Synthesis and Structural Studies of Gallium(III) and Indium(III) Complexes of 2-acetylpyridine Thiosemicarbazones

Oct 302009
 

Inorg. Chim. Acta  (2010), 363(6), 1140-1149.    [ doi:10.1016/j.ica.2009.10.020 ]

Four 2-acetylpyridine 4N-alkyl thiosemicarbazones, and their Ga(III) and In(III) complexes have been prepared and characterised by fluorescence, UV–Vis, IR, 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and X-ray crystallographic analysis. Comparison of the crystal structures gave an insight into the nature of the complexes formed, demonstrating a preference for [ML2]+ type complexes with gallium and [MLX3] species with indium. Stability studies on two candidates indicated that complex [InL3Cl2MeOH] was stable to chemical degradation for prolonged periods in human serum, giving this complex potential for further biological evaluation.

Electronic reprints

  • Oxford University Research Archive [direct pdf]

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Thiosemicarbazone overlay

Overlay of two thiosemicarbazone ligands showing two different conformations.

Steviamine, A New Class of Indolizidine Alkaloid

Oct 222009
 

Acta Cryst. (2009), E65, o2904-o2905.    [ doi:10.1107/S1600536809043827 ]

X-ray crystallographic analysis of the title hydrobromide salt, C10H20N+Br-, of (1R,2S,3R,5R,8aR)-3-hydroxymethyl-5- methyloctahydroindolizine-1,2-diol defines the absolute and relative stereochemistry at the five chiral centres in steviamine, a new class of polyhydroxylated indolizidine alkaloid isolated from Stevia rebaudiana (Asteraceae) leaves.

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Nobel prize for Chemistry 2009 – The Structure of Ribosomes

Oct 072009
 

The Nobel prize for chemistry has been jointly awarded to Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (MRC Cambridge), Thomas Steitz (Yale) and Ada Yonath (Weizmann Institute, Israel) for their work determining the structure of ribosomes.  The ribosome is an important component of cells that assembles proteins from amino acids.  It is often referred to as “the protein factory”.  This is the second Nobel prize to be awarded for work on ribosomes as Albert Claude, Christian de Duve and George Emil Palade were awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine, in 1974 for their discovery.

Links:

  • Announcement of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry [video]
  • BBC News Online [Report]

 

Picture of the structure and shape of the E.coli 70S ribosome.

Structure and shape of the E.coli 70S ribosome.