A repertoire of pyridinium-phenyl-methyl cross-talk through a cascade of intramolecular electrostatic interactions

Electrochemical Behavior of Pyridinium and N-Methyl Pyridinium Cations in Aqueous Electrolytes for CO2 Reduction

The electrochemical reduction of aqueous pyridinium and N-methyl pyridinium ions is investigated in the absence and presence of CO₂ and electrolysis reaction products on glassy carbon, Au, and Pt electrodes are studied. Unlike pyridinium, N-methyl pyridinium is not electroactive at the Pt electrode. The electrochemical reduction of the two pyridine derivatives was found to be irreversible on glassy carbon. These results confirmed the essential role of the N-H bond of the pyridinium cation. In contrast, the electrochemical response of N-methyl pyridinium ion at the glassy carbon electrode suggests that a specific interaction occurs between the glassy carbon surface and the aromatic ring of the pyridinium derivative. For all electrodes, an enhancement of current was observed in the presence of CO₂ . However, NMR spectroscopy of the solutions following electrolysis showed no formation of methanol or other possible byproducts of the reduction of CO₂ in the presence of either pyridinium derivative ion.

Decarboxylation, CO2 and the reversion problem

Decarboxylation reactions occur rapidly in enzymes but usually are many orders of magnitude slower in solution, if the reaction occurs at all. Where the reaction produces a carbanion and CO2, we would expect that the high energy of the carbanion causes the transition state for C-C bond cleavage also to be high in energy. Since the energy of the carbanion is a thermodynamic property, an enzyme obviously cannot change that property. Yet, enzymes overcome the barrier to forming the carbanion. In thinking about decarboxylation, we had assumed that CO2 is well behaved and forms without its own barriers. However, we analyzed reactions in solution of compounds that resemble intermediates in enzymic reaction and found some of them to be subject to unexpected forms of catalysis. Those results caused us to discard the usual assumptions about CO2 and carbanions. We learned that CO2 can be a very reactive electrophile. In decarboxylation reactions, where CO2 forms in the same step as a carbanion, separation of the products might be the main problem preventing the forward reaction because the carbanion can add readily to CO2 in competition with their separation and solvation. The basicity of the carbanion also might be overestimated because when we see that the decarboxylation is slow, we assume that it is because the carbanion is high in energy. We found reactions where the carbanion is protonated internally; CO2 appears to be able to depart without reversion more rapidly. We tested these ideas using kinetic analysis of catalytic reactions, carbon kinetic isotope effects, and synthesis of predecarboxylation intermediates. In another case, we observed that the decarboxylation is subject to general base catalysis while producing a significant carbon kinetic isotope effect. This requires both a proton transfer from an intermediate and C-C bond-breaking in the rate-determining step. This would occur if the route involves the surprising initial addition of water to the carboxyl, with the cleavage step producing bicarbonate. Interestingly, some enzyme-catalyzed reactions also appear to produce intermediates formed by the initial addition of water or a nucleophile to the carboxyl or to nascent CO2. We conclude that decarboxylation is not necessarily a problem that results from the energy of the carbanionic products alone but from their formation in the presence of CO2. Catalysts that facilitate the separation of the species on either side of the C-C bond that cleaves could solve the problem using catalytic principles that we find in many enzymes that promote hydrolytic processes, suggesting linkages in catalysis through evolution of activity.

First preparation of a triterpenoid-based supramolecular hydrogel in physiological phosphate buffered saline

A glycyrrhetinic acid-based supramolecular hydrogel was attained in physiological phosphate buffered saline for the first time.

Dual responsive supramolecular amphiphiles: guest molecules dictate the architecture of pyridinium-tailored anthracene assemblies

By introducing an electron-deficient guest molecule and a counter anion, the assembly morphology of 1-[11-(2-anthracenylmethoxy)-11-oxoundecyl]pyridinium bromide (2-AP) was transformed to microsheets and nanofibers from microtubes, respectively.

