We have developed a carbonylative approach to the synthesis of diversely substituted 2-aroylbenzoate esters featuring a new protocol for the carbonylative coupling of aryl bromides with boronic acids and a new strategy to favour carbonylative over non-carbonylative reactions. Two different synthetic pathways – (i) the alkoxycarbonylation of 2-bromo benzophenones and (ii) the carbonylative Suzuki–Miyaura ...

In 1987, the late German chemist Peter Hofmann of the University of Heidelberg wrote: “We still have a long way to go until a computation will be able to compete with or to substitute a lab experiment... one could then conclude that theoretical work in this field—not being quantitatively reliable anyhow—is rather useless, except for the purpose of keeping theorists busy.” However, Hofmann continued: ...

A series of metal–metal bonded osmium corrole dimers, {Os[TpXPC]}2, were synthesized in reasonably good yields (35–46%) via the interaction of the corresponding free-base meso-tris(p-X-phenyl)corroles (H3[TpXPC], X = CF3, H, CH3, and OCH3), Os3(CO)12, and potassium carbonate in 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene under an inert atmosphere at 180 °C over several hours. The complexes are only the second class of ...

In transition metal-mediated carboxylation reactions, CO₂ inserts into a metal–nucleophile bond. At the carboxylation transition state (TS), CO₂ may interact with the metal (<i>inner</i>-sphere path) or may insert without being activated by the metal (<i>outer</i>-sphere path). Currently, there is no consensus as to which path prevails. In order to establish general predictions ...

The question of ligand noninnocence in Cu corroles has long been a topic of discussion. Presented herein is a Cu K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) study, which provides a direct probe of the metal oxidation state, of three Cu corroles, Cu[TPC], Cu[Br8TPC], and Cu[(CF3)8TPC] (TPC = meso-triphenylcorrole), and the analogous Cu(II) porphyrins, Cu[TPP], Cu[Br8TPP], and Cu[(CF3)8TPP] (TPP = ...

Predicting the effect of single-point mutations on protein stability or protein−ligand binding is a major challenge in computational biology. Free energy calculations constitute the most rigorous approach to this problem, though the estimation of converged values for amino acid mutations remains challenging. To overcome this limitation, we developed tailored protocols to calculate free energy ...

The fragment-based polarizable embedding (PE) model combined with an appropriate electronic structure method constitutes a highly efficient and accurate multiscale approach for computing spectroscopic properties of a central moiety including effects from its molecular environment through an embedding potential. There is, however, a comparatively high computational overhead associated with the ...

Electron and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopies are indispensable and powerful methods for investigating the molecular and electronic structures of open-shell systems. We demonstrate that the NMR and EPR parameters are extremely sensitive quantitative probes for the electronic spin density around heavy-metal atoms and the metal–ligand bonding. Using relativistic density-functional theory, we ...

Antibiotics are key drugs in modern healthcare, especially in hospitals, where multiresistant bacteria resides and is a potential threat to human health. In the present work, a new series of adjuvants working synergistically with the carbapenem meropenem, in which a selective zinc-chelating agent was covalently linked to the small bacterial peptide D-Ala-D-Ala, was synthesized and tested against ...

Acid-catalyzed condensation of pyrrole, 4-trifluoromethylbenzaldehyde, and azulene, followed by DDQ oxidation, has resulted in the isolation of the novel macrocycle azulicorrole, arguably the first example of a carbacorrole aside from N-confused corrole. Despite poor yields (<1%), the free ligand could be structurally characterized and converted to the formal Cu(III) and Au(III) derivatives, of which ...