Nitrone [2]rotaxanes: Simultaneous chemical protection and electrochemical activation of a functional group

We report on the use of the hydrogen bond accepting properties of neutral nitrone moieties to prepare benzylic-amide-macrocycle-containing [2]rotaxanes in yields as high as 70 %. X-Ray crystallography shows the presence of up to four intercomponent hydrogen bonds between the amide groups of the macrocycle and the two nitrone groups of the thread. Dynamic 1H NMR studies of the rates of macrocycle pirouetting in nonpolar solutions indicate that amide-nitrone hydrogen bonds are particularly strong, ~1.3 and ~0.2 kcal mol-1 stronger than similar amide-ester and amide-amide interactions, respectively. In addition to polarizing the N-O bond through hydrogen bonding, the rotaxane structure affects the chemistry of the nitrone groups in two significant ways: The intercomponent hydrogen bonding activates the nitrone groups to electrochemical reduction, a one electron reduction of the rotaxane being stablized by a remarkable 400 mV (8.1 kcal mol-1) with respect to the same process in the thread; encapsulation, however, protects the same functional groups from chemical reduction with an external reagent (and slows down electron transfer to and from the electroactive groups in cyclicvoltammetry experiments). Mechanical interlocking with a hydrogen bonding molecular sheath thus provides a route to an encapsulated polarized functional group and radical anions of significant kinetic and thermodynamic stability.

Magnetic-field-induced Fabry-Perot resonances in helical edge states

We study electronic transport across a helical edge state exposed to a uniform magnetic ((B) over right arrow) field over a finite length. We show that this system exhibits Fabry-Perot-type resonances in electronic transport. The intrinsic spin anisotropy of the helical edge states allows us to tune these resonances by changing the direction of the (B) over right arrow field while keeping its magnitude constant. This is in sharp contrast to the case of nonhelical one-dimensional electron gases with a parabolic dispersion, where similar resonances do appear in individual spin channels (up arrow and down arrow) separately which, however, cannot be tuned by merely changing the direction of the (B) over right arrow field. These resonances provide a unique way to probe the helical nature of the theory. We study the robustness of these resonances against a possible static impurity in the channel.

Apuntes sobre la relevancia de las drogas en el mundo.

El artículo forma parte de un monográfico sobre la prevención de las drogodepencias

Characterization of 27 microsatellite loci in the European flat oyster Ostrea edulis

The flat oyster Ostrea edulis is native to Europe and populations have been severely depleted by the parasite Bonamia ostreae since the 1980s. Additional genetic markers are required to improve population genetics study and linkage map development for selection for B. ostrea-resistance in this species. Here, we characterized 27 novel microsatellite loci for O. edulis. Number of alleles per locus ranged from 6 to 25 and observed heterozygosity between 0.375 and 1. Null alleles were suggested at a few loci but most loci were in Hardy-Weinberg agreement enabling their reliable use in further population and mapping genetics approaches.