In: Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry, 2015, vol. 28, no. 5, p. 347–353
Long distance electron transfer in proteins requires relay stations that can be transitorily oxidized or reduced. Although individual prolines cannot assume this function, because of their high ionization energy, it has been shown that polyprolines have the ability to transfer charges. In order to determine the role of the proline in the hole distribution and transport within a PheProPhe...
|
In: Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2015, vol. 17, no. 16, p. 10624–10629
The well-studied benzene dimer radical cation, which is prototypical for this class of species, has been reinvestigated computationally. Thereby it turned out that both the σ-hemibonded and the half-shifted sandwich structures of the benzene dimer cation, which had been independently proposed, represent stationary points on the B2PLYP-D potential energy surfaces. However, these structures belong...
|
In: Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2014, vol. 136, no. 37, p. 12832–12835
Macrocyclizations in exceptionally good yields were observed during the self-condensation of N-benzylated phenyl p-aminobenzoates in the presence of LiHMDS to yield three-membered cyclic aramides that adopt a triangular shape. An ortho-alkyloxy side chain on the N-benzyl protecting group is necessary for the macrocyclization to occur. Linear polymers are formed exclusively in the absence of this...
|
In: Chemistry – A European Journal, 2014, vol. 20, no. 26, p. 8062–8067
The quantum yield for the release of leaving groups from o-nitrobenzyl “caged” compounds varies greatly with the nature of these leaving groups, for reasons that have never been well understood. We found that the barriers for the primary hydrogen-atom transfer step and the efficient nonradiative processes on the excited singlet and triplet surfaces determine the quantum yields. The...
|
In: Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2013, vol. 16, no. 5, p. 2011–2019
The electronic and vibrational absorption spectra of the radical anion and cation of p-benzoquinone (PBQ) in an Ar matrix between 500 and 40 000 cm⁻¹ are presented and discussed in detail. Of particular interest is the radical cation, which shows very unusual spectroscopic features that can be understood in terms of vibronic coupling between the ground and a very low-lying excited...
|
In: Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2013, vol. 135, no. 23, p. 8625–8631
Carbocations are crucial intermediates in many chemical reactions; hence, considerable effort has gone into investigating their structures and properties, for example, in superacids, in salts, or in the gas phase. However, studies of the vibrational structure of carbocations are not abundant, because their infrared spectra are difficult to obtain in superacids or salts (where furthermore the...
|
In: The Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2013, vol. 78, no. 7, p. 2908–2913
Parent cyclobutenedione 1 was photolyzed and ionized in an Ar matrix at 10K. The bisketene 2 that results in both cases (in the form of its radical cation after ionization) was characterized by its IR spectrum and by high-level quantum chemical calculations. Experiment and theory show that the neutral bisketene has only a single conformation where the two ketene moieties are nearly perpendicular,...
|
In: The Journal of Physical Chemistry, 2012, vol. 116, no. 41, p. 10203–10208
High-level G3X(MP2)-RAD calculations have been carried out to examine the effect of interposing a “connector” group (W) on the interaction between a substituent (X) and the radical center in carbon-centered radicals (•CH₂–W–X). The connector groups include −CH₂–, −CH═CH–, −C≡C–, −p-C₆H₄–, −m-C₆H₄–, and −o-C₆H₄–,...
|
In: Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences, 2012, vol. 11, no. 3, p. 548-555
Quantum yields for the photoinduced release of seven different commonly used leaving groups (LGs) from the o-nitroveratryl protecting group were measured. It was found that these quantum yields depend strongly on the nature of the LGs. We show that the quantum efficiency with which the LGs are released correlates with the stabilization that these LGs provide to o-nitrobenzyl-type radicals because...
|
In: The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 2011, vol. 115, no. 26, p. 7700–7708
Extending our previous study on the title species (J. Phys. Chem. A2010, 114, 6787), we investigated the dimer cations that are formed on oxidation of the glucobrassin derivatives indole-3-carbinol (I3C) and diindolylmethane (DIM) and of parent indole (I). Radiolysis in ionic liquid and Ar matrices shows that, at sufficiently high concentrations and/or on...
|