Dissertationen zum Thema „Small amines“

En tant qu'organismes non mobiles, les plantes subissent une multitude de stress, comme des attaques de pathogènes et divers stress biotiques, des conditions de sol défavorables, des variations de température et de disponibilité en eau allant jusqu'à de forts stress hydriques. Elles ont développé des stratégies d'adaptation en utilisant des myriades de protéines et de métabolites, qui interagissent dans un réseau complexe de voies permettant aux plantes de réagir de manière appropriée à la nature et la sévérité des stress. Un de ces couples protéine-métabolite est l'acétyltransférase NATA1 et son produit, une petite diamine acétylée (acétyl-1,3-diaminopropane; acDAP). Ce couple est impliqué dans la réponse au stress hydrique, participant à la régulation des besoins antagonistes entre conservation de l'eau et absorption du gaz carbonique par les stomates en contrant la fermeture des stomates contrôlée par l'acide abscissique. Le premier axe de ma thèse s'est concentré sur l'étude de la protéine NATA1 et de la protéine NATA2, son proche homologue de fonction inconnue. NATA1 et NATA2 appartiennent à la superfamille des N-acétyltransférases de type Gcn5 (GNATs), qui compte des milliers de membres dans tous les domaines du vivant, agissant sur une large variété de substrats, depuis les protéines jusqu'à de petits métabolites, telles que des amines, et participant à diverses voies impliquées dans le développement, le métabolisme et les réponses aux stress. Présents en tandem dans le génome, les deux gènes NATA proviendraient d'une duplication. Malgré la conservation des domaines catalytiques et une identité de près de 80%, les deux protéines présentent des sélectivités de substrats différentes. Ainsi, la première question a été la suivante : « Comment NATA1 et NATA2 parviennent-elles à des sélectivités de substrats différentes malgré leur grande similarité ? », ce qui a conduit à une question plus large : « Comment la structure protéique des GNATs détermine-t-elle la sélectivité de substrats tels que de petites amines ? » Des approches de modélisation, de mutagenèse et des essais enzymatiques ont permis un aperçu de la façon dont NATA1 et NATA2 interagissent avec leurs substrats, et une identification des principales différences entre ces deux enzymes. Cependant, NATA1 n'a pas seulement divergé de NATA2 de par son activité enzymatique, mais aussi de par son profil d'expression. Les deuxième et troisième questions ont été les suivantes : « Comment les profils d'expression de NATA1 et NATA2 diffèrent-ils en réponse à des conditions de stress ? » et « Quels sont les rôles potentiels de NATA2 in planta ? » De nouveaux mutants des gènes NATA ont été générés par la stratégie CRISPR/Cas9 afin de faciliter l'exploration de ces questions. Enfin, une expérimentation en levure, basée sur une technique de double-hybride modifiée, a permis d'identifier une protéine qui interagit potentiellement avec l'acDAP (DBP), offrant la possibilité d'étudier de potentiels événements en aval médiés par l'acDAP. Le second axe de ma thèse a porté sur le rôle fonctionnel de ce nouvel acteur en exploitant les mutants DBP générés par la technique de CRISPR/Cas9
As sessile organisms, plants face a multitude of unavoidable stresses, such as attacks from pathogens and various biotic stresses, unfavorable soil composition and drought and heat stress. They have developed adaptation strategies using myriads of proteins and metabolites, that interact in a complex network of pathways to allow the plant to respond appropriately according to the nature and severity of the stress. One such protein-metabolite pair, the NATA1 acetyltransferase and its product, a small acetylated diamine (acetyl-1,3-diaminopropane; acDAP), is involved in the drought stress response, aiding in balancing conflicting needs for water conservation and CO2 uptake by counteracting stomatal closure mediated by abscisic acid. My thesis had two axes, focusing firstly on NATA1 and its' close homolog of unknown function NATA2, and, secondly, on a potential downstream target of acetyl-DAP. NATA1 and NATA2 belong to the large Gcn5-Related N-Acetyltransferase (GNAT) superfamily, that has thousands of members in all domains of life acting on a variety of substrates from proteins to small amines and participating in various crucial developmental, metabolic and stress response pathways. Found in tandem in the genome, the two NATA genes are believed to have originated from a duplication event. However, despite the conservation of their catalytic domains and their nearly 80% identity overall, they have evolved different substrate selectivities. Thus, the first question addressed was “How do NATA1 and NATA2 achieve different substrate selectivities despite their high similarity?” leading to a broader question of “How does GNAT structure drive substrate selectivity for small amine substrates?” Modeling, mutagenesis and enzymatic assays provided insight into how NATA1 and NATA2 interact with their substrates and identified key differences between the enzymes. However, NATA1 has not only diverged from NATA2 in its' enzymatic activity, but also in its' expression pattern and, likely, its' roles in planta. The second and third questions were “How do NATA1 and NATA2 expression patterns differ in response to stress conditions?” and “What are the potential roles of NATA2?” Novel NATA mutants were generated using the CRISPR/Cas9 strategy to aid in exploring these questions. Finally, a modified yeast-two hybrid assay identified a potential acetyl-DAP binding protein (DBP), providing the opportunity to investigate potential downstream events mediated by acDAP. The second axis of my thesis questioned the functional role of this new actor as a potential target of acDAP by exploiting CRISPR-generated DBP mutants

Cryopreservation is a technique used to store cells and tissues for long time. It requires the addition of a cryoprotectant, which prevents damage to cells caused by the formation of large ice crystals. Few compounds have been classified as cryprotectants, and some of them are very toxic like DMSO. Our lab is interested in the synthesis of small, non-toxic cryoprotectants that possess ice recrystallization inhibition (IRI) activity. Much attention has been drawn towards small molecules that contain an amine group because they have some activity towards inhibiting ice recrystallization. Herein we have examined few monoamine and diamine molecules as well as PAMAM dendrimer for IRI activity. Some of the small molecules tested contain an aryl ring, and we found that changing the position of groups around the ring can have some impact in the IRI activity. We have also found that increasing the number of amines in a molecule can have little effect of the IRI activity. It is hoped that these findings can open new doors for further investigation in small amino molecules and the development of novel cryoprotectants. Corticosteroids were first identified and isolated from both teleost and elasmobranch fish. Corticosterone and cortisol were measurable in the plasma of elasmobranchs and 1α-hydroxycorticosterone (1α-OH-B) was the dominant corticosteroid produced by the internal tissue. Limited amount of 1α-OH-B was synthesized because available supplies were exhausted in the early 1990s. Synthetic 1α-OH-B was used in steroid receptor studies to examine the evolution of the corticosteroid receptor system and measure stress levels.

This thesis contains a diverse body of work based around the theme of Lewis acid/base chemistry. The reactivity of classical Lewis adducts, such as amine- and phosphine-boranes, has been investigated in addition to the more nascent field of frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs). Chapter 1 contains a brief overview of the concept of Lewis acidity and basicity whilst also providing a survey of previous work relevant to this thesis. Chapter 2 reports a novel, modular synthetic route to intermolecular Zr/P FLPs with varying steric and electronic properties. The reactivity of these pairs with a plethora of small molecules has been assessed (H2, C02, Phenylacetylene, THF) and is found to be directly related to both the steric and electronic character of the Lewis acid and base employed. The results contained in Chapter 3 build. on those in Chapter 2. by applying the intermolecular Zr/P FLPs as catalysts for the dehydrocoupling of amineboranes. Initial insights into the mechanism of these dehydrocoupling reactions are also provided. Chapter 4 describes preliminary investigations into new directions for the field of transition metal FLP chemistry. Expansion of the intermolecular FLP paradigm to include alternate Lewis acids (Ti(IV) and Ti(III)) and Lewis bases (N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs)) has been attempted. Furthermore previously reported intramolecular ZrlP FLPs are shown to be active catalysts for the dehydrocoupling of primary and secondary phosphine-boranes. Finally Chapter 5 details an alternative approach to the synthesis of amine-borane dehydrocoupling products via the deprotonation of amineboronium cations and related species. This methodology has allowed for the synthesis of poly(N-methylaminoborane) in the absence of a transition metal catalyst, whilst also permitting the study of highly reactive primary aminoboranes (RNH=BH2, R = Me or Bu).

Inhibiting the formation of ice is an essential process commercially, industrially, and medically. Compounds that work to stop the formation of ice have historically possessed drawbacks such as toxicity or prohibitively high active concentrations. One class of molecules, ice recrystallization inhibitors, work to reduce the damage caused by the combination of small ice crystals into larger ones. Recent advances made by the Ben lab have identified small molecule carbohydrate analogues that are highly active in the field of ice recrystallization and have potential in the cryopreservation of living tissue. A similar class of molecules, kinetic hydrate inhibitors, work to prevent the formation of another type of ice – gas hydrate. Gas hydrates are formed by the encapsulation of a molecule of a hydrocarbon inside a growing ice crystal. These compounds become problematic in high pressure and low temperature areas where methane is present - such as an oil pipeline. A recent study has highlighted the effects of antifreeze glycoprotein, a biological ice recrystallization inhibitor, in the inhibition of methane clathrates. Connecting these two fields through the synthesis and testing of small molecule ice recrystallization inhibitors in the inhibition of methane hydrates is unprecedented and may lead to a novel class of compounds.

The discovery of new anticancer targets is the key factor for the development of more efficacious therapies. Sequence selective binding of double stranded DNA in the classical B form has been extensively employed to target small molecules to defined polynucleotide portions. More recently, ligand recognition of non canonical DNA foldings has been additionally considered a useful approach to selectively target distinct genomic regions. In this connection, G-quadruplexes represent an interesting system since they are believed to be physiologically significant arrangements. These non-canonical DNA structures are found at the ends of the human chromosomes (telomeres) as well as at promoter regions of several oncogenes where there is a cluster of guanine-rich sequences and they are likely to play important roles in the regulation of biological events. The induction and stabilization of the G-quadruplex arrangement by small molecules can lead to the inhibition of the telomerase activity by interfering with the interaction of the enzyme and its single stranded template. A similar molecular mechanism is likely involved in the transcriptional control that leads to the suppression of the oncogene transcription and, ultimately, in the regulation of the gene expression. As a result, the quadruplex topic is very attractive for the development of a specific anticancer strategy defined by a dramatic reduction of side effects, typical of chemotherapy. The purpose of this work is to investigate the interactions between novel classes of small molecules and different quadruplex DNA sequences and conformations. These new molecules were properly designed providing systematic atom-wise substitutions based on rational evaluations of previous studied compounds in order to increase their selectivity for G-quadruplex structures and to reduce toxic effects. Biophysical and biological properties of all new derivatives are herein evaluated at molecular and cellular level. The thesis work is divided into three main sections based on the structural features of the compounds object of study. The first part focuses on heterocyclic dications: upon changing their molecular binding shape, a correlation with G-quadruplex binding have been drawn. In particular it was possible to rationalize a shift in the binding modes, in particular between end stacking and groove recognition. Nevertheless a correlation between biophysical (G-quadruplex affinity) and biological (telomerase inhibition and cytotoxicity) results was not always clear. This feature may suggest the involvement of cellular targets different from the telomere and that are now under investigation. In Chapter 3, the DNA binding properties of some phenantroline derivatives in presence and in absence of Ni(II) and Cu(II) are investigated. We confirmed that different complex geometries involving one, two or three ligands per metal ion can affect the pattern of DNA recognition by driving nucleic acid conformational changes. Finally, in Chapter 4 some transplatin derivatives are evaluated. We focused our attention on defining the compounds capability to form adducts, with the nucleic acids, the nature of adducts and the kinetics of adduct formation not only on double strand DNA but also using single strand as well as G-quadruplex as targets. The results showed how different structural modifications can cooperate to greatly affect the potential interaction of the compounds. Interestingly it turned out their preference to react on single stranded DNA portions than to double stranded ones. This is probably due to an unfavourable orientation of the reactive groups when the molecule interacts with the DNA substrate. As a result, they appear to crosslink unpaired strands. By extending these results at cellular level they can reflect distinct distribution of platination site along the genome in comparison to cisplatin and even transplatin. The results obtained increment the available knowledge of DNA-small molecules interaction. In particular it emerged that a conserved interaction mode is consistent with biological effects. On the other hand, a shift in the binding mode can drive to different cytotoxic effects. This can provide a rationale for subsequent drug structure optimization leading to the development of new efficient and selective anticancer agents.
La scoperta di nuovi target anticancro è il fattore chiave per lo sviluppo di terapie sempre più efficaci. Lo studio del legame selettivo a sequenze di DNA a doppia elica nella classica forma B è stato largamente impiegato al fine di direzionare piccole molecole verso porzioni polinucleotidiche definite. Più recentemente, il riconoscimento (da parte di ligandi) di porzioni non canoniche di DNA si può tradurre in un metodo vantaggioso per indirizzare questi composti verso regioni distinte del genoma. A tale proposito, le strutture G-quadruplex rappresentano un sistema interessante poiché sono ritenute fisiologicamente significative. Queste strutture “non-canoniche” di DNA si trovano alle estremità del cromosoma (telomeri) così come in varie regioni promotrici di oncogeni in cui vi è un’abbondante presenza di residui guaninici e sembrano coinvolte nella regolazione di importanti eventi biologici. Pare infatti che l'induzione e la stabilizzazione di strutture G-quadruplex dalle parte di piccole molecole porti all'inibizione dell'attività della telomerasi interferendo con l'interazione tra l’enzima e il suo substrato a singola catena. Un simile meccanismo molecolare è probabilmente coinvolto anche nel controllo della regolazione dell'espressione genica e può portare alla soppressione della trascrizione di un oncogene. Di conseguenza, “l’approccio G-quadruplex” si rivela molto interessante per lo sviluppo di una strategia anticancro specifica caratterizzata anche da una riduzione drammatica degli effetti collaterali, tipici della chemioterapia. Lo scopo di questo lavoro è lo studio delle interazioni tra nuove famiglie di piccole molecole e diverse conformazioni di DNA G-quadruplex. Queste nuove molecole sono state opportunamente progettate apportando sostituzioni di atomi o gruppi funzionali basate sulla valutazione di composti precedentemente studiati al fine di aumentare la loro selettività per strutture G-quadruplex e di ridurre gli effetti tossici. Le proprietà biofisiche e biologiche di tutti i nuovi derivati sono state valutate al livello molecolare e cellulare. Il lavoro di tesi si divide in tre parti in base alle caratteristiche strutturali dei composti. La prima parte è dedicata alla studio di dicationi eterociclici: si è cercato correlare modifiche nella conformazione molecolare con l’affinita’ verso strutture G-quadruplex. In particolare è stato possibile razionalizzare cambiamenti della modalità di legame in base alla struttura dei composti esaminati. Tuttavia una correlazione fra i risultati biofisici (affinità G-quadruplex) e biologici (inibizione della telomerasi e citotossicità) non è risultata sempre definita. Ciò può suggerire il coinvolgimento di bersagli cellulari diversi dal telomero umano. Nel capitolo 3, sono state studiate le proprietà di legame al DNA di alcuni derivati fenantrolinici in presenza ed in assenza di Ni (II) e Cu (II). Abbiamo confermato che complessi caratterizzati da diverse geometrie che coinvolgono una, due o tre molecole per ione possono compromettere o meno il riconoscimento del DNA o determinare cambiamenti conformazionali dell'acido nucleico. Per concludere, il capitolo 4 è dedicato allo studio di derivati del transplatino. In particolare ci siamo focalizzati nel definire la capacità dei composti di formare addotti, la natura dei complessi e la cinetica di formazione del complesso non solo con DNA a doppio filamento ma utilizzando anche substrati a singola catena come il G-quadruplex. I risultati hanno dimostrato come diverse modifiche strutturali possano avere un ruolo importante nell’interazione dei composti con gli acidi nucleici. E’ risultata interessante la loro preferenzialità a reagire con porzioni di DNA a singolo filamento rispetto a sequenze a doppia elica. Ciò è probabilmente dovuto ad uno sfavorevole orientamento dei gruppi reattivi quando la molecola interagisce con il substrato di DNA. Di conseguenza, i composti sembrano formare un cross-link tra due filamenti non appaiati. A livello cellulare, questi risultati riflettono una distinta distribuzione del sito di platinazione all’interno del genoma rispetto al cisplatino e perfino rispetto al transplatino. I risultati ottenuti incrementano la conoscenza disponibile sull’interazione tra DNA e piccole molecole. In particolare è emerso che la conservazione della modalità di interazione si correla con effetti biologici definiti. Al contrario, una variazione della modalità di legame può portare a effetti citotossici differenti. Ciò può fornire una spiegazione razionale per una successiva ottimizzazione della struttura dei composti finalizzata allo sviluppo di nuovi agenti antitumorali efficaci e selettivi.

N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) can be used as ligands for organometallics complexes, which can then facilitate numerous catalytic applications, such as, C-H activation, small molecule activation and numerous materials applications. The use of anionically-tethered NHCs for usage with electropositive metals has been pioneered by the Arnold group within the last decade. This thesis describes the synthesis of both aryloxide- and amide-tethered NHC organometallic complexes of s-, p-, d- and f-block metals to provide a platform for small molecule activation. Once synthesised, the reactivity of some of these complexes were tested by reaction with CO2 with the aim of turning a molecule considered a harmful (environmentally), waste product into value added products, potentially providing an alternative fuel source. Chapter One introduces the use of anionically-tethered NHCs for use in a number of organometallic complexes as well as their current potential as catalysts for a number of important small molecules. This chapter focuses upon the differences between complexes tethered with anionic O, N, P, S elements, f-element NHC complexes and the use of d-block NHC complexes for catalysis. Chapter Two contains the synthesis and characterisation of a number of aryloxy-tethered NHC p-, d- and f-block organometallic complexes using the ligand H2(LArO R)2. The synthesis of SnII complexes including the synthesis of new ‘normal’ ‘abnormal’ complexes given enough steric bulk around the Sn centre due to the lone pair present in Sn complexes, preventing one of the ligands binding through the classical carbene position and therefore binding through the backbone C4 carbon. The synthesis of MII (Zn, Co and Fe) complexes to compare the solid-state structure and binding mode of the carbenes. The synthesis and characterisation of MIII (Ce and Eu) complexes to assess the solid-state structure and binding modes within f-bock complexes. Chapter Three investigates the reactivity of the MII complexes (Sn, Zn, and Fe) with CO2. Successful reactions were characterised using NMR and further treated with alkynes to target catalytic reactions. Chapter Four contains reactions to target a number of amide-tethered bis (NHC) s-, p-, d- and f-block organometallic complexes using the proligand, H4(LN Mes)Cl3. Deprotonation studies undertaken with a number of bases to give the MI (Li and K) salts and MII (Mg) salts and proved to be unsuccessful upon isolation. Reactions to synthesise the p-, d- and f-block complexes were then undertaken using in situ free carbene production as well as the attempted isolation of the free carbene, both of which also proved unsuccessful. Chapter Five provides an overall conclusion to the work presented in Chapters Two, Three and Four within this thesis. Chapter Six gives the experimental and characterising data for the complexes and reactions.

Biologically active peptides are important for many physiological functions in the human body and therefore serve as interesting starting points in drug discovery processes. In this work the neuropeptide substance P 1–7 (SP1–7, H-Arg-Pro-Lys-Pro-Gln-Gln-Phe-OH), which has been demonstrated to reduce neuropathic pain and attenuate opioid withdrawal symptoms in animal models, has been addressed in a medicinal chemistry program with the overall aim of transforming this bioactive peptide into more drug-like compounds. Specific binding sites for this neuropeptide have been detected in the brain and the spinal cord. Interestingly, the smaller neuropeptide endomorphin-2 (EM-2, H-Tyr-Pro-Phe-Phe-NH2) also interacts with these binding sites, although 10-fold less efficient. In this work the structure–activity relationship of SP1–7 and EM-2, regarding their affinity to the SP1–7 binding site was elucidated using alanine scans, truncation, and terminal modifications. The C-terminal part of both peptides, and especially the C-terminal phenylalanine, was crucial for binding affinity. Moreover, the C-terminal functional group should preferably be a primary amide. The truncation studies finally resulted in the remarkable discovery of H-Phe-Phe-NH2 as an equally good binder as the heptapeptide SP1–7. This dipeptide amide served as a lead compound for further studies. In order to improve the drug-like properties and to find a plausible bioactive conformation, a set of rigidified and methylated dipeptides of different stereochemistry, and analogs with reduced peptide character, were synthesized and evaluated regarding binding, metabolic stability and absorption. Small SP1–7 analogs with retained affinity and substantially improved permeability and metabolic stability were identified. Beside peptide chemistry the synthetic work included the development of a fast and convenient microwave-assisted protocol for direct arylation of imidazoles. Furthermore, microwave-assisted aminocarbonylation using Mo(CO)6 as a solid carbon monoxide source was investigated in the synthesis of MAP amides and for coupling of imidazoles with amino acids. In a future perspective the present findings, together with the fact that some of the SP1–7 analogs discovered herein have been shown to reproduce the biological effects of SP1-7 in animal studies related to neuropathic pain and opioid dependence, can ultimately have an impact on drug discovery in these two areas.

The detection and potential treatment of oxidative stress in biological systems has been explored using isoindoline-based nitroxide radicals. A novel tetraethyl-fluorescein nitroxide was synthesised for its use as a profluorescent probe for redox processes in biological systems. This tetraethyl system, as well as a tetramethyl-fluorescein nitroxide, were shown to be sensitive and selective probes for superoxide in vitro. The redox environment of cellular systems was also explored using the tetramethylfluorescein species based on its reduction to the hydroxylamine. Flow cytometry was employed to assess the extent of nitroxide reduction, reflecting the overall cellular redox environment. Treatment of normal fibroblasts with rotenone and 2-deoxyglucose resulted in an oxidising cellular environment as shown by the lack of reduction of the fluorescein-nitroxide system. Assessment of the tetraethyl-fluorescein nitroxide system in the same way demonstrated its enhanced resistance to reduction and offers the potential to detect and image biologically relevant reactive oxygen species directly. Importantly, these profluorescent nitroxide compounds were shown to be more effective than the more widely used and commercially available probes for reactive oxygen species such as 2’,7’-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate. Fluorescence imaging of the tetramethyl-fluorescein nitroxide and a number of other rhodamine-nitroxide derivatives was undertaken, revealing the differential cellular localisation of these systems and thus their potential for the detection of redox changes in specific cellular compartments. As well as developing novel methods for the detection of oxidative stress, a number of novel isoindoline nitroxides were synthesised for their potential application as small-molecule antioxidants. These compounds incorporated known pharmacophores into the isoindoline-nitroxide structure in an attempt to increase their efficacy in biological systems. A primary and a secondary amine nitroxide were synthesised which incorporated the phenethylamine backbone of the sympathomimetic amine class of drugs. Initial assessment of the novel primary amine derivative indicated a protective effect comparable to that of 5-carboxy-1,1,3,3- tetramethylisoindolin-2-yloxyl. Methoxy-substituted nitroxides were also synthesised as potential antioxidants for their structural similarity to some amphetamine type stimulants. A copper-catalysed methodology provided access to both the mono- and di-substituted methoxy-nitroxides. Deprotection of the ethers in these compounds using boron tribromide successfully produced a phenolnitroxide, however the catechol moiety in the disubstituted derivative appeared to undergo reaction with the nitroxide to produce quinone-like degradation products. A novel fluoran-nitroxide was also synthesised from the methoxy-substituted nitroxide, providing a pH-sensitive spin probe. An amino-acid precursor containing a nitroxide moiety was also synthesised for its application as a dual-action antioxidant. N-Acetyl protection of the nitroxide radical was necessary prior to the Erlenmeyer reaction with N-acetyl glycine. Hydrolysis and reduction of the azlactone intermediate produced a novel amino acid precursor with significant potential as an effective antioxidant.

Novel highly functionalized hybrid organic-inorganic materials were synthesized by polycondensation of bis[3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl]amine in presence of cationic and anionic surfactants. Reaction media strongly affected gelation time. Thus, in basic media gelation occurred immediately while acid increased gelation time. Material structures were studied by IR spectroscopy, porosimetry, XRD, and SAXS methods. In spite of the absence of an inorganic linker, obtained bridged silsesquioxanes had mesoporous structure. A material prepared in the presence of dodecylamine as a template had higher surface area and narrow pore size distribution while the use of sodium dodecylbenzene sulfate resulted in formation of mesopores with wide size ranges. Accessibility of surface amine groups in silsesquioxanes was studied for molecules of acidic nature and different sizes: HCl, CO2 and picric acid. High contents of accessible amine groups in these materials make them prospective adsorbents for post-combustion CO2 capture.

This thesis describes a structure activity relationship (SAR) study on the recently discovered small molecule tool blebbistatin (S)-21 with particular emphasis on the development of novel synthetic protocols suitable for the rapid synthesis of libraries of blebbistatin analogues. These analogues are potentially of use as novel myosin inhibitors Chapter 1 introduces the concept of chemical biology with particular emphasis on chemical genetics. This approach has rekindled the search for new chemical tools for the investigation of biological systems. The success of blebbistatin (S)-21, which was identified in a chemical genetic study, as a research tool was also discussed. The link between several myosin classes and genetic diseases such as coeliac disease, Crohn’s disease, deafness, dermatitis, familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, Griscelli disease and ulcerative colitis indicate that potent inhibitors which show selectivity towards specific myosin isoforms may be of great value as tools for the study of these conditions. The plan for the SAR study around (S)-21 was outlined. Chapter 2 describes the studies undertaken to develop an efficient synthetic route to N1-alkyl analogues of (S)-21 suitable for the parallel synthesis of chemical collections. These studies culminated in the synthesis of an intermediate (S)-66 from which novel N1-alkyl analogues were synthesised. The biological evaluation of these N1-alkyl analogues was discussed. Chapter 3 describes the development of a protocol suitable for the parallel synthesis of collections of N1-aryl analogues of (S)-21 via the intermediate 66. The application of this protocol to the synthesis of a collection of racemic N1-aryl and heteroaryl analogues of (S)-21 and their biological evaluation was presented. Chapter 4 describes the successful rational design and synthesis of a novel fused thiophene ring containing inhibitor of myosin II. The structure of this compound was proposed by modelling of the existing co-crystal structure of (S)-21 bound to the metastable state of Dictyostelium discoideum myosin II (S1dC) and sought to optimise the π-π stacking interaction displayed by (S)-21 with the tyrosine 261 residue within its binding site. The biological evaluation of this novel analogue was discussed. In Chapter 5 the studies conducted to investigate the contribution of ring-C to the binding affinity of (S)-21 were described. The development of alternate routes to (S)-21, in an attempt to avoid difficulties experienced during the synthesis of some analogues of (S)-21, are described. The synthesis and biological investigation of the fluorescent dye PPBA whose binding site has been suggested to overlap with that of (S)-21 was also reported.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
The HSP plays a pivotal role in the spatial and temporal regulation of cell proliferation and differentiation. Conversely aberrant Hh signalling is involved in Gorlin syndrome, basal cell carcinoma (the most common cancer in the world), and more than one third of all human medulloblastoma cases. In all of these cases, it is believed that deregulated Hh signalling leads to increased cell proliferation and tumour formation. Inhibition of the Hedgehog Signalling Pathway, is a recently validated anti-cancer drug target, with vismodegib (GDC-0449, Erivedge®) and sonidegib (LDE225, Odomzo®), approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treatment of early and advanced basal cell carcinomas. We developed three new scaffolds of small molecule inhibitors of the HSP. The first scaffold consisted of 11 quinolone-2-(1H)-ones developed from a sequential Ugi-Knoevenagel reaction pathway (Chapter 3). These analogues not only express their anti-hedgehog activity through the significant inhibition of Gli₂ at both gene and protein expression in SAG-activated Shh LIGHT 2 cells at 10 and 25 μM, respectively, but are able to suppress a panel of nine human HSP expressing cancer cells (GI₅₀ from 2.9 to 18.0 μM). Whilst the exact mechanism remains to be determined, it is probable the inhibition observed is occurring downstream of Smo, due to its activity in the presence of SAG, a potent Smo activator. Subsequent second and third generation analogues were developed on the quinolone-2-(1H)-one pharmacophore, which highlighted the importance of a C3-tethered indole moiety. These new scaffolds were built on tryptophan (9 analogues, Chapter 4) and benzo[1,3]dioxol-5-ylmethyl-[2-(1H-indol-3-yl)-ethyl]-amine derivatives (11 analogues, Chapter 4) displaying superior inhibitory activity against Gli protein expression with the best inhibitors displaying submicromolar IC₅₀ (Chapter 4). Noteworthy, active compounds from the second and third libraries displayed inhibitory activity downstream of Smo, which circumvents the resistance issues experienced by the Smo inhibitors currently in use. We discovered the fourth library of 1,3-thiazine-6-phenylimino-5-carboxylates in a multicomponent one pot synthesis (12 analogues, Chapter 5). These analogues display structural similarities to HPI-1, a non-selective Gli inhibitor, and thus may present themselves as HSP inhibitors. Current biological evaluation is going on to investigate their anti-hedgehog properties.

碩士
國立臺灣大學
應用物理所
101
Hybrid solar cell is a photovoltaic that combines both organic semiconductors and inorganic semiconductors. Although it has the benefit from both materials, the different surface properties between the semiconducting metal-oxides and polymers is a critical issue that causes the device performance to deteriorate. 　　In order to overcome the above difficulty, we use two hydrophobic molecules, 2-aminoanthracene (2-AA) and 4-amino-p-terphenyl (4-A-p-T), to enhance the compatibility between the polymer blend and metal-oxide materials. It is worth mentioning that because ZnO may be eroded by acid molecules, we use two small alkaline conductive molecules, 2-AA and 4-A-p-T, to modify the ZnO-nanorod surface. The structure of our studied cell is ITO/ZnO-nanorod/2-aminoanthracene or 4-amino-p-terphenyl/poly(3-hexythiophene):(6,6)-phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM)/Ag. 　　It is found that after the surface is modified by 2-AA and 4-A-p-T, the cells yield an open circuit voltage of 0.53 and 0.57 V, a short circuit current density of 9.52 mA/cm2 and 9.78 mA/cm2, a fill factor of 45.44 % and 46.65 % leading to increased power conversion efficiencies by about 20 % and 40 %, respectively. 　　Since there is no significant change in the light absorption efficiency after surface modification, the increase in the surface roughness of the photoactive layer after treatment provides a larger charge collection area. Thus, the series resistance of the devices decreases resulting in improved device performance.

Current fossil fuels (Coal and Petroleum) based economy is not sustainable in the long run because of its dwindling resources, and increasing concerns of climate change due to excessive carbon dioxide (CO2) emission. To mitigate CO2 emission and climate change, scientists across the world have been looking for clean and sustainable energy sources. Among them hydrogen gas (H2) could be more promising because it is the most clean fuel and can be produced from cheap source (water) which is renewable and abundant. Nevertheless, the bottleneck for hydrogen economy is lying in the cost of hydrogen production from water. Still there are no any efficient systems developed which can deliver hydrogen from water in economically viable way. Meanwhile, recent research on old molecule ammonia-borane (H3N•BH3, AB) as hydrogen source has increased the hope towards the hydrogen economy, however, catalytic recycling (or efficient regeneration) of AB from the dehydrogenated product polyborazylene (PB or BNHx) is the biggest hurdle which prevents use of AB as practical hydrogen storage material. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the dehydrogenation pathways of ammonia-borane (or related amine-boranes) which lead to polymeric or oligomeric product(s). On the other hand, methane (CH4) is abundant (mostly untamed) but cleaner fuel than its higher hydrocarbon analogs. To develop highly efficient catalytic systems to transform CH4 into methanol (gas to liquid) is of paramount importance in the field of catalysis and it could revolutionize the petrochemical industry. Therefore, to activate CH4, it is crucial to understand its binding interaction with metal center of a molecular catalyst under homogenous condition. However, these interactions are too weak and hence σ–methane complexes are very elusive. In this context, σ-H2 and σ-borane complexes bear some similarities in σ-bond coordination (and four coordinated boranes are isoelectronic with methane) could be considered as good models to study σ-methane complexes. Studying the H−H and B−H bond activation in H2 and amine-boranes, respectively, would provide fundamental insights into methane activation and its subsequent functionalization. Moreover, the proposed methanol economy by Nobel laureate George Olah seems more promising because methanol can be produced from CH4 (CO2 as well). This in turn will gradually reduce the amount of two powerful greenhouse gases from the earth’s atmosphere. Thus, efficient and economic production of methanol from CH4 and CO2 is one of most challenging problems of today in the field of catalysis and regarded as the holy grails. Furthermore, very recently formic acid (HCOOH) is envisaged as a promising reversible hydrogen storage material because it releases H2 and CO2 in the presence of a suitable and efficient catalyst or vice versa under ambient conditions. Objective of the research work: Taking the account of the above facts, the research work in this thesis is mostly confined to utilize electrophilic Ru(II)-complexes for activation of small molecules such as ammonia-borane (H3N•BH3) [and related amine-borane (Me2HN•BH3)], hydrogen (H2), methane (CH4), formic acid (HCOOH) and carbon dioxide (CO2) and investigation of their mechanistic pathways using NMR spectroscopy under homogeneous conditions. Though these molecules are small, they have huge impacts on chemical industries (energy sector and chemical synthesis: drugs/natural products) and environment [CO2 and CH4 are potent green house gases] as well. However, they are relatively inert molecules, especially CH4 and CO2, and impose very tough challenges to activate and functionalize them into useful products under ambient conditions. The partial oxidation of the strong C−H bond in CH4 for its transformation into methanol under relatively mild condition using an organometallic catalyst is considered as a holy grail in the field of catalysis which is mentioned earlier. More importantly, to develop better and highly efficient homogeneous catalytic systems for the activation of these molecules, it is imperative to understand the mechanistic pathways using well defined homogeneous metal complexes. Thus, an understanding of the interaction of these inert molecules with metal center is obligatory. In this context, discovery of a σ-complex of H2 gave remarkable insights into H−H bond activation pathways and its implications in catalytic hydrogenation reactions. Subsequently, σ-borane complexes of amine-boranes were discovered and found to be relatively more stable because of stronger M−H−B interaction and hence act as good models to study the M−H−C interaction of elusive σ-methane complex. On the other hand, HCOOH, a promising hydrogen storage material and its efficient catalytic dehydrogenation/decarboxylation and CO2 hydrogenation back to HCOOH using well defined homogeneous catalysts could lead to a sustainable energy cycle. Therefore, it is quite significant to understand the mechanistic pathways of formic acid dehydrogenation/decarboxylation and carbon dioxide reduction to formic acid for the development of next generation efficient catalysts. Chapter highlights: Keeping all these in view, we carried out thorough studies on the activation of these small molecules by electrophilic Ru(II)-complexes. This thesis provides useful insights and perspective on the detailed investigation of mechanistic pathways for the activation of small molecules such as H3N•BH3 [and Me2HN•BH3], H2, CH4, HCOOH and CO2 using electrophilic Ru(II)-complexes under homogeneous conditions using NMR spectroscopy. In Chapter 1 we provide brief overview of small molecule activation using organometallic complexes. This chapter presents pertinent and latest results from literature on the significance of small molecule activation. Although there are several small molecules which need our attention, however, we have focused mainly on H3N•BH3 [and Me2HN•BH3], H2, CH4, HCOOH and CO2. In Chapter 2, we present detailed investigation of mechanistic pathways of B−H bond activation of H3N•BH3 and Me2HN•BH3 using electrophilic [RuCl(dppe)2][OTf] complex using NMR spectroscopy as a model for methane activation. In these reactions, using variable temperature (VT) 1H, 31P{1H} and 11B NMR spectroscopy we detected several intermediates en route to the final products at room temperature including a σ-borane complex. On the basis of elaborative studies using NMR spectroscopy, we have established the complete mechanistic pathways for dehydrogenation of H3N•BH3/Me2HN•BH3 and formation of B−H bond activated/cleaved products along with several Ru-hydride and Ru-(dihydrogen) complexes. Keeping the B−H bond activation of amine-boranes in view as a model for methane activation, we attempted to activate methane using [RuCl(dppe)2][OTf] complex. In addition, [Ru(OTf)(dppe)2][OTf] complex having better electrophilicity than [RuCl(dppe)2][OTf], was synthesized and characterized. The [Ru(OTf)(dppe)2][OTf] complex has highly labile triflate bound to Ru-metal and therefore its reactivity studies toward H2 and CH4 were carried out where H2 activation was successfully achieved, however, no any spectroscopic evidence was found for C−H bond activation of CH4. The Chapter 3 describes the synthesis and characterization of several Ru-Me complexes such as trans-[Ru(Me)Cl(dppe)2], [Ru(Me)(dppe)2][OTf], trans-[Ru(Me)(L)(dppe)2][OTf] (L = CH3CN, tBuNC, tBuCN, H2) with an aim to trap corresponding σ-methane intermediate at low temperature. However, interestingly, we observed spontaneous but gradual methane elimination and orthometalation of [Ru(Me)(dppe)2][OTf] complex at room temperature. We thoroughly investigated mechanistic details of methane elimination and orthometalation of [Ru(Me)(dppe)2][OTf] using VT NMR spectroscopy, NOESY and DFT calculations. Furthermore, H2 activation was confirmed unambiguously by [Ru(Me)(dppe)2][OTf] and Ru-orthometalated complexes using NMR spectroscopy under ambient conditions. An effort was also made to activate methane using Ruorthometalated complex in pressurized condition of methane in a pressure stable NMR tube. Moreover, preliminary studies on protonation reaction of [Ru(Me)(dppe)2][OTf] using VT NMR spectroscopy to trap σ-methane at low temperature was carried out which provided us some useful information on dynamics between proton and Ru-Me species. The Chapter 4 provides useful insights into the mechanistic pathways of dehydrogenation/decarboxylation of formic acid using [RuCl(dppe)2][OTf]. Catalytic dehydrogenation of HCOOH using [RuCl(dppe)2][OTf] was observed in presence of Hunig base (proton sponge). In addition, a complex [Ru(CF3COO)(dppe)2][OTf] was synthesized and characterized using NMR spectroscopy, and found to readily dehydrogenate HCOOH. Moreover, preliminary results on transfer hydrogenation of CO2 into formamide using [RuCl(dppe)2][OTf] as a precatalyst and tert-butyl amine-borane (tBuH2N•BH3) as secondary hydrogen source was confirmed using 13C NMR spectroscopy. The mechanisms were proposed for HCOOH dehydrogenation and transfer hydrogenation of CO2 based on our NMR spectroscopic studies. Furthermore, a few test reactions of transfer hydrogenation of selected alkenes such as cyclooctene, acrylonitrile, 1-hexene using [RuCl(dppe)2][OTf] as pre-catalyst and tert-butyl amine-borane (tBuH2N•BH3) as secondary hydrogen source showed quantitative conversion to hydrogenated products.

