Coculture of Two Developmental Stages of a Marine-Derived Aspergillus alliaceus Results in the Production of the Cytotoxic Bianthrone Allianthrone A.

The genetically encoded, small-molecule chemical diversity of filamentous fungi is still largely unexplored and represents an attractive source for the discovery of new compounds. Here we report the production of new chlorinated bianthrones from coculture of two different developmental stages, or morphs, of a marine alga-derived Aspergillus alliaceus (teleomorph: Petromyces alliaceus) strain. The vegetative stage (asexual morph) can be separated from the morph that switched to sexual development (sclerotial morph); both produce distinct secondary metabolite patterns. Ochratoxin (1) was mainly found in the monoculture of the sclerotial morph, while the anthraquinone pigment nalgiovensin (2) was produced by the asexual morph. Surprisingly, combining cultures from both developmental stages in a coculture experiment changed the metabolite profile drastically. The chlorinated congener nalgiolaxin (3) was abundant, and newly produced bianthrones were found. Allianthrone A (4) and its two diastereomers [allianthrones B (5) and C (6)] were isolated, and the new structures were determined by extensive NMR spectroscopic analysis, supported by optical properties and X-ray crystallography. All metabolites were tested in antibiotic and cytotoxicity assays, and allianthrone A (4) showed weak cytotoxic activity against the HCT-116 colon cancer and SK-Mel-5 melanoma cell lines.

Synthesis and characterization of a highly strained donor-acceptor nanohoop.

A highly-strained, nitrogen-doped cycloparaphenylene (CPP), aza[6]CPP, was synthesized and then converted to a donor-acceptor nanohoop, N-methylaza[6]CPP, via alkylation of the nitrogen center. The energy levels of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) and the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) for both molecules were then probed by cyclic voltammetry (CV), which revealed that the donor-acceptor nanohoop had a significantly lower LUMO energy relative to [6]CPP and aza[6]CPP. Density functional theory (DFT) revealed that the donor-acceptor nanohoop underwent a redistribution of the frontier molecular orbital (FMO) density such that a significant portion of the LUMO density resided upon the electron-deficient nitrogen-containing ring. This localization of LUMO density caused a large lowering in the LUMO energy of nearly a full electron volt, while the HOMO energy was less affected due to a large centralization of the FMO on the electron-rich phenylene backbone. This ultimately resulted in a net lowering of the HOMO-LUMO energy gap which was observed both experimentally and computationally. In addition, N-methylaza[6]CPP has a significantly lower energy LUMO than N-methylaza[8]CPP, illustrating that the FMO levels of donor-acceptor nanohoops can be tuned by adjusting the hoop size.

Bridging the opposite chemistries of tantalum and tungsten polyoxometalates.

The disparate solubility, redox activity, and pH stability of the group V and group VI polyoxometalates (POMs) confer very different functionality on these species, and tailoring cluster properties by varying the ratio of group V to group VI metals poses both an opportunity and a synthetic challenge. A classic series of studies reported over 40 years ago provided some insight into W/Nb POMs, from which researchers have built on to date. However, the analogous W/Ta series has never been addressed in a systematic manner. Three members of this W/Ta series are presented here, synthesized from simple oxo- and peroxocoltanate precursors. [Ta3W3O19](5-) displays the Lindqvist-type structure, while [TaW9O32](5-) and [Ta2W8O32](6-) are isostructural with decatungstate ([W10O32](4-)). Additionally, the use of peroxoniobate instead of hexaniobate as the starting material drives the formation of the decatungstate-type structure [NbW9O32](5-) instead of the Lindqvist ion that was established to be the foundational cluster geometry in prior work. The electronic structure of the Nb/Ta substituted decatungstates is directly related to the degree of substitution inasmuch as the HOMO-LUMO energy gap (Egap) slightly increases as more Nb/Ta atoms are incorporated into the structure. The poor mixing of the d-orbitals of Nb/Ta and W is responsible for the observed trends in the UV spectra and cyclic voltammetry. Moreover, the stability of the molecular frameworks in the gas phase is also related to the extent of substitution as revealed by electrospray mass-spectrometry (ESI-MS).

New A2/3-xRh2O4 compounds with the CaFe2O4 structure where A is a rare earth or Bi.

New compounds of the type R(2/3-x)Rh(2)O(4) with the CaFe(2)O(4) structure have been prepared, where R is a rare earth. For crystals grown in a Bi/V/O flux, the rare earth was partially replaced by Bi. No evidence of ordering of the A cation vacancies is found, but the A cations are displaced from the ideal A cation site by about 0.24 A. Electrical conductivity measurements on crystals suggest that the materials are degenerate semiconductors with Seebeck measurements showing p-type behavior. This is consistent with our observation that x in R(2/3-x)Rh(2)O(4) ranges up to about 0.09. The compounds were also characterized by magnetic susceptibility and diffuse reflectance measurements.

Bis(mu-3,5-di-tert-butylcatecholato-O1:O1,O2)bis[tris(pyridine-N)cadmium(II)] dipyridine solvate.

X-ray diffraction shows that the title cadmium(II) complex, [Cd(2)(C(14)H(20)O(2))(2)(C(5)H(5)N)(6)].2C(5)H(5)N, has a dimeric structure in which two (py)(3)Cd(3,5-di-tert-butylcatecholate) units (py is pyridine) are connected by two bridging O atoms, the coordination of the Cd atoms being distorted octahedral. There are two symmetrically independent dimers in the crystal structure; one is in a general position and the other lies about an inversion centre. In both cases, the bridging Cd-O distances between the Cd-catecholate units [2.224 (2)-2.237 (2) A] are shorter than the bridging Cd-O distances within the catecholate cycle [2.273 (2)-2.281 (2) A]. The Cd-N(py) distances are 2.354 (2)-2.471 (2) A. Besides the main molecules, the crystal also contains pyridine solvate molecules.