A facile synthesis of 2,2-disubstituted idanes was achieved by the reductive cyclization of 1-(o-bromomethylphenyl)-2,2-disubstituted-ethylenes(electron-withdrawing substituents) with an NAD(P)H model, 1-benzyl-1,4-dihydronicotinamide, in yields from moderate to good. The study revealed that \{1-benzyl\}-1,4-dihydronicotinamide can be used in synthetic organic chemistry as an effective reductant.
Four new amphiphilic molecules, i.e., the bolaamphiphiles n-trimethylamino n-hexadecanoate (deAgr 16), n-dodecanoate (deAgr 12), n-undecanoate (deAgr 11), and n-octanoate (deAgr 8) were synthesized. Their ability as deaggregators to break up the aggregating systems of hexadecyl β-naphthoate (A16) and dodecyl β-naphthoate (A12) in dioxanewater binary solvent systems was investigated in a number of solvent systems and at different A16 and A12 concentrations. The results reveal that this new type of bolaamphiphilic molecules appears to be one of the most efficient deaggregators reported, which, at very low concentrations, can effectively break up the aggregating systems of highly concentrated A16 and A12. It is also found that bolaamphiphfles with longer aliphatic chains possess greater deaggregating ability. However, when the overall concentrations of A16 and A12 are very low but still above their critical aggregating concentration, these bolaamphiphilic molecules lose their deaggregating power and tend to coaggregate with the aggregated A16 or A12 molecules. The quite efficient deaggregating ability of the long-chain bolaamphiphfles (deAgr 16 and deAgr 12), as compared to the short-chain deAgr 8, has been ascribed to their dynamic switch-on/switch-off behavior involving coiled-up and uncoiled conformations of their long aliphatic chains.