Current fossil fuels (Coal and Petroleum) based economy is not sustainable in the long run because of its dwindling resources, and increasing concerns of climate change due to excessive carbon dioxide (CO2) emission. To mitigate CO2 emission and climate change, scientists across the world have been looking for clean and sustainable energy sources. Among them hydrogen gas (H2) could be more promising because it is the most clean fuel and can be produced from cheap source (water) which is renewable and abundant. Nevertheless, the bottleneck for hydrogen economy is lying in the cost of hydrogen production from water. Still there are no any efficient systems developed which can deliver hydrogen from water in economically viable way. Meanwhile, recent research on old molecule ammonia-borane (H3N•BH3, AB) as hydrogen source has increased the hope towards the hydrogen economy, however, catalytic recycling (or efficient regeneration) of AB from the dehydrogenated product polyborazylene (PB or BNHx) is the biggest hurdle which prevents use of AB as practical hydrogen storage material. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the dehydrogenation pathways of ammonia-borane (or related amine-boranes) which lead to polymeric or oligomeric product(s). On the other hand, methane (CH4) is abundant (mostly untamed) but cleaner fuel than its higher hydrocarbon analogs. To develop highly efficient catalytic systems to transform CH4 into methanol (gas to liquid) is of paramount importance in the field of catalysis and it could revolutionize the petrochemical industry. Therefore, to activate CH4, it is crucial to understand its binding interaction with metal center of a molecular catalyst under homogenous condition. However, these interactions are too weak and hence σ–methane complexes are very elusive. In this context, σ-H2 and σ-borane complexes bear some similarities in σ-bond coordination (and four coordinated boranes are isoelectronic with methane) could be considered as good models to study σ-methane complexes. Studying the H−H and B−H bond activation in H2 and amine-boranes, respectively, would provide fundamental insights into methane activation and its subsequent functionalization. Moreover, the proposed methanol economy by Nobel laureate George Olah seems more promising because methanol can be produced from CH4 (CO2 as well). This in turn will gradually reduce the amount of two powerful greenhouse gases from the earth’s atmosphere. Thus, efficient and economic production of methanol from CH4 and CO2 is one of most challenging problems of today in the field of catalysis and regarded as the holy grails. Furthermore, very recently formic acid (HCOOH) is envisaged as a promising reversible hydrogen storage material because it releases H2 and CO2 in the presence of a suitable and efficient catalyst or vice versa under ambient conditions. Objective of the research work: Taking the account of the above facts, the research work in this thesis is mostly confined to utilize electrophilic Ru(II)-complexes for activation of small molecules such as ammonia-borane (H3N•BH3) [and related amine-borane (Me2HN•BH3)], hydrogen (H2), methane (CH4), formic acid (HCOOH) and carbon dioxide (CO2) and investigation of their mechanistic pathways using NMR spectroscopy under homogeneous conditions. Though these molecules are small, they have huge impacts on chemical industries (energy sector and chemical synthesis: drugs/natural products) and environment [CO2 and CH4 are potent green house gases] as well. However, they are relatively inert molecules, especially CH4 and CO2, and impose very tough challenges to activate and functionalize them into useful products under ambient conditions. The partial oxidation of the strong C−H bond in CH4 for its transformation into methanol under relatively mild condition using an organometallic catalyst is considered as a holy grail in the field of catalysis which is mentioned earlier. More importantly, to develop better and highly efficient homogeneous catalytic systems for the activation of these molecules, it is imperative to understand the mechanistic pathways using well defined homogeneous metal complexes. Thus, an understanding of the interaction of these inert molecules with metal center is obligatory. In this context, discovery of a σ-complex of H2 gave remarkable insights into H−H bond activation pathways and its implications in catalytic hydrogenation reactions. Subsequently, σ-borane complexes of amine-boranes were discovered and found to be relatively more stable because of stronger M−H−B interaction and hence act as good models to study the M−H−C interaction of elusive σ-methane complex. On the other hand, HCOOH, a promising hydrogen storage material and its efficient catalytic dehydrogenation/decarboxylation and CO2 hydrogenation back to HCOOH using well defined homogeneous catalysts could lead to a sustainable energy cycle. Therefore, it is quite significant to understand the mechanistic pathways of formic acid dehydrogenation/decarboxylation and carbon dioxide reduction to formic acid for the development of next generation efficient catalysts. Chapter highlights: Keeping all these in view, we carried out thorough studies on the activation of these small molecules by electrophilic Ru(II)-complexes. This thesis provides useful insights and perspective on the detailed investigation of mechanistic pathways for the activation of small molecules such as H3N•BH3 [and Me2HN•BH3], H2, CH4, HCOOH and CO2 using electrophilic Ru(II)-complexes under homogeneous conditions using NMR spectroscopy. In Chapter 1 we provide brief overview of small molecule activation using organometallic complexes. This chapter presents pertinent and latest results from literature on the significance of small molecule activation. Although there are several small molecules which need our attention, however, we have focused mainly on H3N•BH3 [and Me2HN•BH3], H2, CH4, HCOOH and CO2. In Chapter 2, we present detailed investigation of mechanistic pathways of B−H bond activation of H3N•BH3 and Me2HN•BH3 using electrophilic [RuCl(dppe)2][OTf] complex using NMR spectroscopy as a model for methane activation. In these reactions, using variable temperature (VT) 1H, 31P{1H} and 11B NMR spectroscopy we detected several intermediates en route to the final products at room temperature including a σ-borane complex. On the basis of elaborative studies using NMR spectroscopy, we have established the complete mechanistic pathways for dehydrogenation of H3N•BH3/Me2HN•BH3 and formation of B−H bond activated/cleaved products along with several Ru-hydride and Ru-(dihydrogen) complexes. Keeping the B−H bond activation of amine-boranes in view as a model for methane activation, we attempted to activate methane using [RuCl(dppe)2][OTf] complex. In addition, [Ru(OTf)(dppe)2][OTf] complex having better electrophilicity than [RuCl(dppe)2][OTf], was synthesized and characterized. The [Ru(OTf)(dppe)2][OTf] complex has highly labile triflate bound to Ru-metal and therefore its reactivity studies toward H2 and CH4 were carried out where H2 activation was successfully achieved, however, no any spectroscopic evidence was found for C−H bond activation of CH4. The Chapter 3 describes the synthesis and characterization of several Ru-Me complexes such as trans-[Ru(Me)Cl(dppe)2], [Ru(Me)(dppe)2][OTf], trans-[Ru(Me)(L)(dppe)2][OTf] (L = CH3CN, tBuNC, tBuCN, H2) with an aim to trap corresponding σ-methane intermediate at low temperature. However, interestingly, we observed spontaneous but gradual methane elimination and orthometalation of [Ru(Me)(dppe)2][OTf] complex at room temperature. We thoroughly investigated mechanistic details of methane elimination and orthometalation of [Ru(Me)(dppe)2][OTf] using VT NMR spectroscopy, NOESY and DFT calculations. Furthermore, H2 activation was confirmed unambiguously by [Ru(Me)(dppe)2][OTf] and Ru-orthometalated complexes using NMR spectroscopy under ambient conditions. An effort was also made to activate methane using Ruorthometalated complex in pressurized condition of methane in a pressure stable NMR tube. Moreover, preliminary studies on protonation reaction of [Ru(Me)(dppe)2][OTf] using VT NMR spectroscopy to trap σ-methane at low temperature was carried out which provided us some useful information on dynamics between proton and Ru-Me species. The Chapter 4 provides useful insights into the mechanistic pathways of dehydrogenation/decarboxylation of formic acid using [RuCl(dppe)2][OTf]. Catalytic dehydrogenation of HCOOH using [RuCl(dppe)2][OTf] was observed in presence of Hunig base (proton sponge). In addition, a complex [Ru(CF3COO)(dppe)2][OTf] was synthesized and characterized using NMR spectroscopy, and found to readily dehydrogenate HCOOH. Moreover, preliminary results on transfer hydrogenation of CO2 into formamide using [RuCl(dppe)2][OTf] as a precatalyst and tert-butyl amine-borane (tBuH2N•BH3) as secondary hydrogen source was confirmed using 13C NMR spectroscopy. The mechanisms were proposed for HCOOH dehydrogenation and transfer hydrogenation of CO2 based on our NMR spectroscopic studies. Furthermore, a few test reactions of transfer hydrogenation of selected alkenes such as cyclooctene, acrylonitrile, 1-hexene using [RuCl(dppe)2][OTf] as pre-catalyst and tert-butyl amine-borane (tBuH2N•BH3) as secondary hydrogen source showed quantitative conversion to hydrogenated products.

The thesis entitled “Exploring Diverse Facets of Small Molecules by NMR Spectroscopy” consists of six chapters. The main theme of the thesis is to exploit one and two dimensional NMR methodologies for understanding the diverse facets of small organic molecules, such as, weak intra- and inter- molecular interactions, chiral discrimination, quantification of enantiomeric excess and assignment of absolute configuration. Several new pulse sequences have also been designed to solve specific chemical problems, in addition to extensive utility of existing one and two dimensional NMR experiments. The results obtained on different problems, are discussed under six chapters in the thesis. The brief summary of each of these chapters is given below. Chapter 1 begins with the discussion on the importance of small molecules and their various facets, the analytical techniques available in the literature to study them. The role of NMR spectroscopy as powerful analytical technique to understand the diverse facets of organic molecules and their importance is set out in brief. A short introduction to the basic principles of NMR, the interaction parameters, the commonly employed one and two dimensional homo- and herero- nuclear NMR experiments are also given. The basic introduction to product operators essential for understanding the spin dynamics in the developed pulse sequences is given. The application of diffusion ordered spectroscopy (DOSY), the general problems encountered in the analysis of combinatorial mixtures and the matrix assisted method in circumventing such problems are discussed. Chapter 2 focuses on the chiral discrimination and the measurement of enatiomeric excess. The NMR approach to discriminate enantiomers using chiral auxiliaries such as, solvating agents, derivatizing agents, lanthanide shift reagents, the choice of such auxiliaries and the limitations are discussed in detail. The in-depth discussion on the new protocols developed using both the solvating and derivatizing agents for enantiomeric discrimination of chiral amines, hydroxy acids and diacids are discussed. The new three-component protocols that serve as chiral derivatizing agents for the discrimination of primary amines, diacids and hydroxy acids are discussed. Also the role of organic base such as DMAP in the chiral discrimination is explored for discrimination of acids using BINOL as a chiral solvating agent. Accordingly the discussion is classified into two sections. In the first section the protocol developed utilizing an enantiopure mandelic acid, a primary amine substrate and 2-formylphenylboronic acid that is ideally suited for testing the enantiopurity of chiral primary amines is discussed. The broad applicability of the protocols for testing enantiopurity has been demonstrated on number of chiral molecules using 1H and 19F NMR. The second section contains the results on the new concept developed for discrimination of hydroxy acids. The strategy involves the formation of three component protocol using chiral hydroxy acid, R-alphamethylbenzylamine and 2-formylphenylboronic acid for 1H-NMR discrimination of diacids. The section also includes the utility of ternary ion-pair complex for the discrimination of acids. The ternary ion-pair not only permitted the testing of enantiopurity of chiral acids, but is also found useful for the measurement of enantiomeric excess. Chapter 3 discusses the utilization of the developed three-component protocols for the assignment of absolute configurations of molecules of different functionality. The protocols for the assignments of absolute configuration of primary amines using 2-formylphenylboronic acid and mandelic acid yielded the substantial chemical shift differences between diastereomers. The consistent trend in the direction of change of chemical shifts of the discriminated proton(s) gave significant evidence for employing them as parameters for the assignment of spatial configuration of primary amines. Another protocol using 2-formylphenylboronic acid, hydroxy acids and enantiopure alphamethylbenzylamine permitted their configurational assignment. In the second section a novel solvating agent, obtained by the formation of an ion-pair complex among enantiopure BINOL, DMAP and chiral hydroxy acid for the assignment of the spatial configuration of hydroxy acids is discussed. Chapter 4 focuses on the development of novel NMR methodologies, and also the utility of existing two-dimensional experiments for addressing certain challenging problems. This chapter has been divided into three sections. In Section-I the utilization of well-known homonuclear 2D-J-resolved methodology for unravelling the overlapped NMR spectra of enantiomers, an application for chiral discrimination and the measurement of enantiomeric excess is discussed. The utilization of the chiral auxiliaries, such as, chiral derivatizing agents, chiral solvating agents and lanthanide shift reagents permits enantiodiscrimination and the measurement of excess of one form over the other. Nevertheless many a times one encounters severe problems due to small chemical shift difference, overlap of resonances, complex multiplicity pattern because of the presence of number of interacting spins, and enormous line broadening due to paramagnetic nature of the metal complex. This section is focused on combating such problems utilizing 2D-J-1JNH resolved spectroscopy where a 450 tilting of the spectrum in the F2 dimension, yielded the pure shift NMR spectrum. The method circumvents several problems involved in chiral discrimination and allows the accurate measurement of enantiomeric excess. In Section-II, the development of novel NMR experimental methodology cited in the literature as C-HetSERF and its application for the study of symmetric molecules, such as, double bonded cis- and trans- isomers, and extraction of magnitudes and signs of long range homo- and hetero- nuclear scalar couplings among chemically equivalent protons in polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons is discussed. The extensive utility of the new pulse sequence has been demonstrated on number of symmetric molecules, where the conventional one dimensional experiment fails to yield spectral parameters. In section III, yet another novel pulse sequence called RES-TOCSY developed for unravelling of the overlapped NMR spectrum of enantiomers and the measurement of enantiomeric contents, has been utilized for the accurate measurement of magnitudes and signs of 1H-19F couplings in fluorine containing molecules. The method has distinct advantages as the strengths of the couplings and their relative signs could be extracted on diverse situations, such as, couplings smaller than line widths, the spectrum where the coupling fine structures are absent. Chapter 5 covers the study of nature of intra- and inter- molecular hydrogen bond in amide and its derivative. The chapter is accordingly divided into two sections. In the first section the study of acid and amide hydrogen bonding is discussed and the hydrogen bonded interactions are probed by extensive utility of 1H, 13C and 15N-NMR. The temperature perturbation experiments, measurements of the variation in the couplings, monitoring of diffusion coefficients and the association constants, detection of through space correlation have given unambiguous evidence for the hydrogen bond formation. The results were also supported by DFT calculations. Similar interaction in the solid state has also been derived by obtaining the crystal structure of complex phenylacetic acid with benzamide. In the second section of the chapter the hydrogen bond interaction of organic fluorine in trifluoromethyl derivatives of benzanilides has been explored and the involvement of CF3 group in the hydrogen bonding has been detected. The evidence for the participation of CF3 group in hydrogen bond has been confirmed by number of experiments, such as, the detection of through space couplings, viz., 1hJFH, 1hJFN, and 2hJFF , where the spin polarization between the interacting spins is transmitted through hydrogen bond, the temperature and solvent dependent studies, variation in the 1JNH and two dimensional heteronuclear correlation experiments. In an interesting example of a molecule containing two CF3 groups situated on two phenyl rings of benzanilide, the simultaneous participation of fluorines of two CF3 groups in hydrogen bond has been detected. The confirmatory evidence for such an interaction, where hydrogen bond mediated couplings are not reflected in the NMR spectrum, has been derived by 19F−19F NOESY. Significant deviations in the strengths of 1JNH, in addition to variable temperature, and the solvent induced perturbation studies yielded additional evidence. The NMR results are corroborated by both DFT calculations and MD simulations, where the quantitative information on different ways of involvement of fluorine in two and three centered hydrogen bonds, their percentage of occurrences, and geometries have been obtained. The hydrogen bond interaction energies have also been calculated. The study revealed the rare observation and the first example of the C-F…H-N hydrogen bond in solution state in the molecules containing CF3 groups. Chapter 6 focuses on the mixture analysis using the diffusion ordered spectroscopy (DOSY). High Resolution-DOSY works when the NMR spectrum is well resolved and the diffusion coefficients of the combinatorial mixtures are substantially different from each other. DOSY technique fails when the mixture contains the molecules of nearly identical weights and similar hydrodynamic radii. Thus, the positional isomers, enantiomers consequent to their nearly identical rates of diffusion, are not differentiated. Some of these problems can be overcome by Matrix-Assisted Diffusion Order Spectroscopy (MAD-spectroscopy), where an external reagent acts as a matrix and aids in their diffusion edited separation, provided the molecules embedded in it possess differential binding abilities with the matrix. Such different binding properties of the matrix are the basis for resolution of many isomeric species. In the present study three different novel auxiliaries, micelles-reverse micelles, crown ether and cyclodextrin are introduced for the resolution of positional isomers, double bonded isomers, viz., fumaric acid and maleic acid and also enantiomers. Accordingly, the results of each of these studies are discussed in three different sections.

