CO2 Aggregation on Monoethanolamine: Observations from Rotational Spectroscopy.

The initial stages of the gas-phase nucleation between CO2 and monoethanolamine were investigated via broadband rotational spectroscopy with the aid of extensive theoretical structure sampling. Sub-nanometer-scale aggregation patterns of monoethanolamine-(CO2 )n , n=1-4, were identified. An interesting competition between the monoethanolamine intramolecular hydrogen bond and the intermolecular interactions between monoethanolamine and CO2 upon cluster growth was discovered, revealing an intriguing CO2 binding priority to the hydroxyl group over the amine group. These findings are in sharp contrast to the general results for aqueous solutions. In the quinary complex, a cap-like CO2 tetramer was observed cooperatively surrounding the monoethanolamine. As the cluster approaches the critical size of new particle formation, the contribution of CO2 self-assembly to the overall stability increases.

Selective Cytotoxicity of Complexes with N,N,N-Donor Dipodal Ligand in Tumor Cells.

The present article demonstrates selective cytotoxicity against cancer cells of the complexes [Co(LD)2]I2∙CH3OH (1), [CoLD(NCS)2] (2) and [VOLD(NCS)2]∙C6H5CH3 (3) containing the dipodal tridentate ligand LD = N,N-bis(3,5-dimethylpyrazol-1-ylmethyl)amine), formed in situ. All tested complexes expressed greater anticancer activities and were less toxic towards noncancerous cells than cisplatin. Cobalt complexes (1 and 2) combined high cytotoxicity with selectivity towards cancer cells and caused massive tumour cell death. The vanadium complex (3) induced apoptosis specifically in cancer cells and targeted proteins, controlling their invasive and metastatic properties. The presented experimental data and computational prediction of drug ability of coordination compounds may be helpful for designing novel and less toxic metal-based anticancer species with high specificities towards tumour cells.

Unimolecular dissociation of anions derived from succinic acid (H2Su) in the gas phase: HSu- and ClMgSu-. Relationship to CO2 fixation.

Electrospray ionization of mixtures of succinic acid (here denoted H2Su) and magnesium chloride in water/methanol give rise to ions of the type ESu- (E = H or ClMg). The unimolecular dissociation of these ions was studied by collisionally induced dissociation mass spectrometry and interpreted by quantum chemical calculations (density functional theory and the composite Gaussian-4 method) of relevant parts of the potential energy surfaces. The major dissociation pathways from HSu- were seen to be dehydration and decarboxylation, while ClMgSu- mainly undergoes decarboxylation. The latter reaction proceeds without barrier for the reverse reaction; addition of CO2 to a Grignard type structure ClMg(CH2CH2CO2)-. In contrast, addition of CO2 to the analogous H(CH2CH2CO2)- ion has a substantial barrier. Dehydration of HSu- gives rise to deprotonated succinic anhydride via a transition state for the key intramolecular proton transfer having an entropically favorable seven-member ring structure. The succinate systems studied here are compared to the previously reported analogous maleate systems, providing further insight to the structure-reactivity relationship.

Theoretical and experimental studies of the isotope effects for He-CO2 and Ne-CO2 complexes.

In this work, we have studied the isotope effects for the He-CO2 and Ne-CO2 complexes by means of theoretical calculations and experimental measurements, which were carried out using a distributed quantum cascade laser to probe a pulsed supersonic jet expansion. Firstly, infrared spectra have been recorded for the He/Ne-12C18O2 complexes. Spectroscopic parameters including band origin ν0, rotational constants A, B, C, and centrifugal distortion constants ΔJK were obtained by fitting a Watson A-reduced Hamiltonian with 13 assigned rovibrational transitions for He-12C18O2. For Ne-12C18O2, the observed spectrum produces a set of spectroscopic parameters including the band origin, rotational constants and all the quartic centrifugal distortion constants with more than 100 rovibrational transitions (40 new transitions). Secondly, we have calculated the rovibrational energy levels, vibrational shifts, and rotational constants for the He/Ne-CO2 complexes based on potential energy surfaces (PESs) and bound state calculations for ground and vibrationally excited states. The obtained results show that the spectroscopic characteristics (vibrational shifts and rotational constants) for Ne-CO2 are analogous to those of Ar-CO2, while those for He-CO2 show some differences especially for the rotational constants. Finally, according to the available experimental data and our theoretical calculations, infrared spectra were predicted for six isotopologues with C2v symmetry of Ne-CO2 complex.