Thermal Equilibrium Between Quinoid/Biradical Forms Enhancing Electrochemical Amphotericity.

Upon dibenzo annulation on Thiele's hydrocarbon (tetraphenyl-p-quinodimethane), the quinoid form and the biradical form adopt quite different geometries, and thus are no longer resonance structures. When these two forms can interconvert rapidly due to the small energy barrier (ΔG≠), the equilibrated mixture contains both forms in a ratio that is determined by the energy difference (ΔGo) between the two forms. For a series of tetrakis[5-(4-methoxyphenyl)-2-thienyl]-substituted derivatives, the more stable quinoid form and the metastable biradical form coexist in solution as an equilibrated mixture due to small ΔG≠ (<15 kcal mol-1) and ΔGo (1-4 kcal mol-1), in which the proportion of the two forms can be regulated by temperature. Since the biradical form can undergo easy two-electron (2e) oxidation to the corresponding dications as well as easy 2e-reduction to the dianions, it exhibits very high electrochemical amphotericity. This character with a record-small span for not only the first oxidation and reduction potentials but also the second those, [E1 sum≈E2 sum=E2 ox-E2 red=ca. 1.4 V], is attained through thermally enhanced conversion to the biradical form from the corresponding quinoid form, the latter of which is less amphoteric due to higher Eox and lower Ered values.

Inhibition of Aß aggregation by naphtho-γ-pyrone derivatives from a marine-derived fungus, Aspergillus sp. MPUC239.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an important human disease that mainly causes cognitive impairments. Growing evidence has shown that amyloid-ß (Aß) peptide plays a key role in AD pathogenesis in what is known as the Aß cascade hypothesis. This hypothesis suggests the importance of suppressing Aß aggregation and Aß production. The latter process is governed by ß-site APP Cleaving Enzyme1 (BACE1) and γ-secretase. We, therefore, focused on Aß aggregation inhibitory activity, initially assessing numerous extracts derived from our marine-derived fungus collections. One EtOAc extract derived from an Aspergillus sp. exhibited Aß aggregation inhibitory activity. Eleven known compounds (1-11) were isolated from CHCl3 and EtOAc extracts derived from the fungus, and the structures were identified based on MS, NMR, and ECD spectra. Compounds 2, 6, and 10 inhibited Aß aggregation with IC50 values of 2.8, 3.9, and 8.1 µM, respectively. The protective effect on SH-SY5Y cells against Aß toxicity was also evaluated, and compounds 6 and 10 significantly alleviated Aß toxicity. BACE1 inhibitory activity was also examined, and compounds 4, 5, 7, 10, and 11 inhibited BACE1 activity with IC50 values of 14.9, 70.0, 36.5, 28.0, and 72.8 µM, respectively. These data suggest that compound 10 could be useful in AD treatment.

Switching of Redox Properties Triggered by a Thermal Equilibrium between Closed-Shell Folded and Open-Shell Twisted Species.

Thermally switchable redox properties have been reported to be due to a change in the spin state of newly designed overcrowded ethylenes, which can adopt closed-shell folded and open-shell twisted forms. In this study, tetrathienylanthraquinodimethane derivatives were designed to be in thermal equilibrium between a more stable folded form and less stable but more donating twisted diradical in solution, so that the oxidation potential can be controlled by heating/cooling. This is the first example of a switching of redox properties based on a thermally equilibrated twisted diradical, which can be more readily oxidized to the twisted dication.

Dynamic neighbouring participation of nitrogen lone pairs on the chromogenic behaviour of trans-bis(salicylaldiminato)Pt(ii) coordination platforms.

The participation of neighbouring nitrogen lone pairs in the chromogenic control of trans-bis(salicylaldiminato)Pt(ii) platforms was examined, using newly designed Pt analogues bearing salicylaldehyde hydrazone ligands. A series of non-vaulted and vaulted Pt complexes (1-5) with salicylaldehyde hydrazones as trans-coordinated bidentate ligands were synthesized and characterized with regard to the chromogenic behaviour of the trans-bis(salicylaldiminato)Pt(ii) coordination platforms. X-ray diffraction and 2D NMR data demonstrated that, in the case of the non-vaulted N-monomethyl complexes 1, there was significant participation of neighbouring N(2) lone pairs in the d-π conjugation of the trans-bis(salicylaldiminato)Pt(ii) platforms owing to conformational fixation arising from intramolecular hydrogen bonding. In contrast, the lone pairs of the N,N-dimethyl analogues 2 made a much less significant contribution to the extension of the d-π conjugation, due to their high conformational mobility. Complexes 1-5 were found to have structure-dependent chromogenic properties in the solution state, such that the absorption spectra of the N-methyl, short-vaulted complexes 1 and 3 exhibited significant hypsochromic shifts relative to the N,N-dimethyl, long-vaulted analogues 2 and 5, which had spectra very similar to that of the trans-bis(salicylaldiminato)Pt(ii) complex 6. The introduction of MeO groups at the 3- and 5 positions on the aromatic rings of 1 and 2 gave rise to significant hypsochromic and bathochromic shifts, respectively. In addition, νmax - ET(30) plots for various solvents revealed that complexes 1-5 exhibit negative solvatochromism, in which the data obtained in alcoholic solvents are hypsochromically separated from those in non-alcoholic solvents for 1 and 3, an effect that is not observed for 2 and 5. Complexes 1-5 also exhibit emission enhancement upon addition of excess CH3SO3H in dimethyl sulfoxide, and a significant effect of the linker on quantum yields (Φ77 K) was observed in the case of the vaulted complexes. Density functional theory calculations (B3LYP/6-31G*, LanL2DZ) determined that the structure dependence of the chromogenic behaviour of these non-vaulted and polymethylene-vaulted hydrazone complexes can be attributed to variations in the participation of neighbouring nitrogen lone pairs in the d-π conjugation on the trans-bis(salicylaldiminato)Pt(ii) coordination platforms.