Kevin Reiter

Multicomponent reactions provide key molecules for secret communication

A convenient and inherently more secure communication channel for encoding messages via specifically designed molecular keys is introduced by combining advanced encryption standard cryptography with molecular steganography. The necessary molecular keys require large structural diversity, thus suggesting the application of multicomponent reactions. Herein, the Ugi four-component reaction of perfluorinated acids is utilized to establish an exemplary database consisting of 130 commercially available components. Considering all permutations, this combinatorial approach can unambiguously provide 500,000 molecular keys in only one synthetic procedure per key. The molecular keys are transferred nondigitally and concealed by either adsorption onto paper, coffee, tea or sugar as well as by dissolution in a perfume or in blood. Re-isolation and purification from these disguises is simplified by the perfluorinated sidechains of the molecular keys. High resolution tandem mass spectrometry can unequivocally determine the molecular structure and thus the identity of the key for a subsequent decryption of an encoded message.Designing molecular keys and combining advanced encryption standard cryptography with molecular steganography is a secure way for encoding messages. Here, the authors use the Ugi four-component reaction of perfluorinated acids to create a library of 500,000 molecular keys for encryption and decryption.

Calculation of Magnetic Shielding Constants with meta-GGA Functionals Employing the Multipole-Accelerated Resolution of the Identity: Implementation and Assessment of Accuracy and Efficiency

We present a highly efficient implementation for density functional calculations of chemical shielding constants. It employs the multipole-accelerated resolution of the identity for the calculation of the Coulomb part, which complements the usage of low order scaling routines for the evaluation of the exchange-correlation part and the Hartree-Fock exchange part. Introduced errors for shifts of chemical shielding constants of H, C, F, and P are evaluated for respective test sets of molecules and are related to the accuracy of shifts obtained with hybrid and nonhybrid functionals of the generalized gradient approximation type as well as for meta-GGA functionals themselves. Efficiency is demonstrated for α-d-glucose chains with more than 2500 atoms on a single CPU as well as with an OpenMP parallelized version.

[(Pb6I8){Mn(CO)5}6](2-): an octahedral (M6X8)-like cluster with inverted bonding.

[BMIm]2[{PbMn(CO)5)}6I8] (BMIm: 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium) is obtained by ionic liquid mediated reaction of PbI2 and Mn2(CO)10. Central is a cubelike (Pb6I8) unit containing a nonfilled Pb6 octahedron. Each Pb of this (Pb6I8) unit is terminated on its outside by Mn(CO)5, exhibiting Pb-Mn metal-to-metal bonding (280 pm). Structurally, the (Pb6I8) unit is similar to the well-known octahedral (M6Xn) cluster-type family (M = Zr, Nb, Ta, Mo, W; X = Cl, Br, I). In contrast to most similar cluster compounds, such as W6Br12 ([W6Br8]Br2/1Br4/2, according to Niggli notation) or the carbonyl cluster [Sn6{Cr(CO5)6}](2-), however, the nonfilled central Pb6 octahedron in [{PbMn(CO)5)}6I8](2-) does not exhibit any metal-to-metal bonding. Structure and bonding of the title compound are validated by single-crystal structure analysis, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Based on the isolobal principle, electronegativity considerations, bond lengths, and DFT calculations including Mulliken population analysis and natural population analysis (NPA), in sum, the charge distribution of Pb is best reflected by an oxidation state of +1.

Vibrational circular dichroism spectra for large molecules and molecules with heavy elements

We present an implementation of vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectra in TURBOMOLE. We mainly followed the route proposed by Cheeseman [Chem. Phys. Lett. 252, 211 (1996)] and extended the modules for calculating the magnetic response and vibrational frequencies accordingly. The implementation allows for gauge origin invariant employment of effective core potentials, as demonstrated for Co(ppy)3, ppy = 2-Phenylpyridine. In this way, scalar relativistic effects are covered and heavy elements can be treated. Further, with the present implementation molecular symmetry may be efficiently exploited, which makes the calculation of large (symmetric) systems feasible. The calculation of the VCD spectrum of icosahedral C6202+ is shown as an illustrative application.