By elucidating the mechanism of the simplest electrophilic substitution reaction of ferrocene, it was found that the verification of the protonation reaction has been a difficulty. In the work reported here, ab initio chemical dynamics simulations were performed at B3LYP/DZVP level of theory to understand the atomic level mechanisms of protonation and lithiation of ferrocene. Protonation of ferrocene resulted in the agostic and metal-protonated forms. Trajectory calculations revealed that protonation of ferrocene occurs by exo and endo mechanisms, with exo being the major path. H(+) was found to be mobile and hopped from the Cp ring to the metal center and vice versa after the initial attack on ferrocene, with the metal-complex having a shorter lifetime. These results remove the ambiguity surrounding the mechanism, as proposed in earlier experimental and computational studies. Lithiation of ferrocene resulted in the formation of cation-π and metal-lithiated complexes. Similar to protonation, trajectory results revealed that both exo and endo paths were followed, with the exo path being the major one. In addition, lithiated-ferrocene exhibited planetary motion. The major path (exo) followed in the protonation and lithiation of ferrocene is consistent with the observations in earlier experimental studies for other hard electrophiles.

The immunosuppressant rapamycin has been shown to inhibit G 1 /S transition of the cell cycle. This inhibition is thought to be mediated by maintenance of the threshold levels of cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor p27 Kip1 (p27) and inhibition of p70 s6 kinase (p70 s6k ). However, recent evidence suggests that cells still remain sensitive to rapamycin in the absence of functional p27 or p70 s6k . Here, we show that rapamycin represses cyclin D3 levels in activated human T lymphocytes with no inhibitory effects on cyclin D2. Furthermore, rapamycin elicits similar cyclin D3 modulatory effects in B lymphocytes. The overall effect of rapamycin on cyclin D3 leads to impaired formation of active complexes with Cdk4 or Cdk6 and subsequent inhibition of cyclin D3/ CDK kinase activity. Decrease in cyclin D3 protein levels is due to translational repression and not due to attenuated transcription of the cyclin D3 gene. Importantly, stable overexpression of cyclin D3 (2-2.5 fold) in Jurkat T cell transfectants renders them resistant to lower doses (1-10 ng/ml) of rapamycin. These results point to a critical role of cyclin D3 in rapamycin-mediated immunosuppressive effects in T cells and cell cycle regulation in lymphocytes in general.

Regioisomers of 3,5-diphenyl-1-(4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)-1H-pyrazole-based palladacycles (1 and 2) were synthesized by the aromatic C−H bond activation of N/3-aryl ring. The application of these regioisomers as catalysts to enable the formation of α-alkylated ketones or quinolines with alcohols using a hydrogen borrowing process is evaluated. Experimental results reveal that palladacycle 2 is superior over palladacycle 1 to catalyze the reaction under similar reaction conditions. The reaction mechanisms for the palladacycles 1 and 2 catalyzed α-alkylation of acetophenone were studied using density functional theoretical (DFT) methods. The DFT studies indicate that palladacycle 2 has an energy barrier lower than that of palladacycle 1 for the alkylation reaction, consistent with the better catalytic activity of palladacycle 2 seen in the experiments. The palladacycle−phosphine system was found to tolerate a wide range of functional groups and serves as an efficient protocol for the synthesis of α-alkylated products under solvent-free conditions. In addition, the synthetic protocol was successfully applied to prepare donepezil, a drug for Alzheimer's disease, from simple starting materials.

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The commonly accepted mechanism of the nucleophilic aromatic substitution reaction (SNAr) has been found to be governed by the nature of the Meisenheimer structure on the potential energy surface. A stable...