New strategies for the total synthesis of aza-propellane natural products

The propellane alkaloids comprise a large class of natural products that possess varying degrees of structural complexity and biological activity. The earliest of these to be isolated was acutumine, a chlorinated alkaloid that has been shown to exhibit selective T-cell cytotoxicity and antiamnesic properties. Alternatively, the hasubanan family of natural products has garnered considerable attention from the synthetic community in part due to its structural similarities to morphine. While these alkaloids have been the subject of numerous synthetic studies over the last forty years, very few enantioselective total syntheses have been reported to date.

As part of a research program directed towards the synthesis of various alkaloid natural products, we have developed a unified strategy for the preparation of the hasubanan and acutumine alkaloids. Specifically, a highly diastereoselective 1,2-addition of organometallic reagents to benzoquinone-derived tert-butanesulfinimines was established, which provides access to enantioenriched 4-aminocyclohexadienone products. This methodology enabled the enantioselective construction of functionalized dihydroindolones, which were found to undergo intramolecular Friedel-Crafts conjugate additions to furnish the propellane cores of several hasubanan alkaloids. As a result of these studies, the first enantioselective total syntheses of 8-demethoxyrunanine and cepharatines A, C, and D were accomplished in 9-11 steps from commercially available starting materials.

More recent efforts have focused on applying the sulfinimine methodology to the synthesis of a more structurally complex propellane alkaloid, acutumine. Extensive studies have determined that a properly functionalized dihydroindolone undergoes a photochemical [2+2] cycloaddition followed by a lactone fragmentation/Dieckmann cyclization to establish the carbocyclic framework of the natural product. The preparation of more appropriately oxidized propellane intermediates is currently under investigation, and is anticipated to facilitate our synthetic endeavors toward acutumine.

Investigations of charge-carrier dynamics at semiconductor/liquid interfaces

Theoretical and experimental investigations of charge-carrier dynamics at semiconductor/liquid interfaces, specifically with respect to interfacial electron transfer and surface recombination, are presented.

Fermi's golden rule has been used to formulate rate expressions for charge transfer of delocalized carriers in a nondegenerately doped semiconducting electrode to localized, outer-sphere redox acceptors in an electrolyte phase. The treatment allows comparison between charge-transfer kinetic data at metallic, semimetallic, and semiconducting electrodes in terms of parameters such as the electronic coupling to the electrode, the attenuation of coupling with distance into the electrolyte, and the reorganization energy of the charge-transfer event. Within this framework, rate constant values expected at representative semiconducting electrodes have been determined from experimental data for charge transfer at metallic electrodes. The maximum rate constant (i.e., at optimal exoergicity) for outer-sphere processes at semiconducting electrodes is computed to be in the range 10^-17-10^-16 cm⁴ s^-1, which is in excellent agreement with prior theoretical models and experimental results for charge-transfer kinetics at semiconductor/liquid interfaces.

Double-layer corrections have been evaluated for semiconductor electrodes in both depletion and accumulation conditions. In conjuction with the Gouy-Chapman-Stern model, a finite difference approach has been used to calculate potential drops at a representative solid/liquid interface. Under all conditions that were simulated, the correction to the driving force used to evaluate the interfacial rate constant was determined to be less than 2% of the uncorrected interfacial rate constant.

Photoconductivity decay lifetimes have been obtained for Si(111) in contact with solutions of CH₃OH or tetrahydrofuran containing one-electron oxidants. Silicon surfaces in contact with electrolyte solutions having Nernstian redox potentials > 0 V vs. SCE exhibited low effective surface recombination velocities regardless of the different surface chemistries. The formation of an inversion layer, and not a reduced density of electrical trap sites on the surface, is shown to be responsible for the long charge-carrier lifetimes observed for these systems. In addition, a method for preparing an air-stable, low surface recombination velocity Si surface through a two-step, chlorination/alkylation reaction is described.

Dipole assisted photogated switch in spiropyran grafted polyaniline nanowires

In this work we show dipole-assisted photogated switching by covalent grafting of photoactive molecules to conducting polymers. Photochromic spiropyran molecules were covalently attached to polyaniline (PANI) nanowires via N-alkylation reaction to the quinoic part of PANI. Upon irradiation with ultraviolet light spiropyran transformed to a large dipole containing molecule, merocyanine form. We show that this transformation leads to a substantial (ca. 2 orders of magnitude) increase in conductance of the photochromic PANI nanowires, which were evident by an increase in field-effect mobility and calculated band gap narrowing of the system. Finally, this transformation was found to be fully reversible with no significant photofatigue. © 2011 American Chemical Society.

