4-Acetylbiphenyl

Supramolecular Rotor and Translator at Work: On-Surface Movement of Single Atoms.[Pubmed:26158314]

ACS Nano. 2015 Aug 25;9(8):8394-400.

A supramolecular nanostructure composed of four 4-Acetylbiphenyl molecules and self-assembled on Au (111) was loaded with single Au adatoms and studied by scanning tunneling microscopy at low temperature. By applying voltage pulses to the supramolecular structure, the loaded Au atoms can be rotated and translated in a controlled manner. The manipulation of the gold adatoms is driven neither by mechanical interaction nor by direct electronic excitation. At the electronic resonance and driven by the tunneling current intensity, the supramolecular nanostructure performs a small amount of work of about 8 x 10(-21) J, while transporting the single Au atom from one adsorption site to the next. Using the measured average excitation time necessary to induce the movement, we determine the mechanical motive power of the device, yielding about 3 x 10(-21) W.

Palladium nanoparticles captured in microporous polymers: a tailor-made catalyst for heterogeneous carbon cross-coupling reactions.[Pubmed:20225817]

J Am Chem Soc. 2010 Apr 7;132(13):4608-13.

A new strategy based on polymerization-induced phase separation (PIPS) techniques was proposed for fabricating palladium nanoparticles (PdNPs) captured in a microporous network polymer. Pd(OAc)(2) was premixed with a monomer having a poly(amidoamine)-based dendrimer ligand, and subsequently this was thermally polymerized with an excess amount of ethylene glycol dimethacrylate under PIPS conditions. In this system, the formation of PdNPs occurred concurrently with the polymer synthesis in a one-pot process, even with no additional reducing reagent. The resultant microporous polymer was found to have a mesoporosity; the nitrogen sorption analysis gave a specific-surface area of 511 m(2) g(-1), an average pore diameter of 9.9 nm, and a total pore volume of 1.01 mL g(-1). The TEM images of the polymer revealed that the created PdNPs were very small with a diameter of mainly ca. 2.0 nm; the high-resolution images were lattice-resolvable, showing the crystalline nature of the PdNPs (Pd(111) facets). Catalytic performances of the PdNP-containing microporous polymers were investigated for a heterogeneous Suzuki-Miyaura reaction of 4'-bromoacetophenone and phenylboronic acid in water. In the presence of 10(-2) molar equiv of the polymer, the reaction efficiently proceeded at 80 degrees C and gave the desired product, 4-Acetylbiphenyl, in >90% yield after 2 h. On the basis of the ICP-AES analysis, the Pd content released into the solution phase was estimated to be only 0.27% of the initial charge. Thereby, this polymer was successfully recovered by simple filtration and reused with only a minimal loss of activity (yield >90% even at the eighth run). When the catalytic reaction was examined with a low amount of the polymer catalyst, the turnover number (TON) reached 8.5 x 10(4) while maintaining a good yield. Finally, the dendrimer template effect of the polymer catalyst was discussed by referring to the catalytic performances of a control polymer prepared with nonintegrated ligand monomers.

Docking studies and anti-inflammatory activity of beta-hydroxy-beta-arylpropanoic acids.[Pubmed:18463569]

Molecules. 2008 Mar 18;13(3):603-15.

The article describes a two-step synthesis of diastereomeric 3-hydroxy-2-methyl-3-(4-biphenylyl)butanoic acids. In the first step an intermediate alpha-bromo propanoic acid 1-ethoxyethyl ester was synthesized. The second step is a new modified Reformatsky reaction in presence of Zn in tetrahydrofuran (THF) at -5 to 10 degrees C between the previously synthesized intermediate and 4-Acetylbiphenyl. Synthesis of the other studied beta-hydroxy-beta-arylpropanoic acids has already been reported. These beta-hydroxy-beta-arylpropanoic acids belong to the arylpropanoic acid class of compounds, structurally similar to the NSAIDs such as ibuprofen. The anti-inflammatory activity and gastric tolerability of the synthesized compounds were evaluated. Molecular docking experiments were carried out to identify potential COX-2 inhibitors among the beta-hydroxy-beta-aryl-alkanoic acids class. The results indicate that all compounds possess significant anti-inflammatory activity after oral administration and that the compounds 2-(9-(9-hydroxy-fluorenyl))-2-methylpropanoic acid (5) and 3-hydroxy-3,3-diphenyl-propanoic acid (3) possess the strongest anti-inflammatory activity, comparable to that of ibuprofen, a standard NSAID,and that none of tested substances or ibuprofen produced any significant gastric lesions.