Oligomeric Adducts Research Articles

Quantitative and qualitative composition of proanthocyanidins and other polyphenols in commercial red wines and their contribution to sensorially evaluated tannicity

The analysis of proanthocyanidins (PA) in red wine has typically been conducted using few key methods, such as phloroglucinolysis or precipitation assays. Here, the content of PAs and other common polyphenol groups in commercial red wines were analyzed with a group-specific liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method. Besides concentrations, the method provides qualitative information about the detected compound groups in the form of two-dimensional (2D) chromatographic fingerprints. The 2D fingerprints of PAs have not been utilized in analysis of red wine before. For instance, 2D chromatographic fingerprints revealed that the complex PA compositions were qualitatively notably similar between many wine types, even when there were considerable differences in concentrations. Finally, 201 commercial red wines had been categorized as either tannic or medium tannic based on their sensorial evaluations. The content of PAs and three different groups of oligomeric adducts of malvidin glycosides and PAs were measured from these wines. The compositional features of the PAs and PA–malvidin glycoside adducts were more important than concentrations in explaining the perceived tannicity.

Composition and evolution of oligomeric proanthocyanidin–malvidin glycoside adducts in commercial red wines

Studies regarding composition and evolution of oligomeric proanthocyanidin–anthocyanin adducts in red wines have often focused only on a limited number of small dimers. Now, a group-specific liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method was utilized to measure two-dimensional (2D) chromatographic fingerprints of three different types of oligomeric adducts in commercial red wines. A new protocol was developed to visualize and summarize the chromatographic data. The 2D fingerprints showed how the compositions of the oligomeric adducts had typically only minor differences between wine varieties in young wines, excluding the Pinot Noir wines. Major quantitative differences were found between the wine varieties despite the lack of major compositional differences. The evolution of the concentrations differed between the three structural sub-groups, while similar general patterns were observed in the compositional evolution. Via statistical modelling, several characteristics in the polyphenolic starting material composition were tentatively suggested to affect the formation of the oligomeric adducts.

Liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry reveals detailed chromatographic fingerprints of anthocyanins and anthocyanin adducts in red wine

A method was developed with ultra-high performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry for the qualitative and semi-quantitative analysis of anthocyanins and anthocyanin-derived adducts in red wine. The method utilized in-source collision induced dissociation in conjunction with multiple reaction monitoring to achieve group-specific detection of the targeted compound groups. The method detected quantification marker ions instead of intact molecules and, as a result, 2D chromatographic fingerprints were produced. Altogether we could detect 18 groups of wine polyphenols, including up to 50 individual monomeric pigments together with fingerprints of three different types oligomeric proanthocyanidin-malvidin adducts. Importantly, the method was able to separate small, medium-sized and large oligomeric adducts. The quantitative and qualitative function of the method was tested with 10 model wines. Ultimately, we were able to obtain a comprehensive picture of the main pigment composition of any model wine with only a single UPLC–MS/MS analysis.

Production of renewable petroleum refinery diesel and jet fuel feedstocks from hemicellulose sugar streams

We demonstrate how hemicellulose-derived C5 sugars can be converted into a high-quality petroleum refinery feedstock by a four-step catalytic process. The substitute petroleum consists of normal, branched and cyclic alkanes up to 31 carbons in length and is similar in composition to feedstocks produced in a petroleum refinery today from crude oil. This process can be tuned to adjust the size of the liquid alkanes. In the first step furfural is produced from the acid-catalyzed dehydration of hemicellulose-derived sugar streams in a biphasic reactor. The second step is the aldol condensation of furfural with acetone in a THF solvent and using a NaOH catalyst to produce highly conjugated C13 compounds along with some oligomeric adducts formed through Michael addition reactions. These compounds are then hydrogenated with a Ru/Al2O3 catalyst forming both the fully hydrogenated form of the C13 oligomers and also forming larger oligomers by Diels–Alder reactions. The extent of Diels–Alder reactions can be tuned by changing the temperature and feed concentration, thereby adjusting the distribution of liquid alkanes that can be produced. The final step in this process is hydrodeoxygenation using a Pt/SiO2–Al2O3 bifunctional catalyst to produce the liquid alkanes. A simple biorefinery model has shown that about 55% of a furfural–acetone mixture (10 : 3 wt ratio) can be converted into cycle oils while also producing other refinery products such as gasoline and natural gas.

Computational investigations on covalent dimerization/oligomerization of polyacenes: Is it relevant to soot formation?

We have postulated a novel pathway that could assist in the nucleation of soot particles through covalent dimerization and oligomerizations of a variety of PAHs. DFT calculations were performed with the objective of obtaining the relative thermal stabilities and formation probabilities of oligomeric species that exploit the facile dimerization that is known to occur in linear oligoacenes. We propose that the presence of small stretches of linear oligoacence (tetracene or longer) in extended PAH, either embedded or tethered, would be adequate for enabling the formation of such dimeric and oligomeric adducts; these could then serve as nuclei for the growth of soot particles. Our studies also reveal the importance of π-stacking interactions between extended aromatic frameworks in governing the relative stabilities of the oligomeric species that are formed.