The thesis entitled “Exploring Diverse Facets of Small Molecules by NMR Spectroscopy” consists of six chapters. The main theme of the thesis is to exploit one and two dimensional NMR methodologies for understanding the diverse facets of small organic molecules, such as, weak intra- and inter- molecular interactions, chiral discrimination, quantification of enantiomeric excess and assignment of absolute configuration. Several new pulse sequences have also been designed to solve specific chemical problems, in addition to extensive utility of existing one and two dimensional NMR experiments. The results obtained on different problems, are discussed under six chapters in the thesis. The brief summary of each of these chapters is given below. Chapter 1 begins with the discussion on the importance of small molecules and their various facets, the analytical techniques available in the literature to study them. The role of NMR spectroscopy as powerful analytical technique to understand the diverse facets of organic molecules and their importance is set out in brief. A short introduction to the basic principles of NMR, the interaction parameters, the commonly employed one and two dimensional homo- and herero- nuclear NMR experiments are also given. The basic introduction to product operators essential for understanding the spin dynamics in the developed pulse sequences is given. The application of diffusion ordered spectroscopy (DOSY), the general problems encountered in the analysis of combinatorial mixtures and the matrix assisted method in circumventing such problems are discussed. Chapter 2 focuses on the chiral discrimination and the measurement of enatiomeric excess. The NMR approach to discriminate enantiomers using chiral auxiliaries such as, solvating agents, derivatizing agents, lanthanide shift reagents, the choice of such auxiliaries and the limitations are discussed in detail. The in-depth discussion on the new protocols developed using both the solvating and derivatizing agents for enantiomeric discrimination of chiral amines, hydroxy acids and diacids are discussed. The new three-component protocols that serve as chiral derivatizing agents for the discrimination of primary amines, diacids and hydroxy acids are discussed. Also the role of organic base such as DMAP in the chiral discrimination is explored for discrimination of acids using BINOL as a chiral solvating agent. Accordingly the discussion is classified into two sections. In the first section the protocol developed utilizing an enantiopure mandelic acid, a primary amine substrate and 2-formylphenylboronic acid that is ideally suited for testing the enantiopurity of chiral primary amines is discussed. The broad applicability of the protocols for testing enantiopurity has been demonstrated on number of chiral molecules using 1H and 19F NMR. The second section contains the results on the new concept developed for discrimination of hydroxy acids. The strategy involves the formation of three component protocol using chiral hydroxy acid, R-alphamethylbenzylamine and 2-formylphenylboronic acid for 1H-NMR discrimination of diacids. The section also includes the utility of ternary ion-pair complex for the discrimination of acids. The ternary ion-pair not only permitted the testing of enantiopurity of chiral acids, but is also found useful for the measurement of enantiomeric excess. Chapter 3 discusses the utilization of the developed three-component protocols for the assignment of absolute configurations of molecules of different functionality. The protocols for the assignments of absolute configuration of primary amines using 2-formylphenylboronic acid and mandelic acid yielded the substantial chemical shift differences between diastereomers. The consistent trend in the direction of change of chemical shifts of the discriminated proton(s) gave significant evidence for employing them as parameters for the assignment of spatial configuration of primary amines. Another protocol using 2-formylphenylboronic acid, hydroxy acids and enantiopure alphamethylbenzylamine permitted their configurational assignment. In the second section a novel solvating agent, obtained by the formation of an ion-pair complex among enantiopure BINOL, DMAP and chiral hydroxy acid for the assignment of the spatial configuration of hydroxy acids is discussed. Chapter 4 focuses on the development of novel NMR methodologies, and also the utility of existing two-dimensional experiments for addressing certain challenging problems. This chapter has been divided into three sections. In Section-I the utilization of well-known homonuclear 2D-J-resolved methodology for unravelling the overlapped NMR spectra of enantiomers, an application for chiral discrimination and the measurement of enantiomeric excess is discussed. The utilization of the chiral auxiliaries, such as, chiral derivatizing agents, chiral solvating agents and lanthanide shift reagents permits enantiodiscrimination and the measurement of excess of one form over the other. Nevertheless many a times one encounters severe problems due to small chemical shift difference, overlap of resonances, complex multiplicity pattern because of the presence of number of interacting spins, and enormous line broadening due to paramagnetic nature of the metal complex. This section is focused on combating such problems utilizing 2D-J-1JNH resolved spectroscopy where a 450 tilting of the spectrum in the F2 dimension, yielded the pure shift NMR spectrum. The method circumvents several problems involved in chiral discrimination and allows the accurate measurement of enantiomeric excess. In Section-II, the development of novel NMR experimental methodology cited in the literature as C-HetSERF and its application for the study of symmetric molecules, such as, double bonded cis- and trans- isomers, and extraction of magnitudes and signs of long range homo- and hetero- nuclear scalar couplings among chemically equivalent protons in polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons is discussed. The extensive utility of the new pulse sequence has been demonstrated on number of symmetric molecules, where the conventional one dimensional experiment fails to yield spectral parameters. In section III, yet another novel pulse sequence called RES-TOCSY developed for unravelling of the overlapped NMR spectrum of enantiomers and the measurement of enantiomeric contents, has been utilized for the accurate measurement of magnitudes and signs of 1H-19F couplings in fluorine containing molecules. The method has distinct advantages as the strengths of the couplings and their relative signs could be extracted on diverse situations, such as, couplings smaller than line widths, the spectrum where the coupling fine structures are absent. Chapter 5 covers the study of nature of intra- and inter- molecular hydrogen bond in amide and its derivative. The chapter is accordingly divided into two sections. In the first section the study of acid and amide hydrogen bonding is discussed and the hydrogen bonded interactions are probed by extensive utility of 1H, 13C and 15N-NMR. The temperature perturbation experiments, measurements of the variation in the couplings, monitoring of diffusion coefficients and the association constants, detection of through space correlation have given unambiguous evidence for the hydrogen bond formation. The results were also supported by DFT calculations. Similar interaction in the solid state has also been derived by obtaining the crystal structure of complex phenylacetic acid with benzamide. In the second section of the chapter the hydrogen bond interaction of organic fluorine in trifluoromethyl derivatives of benzanilides has been explored and the involvement of CF3 group in the hydrogen bonding has been detected. The evidence for the participation of CF3 group in hydrogen bond has been confirmed by number of experiments, such as, the detection of through space couplings, viz., 1hJFH, 1hJFN, and 2hJFF , where the spin polarization between the interacting spins is transmitted through hydrogen bond, the temperature and solvent dependent studies, variation in the 1JNH and two dimensional heteronuclear correlation experiments. In an interesting example of a molecule containing two CF3 groups situated on two phenyl rings of benzanilide, the simultaneous participation of fluorines of two CF3 groups in hydrogen bond has been detected. The confirmatory evidence for such an interaction, where hydrogen bond mediated couplings are not reflected in the NMR spectrum, has been derived by 19F−19F NOESY. Significant deviations in the strengths of 1JNH, in addition to variable temperature, and the solvent induced perturbation studies yielded additional evidence. The NMR results are corroborated by both DFT calculations and MD simulations, where the quantitative information on different ways of involvement of fluorine in two and three centered hydrogen bonds, their percentage of occurrences, and geometries have been obtained. The hydrogen bond interaction energies have also been calculated. The study revealed the rare observation and the first example of the C-F…H-N hydrogen bond in solution state in the molecules containing CF3 groups. Chapter 6 focuses on the mixture analysis using the diffusion ordered spectroscopy (DOSY). High Resolution-DOSY works when the NMR spectrum is well resolved and the diffusion coefficients of the combinatorial mixtures are substantially different from each other. DOSY technique fails when the mixture contains the molecules of nearly identical weights and similar hydrodynamic radii. Thus, the positional isomers, enantiomers consequent to their nearly identical rates of diffusion, are not differentiated. Some of these problems can be overcome by Matrix-Assisted Diffusion Order Spectroscopy (MAD-spectroscopy), where an external reagent acts as a matrix and aids in their diffusion edited separation, provided the molecules embedded in it possess differential binding abilities with the matrix. Such different binding properties of the matrix are the basis for resolution of many isomeric species. In the present study three different novel auxiliaries, micelles-reverse micelles, crown ether and cyclodextrin are introduced for the resolution of positional isomers, double bonded isomers, viz., fumaric acid and maleic acid and also enantiomers. Accordingly, the results of each of these studies are discussed in three different sections.

