Background: Age and body temperature alter inhalational anesthetic requirement; however, no human genotype is associated with inhalational anesthetic requirement. There is an anecdotal impression that anesthetic requirement is increased in redheads. Furthermore, red hair results from distinct mutations of the melanocortin-1 receptor. We thus tested the hypothesis that the requirement for the volatile anesthetic desflurane is greater in natural redhead than in dark-haired women.

The synthesis and characterization of air stable Fe(II) coordination complexes with tetrazine and triazolo-tetrazine ligands and perchlorate counteranions have been achieved. Time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) was used to model the structural, electrochemical, and optical properties of these materials. These compounds are secondary explosives that can be initiated with Nd:YAG laser light at lower energy thresholds than those of PETN. Furthermore, these Fe(II) tetrazine complexes have significantly lower sensitivity than PETN toward mechanical stimuli such as impact and friction. The lower threshold for laser initiation was achieved by altering the electronic properties of the ligand scaffold to tune the metal ligand charge transfer (MLCT) bands of these materials from the visible into the near-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Unprecedented decrease in both the laser initiation threshold and the mechanical sensitivity makes these materials the first explosives that are both safer to handle and easier to initiate than PETN with NIR lasers.

In contrast to octaethylporphyrin, which forms a very labile bis-BF(2) complex, treatment of the hexa- and octapyrrolic expanded porphyrins amethyrin and [32]octaphyrin with BF(3).Et(2) under standard reaction and work-up conditions gives rise to stable, non-labile mono- and bis-BF(2) complexes; these were readily characterised by, inter alia, X-ray diffraction analyses.

A systematic study of the novel charge-transfer [(f)14-(pi)0-(f)14 --> (f)13-(pi)2-(f)13] electronic state found in 2:1 metal-to-ligand adducts of the type [(Cp)2Yb](BL)[Yb(Cp)2] [BL = tetra(2-pyridyl)pyrazine (tppz) (1), 6',6' '-bis(2-pyridyl)-2,2':4',4'':2'',2'''-quaterpyridine (qtp) (2), 1,4-di(terpyridyl)-benzene (dtb) (3), Cp = (C5Me5)] has been conducted with the aim of determining the effects of increased Yb-Yb separation on the magnetic and electronic properties of these materials. The neutral [(f)13-(pi)2-(f)13], cationic [(f)13-(pi)1-(f)13] and dicationic [(f)13-(pi)0-(f)13] states of these complexes were studied by cyclic voltammetry, UV-vis-NIR electronic absorption spectroscopy, NMR, X-ray crystallography, and magnetic susceptibility measurements. The spectroscopic and magnetic data for the neutral bimetallic complexes is consistent with an [(f)13(pi)2(f)13] ground-state electronic configuration in which each ytterbocene fragment donates one electron to give a singlet dianionic bridging ligand with two paramagnetic Yb(III) centers. The voltammetric data demonstrate that the electronic interaction in the neutral molecular wires 1-3, as manifested in the separation between successive metal reduction waves, is large compared to analogous transition metal systems. Electronic spectra for the neutral and monocationic bimetallic species are dominated by pi-pi and pi-pi transitions, masking the f-f bands that are expected to best reflect the electronic metal-metal interactions. However, these metal-localized transitions are observed when the electrons are removed from the bridging ligand via chemical oxidation to yield the dicationic species, and they suggest very little electronic interaction between metal centers in the absence of pi electrons on the bridging ligands. Analysis of the magnetic data reveals that the qtp complex displays antiferromagnetic coupling of the type Yb(alpha)(alphabeta)Yb(beta) at approximately 13 K.

