M-M bond-stretching energy landscapes for M2(dimen)4(2+) (M = Rh, Ir; dimen = 1,8-diisocyanomenthane) complexes.

Isomers of Ir(2)(dimen)(4)(2+) (dimen = 1,8-diisocyanomenthane) exhibit different Ir-Ir bond distances in a 2:1 MTHF/EtCN solution (MTHF = 2-methyltetrahydrofuran). Variable-temperature absorption data suggest that the isomer with the shorter Ir-Ir distance is favored at room temperature [K = ∼8; ΔH° = -0.8 kcal/mol; ΔS° = 1.

Cobalt-containing polyimides for moisture sensing and absorption.

A modified polyimide has been created that both senses and absorbs moisture. The material was prepared by introducing cobalt(II) chloride, a well-known moisture sensing and absorbing metal salt, into a polyimide. The final polymer was found to be fully cured, retaining the metal without any leeching, and was thermally stable.

Electron tunneling through organic molecules in frozen glasses.

Reaction rates extracted from measurements of donor luminescence quenching by randomly dispersed electron acceptors reveal an exponential decay constant of 1.23 per angstrom for electron tunneling through a frozen toluene glass (with a barrier to tunneling of 1.4 electron volts).

High-potential states of blue and purple copper proteins.

Electrochemical measurements show that there are high-potential states of two copper proteins, Pseudomonas aeruginosa azurin and Thermus thermophilus CuA domain; these perturbed states are formed in guanidine hydrochloride (GuHCl) solution in which the proteins are still blue (azurin) and purple (CuA). In each case, the high-potential state forms reversibly. Absorption (azurin, CuA), visible circular dichroism (azurin, CuA), resonance-Raman (CuA), and EPR (CuA) spectra indicate that the structure of the oxidized copper site of each high-potential form is very similar to that of the native protein.

Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution. 13.(1) Kinetics and Spectroscopy of the Chloromethylation of Benzene and Toluene with Methoxyacetyl Chloride or Chloromethyl Methyl Ether and Aluminum Chloride in Nitromethane or Tin Tetrachloride in Dichloromethane. The Methoxymethyl Cation as a Remarkably Selective Common Electrophile.

Vacuum line kinetics studies have been made of the reaction in nitromethane between benzene and/or toluene, methoxyacetyl chloride (MAC), and AlCl(3) to produce benzyl or xylyl chlorides, CO, and a CH(3)OH(-)AlCl(3) complex. For both arenes, the rate law appears to be R = (k(3)/[AlCl(3)](0)) [AlCl(3)](2)[MAC]. When chloromethyl methyl ether (CMME) is substituted for MAC, a similar rate law is obtained.