Synthetic access to electron-precise boron chains is hampered by the preferential formation of nonclassical structures. The few existing strategies for this involve either strongly reducing reagents or transition-metal catalysts, both with distinct disadvantages. The synthesis of new furyl- and thienyl-substituted diborenes is presented, along with their direct hydroboration with catecholborane (CatBH) to form a new electron-precise B-B bond and a B3 chain. The reaction is diastereoselective and proceeds under mild conditions without the use of strong reducing agents or transition-metal catalysts commonly used in B-B coupling reactions.

Abstract:The reactions of a diborene with elemental selenium or tellurium are shown to afford a diboraselenirane or diboratellurirane, respectively. These reactions are reminiscent of the sequestration of sub-valent oxygen and nitrogen in the formation of oxiranes and aziridines; however, such reactivity is not known between alkenes and the heavy chalcogens. While carbon is too electronegative to affect the reduction of elements of lower relative electronegativity, the highly reducing nature of the B=B double bond enables reactions with Se 0 and Te 0 . The capacity of multiple bonds between boron to donate electron density is highlighted in reactions where diborynes behave as nucleophiles, attacking one of the two Te atoms of diaryltellurides, forming salts consisting of diboratellurenium cations and aryltelluride anions.The energy stored in small, highly strained cyclic molecules has made them an integral part of modern synthetic chemistry. Since this "strain energy" increases with decreasing ring size, it is greatest for three-membered rings, and when these rings are heterocyclic the charge-asymmetry induced in the molecule provides sites ready for reaction. Accordingly, an enormous amount of research has gone into both the synthetic paths to, and reactions of, members of this class of compounds, most prominently oxiranes (C2O rings) and aziridines (C2N rings). The most common route to these materials is the oxidation of olefins using, in the case of oxirane formation, subvalent oxygen species such as O2, peroxides, peroxyacids, and ozone, or with reagents that impart a degree of electron deficiency to an oxygen atom, such as chlorite or iodosylbenzene. [1] Aziridination of olefins is most frequently accomplished through the in situ generation of nitrenes from azides or other electron deficient nitrogen sources such as iodinanes, hydroxylamines, and hydrazines. [1a,2] These alkene-oxidations are made possible by the relatively high electronegativity of oxygen and nitrogen, (χPauling = 3.44 and 3.04, respectively), relative to carbon (χPauling = 2.55).Thiiranes (C2S rings) are comparatively less common, and though examples of the direct addition of elemental sulfur to alkenyl double bonds are not unknown, [3] their syntheses are more likely than their first row neighbors to involve non-redox routes. [4] The similar electronegativities of carbon and sulfur (χPauling = 2.58) decreases the thermodynamic driving force for alkene oxidation, further exemplified by the noted willingness of thiiranes to thermally extrude atomic sulfur [5] and by their utility as sulfur atom transfer reagents. [6] Three-membered heterocycles featuring heavier chalcogens (Se and Te) are even less prevalent. Though seleniranes have been proposed as reactive intermediates in a handful of transformations, [7] the isolated examples of these compounds are few and none have been crystallographically verified. [8] To date, there are no known examples of telluriranes. The heavy chalcogens have roughly equal (χSe = 2.55) or smaller (χTe = 2.10...

Boron–boron J coupling constants provide new insight into the nature of the boron–boron triple bond.

The syntheses of sulfur- and selenium-bridged cyclic compounds containing boron stabilized by N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have been achieved by the reductive insertion of elemental chalcogens into boron-boron multiple bonds. The three pairs of bonding electrons between the boron atoms in the triply bonded diboryne enabled six-electron reduction reactions, resulting in the formation of [2.2.1]-bicyclic systems wherein bridgehead boron atoms are spanned by three chalcogen bridges. A similar reaction using a diborene (boron-boron double bond) resulted in the reductive transfer of both pairs of bonding electrons to three sulfur atoms, yielding a NHC-stabilized trisulfidodiborolane. The demonstration of these six- and four-electron reductions lends support to the presence of three and two pairs of bonding electrons between the boron atoms of the diboryne and diborene, respectively, a fact that may be useful in future discussions on bond order.

The simultaneous observation of interdependent reactions within different phases as catalyzed by membrane-bound enzymes is still a challenging task. One such enzyme, the Escherichia coli integral membrane protein diacylglycerol kinase (DGK), is a key player in lipid regulation. It catalyzes the generation of phosphatidic acid within the membrane through the transfer of the γ-phosphate from soluble MgATP to membrane-bound diacylglycerol. We demonstrate that time-resolved (31)P magic angle spinning NMR offers a unique opportunity to simultaneously and directly detect both ATP hydrolysis and diacylglycerol phosphorylation. This experiment demonstrates that solid-state NMR provides a general approach for the kinetic analysis of coupled reactions at the membrane interface regardless of their compartmentalization. The enzymatic activity of DGK was probed with different lipid substrates as well as ATP analogs. Our data yield conclusions about intersubunit cooperativity, reaction stoichiometries and phosphoryl transfer mechanism and are discussed in the context of known structural data.

