing benzannulated phenanthridine and quinoline heterocycles paired with amido donors. These complexes exhibit panchromatic absorption and nanosecond charge-transfer excited state lifetimes, enabled by the combination of vacant, energetically accessible heterocycle-based acceptor orbitals and occupied molecular orbitals destabilized by strong mixing between amido nitrogen atoms and iron. This finding shows how ligand design can extend metal-to-ligand charge-transfer-type excited state lifetimes of iron(II) complexes into the nanosecond regime and expand the range of potential applications for iron-based photosensitizers.
Benzannulated bidentate pyridine/phosphine (P^N) ligands bearing quinoline or phenanthridine (3,4-benzoquinoline) units have been prepared, along with their halide-bridged, dimeric Cu(I) complexes ...of the form (P^N)Cu2(μ-X)2. The copper complexes are phosphorescent in the orange-red region of the spectrum in the solid-state under ambient conditions. Structural characterization in solution and the solid-state reveals a flexible conformational landscape, with both diamond-like and butterfly motifs available to the Cu2X2 cores. Comparing the photophysical properties of complexes of (quinolinyl)phosphine ligands with those of π-extended (phenanthridinyl)phosphines has revealed a counterintuitive impact of site-selective benzannulation. Contrary to conventional assumptions regarding π-extension and a bathochromic shift in the lowest energy absorption maxima, a blue shift of nearly 40 nm in the emission wavelength is observed for the complexes with larger ligand π-systems, which is assigned as phosphorescence on the basis of emission energies and lifetimes. Comparison of the ground-state and triplet excited state structures optimized from DFT and TD-DFT calculations allows attribution of this effect to a greater rigidity for the benzannulated complexes resulting in a higher energy emissive triplet state, rather than significant perturbation of orbital energies. This study reveals that ligand structure can impact photophysical properties for emissive molecules by influencing their structural rigidity, in addition to their electronic structure.
Proligands based on bis(8-quinolinyl)amine (L1) were prepared containing one (L2) and two (L3) benzo-fused N-heterocyclic phenanthridinyl (3,4-benzoquinolinyl) units. Taken as a series, L1–L3 ...provides a ligand template for exploring systematic π-extension in the context of tridentate pincer-like amido complexes of group 10 metals (1-M, 2-M, and 3-M; M = Ni, Pd, Pt). Inclusion of phenanthridinyl units was enabled by development of a cross-coupling/condensation route to 6-unsubstituted, 4-substituted phenanthridines (4-Br, 4-NO 2 , 4-NH 2 ) suitable for elaboration into the target ligand frameworks. Complexes 1-M, 2-M, and 3-M are redox-active; electrochemistry and UV–vis absorption spectroscopy were used to investigate the impact of π-extension on the electronic properties of the metal complexes. Unlike what is typically observed for benzannulated ligand–metal complexes, extending the π-system in metal complexes 1-M to 2-M to 3-M led to only a moderate red shift in the relative highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO)–lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) gap as estimated by electrochemistry and similarly subtle changes to the onset of the lowest-energy absorption observed by UV–vis spectroscopy. Time-dependent density functional theory calculations revealed that benzannulation significantly impacts the atomic contributions to the LUMO and LUMO+1 orbitals, altering the orbital contributions to the lowest-energy transition but leaving the energy of this transition essentially unchanged.
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