Lewis酸引发的LLDPE/PS共混体系的原位反应增容及其结构与性能研究

本文以单组分和双组分Lewis酸为催化剂，采用反应加工的方法，制备了原位反应增容的线性低密度聚乙烯/聚苯乙烯共混物（LLDPE/PS），并对原位反应增容的机理、增容体系的结构性能以及Lewis酸对共混组分的降解作用进行了系统研究。 以FTIR和NMR为手段、二甲苯为模拟化合物，确认LLDPE/PS共混体系在Lewis酸为催化剂作用下发生了LLDPE与PS的接枝反应，LLDPE接枝在PS苯环的对位上。形成的原位接枝共聚物对体系起增容作用。 使用溶剂抽提、SEM、DMA、流变和DSC等手段对以单组分Lewis酸AlCl3 为催化剂的LLDPE/PS共混物的结构性能进行了研究。从溶剂抽提前后的重量比计算了接枝物的含量。催化剂用量较低时体系中的接枝物含量随AlCl3的增加而提高，随着AlCl3进一步增加，接枝物含量不会增加反而下降，发现AlCl3导致均聚物的降解。研究结果表明，共混体系中加入适量的AlCl3催化剂后，分散相尺寸减小，分布均匀，储能模量增加，低频区的复数黏度升高。但AlCl3用量过高时使共混物的分散相尺寸增加，分布均匀度下降，储能模量和复数黏度降低。以GPC为手段研究了单组分 Lewis酸AlCl3对共混组分的降解作用，发现对PS的降解作用显著。 由于单组分Lewis酸催化剂会导致共混组分降解，使共混体系的物理机械性能变劣，为此，我们在LLDPE/PS共混物中引入了双组分Lewis酸催化剂（Me3SiCl、InCl3•4H2O）。结果表明双组分Lewis酸催化剂不但能够催化LLDPE和PS的原位接枝反应，获得高性能的LLDPE/PS合金材料，而且不会引发共混组分PS的降解。在催化剂用量固定时，采用双组分催化剂时共混物的拉伸强度随着LLDPE含量的增加几乎保持不变，但冲击强度有十分明显的提高。对比了加入催化剂前后共混物形貌的变化，增容后的共混物中分散相粒子尺寸显著降低，证明了双Lewis酸良好的催化性能。 对以双Lewis酸为催化剂的共混物的流变行为和结晶行为进行了研究。随着催化剂的加入，两相之间的相互作用增强，因此共混物的复数黏度，储能模量和损耗模量都有不同程度的提高。增容后的LLDPE相区变小，因而在冷却过程中出现不同程度的分步结晶现象。 对单组分和双组分Lewis酸催化剂原位反应增容LLDPE/PS共混体系的机理进行了探讨。机理为Friedel-Crafts烷基化反应。在采用单组分Lewis酸催化剂时， AlCl3与体系中含有的微量水等杂质发生反应，形成一个复合物，然后进一步与聚乙烯中的不饱和的双键发生反应形成碳正离子，并攻击LLDPE分子链从而形成大分子的碳正离子LLDPE+，而这些LLDPE+则通过电子的重排而发生剪切断裂。在催化剂的存在下，这些断裂的LLDPE片断取代PS中的苯环上的质子而发生接枝反应，从而形成LLDPE-g-PS共聚物。采用双组分Lewis酸催化剂时，首先发生双Lewis酸的耦合；耦合后的Lewis酸与水等杂质反应生成复合物，然后与非饱和的LLDPE分子反应生成初级碳正离子；初级碳正离子进攻LLDPE主链，生成较大的碳正离子；LLDPE+碳正离子取代PS苯环对位的质子而生成接枝共聚物。

官能化LLDPE及其合金材料(LLDPE/HIPS)的制备及结构性能研究

本文采用核磁共振碳谱、电喷雾质谱研究LLDPE-g-AA接枝产物的链结构。电喷雾质谱显示所有的丙烯酸单体都发生自聚形成低聚物，核磁共振碳谱进一步证明了丙烯酸在聚乙烯链上形成支链，并且由于反应挤出过程中的高温作用，丙烯酸支链脱水形成酸酐。丙烯酸支链在聚乙烯的结晶过程中影响链段的规整性排列，并有可能充当成核剂，使得聚乙烯晶体随着接枝率的升高变得小而不规整。接枝产物的流变行为表明丙烯酸支链起到内增塑剂作用，降低接枝产物的表观粘度，有利于产物的后加工处理。由于接枝率低的缘故，我们采用角鲨烷模拟乙丙共聚物与马来酸酐进行接枝反应。在170℃，单体浓度为2%W/V，引发剂浓度为0.2%W/V下，体系中存在马来酸酐自聚和接枝一对竞争反应。但由于存在链转移，马来酸酐大部分以单个分子形式接在角鲨烷上。对于LLDPE/HIPS共混体系，我们采用不同于以外加增容剂的办法，直接在共混过程中加入路易斯酸，利用聚乙烯本身带有或降解过程中生成的少量双键与苯发生Friedel-Crafts烷基化反应。为了找到最佳反应条件，我们研究了不同AlCl_3含量、反应时间、反应温度对增容效果的影响。增容共混物的力学性能，特别是冲击强度和微观形态照片表明加入AlCl_3后，在PE/HIPS两相界面处生成接枝共聚物PE-g-HIPS，降低界面张力，改善共混性。由于增容剂只在两相界面处生成，因此加入AlCl_3对共混物中聚乙烯组分的热学性能和结晶性并没有太大影响。