Insights into the mechanism of bovine CD38/NAD+glycohydrolase from the X-ray structures of its Michaelis complex and covalently-trapped intermediates

Bovine CD38/NAD⁺glycohydrolase (bCD38) catalyses the hydrolysis of NAD⁺ into nicotinamide and ADP-ribose and the formation of cyclic ADP-ribose (cADPR). We solved the crystal structures of the mono N-glycosylated forms of the ecto-domain of bCD38 or the catalytic residue mutant Glu218Gln in their apo state or bound to aFNAD or rFNAD, two 2′-fluorinated analogs of NAD⁺. Both compounds behave as mechanism-based inhibitors, allowing the trapping of a reaction intermediate covalently linked to Glu218. Compared to the non-covalent (Michaelis) complex, the ligands adopt a more folded conformation in the covalent complexes. Altogether these crystallographic snapshots along the reaction pathway reveal the drastic conformational rearrangements undergone by the ligand during catalysis with the repositioning of its adenine ring from a solvent-exposed position stacked against Trp168 to a more buried position stacked against Trp181. This adenine flipping between conserved tryptophans is a prerequisite for the proper positioning of the N1 of the adenine ring to perform the nucleophilic attack on the C1′ of the ribofuranoside ring ultimately yielding cADPR. In all structures, however, the adenine ring adopts the most thermodynamically favorable anti conformation, explaining why cyclization, which requires a syn conformation, remains a rare alternate event in the reactions catalyzed by bCD38 (cADPR represents only 1% of the reaction products). In the Michaelis complex, the substrate is bound in a constrained conformation; the enzyme uses this ground-state destabilization, in addition to a hydrophobic environment and desolvation of the nicotinamide-ribosyl bond, to destabilize the scissile bond leading to the formation of a ribooxocarbenium ion intermediate. The Glu218 side chain stabilizes this reaction intermediate and plays another important role during catalysis by polarizing the 2′-OH of the substrate NAD⁺. Based on our structural analysis and data on active site mutants, we propose a detailed analysis of the catalytic mechanism.

Phase Behaviour of 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium Thiocyanate Ionic Liquid with Catalytic Deactivated Compounds and Water at Several Temperatures: Experiments and Theoretical Predictions

Density, surface tension and refractive index were determined for the binary mixture of catalytic deactivated compounds with 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium thiocyanate{[EMIM][SCN]}at temperature of (298.15 to 323.15) K. For all the compounds with ILs, the densities varied linearly in the entire mole fraction with increasing temperature. From the obtained data, the excess molar volume and deviation of surface tension and refractive index have been calculated. A strong interaction was found between similar (cation-thiophene or cation-pyrrole) compounds. The interaction of IL with dissimilar compounds such as indoline and quinoline and other multiple ring compounds was found to strongly depend on the composition of IL at any temperatures. For the mixtures, the surface tension decreases in the order of: thiophene > quinoline > pyridine > indoline > pyrrole > water. In general from the excess volume studies, the IL-sulphur/nitrogen mixture has stronger interaction as compared to IL-IL, thiophene-thiophene or pyrrole-pyrrole interaction. The deviation of surface tension was found to be inversely proportional to deviation of refractive index. The quantum chemical based COSMO-RS was used to predict the non-ideal liquid phase activity coefficient for all mixtures. It indicated an inverse relation between activity coefficient and excess molar volumes.

Isotope effect, mechanism, and origin of catalysis in the decarboxylation of mandelylthiamin

The mechanism of decarboxylations in water and the catalysis of mandelylthiamin (MTh) decarboxylation by pyridinium ions is explored. It has been recently proposed that a decarboxylation step forming an intermediate molecule/CO(2) pair is reversible and that pyridinium ions catalyze the MTh decarboxylation by trapping the intermediate, preventing reversion to MTh. A calculation of the barrier for the back reaction goes against this proposal, as the diffusional separation of CO(2) would be on the order of 10,000 times faster. A comparison of predicted and experimental isotope effects for a series of decarboxylations including the MTh reaction shows in each case the absence of significant reversibility of the decarboxylation step. An alternative origin of the pyridinium catalysis of decarboxylation is proposed, based on the formal binding of the pyridinium ions to the decarboxylation transition state.

Intramolecular cation-pi interaction in organic synthesis

Controlling molecular conformation is a significantly important issue in a wide variety of organic reactions because the ground state structure is significantly responsible for the transition one. As observed in enzymes and proteins, the cation-pi interaction plays a key role in the formation of the tertiary structure and the biochemical processes. Therefore, the cation-pi interaction would be a promising conformation-controlling tool not only in large molecules, but also in small molecules due to its stronger interaction force. This article describes the utility of the intramolecular cation-pi interaction in various organic syntheses with evidence for the existence of the cation-pi interactions.