The valence and core-level photoelectron spectra of gaseous indole, 2,3-dihydro-7-azaindole, and 3-formylindole have been investigated using VUV and soft X-ray radiation supported by both an ab initio electron propagator and density functional theory calculations. Three methods were used to calculate the outer valence band photoemission spectra: outer valence Green function, partial third order, and renormalized partial third order. While all gave an acceptable description of the valence spectra, the last method yielded very accurate agreement, especially for indole and 3-formylindole. The carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen 1s core-level spectra of these heterocycles were measured and assigned. The double ionization appearance potential for indole has been determined to be 21.8 ± 0.2 eV by C 1s and N 1s Auger photoelectron spectroscopy. Theoretical analysis identifies the doubly ionized states as a band consisting of two overlapping singlet states and one triplet state with dominant configurations corresponding to holes in the two uppermost molecular orbitals. One of the singlet states and the triplet state can be described as consisting largely of a single configuration, but other doubly ionized states are heavily mixed by configuration interactions. This work provides full assignment of the relative binding energies of the core level features and an analysis of the electronic structure of substituted indoles in comparison with the parent indole.

Experimental and Theoretical Photoemission Study of Indole and Its Derivatives in the Gas Phase.

From the twigs and leaves of the Central African liana Ancistrocladus ealaensis (Ancistrocladaceae), a series of ten 7,8′-coupled naphthylisoquinoline alkaloids were isolated, comprising eight new compounds, named ealamines A–H (4a, 4b, 5–10), and two known ones, 6-O-demethylancistrobrevine A (11) and yaoundamine A (12), which had previously been found in related African Ancistrocladus species. Only one of the new compounds within this series, ealamine H (10), is a typical Ancistrocladaceae-type alkaloid, with 3S-configuration at C-3 and an oxygen function at C-6, whereas seven of the new alkaloids are the first 7,8′-linked “hybrid-type” naphthylisoquinoline alkaloids, i.e., 3R-configured and 6-oxygenated in the tetrahydroisoquinoline part. The discovery of such a broad series of 7,8′-coupled naphthyltetrahydroisoquinolines is unprecedented, because representatives of this subclass of alkaloids are normally found in Nature quite rarely. The stereostructures of the new ealamines were assigned by HRESIMS, 1...

Ealamines A-H, a Series of Naphthylisoquinolines with the Rare 7,8'-Coupling Site, from the Congolese Liana Ancistrocladus ealaensis, Targeting Pancreatic Cancer Cells.

Conformers of 1,2,3,4 –tetrahydroisoquinoline in S0 and S1: An analysis through potential energy surface, hardness principles and vibrational spectroscopy

We have conducted an extensive search for nitrogen-, oxygen-, and sulfur-bearing heterocycles toward Taurus Molecular Cloud 1 (TMC-1) using the deep, broadband centimeter-wavelength spectral line survey of the region from the GOTHAM large project on the Green Bank Telescope. Despite their ubiquity in terrestrial chemistry, and the confirmed presence of a number of cyclic and polycyclic hydrocarbon species in the source, we find no evidence for the presence of any heterocyclic species. Here, we report the derived upper limits on the column densities of these molecules obtained by Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) analysis and compare this approach to traditional single-line upper limit measurements. We further hypothesize why these molecules are absent in our data, how they might form in interstellar space, and the nature of observations that would be needed to secure their detection.

A Search for Heterocycles in GOTHAM Observations of TMC-1.

The saturated part of the 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinoline (THQ) molecule allows for the possibility of multiple conformers' existence. High-resolution microwave spectroscopy, supported by high-level quantum chemistry calculations, was used to determine the precise molecular structures of the conformers of THQ. Via the MP2 calculations, we were able to discriminate four stable conformations, i.e. two pairs of energetically equivalent enantiomorphic conformers. The results of the calculations also indicate that energetically non-equivalent conformers are separated by a low energy barrier (104 cm−1) that allows for conformational cooling to occur. The high resolution rotational spectrum with resolved hyperfine structure in the frequency range of 7–20 GHz was obtained using both the In-phase/quadrature-phase-Modulation Passage-Acquired-Coherence Technique (IMPACT) and the coaxially oriented beam resonator arrangement (COBRA) to perform Fourier transform microwave (FTMW) spectroscopy. The precise values of the rotational constants, 14N nuclear hyperfine coupling parameters and centrifugal distortion parameters were determined from the measured transition frequencies. Based on our experimental results, only the most stable enantiomeric pair of THQ contributes to the rotational spectrum under the conditions of our experiment as the less stable conformers seem to efficiently relax to the lower energy conformers. Thus the experimentally evaluated molecular constants unambiguously define the lowest energy conformer of 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinoline.

Ab initio conformational analysis of 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinoline and the high-resolution rotational spectrum of its lowest energy conformer

Microwave spectrum and molecular constants of indole

In this study, 3179 and 3813 rotational transition frequencies for indole and 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinoline, respectively, were analyzed using the PGOPHER software. In both analyses, all the matrix elements of the sextic rotational Hamiltonians were fitted simultaneously to the hyperfine quadrupole terms. The global fits of all the transition frequencies provided the most precise ground state molecular parameters for both molecules, so far. The presented experimental results are in concordance with the density functional theory calculations.

Radim Nesvadba

Papers

Ab initio conformational analysis of 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinoline and the high-resolution rotational spectrum of its lowest energy conformer

Microwave spectrum and molecular constants of indole

Microwave Spectroscopy of Planar and Quasi-planar Organic Molecules: Indole and 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinoline