1. Interaction of tertiary phosphines with lignin-type, alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes in water
Dmitry V Moiseev, Brian O Patrick, Brian R James, Thomas Q Hu Inorg Chem. 2007 Oct 29;46(22):9389-99.doi: 10.1021/ic7007478.Epub 2007 Oct 3.
To learn more about the bleaching action of pulps by (hydroxymethyl)phosphines, lignin chromophores, such as the alpha,beta-unsaturated aromatic aldehydes, sinapaldehyde, coniferylaldehyde, and coumaraldehyde, were reacted with the tertiary phosphines R2R'P [R = R' = Me, Et, (CH2)3OH, iPr, cyclo-C6H11, (CH2)2CN; R = Me or Et, R' = Ph; R = Ph, R' = Me, m-NaSO3-C6H4] in water at room temperature under argon. In all cases, initial nucleophilic attack of the phosphine occurs at the activated C=C bond to form a zwitterionic monophosphonium species. With the phosphines PR3 [R = Me, Et, (CH2)3OH] and with R2R'P (R = Me or Et, R' = Ph), the zwitterion undergoes self-condensation to give a bisphosphonium zwitterion that can react with aqueous HCl to form the corresponding dichloride salts (as a mixture of R,R- and S,S-enantiomers); X-ray structures are presented for the bisphosphonium chlorides synthesized from the Et3P and Me3P reactions with sinapaldehyde. With the more bulky phosphines, iPr3P, MePPh2, (cyclo-C6H11)3P, and Na[Ph2P(m-SO3-C6H4)], only an equilibrium of the monophosphonium zwitterion with the reactant aldehyde is observed. The weakly nucleophilic [NC(CH2)2]3P does not react with sinapaldehyde. An analysis of some exceptional 1H NMR data within the prochiral phosphorus centers of the bisphosphonium chlorides is also presented.
2. Water-soluble hydroxyalkylated phosphines: examples of their differing behaviour toward ruthenium and rhodium
Lee J Higham, Michael K Whittlesey, Paul T Wood Dalton Trans. 2004 Dec 21;(24):4202-8.doi: 10.1039/b411701h.Epub 2004 Nov 16.
The reaction of P(CH2OH)3 (I) and P(C6H5)(CH2OH)2 (II) with RuCl3 in methanol eliminates two equivalents of formaldehyde to yield the mixed tertiary and secondary phosphine complexes all-trans-[RuCl2(P(CH2OH)3)2(P(CH2OH)2H)2] (1) and [RuCl2(P(C6H5)(CH2OH)2)2(P(C6H5)(CH2OH)H)2] (2), respectively. There is a high degree of hydrogen-bonding interactions between the hydroxymethyl groups in 1 and 2, although the phenyl groups of the latter reduce the extent of the network compared to 1. The generation of these mixed secondary and tertiary phosphine complexes is unprecedented. Under the same reaction conditions, the tris(hydroxypropyl)phosphine III formed no ruthenium complex. The reaction of P(CH2OH)3, P(C6H5)(CH2OH)2 and P{(CH2)3OH}3 with [RhCl(1,5-cod)]2 in an aqueous/dichloromethane biphasic medium yielded [RhH2(P(CH2OH)3)4]+ (3), [RhH2(P(C6H5)(CH2OH)2)4]+ (4) and [Rh(P(C6H5)(CH2OH)2)4]+ (5) and [Rh(P{(CH2)3OH}3)4]+ (6), respectively. Treating 5 with dihydrogen rapidly gave 4. The hydroxypropyl compound 6 formed the corresponding dihydride much more slowly in aqueous solution, although [RhH2(P{(CH2)3OH}3)4]+ (7) was readily formed by reaction with dihydrogen. Two separate reaction pathways are therefore involved; for P(CH2OH)3 and to a lesser extent P(C6H5)(CH2OH)2, the hydride source in the product is likely to be the aqueous solvent or the hydroxyl protons, whilst for P{(CH2)3OH}3 an oxidative addition of H2 is favoured. The protic nature of and was illustrated by the H-D exchange observed in d2-water. Dihydrides 3 and 4 reacted with carbon monoxide to yield the dicarbonyl cations [Rh(CO)2(P(CH2OH)3)3]+ (8) and [Rh(CO)2(P(C6H5)(CH2OH)2)3]+ (9). The analogous experiment with [RhH2(P{(CH2)3OH}3)4]+ resulted in phosphine exchange, although our experimental evidence points to the possibility of more than one fluxional process in solution.
3. Synthesis of 2'-C-alpha-(hydroxyalkyl) and 2'-C-alpha-alkylcytidine phosphoramidites: analogues for probing solvent interactions with RNA
Nan-Sheng Li, Joseph A Piccirilli J Org Chem. 2007 Feb 16;72(4):1198-210.doi: 10.1021/jo062002t.
Nucleoside analogues bearing 2'-C-alpha-(hydroxyalkyl) and 2'-C-alpha-alkyl substitutes have numerous applications in RNA chemistry and biology. In particular, they provide a strategy to probe the interaction between the 2'-hydroxyl group of RNA and water. To incorporate these nucleoside analogues into oligonucleotides for studies of the group II intron (Gordon, P. M.; Fong, R.; Deb, S.; Li, N.-S.; Schwans, J. P.; Ye, J.-D.; Piccirilli, J. A. Chem. Biol. 2004, 11, 237), we synthesized six new phosphoramidite derivatives of 2'-deoxy-2'-C-alpha-(hydroxyalkyl)cytidine (36: R = -(CH2)2OH; 38: R = -(CH2)3OH; 40: R = -(CH2)4OH) and 2'-deoxy-2'-C-alpha-alkylcytidine (37: R = -CH2CH3; 39: R = -(CH2)2CH3; 41: R = -(CH2)3CH3) from cytidine or uridine via 2'-C-alpha-allylation, followed by alkene and alcohol transformations. Phosphoramidites 36 and 37 were prepared from cytidine in overall yields of 14% (10 steps) and 7% (11 steps), respectively. Phosphoramidites 38 and 39 were prepared from uridine in overall yields of 30% (10 steps) and 13% (11 steps), respectively. Phosphoramidites 40 and 41 were synthesized from uridine in overall yields of 21% (13 steps) and 25% (14 steps), respectively.
