Two new structures of semisynthetic ergot alkaloid terguride created by unusual number of symmetry-independent molecules were determined by X-ray diffraction methods at 150 K. Form A (monoclinic, P212121, Z = 12) contains three symmetry-independent terguride molecules and two molecules of water in the asymmetric part of the unit cell. The form CA (monoclinic, P21, Z = 8) is an anhydrate remarkable by the presence of four symmetry-independent molecules in the crystal structure. Conformations of twelve symmetry-independent molecules that were found in four already described terguride structures are compared with torsion angles obtained by ab initio quantum-mechanical calculations for the simplified model of N-cyclohexyl-N'-diethylurea.
A simple, one-pot process for the construction of substituted spiro[5,5]undecane-1,5,9-triones using aromatic aldehydes and Meldrum’s acid, and aniline as a catalyst, is reported. Fifteen compounds were synthesized, and the trans/cis ratios were calculated based on 1H NMR analyses of the unpurified products. Quantum mechanical calculations and X-ray diffraction were undertaken to identify the configuration of compound 2a. The proposed mechanisms for these reactions are presented in this paper. In contrast to previous literature, this method endows excellent diastereoselectivity to a series of trans-substituted derivatives. The method is characterized by its simple operation, commercial availability of all materials, mild reaction conditions and moderate-to-good chemical yields.
A central topic in the formulation of solid medicinal products is the identification of a suitable solid form of an active compound to obtain optimal physicochemical properties. To this end, disorder may be important for relevant crystal properties like stability. For example, disorder may account for more than 10% of the crystal volume. A rational approach to solid-form selection is typically based on structural information at atomic resolution. In practice, pharmaceutical compounds are not always well-behaved and especially in the study of polymorphs or compounds with flexible groups it can be challenging to obtain crystals suitable for single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) is a popular alternative, but it generally requires supplementary information like molecular connectivity in simple cases or computational models to solve larger structures. Computational modeling has come a long way and accurate and reliable structures of pharmaceutically relevant compounds can indeed be obtained using laboratory PXRD measurements and quantum-mechanical calculations [1]. The major limitation of quantum mechanical calculations, however, is that they do not consider time nor temperature but only static structures at zero temperature. Thus, these methods cannot model phenomena related to disorder. The molecular dynamics (MD) method can add temperature as well as time and spatial resolution to a model and has in recent years developed to be a scalable, reliable and increasingly available technique. As more and more groups from academia as well as industry employ MD in their work, the development will increase to gain momentum in the coming years. We use MD in a high-performance setting to study crystal properties that are relevant for pharmaceutical research. Using a combination of models from first principles and MD we are able to study highly disordered structures and polymorphs on the basis of PXRD data.
One monoclinic and three orthorhombic structures of natural ergot alkaloid lisuride were solved by X-ray diffraction techniques. The conformation analysis has revealed that side chain orientations of lisuride differ significantly from those observed in related terguride (trans-dihydrolisuride). The conformation found in individual lisuride molecules corresponds to another minimum of total energy calculated by ab initio quantum-mechanical calculations for a simplified model of 3-(cyclohex-2-en-1-yl)-1,1-diethylurea.
FeAl20Si20 (wt.%) powders prepared by mechanical alloying from different initial feedstock materials (Fe, Al, Si, FeAl27) were investigated in this study. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and nanoindentation techniques were used to analyze microstructure, phase composition and mechanical properties (hardness and Young’s modulus). Finite element model was developed to account for the decrease in measured values of mechanical properties of powder particles with increasing penetration depth caused by surrounding soft resin used for embedding powder particles. Progressive homogenization of the powders’ microstructure and an increase of hardness and Young’s modulus with milling time were observed and the time for complete homogenization was estimated.
ABSTRACTThe mechanical alloying behavior of elemental powders in the Nb-Si, Ta-Si, and Nb-Ta-Si systems was examined via X-ray diffraction. The line compounds NbSi2 and TaSi2 form as crystalline compounds rather than amorphous products, but Nb5Si3 and Ta5Si3, although chemically analogous, respond very differently to mechanical milling. The Ta5Si3 composition goes directly from elemental powders to an amorphous product, whereas Nb5Si3 forms as a crystalline compound. The Nb5Si3 compound consists of both the tetragonal room-temperature α phase (c/a = 1.8) and the tetragonal high-temperature β phase (c/a = 0.5). Substituting increasing amounts of Ta for Nb in Nb5Si3 initially stabilizes the α-Nb5Si3 structure preferentially, and subsequently inhibits the formation of a crystalline compound.
The chemistry of f-electrons in lanthanide and actinide materials is yet to be fully rationalized. Quantum-mechanical simulations can provide useful complementary insight to that obtained from experiments. The quantum theory of atoms in molecules and crystals (QTAIMAC), through thorough topological analysis of the electron density (often complemented by that of its Laplacian) constitutes a general and robust theoretical framework to analyze chemical bonding features from a computed wave function. Here, we present the extension of the Topond module (previously limited to work in terms of s-, p- and d-type basis functions only) of the Crystal program to f- and g-type basis functions within the linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO) approach. This allows for an effective QTAIMAC analysis of chemical bonding of lanthanide and actinide materials. The new implemented algorithms are applied to the analysis of the spatial distribution of the electron density and its Laplacian of the cesium uranyl chloride, Cs2UO2Cl4, crystal. Discrepancies between the present theoretical description of chemical bonding and that obtained from a previously reconstructed electron density by experimental X-ray diffraction are illustrated and discussed.
We have studied the effect of the silicon concentration on the structural and hyperfine properties of nanostructured Fe[Formula: see text]Six powders ([Formula: see text], 20, 25 and 30[Formula: see text]at.%) prepared by mechanical alloying. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies indicated that after 72[Formula: see text]h of milling, the solid solution bcc-[Formula: see text]-Fe(Si) is formed. The grain sizes, [Formula: see text]D[Formula: see text] (nm), decreases with increasing Si concentration and reaches a minimum value of 11[Formula: see text]nm. We have found that the lattice parameter decreases with increasing Si concentration. The changes in values are attributed to the substitutional dissolution of Si in Fe matrix. From the adjustment of Mössbauer spectra, we have shown that the mean hyperfine magnetic field, [Formula: see text]H[Formula: see text] (T), decreases with increasing Si concentration. The substitutional dependence of [Formula: see text]H[Formula: see text] (T) can be attributed to the effect of p electrons Si influencing electrons d of Fe.
The Cu0.81Ni0.19 has been synthesized directly from elemental powder of nickel and copper by mechanical alloying. The alloyed Cu0.81Ni0.19 alloy powders are prepared by milling of 8h. The grain size calculated by Scherrer equation of the NiCu alloy decreased with the increasing of milling time. The end-product was analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
Interpreting Disordered PXRD Structures using Molecular Dynamics