Reaction of two equivalents of [(C5Me4Et)2U(CH3)(Cl)] (6) or [(C5Me5)2Th(CH3)(Br)] (7) with 1,4-dicyanobenzene leads to the formation of the novel 1,4-phenylenediketimide-bridged bimetallic organoactinide complexes [((C5Me4Et)2(Cl)U)(2)(mu-(N=C(CH3)-C6H4-(CH3)C=N))] (8) and [((C5Me5)2(Br)Th)2(mu-(N=C(CH3)-C6H4- (CH3)C==N))] (9), respectively. These complexes were structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and NMR spectroscopy. Metal-metal interactions in these isovalent bimetallic systems were assessed by means of cyclic voltammetry, UV-visible/NIR absorption spectroscopy, and variable-temperature magnetic susceptibility. Although evidence for magnetic coupling between metal centers in the bimetallic U IV/U IV (5f2-5f2) complex is ambiguous, the complex displays appreciable electronic communication between the metal centers through the pi system of the dianionic diketimide bridging ligand, as judged by voltammetry. The transition intensities of the f-f bands for the bimetallic U IV/U IV system decrease substantially compared to the related monometallic ketimide chloride complex, [(C5Me5)2U(Cl)(-N=C(CH3)-(3,4,5-F(3)-C6H2))] (11). Also reported herein are new synthetic routes to the actinide starting materials [(C5Me4Et)(2)U(CH3)(Cl)] (6) and [(C5Me5)2Th(CH3)(Br)] (7) in addition to the syntheses and structures of the monometallic uranium complexes [(C5Me4Et)2UCl2] (3), [(C5Me4Et)2U(CH3)2] (4), [(C5Me4Et)2U(-N==C(CH3)-C6H4-C==N)2] (10), and 11.

A new N-heterocyclic complex of ytterbocene (Cp(2)Yb(II), Cp = C(5)Me(5)) has been prepared by the addition of 4'-cyano-2,2':6',2' '-terpyridine (tpyCN) to Cp(2)Yb(II)(OEt(2)) in toluene to give a dark blue species designated as Cp(2)Yb(tpyCN). The effect of the electron-withdrawing group (-CN) on the redox potentials of the charge-transfer form of this complex [in which an electron is transferred from the f(14) metal center to the lowest unoccupied (pi) molecular orbital of the tpyCN ligand to give a 4f(13)-pi(1) electronic configuration] has been quantified by cyclic voltammetry. The tpyCN ligand stabilizes this configuration by 60 mV more than that in the unsubstituted tpy ligand complex and by 110 mV more than that in the unsubstituted bpy ligand complex. Magnetic susceptibility measurements corroborate the enhanced stabilization of the 4f(13)-pi(1) configuration by the substituted terpyridyl ligand complex. Furthermore, the temperature dependence of the magnetic data is most consistent with a thermally induced valence tautomeric equilibrium between this paramagnetic 4f(13)-pi(1) form that dominates near room temperature and the diamagnetic 4f(14)-pi(0) form that dominates at low temperature. Differing coordination modes for the tpyCN ligand to the ytterbocene center have also been confirmed by isolation and X-ray crystallographic characterization of complexes binding through either the cyano nitrogen of tpyCN or the three terpyridyl nitrogen atoms of tpyCN.

New bimetallic mu-oxo diferric complexes of several previously reported calix[4]pyrrole Schiff base macrocycles are described. The synthesis of a new member of this class of macrocycles is also reported; it was prepared via an acid-catalyzed condensation between 1,9-bisformyl-5,5-dipropyldipyrromethane and o-phenylenediamine. Reactions of the free base macrocycles or their bis-HCl salts with Fe(II) mesitylene, followed by air oxidation, gave the binuclear mu-oxo bis-Fe(III) compounds 6-10 in moderate yield. X-ray crystallography data reveal two different coordination environments for the Fe-O-Fe subunit in 6-10 that it is suggested can be controlled by altering the reaction conditions. Structural properties of these metalated pyrrolic macrocycles are also compared to those of mu-oxo diferric porphyrins and mu-oxo diferric texaphyrin. Complexes 6-10 exhibit two distinct types of M-N bonds that are similar in length to the bonds observed in metallotexaphyrin complexes. However, the electronics of the present systems are very different from those of texaphyrins and porphyrins in that no delocalized bonding patterns are observed within the ligands as a whole.

A uranyl complex, the first metal complex to be formed from the cyclo[n]pyrrole series of expanded porphyrins, is formed when cyclo[6]pyrrole is treated with the uranyl cation under aerobic conditions. Spectroscopic, spectroelectrochemical, and electron spin resonance data of this species are consistent with the ligand in the complex being oxidized to an antiaromatic form.