Function Over Form: Reviving the Criminal jury\u27s Historical Role as a Sentencing Body

This Article argues that the Supreme Court, as evinced by its recent spate of criminal jury decisions, has abandoned the criminal jury known to the Founders and, in so doing, has severely eroded the protections intended to inhere in the Sixth Amendment jury trial right. It then proposes one potential solution to this problem. According to the Supreme Court, this recent line of cases has been motivated by the need to preserve the ancient guarantee articulated in the Sixth Amendment under a new set of legal circumstances. Unfortunately, the Court misinterprets the ancient guarantee that it is ostensibly attempting to preserve by focusing exclusively on the criminal jury\u27s formal aspects and ignoring its long-standing historical function as a quasi-sentencing body. The author argues that both the criminal jury known to the Founders and its English antecedent were, at heart, sentencing bodies and that this sentencing function was essential to the Sixth Amendment protections promised to criminal defendants. By recasting the jury in the mold of simple fact-finder the modern Court has hindered the jury\u27s ability to interpose a body of citizens between the government and the accused, leaving the accused without adequate protection against prosecutorial overreaching and the various other forms of government oppression with which the Founders were concerned. The article concludes with an argument that this evisceration of the Sixth Amendment could be remedied, at least in large part, by informing juries of the sentencing consequences of their actions. This solution would not only serve to reinforce the various protections that the jury system was intended to confer upon criminal defendants, but would create a trial dynamic which more closely adheres to the archetype endorsed by the Founders

Microwave-mediated synthesis of N-methyliminodiacetic acid (MIDA) boronates

A library of over 20, mainly aryl or heteroaryl, N-methyliminodiacetic acid (MIDA) boronates have been synthesised. A rapid microwave-mediated (MW) method (5–10 min) has been developed using polyethylene glycol 300 (PEG 300) as solvent. However, acetonitrile (MeCN) and dimethylformamide (DMF) were found to be alternative solvents, the latter especially for 2-substituted aryl boronic acids

Access to a diverse array of bridged benzo[1,5]oxazocine and benzo[1,4]diazepine structures

The preparation of bridged benzo[1,5]oxazocines and benzo[1,4]diazepines is demonstrated from simple aniline and aldehyde starting materials. A one-pot condensation/6π electrocyclization is followed by an intramolecular trapping of the 2,3-dihydroquinoline intermediate by nitrogen or oxygen nucleophiles to give bridged seven- and eight-membered products. Using 3-hydroxypyridinecarboxaldehydes results in a stable zwitterionic structure that can undergo a diastereoselective reduction under hydrogenative conditions. A similar cyclization/hydrogenation pathway with excellent diastereoselectivity is also demonstrated from 2-pyridyl-substituted 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinolines.PostprintPeer reviewe

catena-Poly[sodium(I)-μ-tetra­butoxy­borato]

The title compound, [Na(C16H36BO4)]n, has a fourfold axis passing through the Na and B atoms which both are bound by four O atoms. The tetra­butoxy­borate anion provides the bridging to form one-dimensional polymers running along [001], just like those found for the tetra­ethoxy­borate structure. The two but­oxy ‘tail’ atoms are disordered over two conformations in a 0.887 (9):0.113 (9) ratio

4-π-Photocyclization of 1,2-Dihydropyridazines: An Approach to Bicyclic 1,2-Diazetidines with Rich Synthetic Potential.

The 4-π-photocyclization of a range of 1,2-dihydropyridazines is described, generating bicyclic 1,2-diazetidines in high yields on multigram scale. The key bicyclic 1,2-diazetidines are versatile synthetic intermediates and were easily converted into a range of novel derivatives, including functionalized 1,2-diazetidines, cyclobutenes, cyclobutanes, and 1,3-dienes

N1-arylation of 1,4-benzodiazepine-2-ones with diaryliodonium salts

A library of N1-arylated 5-phenyl-1,3-dihydro-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-ones has been synthesized starting with unsymmetrical diaryliodonium salts using aqueous ammonia as a base. This can also be applied to a similar 1,3,4-benzotriazepin-2-one derivative

Gram scale laboratory synthesis of TC AC 28, a high affinity BET bromodomain ligand

TC AC 28, 6-(1H-Indol-4-yl)-8-methoxy-1-methyl-4H-[1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a][1,4]benzodiazepine-4-acetic acid methyl ester, has been synthesized on a near gram scale in seven steps with notable improvements in the reported poor yielding last 2 steps enabling this key chemical probe compound to be available for researchers

Redetermination of the borax structure from laboratory X-ray data at 145 K

The title compound, sodium tetraborate decahydrate (mineral name: borax), Na2[B4O5(OH)4]·8H2O, has been studied previously using X-ray [Morimoto (1956). Miner. J. 2, 1–18] and neutron [Levy & Lisensky (1978). Acta Cryst. B34, 3502–3510] diffraction data. The structure contains tetra­borate anions [B4O5(OH)4]2− with twofold rotation symmetry, which form hydrogen-bonded chains, and [Na(H2O)6] octa­hedra that form zigzag chains [Na(H2O)4/2(H2O)2/1]. The O—H bond distances obtained from the present redetermination at 145 K are shorter than those in the neutron study by an average of 0.127 (19) Å

1,2-Dihydropyridazines as Versatile Synthetic Intermediates

© 2020 Georg Thieme Verlag. All rights reserved. The reactivity of 1,2-dihydropyridazines under various conditions is described, leading to the formation of a variety of products, including 2-aminopyrroles, phenylenediamines, and several novel heterocyclic motifs