CO2 Binding by Dynamic Combinatorial Chemistry: An Environmental Selection

We now report that a dynamic combinatorial selection approach can quantitatively provide, from trivial building blocks, an architecturally complex organic material, in which carbon dioxide is reversibly but covalently incorporated as a guest with a mass content of 20%. Solid-state analyses combined with covalent disconnection and quantization of the liberated components allowed identification of a three-component monomeric unit repeated within a range of assembled oligomeric adducts whose repartition and binding capacity can be finely tuned through the starting stoichiometries. The self-assembly of these architectures occurs through the simultaneous creation of more than 25 covalent bonds per molecular entity. It appears that the thermodynamic selection is directed by the packing efficiency of these adducts, explaining the spectacular building block discrimination between homologues differing by one carbon unit. This selectivity, combined with the reversible nature of the system, provided pure molecular building blocks after a simple chemical disconnection, promoting CO(2) as a green auxiliary to purify polyaldehyde or polyamine from mixtures of homologous structures. Moreover, the gas template could be expelled as a pure compound under thermodynamic control. This cooperative desorption process yielded back the initial libraries of high molecular diversity with a promising reduction of the energetic costs of capture and recycling.

Exfoliation of smectite clays by branched polyamines consisting of multiple ionic sites

Exfoliation through an ionic exchange reaction of layered silicate clays, including synthetic fluorinated mica (Mica) and natural montmorillonite (MMT), were achieved by using polyvalent amine salts as the intercalating agents. The requisite polyamine was synthesized from the epoxy/amine coupling reaction, involving a trifunctional poly(oxypropylene)-triamine (ca. 440g/mol Mw) and diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A. The polyamine was a mixture of oligomeric adducts consisting of multiple amine functionalities and a branched backbone. Partial acidification by HCl addition generated a series of amine salts that affected the intercalation and the expansion of the silicate interlayer in the range of 15.2–60.0Å XRD d spacing. At the specific acidified ratio (H+/amine=1/3 equiv ratio), the polyamine salts rendered the clay’s layered structure into randomization. The result was confirmed by using XRD and transmission electronic microscopy (TEM). The hybrids of polyamines and Mica or MMT were blended into epoxy resins and cured into nanocomposites, which exhibited the improvements of thermal stability and hardness.

Metal-Driven and Covalent Synthesis of Supramolecular Grids from Racks: A Convergent Approach to Heterometallic and Heteroleptic Nanostructures

Supramolecular nanogrids were prepared from dynamic supramolecular racks through the coupling of terminal alkynes using either a covalent (with CuCl/O(2)) or a coordinative (with [trans-(PEt(3))(2)PtCl(2)]) approach. Because of the rapid equilibration of the racks (as tested by exchange reactions), oligomeric adducts potentially formed in the coupling process will selectively furnish the nanogrids through an entropically driven self-repair mechanism. To ascertain the structural assignment, the nanogrids were also synthesized by an independent strategy.

New Structural Motifs, Unusual Quenching of the Emission, and Second Harmonic Generation of Copper(I) Iodide Polymeric or Oligomeric Adducts with Para-Substituted Pyridines or trans-Stilbazoles

The structural, emissive, and nonlinear optical properties of new CuI adducts with para-substituted trans-stilbazolic and pyridinic ligands are reported. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction results indicate that the para-substituent on the organic ligand greatly influences the structural motif by its steric (tert-butyl), electronic/steric (dimethylamino), or bridging-donor (cyano) properties so that two absolutely new structural motifs, polymeric and oligomeric, are found when trans-stilbazole and pyridine carry a dimethylamino group in the para-position. In addition, a surprising photoemission behavior is observed, being the solid-state emission of [CuI(trans-4-stilbazole)]n, [CuI(trans-4'-(dimethylamino)-4-stilbazole)]n, and [CuI(4'-tert-butyl-4-stilbazole)]n totally quenched. In the case of the noncentrosymmetric CuI adduct of trans-4'-(dimethylamino)stilbazole a discrete second harmonic generation (SHG) occurs.