线性低密度聚乙烯和聚苯乙烯共混物的原位增容

采用反应挤出的方法，通过使用Friedel-Crofts反应，以AICl3为催化剂对原位增容线性低密度聚乙烯（LLDPE）和聚苯乙烯（PS）共混体系的反应机理、接枝物结构、材料的结构一性能关系、共混物的相分布形态以及多重结晶行为进行了深入研究。使用激光拉曼光谱研究了以AICl3作为LLDPE/PS共混体系的Friedel-Crafts反应的催化剂生成的接枝物的结构，通过对一系列模型化合物结构的分析，确定了发生接枝反应的点应为聚苯乙烯苯环上次甲基的对位。对于增容后共混物的力学性能进行了分析，并找出有效提高力学性能的工艺。根据测定，增容后的LLDPE/PS（80／20）共混物的Izod冲击性能从80J／m提高到了400）／m以上。断裂伸长率从350％提高到了800％以上。相对应的共混物的相分布形态也得到了极大的改善。这种力学性能上的提高，使得LLDPE／PS共混物真正具有了使用价值及商业前景。这也是研究LLDPE/PS共混物主要目的之一。随着含量AICl3的增加，共混物中PS分散相粒子的尺寸逐渐减小，直至共混物的相分布形态由原来的分散相一连续相结构变为双连续结构。这种形态上的改变，正是力学性能提高的基础。添加过量的AlCl3会对共混物产生一定的降解作用。通过GPC和MER等手段的分析，发现这种降解作用对于共混物中的 PS组分更加明显，而且这种降解只发生在接枝反应之后，与接枝反应是一对竞争的反应。研究了增容后的LLDP／PS（20／80）共混物的熔融结晶行为，发现了这个共混物具有复杂的多重结晶行为。通过对共混物界面层的SEM和TEM观察分析发现：在共混物的LLDPE和PS两相的中间，具有一层由LLDPE-g-PS接枝共聚物形成的界面层。这个界面层中的LLDPE链段与LLDPE均聚物在熔体中紧密的缠结着。当共混体系从较高的熔融温度逐渐下降的时候，接枝共聚物会因为链段之间的相互作用而在熔体下就形成相分离。在接枝共聚物的有序化过程中，与之紧密缠结的LLDPE均聚物分子也会随着有序化的过程而进入相分离所形成的微域结构中。研究了共棍物的这种多重结晶行为。根据共聚物的特性，首次采用了对共混物进行熔点温度之上的高温退火来研究有序一无序转变对共混物多重结晶行为的影响。由于在两相界面层的LLDPE-g-PS接枝共聚物有序化所形成的大量的微域结构限制了处于其中的LLDPE分子的结晶，导致这部分LLDPE分子结晶所需的过冷程度增加，最终只能采用均相成核的方式结晶所致。研究发现，在不同的熔融温度、退火温度以及退火时间都会对共混物的这种受限结晶行为产生很大的影响。在低于接枝共聚物的有序一无序转化温度下退火时，受限于接枝物形成的微域结构中的LLDPE均聚物分子会在这个过程中从微域结构中脱离，重新进入更大的LLDPE分散相粒子中。如果退火的温度高于接枝共聚物的有序一无序转化温度，那么这些LLDPE均聚物分子仍然会在降温的时候被“吞入”有序化所形成的微域结构中而无法脱离这种受限环境。

Synthesis and crystallization of a novel poly(ether ketone ether ketone ketone) containing meta-phenylene linkage: PEKEKK(T/I)

Poly(ether ketone ether ketone ketone) containing meta-phenylene linkage (PEKEKK(T/I)) was synthesized by electrophilic Friedel-Crafts acylation condensation of 1, 4-diphenoxybenzophenone with terephthaloyl chloride (T) and isophthaloyl chloride (I) with a T/I ratio of 1 and characterized by LR,DSC,TGA and WAXD. PEKEKK(T/I) has two different crystal structures: a conventional Farm I structure, the same as that observed in PEEK and PEK, wich is usually developed from melt crystallization, and a new Form II structure which can be developed from cold crystallization or solvent induced crystallization (by exposing the glassy sample to methylene chloride).

