Person:

Brown, Walter

By a simple extension of a previous experimental technique we demonstrate how the detailed standing-wave features of the internal x-ray wave field during the diffraction process may be observed even when a strong reflection occurs. The preliminary results reported here indicate that dynamical diffraction may be developed as a useful lattice-location technique in nearly perfect crystals.

Recognizing the value of including complex pyridines in small-molecule screening collections, we developed a previously unexplored [2 + 2 + 2]-cycloaddition of silyl-tethered diynes with nitriles. The tether provides high regioselectivity, while the solvent THF allows catalytic CpCo(CO)2 to be used without exogenous irradiation. One of the resulting bicyclic and monocyclic (desilylated) pyridines was identified as an inhibitor of neuregulin-induced neurite outgrowth (EC50 = 0.30 µM) in a screen that probes a pathway likely to be involved in breast cancers and schizophrenia.