Reactions of alkali metal hydroxides with neat diethyl zinc lead to the formation of oxo-centered clusters M2O(ZnEt2)n (M = Na, n = 3 or M = K, Rb, n = 4). These molecules crystallize in highly symmetric space groups, forming extended structures supported by weak M-H interactions. We discuss the mechanistic implications and relationship of these structures to known (oxo)organozincates.

Inhibition of uptake of cationic amino acids by certain neutral amino acids in the presence of alkali metal ions has been studied in the Ehrlich ascites tumor cell, in the rabbit reticulocyte and in yeast. When a hydroxyl group is introduced on carbon 4 (for the reticulocyte) or carbon 5 (for the Ehrlich cell) of straight chain amino acids, a sharp shift in the selectivity among the alkali meta...

Using an interlocking co-complexation approach, a homologous series of unsolvated alkali-metal zincates [MZn(CH2SiMe3)3] (M = Li 1, Na 2, K 3) was prepared by reacting equimolar amounts of Zn(CH2SiMe3)2 with the relevant alkali-metal alkyl M(CH2SiMe3) employing non-coordinating hexane as a solvent. X-ray crystallographic studies reveal that these heterobimetallic compounds exhibit unprecedented...

A portable spectrometer system that simultaneously measures the temperature, emissivity, and radiation intensity of an alkali metal was used in a 1000 MW coal-fired power plant boiler furnace. A calibrated fiber-optic spectrometer system was applied to obtain the radiation intensity of the flame. A simple method based on polynomial fitting was used to separate the continuous baseline from the m...

The alkali metal cations Na(+) and K(+) have several important physiological roles, including modulating enzyme activity. Recent work has suggested that alkali metal cations may be coordinated by pi systems, such as the aromatic amino acid side chains. The ability of K(+) to interact with an aromatic ring has been assessed by preparing a family of synthetic receptors that incorporate the aromat...

The hexaanion of mellitic acid, mel = (C(6)(CO(2))(6))(6-), links metal ions into extensively connected magnetic coordination polymers. Reaction of alkali metal mellitate salts, M(6)(mel) (M = K, Rb), with M'Cl(2) precursors (M' = Mn, Co, Ni) under mild (473 K) hydrothermal conditions yields an extensive family of isostructural 3-dimensional mixed alkali metal/transition metal polymers of gener...

The alkali metal ion affinity of guanine quadruplexes has been studied using dispersion-corrected density functional theory (DFT-D). We have done computational investigations in aqueous solution that mimics artificial supramolecular conditions where guanine bases assemble into stacked quartets as well as biological environments in which telomeric quadruplexes are formed. In both cases, an alkal...

A series of adamantane functionalized diaza-lariat ethers 1–6 have been prepared and alkali metal picrate extraction profiles determined. The ability of aza-crown ethers 1–6 to extract the alkali metal picrates was compared with that of diaza-18-crown-6 (7) and N,N '-dibenzodiaza-18-crown-6 (8). Na and K transport across bulk liquid membrane was also measured. The results of alkali metal cation...

A physical model of selective "ion binding" in the L-type calcium channel is constructed, and consequences of the model are compared with experimental data. This reduced model treats only ions and the carboxylate oxygens of the EEEE locus explicitly and restricts interactions to hard-core repulsion and ion-ion and ion-dielectric electrostatic forces. The structural atoms provide a flexible envi...