Studies of the ortho effect in fragmentations of acetyl ion adducts of disubstituted benzenes

The ion-molecule reactions of disubstituted benzenes under chemical ionization conditions with acetyl chloride as reagent gas were examined, and the fragmentation reactions of the adduct ions (mostly proton and acetyl ion adducts) were studied by collision-induced dissociation. Electron-releasing substituents favored the adduct reactions, and electron-withdrawing groups did not. The position and properties of substituting groups had an effect on the relative abundances of the adduct ions. Several examples of the ortho effect were observed. The fragmentation reaction of the adduct ions formed by ortho-benzenediamine with the acetyl ion was similar to the reductive alkylation reaction of amines in the condensed phase. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Chiral thiouronium salts: synthesis, characterisation and application in NMR enantio-discrimination of chiral oxoanions

Chiral thioureas and functionalised chiral thiouronium salts were synthesised starting from the relatively cheap and easily available chiral amines: (S)-methylbenzylamine and rosin-derived (+)-dehydroabietylamine. The introduction of a delocalised positive charge to the thiourea functionality, by an alkylation reaction at the sulfur atom, enables dynamic rotameric processes: hindered rotations about the delocalised CN and CS bonds. Hence, four different rotamers/isomers may be recognised: syn-syn, syn-anti, anti-syn and anti-anti. Extensive H-1 and C-13 NMR studies have shown that in hydrogen-bond acceptor solvents, such as perdeuteriated dimethyl sulfoxide, the syn-syn conformation is preferable. On the other hand, when using non-polar solvents, such as CDCl3, the mixture of syn-syn and syn-anti isomers is detectable, with an excess of the latter. Apart from this, in the case of S-butyl-N,N'-bis(dehydroabietyl)thiouronium ethanoate in CDCl3, the H-1 NMR spectrum revealed that strong bifurcated hydrogen bonding between the anion and the cation causes global rigidity without signs of hindered rotamerism observable on the NMR time scale. This suggested that these new salts might be used as NMR discriminating agents for chiral oxoanions, and are indeed more effective than their archetypal guanidinium analogues or the neutral thioureas. The best results in recognition of a model substrate, mandelate, were obtained with S-butyl-N,N'-bis(dehydroabietyl) thiouronium bistriflamide. It was confirmed that the chiral recognition occurred not only for carboxylates but also for sulfonates and phosphonates. Further H-1 NMR studies confirmed a 1 : 1 recognition mode between the chiral agent (host) and the substrate (guest); binding constants were determined by H-1 NMR titrations in solutions of DMSO-d(6) in CDCl3. It was also found that the anion of the thiouronium salt had a significant influence on the recognition process: anions with poor hydrogen-bond acceptor abilities led to the best discrimination. The presence of host-guest hydrogen bonding was confirmed in the X-ray crystal structure of S-butyl-N,N'-bis(dehydroabietyl)thiouronium bromide and by computational studies (density functional theory).

FT-IR and MAS NMR analysis of montmorillonite K10 supported MF2 reagents and their activity as catalysis /

ZnF2, CdF2, and CUF2 have been adsorbed onto the surface of montmorillonite K10, and the infrared and 19F, 27 AI, and 29Si MAS NMR spectra of the reagents over a range of loadings have been obtained. CUF2 was observed to attack the Si02 layer and form the complex CuSiF6, Zn F2 tends to attack the aluminium oxide layer, in which Zn isomorphously replaces AI, and forms AIF3 and AIF4 - complexes. All the spectroscopic evidence ruled out the formation of any AI-F and/or Si-F free species as CdF2 is adsorbed on the surface of montmorillonite K10. The reactivity of MF2-K10 reagents towards Friedel-Crafts benzylation of benzene with benzyl chloride varied from one reagent to another. ZnF2-K10 was observed to be the most reactive and CUF2 was the least reactive.

Étude mécanistique de réarrangement de Stevens à partir de substrats de type azocine ou isopavine

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Catalysis by sulphated tin oxide modified with some transition metal oxides

In the present work, we have tried to evaluate systematically the surface properties of sulphated tin oxide systems modified with three different transition metal oxides viz. iron oxide, tungsten oxide and molybdenum oxide. The catalytic activities of these systems are checked and compared by carrying out some industrially important reactions such as oxidative dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene and Friedel-Crafts reactions.

Surface properties and catalytic activity of vanadia supported on samaria

Sm2O3 - vanadia catalysts have been prepared by wet impregnation method using NH4VO3 solution. The surface properties of the prepared catalysts have been studied using FTIR. XRD. surface area and pore volume data. The acid-base properties of the system have been investigated by titrimetric method using Hammett indicators. adsorption of electron acceptors as well as decomposition of cyclohexanol. Phenol alkylation reaction by methanol has been carried out to investigate the catalytic activity. It has been observed that the selectivity of the products depends upon the composition of the supported system