White phosphorus (P4) has been the traditional entry point into phosphorus chemistry. The thirteenth element to have been isolated, it can be oxidized with elemental oxygen or chlorine, or reduced in a variety of ways. We investigated its reduction using early transition metal systems and breakdown to produce complexes with terminal metal-phosphorus triple bonds. Such terminal phosphide complexes possess nucleophilic phosphorus atoms, paving the way to new phosphorus-element bonded systems.

Cells are poised to respond to their physical environment and to chemical stimuli in terms of collective molecular interactions that are regulated in time and space by the plasma membrane and its connections with the cytoskeleton and intracellular structures. Small molecules may engage specific receptors to initiate a transmembrane signal, and the surrounding system efficiently rearranges to amplify this nanoscale interaction to microscale assemblies, yielding a cellular response that often reaches to longer length scales within the organism.

Abstract

ABSTRACT