Chain-Length Dependence in Living/Controlled Free-Radical Polymerizations: Physical Manifestation and Monte Carlo Simulation of Reversible Transfer Agents

A Monte Carlo model is used to show that chain-length dependent termination plays an important role in free-radical polymerization systems containing reversible transfer agents (RTAs) such as RAFT agents and alkyl halides. As dormant chains are activated through the reversible transfer reaction, the chain-length of the active species changes. By changing the length of the propagating radical, the RTA changes the behavior of the entire system, through the chain-length dependent termination reaction. The amount of polymer that may be produced before two radicals terminate is studied as a function of system parameters such as the transfer constant of the RTA, the concentration of the RTA, and the length of the dormant chains by modeling RTA-mediated polymerization, with emphasis on emulsion polymerizations. High transfer constant RTAs and short dormant chains exhibit significantly shorter radical lifetimes and hence have a slower overall rate of polymerization (seen as a lower average number of radicals per particle) than systems without RTA. Conversely, long dormant chains may lead to an extension of radical lifetimes and an increase in the number of radicals per particle. These effects are due to the change in the chain length of the polymeric radical because of transfer to dormant species, such that significant amounts of short−short termination are seen at low conversions and long−long termination is required at high conversions. This work also suggests several experimental techniques, including the use of oligomeric adducts to the RTA, that may offer solutions to the known problems of RTA systems in bulk, solution, and particularly emulsion polymerization.

Antioxidants, nutrition & health

A method was developed with ultra-high performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry for the qualitative and semi-quantitative analysis of anthocyanins and anthocyanin-derived adducts in red wine. The method utilized in-source collision induced dissociation in conjunction with multiple reaction monitoring to achieve group-specific detection of the targeted compound groups. The method detected quantification marker ions instead of intact molecules and, as a result, 2D chromatographic fingerprints were produced. Altogether we could detect 18 groups of wine polyphenols, including up to 50 individual monomeric pigments together with fingerprints of three different types oligomeric proanthocyanidin-malvidin adducts. Importantly, the method was able to separate small, medium-sized and large oligomeric adducts. The quantitative and qualitative function of the method was tested with 10 model wines. Ultimately, we were able to obtain a comprehensive picture of the main pigment composition of any model wine with only a single UPLC–MS/MS analysis.

Reactions of cyclotrigermane and germylenes with carbonyl compounds: Cycloadducts and oligomers

Reactions of germylenes, generated by thermolysis of cyclotrigermanes, or of bulky germylenes, with various α-dicarbonyl compounds are described. They proceed through a radical pathway, as confirmed by ESR measurements, to give different types of compounds. In the reaction of (Mes2Ge)3 with fluorenone, formation of the 2:1 ketone/germylene cycloadduct and of the oxadigermetane, resulting from a transient digermene, occurred. In the case of acenaphthene quinone, we observed the first example of cycloaddition between a digermene and an α-diketone. The X-ray crystal structure of the product shows a drastically distorted six-membered ring system. The formation of oligomeric adducts was observed with parabenzoquinone. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Heteroatom Chem 10: 125–132, 1999

Reactions of cyclotrigermane and germylenes with carbonyl compounds: Cycloadducts and oligomers

Reactions of germylenes, generated by thermolysis of cyclotrigermanes, or of bulky germylenes, with various α-dicarbonyl compounds are described. They proceed through a radical pathway, as confirmed by ESR measurements, to give different types of compounds. In the reaction of (Mes2Ge)3 with fluorenone, formation of the 2:1 ketone/germylene cycloadduct and of the oxadigermetane, resulting from a transient digermene, occurred. In the case of acenaphthene quinone, we observed the first example of cycloaddition between a digermene and an α-diketone. The X-ray crystal structure of the product shows a drastically distorted six-membered ring system. The formation of oligomeric adducts was observed with parabenzoquinone. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Heteroatom Chem 10: 125–132, 1999

Investigation of the adducts formed by reaction of malondialdehyde with adenosine

Malondialdehyde (MDA) forms oligomeric adducts with DNA bases. It has been proposed that the 2:1 MDA-guanosine (M2G) and 3:1 MDA-adenosine (M3A) adducts result from sequential addition of MDA molecules to the nucleoside base. Reaction of 1:1 MDA-guanosine (M1G) and 1:1 MDA-adenosine (M1A) adducts with MDA does not produce the multimeric adducts. This suggests they arise by reaction of the nucleoside bases with oligomers of MDA. If so, the proposed structure for M3A is inconsistent with the addition of an MDA trimer to adenosine. Therefore, we investigated the structure of this molecule. Two-dimensional double quantum filtered COSY and hetero-COSY NMR experiments were performed, and a series of insensitive nuclei assignment by polarization transfer (INAPT) NMR spectra were also recorded. The results of these experiments revealed the presence of a propano group and two alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes. The UV spectrum of M3A displayed a maximum at 326 nm, similar to that of N6-[3-oxo-1(E)-propenyl]adenosine (M1A). The adducts were reduced with sodium borohydride for comparison of the UV and NMR spectra. On the basis of our results, a new structure for M3A is proposed which is tentatively named 6(5*,7*-diformyl-2*H-3*,6*-dihydro-2*,6*-methano-1*,3*-oxazocin -3*-yl)-9-beta-D-ribofuranosylpurine.