The thesis entitled “Studies on the Ring-opening Reactions of Vinylcyclopropanes, Vinylcyclobutanes, and other Small-ring Systems” is divided into four chapters. Chapter 1: Part A: Bromenium Catalyzed Tandem Ring-opening/Cyclization of Vinylcyclopropanes and Vinylcyclobutanes: A [3+2+1]/[4+2+1] Cascade for the Synthesis of Chiral Amidines. In this part of the Chapter, we discuss our serendipitous results in the reaction of vinylcyclopropanes (VCPs), like Δ2-carene under Sharpless aziridination conditions using chloramine-T and phenyltrimethylammonium tribromide (PTAB) as catalyst in acetonitrile. The reaction follows a [3+2+1] cascade pathway involving acetonitrile (Ritter-type reaction) to give chiral bicyclic amidines in very good yield. The reaction was found to be tolerant to hydroxyl- and keto-functionalities. . existence of a tight-carbocation intermediate. Our attempts to access bridged bicyclic amidines from vinylcyclobutanes like α-pinene resulted in the formation of bicyclo[4.3.1]pyrimidines successfully in moderate yields. Partial racemization of the product was observed and this observation was rationalized through competing cyclization pathways. Vinylcyclopropanes and Vinylcyclobutanes towards the Synthesis of Chiral Amidines. In this part of the chapter, we discuss our computational results obtained from modeling the reaction pathway in gas-phase and solvent dielectrics (acetonitrile). Initially, we modeled the ring-opening process, to visualize the geometrical features and the orbital interactions present in the tight-carbocation intermediate. We also modeled the competing cyclization pathways to justify the racemization observed in the case of α-pinene. Our calculations show that, the free energy of activation for the allylic substitution and the direct substitution pathways are nearly equal. Thus, the formation of both the enantiomers is feasible kinetically. the proposed cascade pathway. Chapter 2: Electrophile-Induced Indirect Activation of C-C Bond of Vinylcyclopropanes: A Masked Donor-Acceptor Strategy for the Synthesis of Z-Alkylidenetetrahydrofurans. In Chapter 2, we discuss the results of introducing VCPs as masked donor-acceptor systems under electrophilic conditions. Our aim was to activate the VCPs with in situ generated bromine electrophile to give a tight-carbocation as discussed in Chapter 1. Further, the tight-carbocation can be used to access novel heterocycles. formation of Z-alkylidienetetrahydrofurans with high stereoselectivity across the exocyclic double bond. An interesting reactivity of benzofuran derived VCPs was observed, where the ring-opening occurred concurrently adjacent to the heteroatom and at the benzylic position to give both cis- and trans-furofuran. methyl group on VCP as a chiral marker. Under our standard reaction conditions, cyclization resulted in the retention of configuration at the phenyl center. The retention of configuration results through a directed attack of hydroxyl group on the tight-carbocation. functionalized tetrahydrofurans Chapter 3: σ-Ferrier Rearrangement of Carbohydrate Derived Vinylcyclopropanes: A Facile Approach to Oxepane Analogs In the present chapter, we have presented the idea of a tight-carbocation through an electrophile-mediated activation of VCPs on carbohydrate derived VCPs through a σ-Ferrier rearrangement. We expected high stereoselectivity at the anomeric center assuming the existence of a tight carbocation intermediate. Reaction of glucose-derived VCPs resulted in the ring-expansion to oxepane analogues, but with poor diastereoselectivity. Similar selectivity was observed even in the case of galacto- derived VCPs. intermediate. The planar oxonium intermediate is a more stable intermediate but reacts with poor facial selectivity. With water as nucleophile, the reaction led to a diene aldehyde through a complete ring-opening of the oxepane formed, followed by the elimination of hydrogen bromide. the unsaturated oxepanes with facial diastereoselectivity. Chapter 4: One-Pot Synthesis of β-Amino/β-Hydroxyselenides and Sulfides from Aziridines and Epoxides. In this chapter, we present details of the reductive cleavage of aromatic disulfide and diselenide bonds mediated by Rongalite. The reagent reacts with disulfides to generate thiolate anion through a two-electron transfer mechanism. The thiolate anion was further utilized for nucleophile-mediated ring-opening of small-ring systems. The reaction of aziridines with aryl disulfides mediated by Rongalite, resulted in regioselective ring-opening to from β-aminosulfides. In the case of trisubstituted aziridines, the reaction led to a regioisomeric mixture of products. The reaction was found to be efficient for the ring-opening of epoxides as well. diselenides and Rongalite, successfully underwent cleavage of diselenide bond followed by ring-opening to give β-aminoselenides. The reaction was successful with epoxides as starting material to yield β-hydroxyselenides

The thesis entitled “Studies on the Ring-opening Reactions of Vinylcyclopropanes, Vinylcyclobutanes, and other Small-ring Systems” is divided into four chapters. Chapter 1: Part A: Bromenium Catalyzed Tandem Ring-opening/Cyclization of Vinylcyclopropanes and Vinylcyclobutanes: A [3+2+1]/[4+2+1] Cascade for the Synthesis of Chiral Amidines. In this part of the Chapter, we discuss our serendipitous results in the reaction of vinylcyclopropanes (VCPs), like Δ2-carene under Sharpless aziridination conditions using chloramine-T and phenyltrimethylammonium tribromide (PTAB) as catalyst in acetonitrile. The reaction follows a [3+2+1] cascade pathway involving acetonitrile (Ritter-type reaction) to give chiral bicyclic amidines in very good yield. The reaction was found to be tolerant to hydroxyl- and keto-functionalities. . existence of a tight-carbocation intermediate. Our attempts to access bridged bicyclic amidines from vinylcyclobutanes like α-pinene resulted in the formation of bicyclo[4.3.1]pyrimidines successfully in moderate yields. Partial racemization of the product was observed and this observation was rationalized through competing cyclization pathways. Vinylcyclopropanes and Vinylcyclobutanes towards the Synthesis of Chiral Amidines. In this part of the chapter, we discuss our computational results obtained from modeling the reaction pathway in gas-phase and solvent dielectrics (acetonitrile). Initially, we modeled the ring-opening process, to visualize the geometrical features and the orbital interactions present in the tight-carbocation intermediate. We also modeled the competing cyclization pathways to justify the racemization observed in the case of α-pinene. Our calculations show that, the free energy of activation for the allylic substitution and the direct substitution pathways are nearly equal. Thus, the formation of both the enantiomers is feasible kinetically. the proposed cascade pathway. Chapter 2: Electrophile-Induced Indirect Activation of C-C Bond of Vinylcyclopropanes: A Masked Donor-Acceptor Strategy for the Synthesis of Z-Alkylidenetetrahydrofurans. In Chapter 2, we discuss the results of introducing VCPs as masked donor-acceptor systems under electrophilic conditions. Our aim was to activate the VCPs with in situ generated bromine electrophile to give a tight-carbocation as discussed in Chapter 1. Further, the tight-carbocation can be used to access novel heterocycles. formation of Z-alkylidienetetrahydrofurans with high stereoselectivity across the exocyclic double bond. An interesting reactivity of benzofuran derived VCPs was observed, where the ring-opening occurred concurrently adjacent to the heteroatom and at the benzylic position to give both cis- and trans-furofuran. methyl group on VCP as a chiral marker. Under our standard reaction conditions, cyclization resulted in the retention of configuration at the phenyl center. The retention of configuration results through a directed attack of hydroxyl group on the tight-carbocation. functionalized tetrahydrofurans Chapter 3: σ-Ferrier Rearrangement of Carbohydrate Derived Vinylcyclopropanes: A Facile Approach to Oxepane Analogs In the present chapter, we have presented the idea of a tight-carbocation through an electrophile-mediated activation of VCPs on carbohydrate derived VCPs through a σ-Ferrier rearrangement. We expected high stereoselectivity at the anomeric center assuming the existence of a tight carbocation intermediate. Reaction of glucose-derived VCPs resulted in the ring-expansion to oxepane analogues, but with poor diastereoselectivity. Similar selectivity was observed even in the case of galacto- derived VCPs. intermediate. The planar oxonium intermediate is a more stable intermediate but reacts with poor facial selectivity. With water as nucleophile, the reaction led to a diene aldehyde through a complete ring-opening of the oxepane formed, followed by the elimination of hydrogen bromide. the unsaturated oxepanes with facial diastereoselectivity. Chapter 4: One-Pot Synthesis of β-Amino/β-Hydroxyselenides and Sulfides from Aziridines and Epoxides. In this chapter, we present details of the reductive cleavage of aromatic disulfide and diselenide bonds mediated by Rongalite. The reagent reacts with disulfides to generate thiolate anion through a two-electron transfer mechanism. The thiolate anion was further utilized for nucleophile-mediated ring-opening of small-ring systems. The reaction of aziridines with aryl disulfides mediated by Rongalite, resulted in regioselective ring-opening to from β-aminosulfides. In the case of trisubstituted aziridines, the reaction led to a regioisomeric mixture of products. The reaction was found to be efficient for the ring-opening of epoxides as well. diselenides and Rongalite, successfully underwent cleavage of diselenide bond followed by ring-opening to give β-aminoselenides. The reaction was successful with epoxides as starting material to yield β-hydroxyselenides