Metallocenes with bridged cyclopentadienyl ligands, commonly named ansa metallocenes or metallocenophanes, have emerged as a class of organometallic compounds with an exceptionally wide and diverse range of applications.[1] Among other applications, ansa metallocenes are employed as catalyst precursors in the industrial production of polyolefins [2] and as monomers for ring-opening polymerization to form functional metallopolymers.[3] Their versatility and usefulness stems largely from the fact that their physical properties, and hence reactivity, can be tuned through structural modifications of the ligand framework. For instance, unsaturated two-atom bridges have been developed to increase the configurational rigidity [4] as well as the molecular strain of metallocenophanes, but also to add additional functionality to the metallocene fragment. In part due to difficulties encountered in their synthesis, these types of bridges are relatively rare and only a handful of these have been successfully incorporated into the ferrocene structure, as shown in Figure 1 (I-V). The first examples involved bridging aromatic rings, such as an ortho-phenylene (I), [5,6] a cyclobutadiene cobalt (II) [6] and a ruthenacyclopentadiene fragment (III). [7] Whereas the focus of the initial studies was on synthesis and structural features, the vinylene-bridged dicarba[2]ferrocenophanes IV and V have been developed as candidates for ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) to produce conjugated metal-containing polymers. [8][9][10] As shown by the groups of Tilley and Manners, such strained ferrocenophanes can indeed undergo ROMP with Schrock-and Grubbs-type catalysts to form conjugated metallopolymers. [9,10] Although homo-and heteronuclear multiple bonding is common for other p-block elements, especially the second-period elements, [11] unsaturated ansa bridges in metallocenophanes are to date restricted to carbon. By capitalizing on the isoelectronic relationship between Lewis base-stabilized diborenes, [(L)RB=BR(L)] (L = Lewis base), [12,13] and olefins, R2C=CR2, we sought to prepare the first ansa metallocene with a heteroatomcontaining multiple bond in the bridge. Herein, we describe the successful synthesis of a strained dibora[2]ferrocenophane (VI), in which the bridging diborene moiety is forced to adopt a cis rather than the prevailing trans configuration. The effects of changing the regiochemistry, as well as the interrelationship between the strain and properties of the diborene are addressed.[a]Prof.

Herein, two new quadrupolar acceptor-p-donor-pacceptor (A-p-D-p-A) chromophores have been prepared featuring as trongly electron-donating diborene core and strongly electron-accepting dimesitylboryl (BMes 2 )a nd bis(2,4,6-tris(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)boryl (B F Mes 2 )e nd groups.A nalysis of the compounds by NMR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography,c yclic voltammetry,a nd UV/Vis-NIR absorption and emission spectroscopyi ndicated that the compounds have extended conjugated p-systems spanning their B 4 C 8 cores.T he combination of exceptionally potent pdonor (diborene) and p-acceptor (diarylboryl) groups,b oth based on trigonal boron, leads to very small HOMO-LUMO gaps,resulting in strong absorption in the near-IR region with maxima in THF at 840 and 1092 nm and very high extinction coefficients of ca. 120 000 m À1 cm À1 .B oth molecules also displayw eak near-IR fluorescence with small Stokes shifts.

8-Benzyl-substituted tetrahydropyrazino[2,1-f]purinediones were designed as tricyclic xanthine derivatives containing a basic nitrogen atom in the tetrahydropyrazine ring to improve water solubility. A library of 69 derivatives was prepared and evaluated in radioligand binding studies at adenosine receptor (AR) subtypes and for their ability to inhibit monoamine oxidases (MAO). Potent dual-target-directed A1 /A2A adenosine receptor antagonists were identified. Several compounds showed triple-target inhibition; one of the best compounds was 8-(2,4-dichloro-5-fluorobenzyl)-1,3-dimethyl-6,7,8,9-tetrahydropyrazino[2,1-f]purine-2,4(1H,3H)-dione (72) (human AR: Ki  A1 217 nM, A2A 233 nM; IC50 MAO-B: 508 nM). Dichlorinated compound 36 [8-(3,4-dichlorobenzyl)-1,3-dimethyl-6,7,8,9-tetrahydropyrazino[2,1-f]purine-2,4(1H,3H)-dione] was found to be the best triple-target drug in rat (Ki  A1 351 nM, A2A 322 nm; IC50 MAO-B: 260 nM), and may serve as a useful tool for preclinical proof-of-principle studies. Compounds that act at multiple targets relevant for symptomatic as well as disease-modifying treatment of neurodegenerative diseases are expected to show advantages over single-target therapeutics.