Dimer formation

Since the hydroformylation reaction for most substrates shows a first order dependence on the concentration of rhodium hydride, the reaction becomes slower when considerable amounts of rhodium are tied up in dimers. This will occur at low pressures of hydrogen and high rhodium concentrations. Dimer formation has mainly been reported for phosphine ligands [17, 42, 45], but similar dimeric rhodium complexes from monophosphites [47] and diphosphites [33, 39] have been reported. The orange side product obtained from HRh(15)(CO)2 was characterized as the carbonyl bridged, dimeric rhodium species Rh2(15)2(CO)2 [39]. 

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Although the reaction is second order in acryUc acid concentration, the rate of dimer formation for neat acryUc acid available commercially is quite adequately expressed by... 

Dimer formation, which is favored by increasing temperature, generally does not reduce the quaHty of acryhc acid for most applications. The term dimer includes higher oligomers formed by further addition reactions and present in low concentrations relative to the amount of dimer (3-acryloxypropionic acid). Glacial acrylic acid should be stored at 16—29°C to maintain high quaHty. 

Dimerization is reportedly catalyzed by pyridine [110-86-1] and phosphines. Trialkylphosphines have been shown to catalyze the conversion of dimer iato trimer upon prolonged standing (2,57). Pyridines and other basic catalysts are less selective because the required iacrease ia temperature causes trimerization to compete with dimerization. The gradual conversion of dimer to trimer ia the catalyzed dimerization reaction can be explained by the assumption of equiUbria between dimer and polar catalyst—dimer iatermediates. The polar iatermediates react with excess isocyanate to yield trimer. Factors, such as charge stabilization ia the polar iatermediate and its lifetime or steric requirement, are reported to be important. For these reasons, it is not currently feasible to predict the efficiency of dimer formation given a particular catalyst. 

Rhodacarborane catalysts have been immobilized by attachment to polystyrene beads with appreciable retention of catalytic activity (227). A 13-vertex /oj iJ-hydridorhodacarborane has also been synthesized and demonstrated to possess catalytic activity similar to that of the icosahedral species (228). Ak-oxidation of closo- >(2- P((Z [) 2 - i- > l[l-Bih(Z, results in a brilliant purple dimer. This compound contains two formal Rh " centers linked by a sigma bond and a pak of Rh—H—B bridge bonds. A number of similar dimer complexes have been characterized and the mechanism of dimer formation in these rhodacarborane clusters have been studied in detail (229). 

In contrast, the photochemistry of uracil, thymine and related bases has a large and detailed literature because most of the adverse effects produced by UV irradiation of tissues seem to result from dimer formation involving adjacent thymine residues in DNA. Three types of reaction are recognizable (i) photohydration of uracil but not thymine (see Section 2.13.2.1.2), (ii) the oxidation of both bases during irradiation and (iii) photodimer formation. 

The photolysis of 1,2-benzisoxazole in the absence of air in acetonitrile gave salicylonitrile and benzoxazole (67AHC(8)277). When air-saturated acetonitrile was employed, 2,2 -dimeriz-ation to (38) occurred, accompanied by benzoxazole. Photolysis of the 2,2 -dimer (38) and benzoxazole did not alter the ratio, thus indicating that neither one arose from the other. Selective excitation also ruled out dimer formation from benzoxazole under the reaction conditions (Scheme 9). This dimerization is similar to that observed for benzimidazole, except that in that series no 2,2 -dimerization was observed (74TL375). 

Figure 8.7 The N-terminal domains of lambda repressor form dimers, in spite of the absence of the C-terminal domains that are mainly responsible for dimer formation in the intact repressor. The dimers are formed by interactions between a helix 5 from each subunit. The different subunits are colored green and brown, except the helix-turn-hellx motif, which is colored blue and red as in Figure 8.4. (Adapted from C. Pabo and M. Lewis, Nature 298 443-447, 1982.)...

Figure 10.18 Side-chain interactions in the leucine zipper structure, (a) The hydrophobic side chains in spikes a and d (see Figure 10.17) form a hydrophobic core between the two coiled a helices, (b) Charged side chains in spikes and g can promote dimer formation by forming complementary charge interactions between the two a helices.

CN/CC replacements were also observed when the pyrimidine ring is part of a bicyclic system. Reaction of quinazoline with active methylene compounds, containing the cyano group (malonitrile, ethyl cyanoacetate, phenylacetonitrile) gave 2-amino-3-R-quinoline (R = CN, C02Et, Ph) (72CPB1544) (Scheme 12). The reaction has to be carried out in the absence of a base. When base is used, no ring transformation was observed only dimer formation and SnH substitution at C-4 was found. 

Recent studies indicate that - like many other receptors - G-protein-coupled receptors may form dimers, either homodimers or dimers with another type of receptor. The role of dimer formation in the cell surface expression of receptors and in their signalling and the resultant pharmacology are currently under intensive investigation [1]. 

Figure 39-15. The leucine zipper motif. A shows a helical wheel analysis of a carboxyl terminal portion of the DNA binding protein C/EBP. The amino acid sequence is displayed end-to-end down the axis of a schematic a-helix. The helical wheel consists of seven spokes that correspond to the seven amino acids that comprise every two turns of the a-helix. Note that leucine residues (L) occur at every seventh position. Other proteins with "leucine zippers" have a similar helical wheel pattern. B is a schematic model of the DNA binding domain of C/EBP. Two identical C/EBP polypeptide chains are held in dimer formation by the leucine zipper domain of each polypeptide (denoted by the rectangles and attached ovals). This association is apparently required to hold the DNA binding domains of each polypeptide (the shaded rectangles) in the proper conformation for DNA binding. (Courtesy ofS McKnight)...

For the homogalacturonan, the activity coefficient of sodium is 0.54 but that of calcium 0.12, in very dilute solution, indicating a dimer formation. The activity coefficient Y is directly imposed by X, with ... 

With different pectins, one found that the activity coefficient of calcium has a value half that of magnesium this is interpreted as the basis of a dimer formation in presence of calcium. The specific interaction of calcium was described as the egg-box model first proposed for polyguluronate in which oxygen atoms coordinated to calcium [46]. Recently, the comparative behaviour of Mg and Ca with homogalacturonan was reexamined [47]. 

In other words, the homopolygalacturonic acids of the cell walls distribute in two equal amounts of high and low affinity exchange sites. This is compatible with the dimer formation predicted by the egg box model between pectin chains in the 2i helical conformation [9, 10]. According to this model, we would associate the high affinity sites with the inner faces of the dimers. 

The literature dealing with EPR studies of transition metal dithiocarbamato complexes is extensive. Interesting results were obtained about the interaction of copper compounds with various solvents 165,166,167,168) and about dimer formation of Cu(R2frozen solutions, 133,169) whereas extensive EPR studies about other transition metal dithiocarbamato complexes are reported as well 170,5,171, 37). As the measurements of the planar systems are most suitable for comparison with theoretical studies, we shall pay attention to the results of these investigations on Cu(II), Ag(II) and Au(II). 

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