In the first part of this work, a convenient and high yielding synthetic strategy was developed to approach highly electrophilic fluorophosphonium cations as triflate salts. Through in situ electrophilic fluorination of phosphanes with commercially available bench-stable N-fluorobenzenesulfonimide (NFSI), followed by subsequent methylation of the [N(PhSO2)2]- anion with MeOTf, a library of mono-, di- and tri- cationic fluorophosphonium triflates were obtained in excellent yields. The Lewis acidities of all synthesized fluorophosphonium triflates salts were evaluated by both theoretical and experimental methods. These fluorophosphonium triflates have been develop as catalysts for the conversation of formamides into N-sulfonyl formamidines. CHAPTER II of this work focus on developing electrophilic fluorophosphonium cation as Lewis acid pedant in both inter- and intra- molecular FLP systems, as well as exploring their application in small molecular activation and functionalization, such as reversible CO2 sequestration and binding of carbonyls, nitriles and acetylenes. CHAPTER III of this thesis reports on the reaction of electrophilic fluorophosphonium triflates with trimethylsilyl nucleophiles (Me3SiX, X = CN, N3), which selectively yields either pseudohalo-substituted flurophosphoranes or pseudohalo-substituted phosphonium cations.:1. Introduction 1 1.1. Frustrated Lewis Pair chemistry 2 1.2. Phosphorus derivatives as strong Lewis acids 6 2. Objective 11 3. CHAPTER I: Synthesis of fluorophosphonium triflate salts and application as catalyst 15 3.1. Electrophilic fluorination of phosphanes: a convenient approach to electrophilic fluorophosphonium cations 15 3.2. Fluorophilicities and Lewis acidities of the obtained fluorophosphonium derivatives 23 3.2.1. Evaluation of fluorophilicities and Lewis acidities of the obtained fluorophosphonium cations 24 3.2.2. Reactions of fluorophosphonium salts with selected formamides. 27 3.2.3. Reactions of fluorophosphonium salts with selected urea derivatives 31 3.3. Transformation of formamides to N-sulfonyl formamidines using fluorophosphonium triflates as active catalysts 34 4. CHAPTER II: Bifunctional electrophilic fluorophosphonium triflates as intramolecular Frustrated Lewis Pairs 45 5. CHAPTER III: Reaction of fluorophosphonium triflate salts with trimethylsilyl nucleophiles 63 6. Summary 73 7. Perspective 77 8. Experimental section 80 8.1. Materials and methods 80 8.2. Experimental details for CHAPTER I 82 8.2.1. Preparation of imidazoliumyl-substituted phosphanes. 82 8.2.1.1. Preparation of [Ph2LcMeP][OTf] 82 8.2.1.2. Preparation of [Ph2LciPrP][OTf] 83 8.2.1.3. Preparation of [(C6F5)2LcMeP][OTf] 83 8.2.1.4. Preparation of [(C6F5)2LciPrP][OTf] 84 8.2.1.5. Preparation of [PhLcMe2P][OTf]2 85 8.2.1.6. Preparation of [PhLciPr2P][OTf]2 85 8.2.2. Preparation of fluorophosphonium bis(phenylsulfonyl)amide salts 86 8.2.2.1. Preparation of [36(NSI)]. 86 8.2.2.2. Preparation of 58a[NSI] 87 8.2.2.3. Preparation of 58b[N(SO2Ph)2] 88 8.2.3. Preparation of fluorophosphonium triflate salts 88 8.2.3.1. Preparation of 36[OTf] 89 8.2.3.2. Preparation of 36[H(OTf)2] 89 8.2.3.3. Preparation of 58a[OTf] 90 8.2.3.4. Preparation of 58b[OTf] 91 8.2.3.5. Preparation of 58c[OTf] 91 8.2.3.6. Preparation of 59a[OTf] 92 8.2.3.7. Preparation of 59b[OTf] 93 8.2.3.8. Preparation of 60Mea[OTf]2 94 8.2.3.9. Preparation of 60iPra[OTf]2 94 8.2.2.10. Preparation of 60Meb[OTf]2 95 8.2.3.11. Preparation of 60iPrb[OTf]2 96 8.2.3.12. Preparation of 61Me[OTf]3 97 8.2.3.13. Preparation of 61iPr[OTf]3 97 8.2.4. Reaction of fluorophosphonium triflate salts with nucleophiles 98 8.2.4.1. Preparation of 62a[OTf] 98 8.2.4.2. Preparation of 62b[OTf] 99 8.2.4.3. Preparation of 62c[OTf] 100 8.2.4.4. Preparation of 63 100 8.2.4.5. Preparation of 65 101 8.2.4.6. Preparation of 69a[OTf] 102 8.2.4.7. Preparation of 69b[OTf] 103 8.2.5. Synthesis of H[N(SO2R)(SO2Ph)] and corresponding sodium salt 103 8.2.5.1. General procedure for the formation of N-sulfonyl-sulfonamides 103 8.2.5.2. General procedure for the formation of sodium bis(sulfonyl)amides 104 8.2.5.3. Preparation of HN(SO2Ph)2, Na[N(SO2Ph)2] and [nBu4N][N(SO2Ph)2] 104 8.2.5.4. Preparation of 81a and 82a 105 8.2.5.5. Preparation of 81b and 82b 106 8.2.5.6. Preparation of 81c and 82c 106 8.2.5.7. Preparation of 81d and 82d 107 8.2.5.8. Preparation of 81e and 82e 108 8.2.5.9. Preparation of 81f and 82f 108 8.2.5.10. Preparation of 81g and 82g 109 8.2.5.11. Preparation of 81h and 82h 109 8.2.6. Synthesis of N-sulfonyl amidines 110 8.2.6.1. General procedure for the catalytic formation of N-sulfonyl amidines 110 8.2.6.2. Preparation of 64 110 8.2.6.3. Preparation of 72 111 8.2.6.4. Preparation of 73 112 8.2.6.5. Preparation of 74 112 8.2.6.6. Preparation of 75 113 8.2.6.7. Preparation of 76 114 8.2.6.8. Preparation of 77 114 8.2.6.9. Preparation of 78 115 8.2.6.10. Preparation of 79 116 8.2.6.11. Preparation of 80a,b 116 8.2.6.12. Preparation of 83b 117 8.2.6.13. Preparation of 83c 118 8.2.6.14. Preparation of 83d 119 8.2.6.15. Preparation of 83e 119 8.2.6.16. Preparation of 83f 120 8.2.6.17. Preparation of 83g 121 8.2.6.18. Preparation of 83h 122 8.3. Experimental details for CHAPTER II 123 8.3.1. Preparation of N-containing phosphanes 123 8.3.1.1. Preparation of 2-(bis(perfluorophenyl)phosphaneyl)pyridine 123 8.3.1.2. Preparation of 2-(bis(perfluorophenyl)phosphaneyl)-1-methylimidazole 124 8.3.1.3. Preparation of 2-(bis(perfluorophenyl)phosphaneyl)-N,N-dimethylaniline 124 8.3.2. Preparation of N/P Frustrated Lewis Pairs 125 8.3.2.1. General procedure for the synthesis of N/P-Frustrated Lewis pairs 125 8.3.2.2. Preparation of 85[OTf] 126 8.3.2.3. Preparation of 86[OTf] 126 8.3.2.4. Preparation of 87[OTf] 127 8.3.2.5. Preparation of 88[OTf] 128 8.3.2.6. Preparation of 89[OTf] 129 8.3.3. Synthesis of compound 84[OTf] 130 8.3.4. Reaction of N/P FLP with carbonyls, nitriles or acetylenes 131 8.3.4.1. General reaction conditions for the reaction of N/P FLP with carbonyls and nitriles 131 8.3.4.2. Preparation of 90[OTf] 131 8.3.4.3. Preparation of 91[OTf] 132 8.3.4.4. Preparation of 92[OTf] 133 8.3.4.5. Preparation of 93a[OTf] 134 8.3.4.6. Preparation of 93b[OTf] 134 8.3.4.7. Preparation of 94[OTf] 135 8.3.4.8. Preparation of 95[OTf] 136 8.3.4.9. Preparation of 96[OTf] 137 8.3.4.10. Preparation of 97a[OTf] 138 8.3.4.11. Preparation of 97b[OTf] 139 8.3.4.12. Preparation of 99a[OTf]2 140 8.3.4.13 Preparation of 100b[OTf] 141 8.3.5. Reaction of N/P FLPs with CO2 142 8.3.5.1 Reaction of 85[OTf] with CO2 142 8.3.5.2 Reaction of 86[OTf] with CO2 142 8.4. Experimental details for CHAPTER III 144 8.4.1 Synthesis of 105a,b[OTf] and 106c 144 8.4.1.1. General procedure for the reaction of fluorophosphonium triflate with Me3SiCN 144 8.4.1.2. Preparation of 105a[OTf] 144 8.4.1.3. Preparation of 105b[OTf] 145 8.4.1.4. Preparation of 106c 145 8.4.2. Reaction of fluorophosphonium triflate salt with Me3SiN3 146 8.4.2.1. General procedure for preparation of azidofluorophosphorane 146 8.4.2.2. General procedure for preparation of azidofluorophosphonium triflate salts 146 8.4.2.3. Preparation of 107a[OTf] 146 8.4.2.4. Preparation of 107b[OTf] 147 8.4.2.5. Preparation of 107c[OTf] 147 8.4.2.6. Preparation of 108c 148 8.4.2.7. Preparation of 109[OTf] 149 8.4.2.8. Preparation of 110[OTf]2 149 8.4.2.9. Preparation of 113[OTf]3 150 8.4.2.10. Preparation of 114[OTf] 151 8.4.2.11. Preparation of 115[OTf] 151 8.4.2.12. Preparation of 116[OTf] 152 8.4.3 Transformation of azido-fluorophosphorane under heating conditions 153 8.4.3.1 Preparation of 118 153 8.4.3.2 Preparation of 120a,b[OTf] 154 9. Crystallographic details 156 9.1. X-ray Diffraction refinements 156 9.2. Crystallographic details for CHAPTER I 157 9.3. Crystallographic details for CHAPTER II 169 9.4. Crystallographic details for CHAPTER III 176 10. Computational methods 179 11. Abbreviations 181 12. Nomenclature of compounds according to IUPAC recommendations 183 13. References 187 14. Acknowledgment 205 15. Publications and conference contributions 207 15.1. Peer-reviewed publication 207 15.2. Poster presentations 207 Versicherung 209 Erklärung 209