The success of solar fuel technology relies on the development of efficient catalysts that can oxidize or reduce water. All molecular water-oxidation catalysts reported thus far are transition-metal complexes, however, here we report catalytic water oxidation to give oxygen by a fully organic compound, the N(5)-ethylflavinium ion, Et-Fl(+). Evolution of oxygen was detected during bulk electrolysis of aqueous Et-Fl(+) solutions at several potentials above +1.9 V versus normal hydrogen electrode. The catalysis was found to occur on glassy carbon and platinum working electrodes, but no catalysis was observed on fluoride-doped tin-oxide electrodes. Based on spectroelectrochemical results and preliminary calculations with density functional theory, one possible mechanistic route is proposed in which the oxygen evolution occurs from a peroxide intermediate formed between the oxidized flavin pseudobase and the oxidized carbon electrode. These findings offer an organic alternative to the traditional water-oxidation catalysts based on transition metals.

Binuclear copper(II) complexes [{(phen)Cu(II)}(2)(mu-dtdp)(2)] (1), [{(dpq)Cu(II)}(2)(mu-dtdp)(2)] (2), [{(phen)Cu(II)}(2)(mu-az)(2)] (3), and [{(dpq)Cu(II)}(2)(mu-az)(2)] (4) and a zinc(II) complex [{(phen)Zn(II)}(2)(mu-dtdp)(2)] (5), having 3,3'-dithiodipropionic acid (H(2)dtdp), azelaic acid (nonanedioic acid), 1,10-phenanthroline (phen), and dipyrido[3,2-d:2',3'-f]quinoxaline (dpq), were prepared and characterized by physicochemical methods. Complex 1 has been structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography. The complexes have each metal center bound to a chelating phenanthroline base and two bridging carboxylate ligands giving a square-planar MN(2)O(2) coordination geometry. The molecular structure of complex 1 shows two sterically constrained disulfide moieties of the dtdp ligands. The complexes show good binding propensity to calf thymus DNA in the major groove. The photoinduced DNA cleavage activity of the complexes has been studied using 365 nm UV light and 647.1 nm and >750 nm red light under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The phen complex 1, having dtdp ligand, cleaves supercoiled (SC) DNA to its nicked circular (NC) form. The dpq analogue 2 shows formation of a significant quantity of linear DNA resulting from double-strand breaks (dsb) in air. Mechanistic studies reveal the involvement of HO(*) and (1)O(2) as the reactive species under an aerobic medium. The dsb of DNA is rationalized from the docking studies on 2, showing a close proximity of two photosensitizers, namely, the disulfide moiety of dtdp and the quinoxaline ring of dpq to the complementary strands of DNA. The copper(II) complexes of the dtdp ligand cleave SC DNA to its NC form upon exposure to UV or red light under an argon atmosphere. An enhancement of the DNA cleavage activity under argon has been observed upon increasing the concentration of the DMF solvent in the DMF-Tris buffer medium. Theoretical studies suggest the possibility of sulfide anion radical formation from a copper(II)-bound dtdp ligand in >750 nm red light, which further cleaves the DNA. The copper(II) azelate complexes are inactive under similar reaction conditions. The azelate complex of the dpq ligand cleaves DNA in air following the (1)O(2) pathway. The zinc(II) complex of the dtdp ligand (5) does not show any photoinduced DNA cleavage activity in red light.

Electrochemical behavior of flavinium (Et-Fl + ) and acridinium (Acr + ) cations is presented, in order to investigate their activity toward catalytic water oxidation. Cyclic voltammograms of Acr + and Et-Fl + in acetonitrile are qualitatively similar, with oxidation peaks at highly positive potentials, and these oxidation peaks depend strongly on the type of the working electrode being used. However, the two model compounds exhibit different behaviors in the presence of water: while Et-Fl + facilitates electrocatalytic water oxidation through an electrodeassisted mechanism, water oxidation is not accelerated in the presence of Acr + . A comparative study of variable scan-rate cyclic voltammetry, concentration dependence, and spectroelectrochemical behavior of two model compounds suggest that Et-Fl + and Acr + exhibit different reaction pathways with the electrode surface. On the basis of the experimental results, a mechanism is proposed to account for the observed differences in electrocatalysis.

Calcineurin inhibitors such as cyclosporine A and FK506 are effective immunosuppressants but produce severe side effects. Rational modification of a previously reported peptide inhibitor, GPHPVIVITGPHEE (KD ∼ 500 nM), by replacing the two valine residues with tert-leucine and the C-terminal proline with a cis-proline analogue, gave an improved inhibitor ZIZIT-cisPro, which binds to calcineurin with a KD value of 2.6 nM and is more resistant to proteolysis.

The structures and electronic relationship of 9-, 10-, 11-, and 12-vertex closo and hypercloso (isocloso) metallaboranes are explored using DFT calculations. The role of the transition metal in stabilizing the hypercloso borane structures is explained using the concept of orbital compatibility. The hypercloso structures, C(6)H(6)MB(n-1)H(n-1) (n = 9-12; M = Fe, Ru, and Os) are taken as model complexes. Calculations on metal free polyhedral borane B(n)H(n) suggest that n vertex hypercloso structures need only n skeleton electron pairs (SEPs), but the structure will have one or more six-degree vertices, whereas the corresponding closo structures with n + 1 SEPs have only four- and five-degree vertices. This high-degree vertex of hypercloso structures can be effectively occupied by transition metal fragments with their highly diffused orbitals. Calculations further show that a heavy transition metal with more diffused orbitals prefers over a light transition metal to form hypercloso geometry. This is in accordance with the fact that there are more experimentally characterized hypercloso structures with the heavy transition metals. The size of the exohedral ligands attached to the metal atom also plays a role in deciding the stability of the hypercloso structure. The interaction between the borane and the metal fragments in the hypercloso geometry is analyzed using the fragment molecular orbital approach. The interconversion of the closo and hypercloso structures by the addition and removal of the electrons is also discussed in terms of the correlation diagrams.