Studies on catalytic decomposition of CO over transition metal ion (TMI) doped alumina-boria catalyst systems

ESCA and ESR studies on TMI incorporating alumina-boria catalyst systems for CO conversion show the presence of carbidic phase and no valence change of the incorporated copper in the spent catalyst.     

Energies of Charge Transfer for the Supramolecular Complexes of [60]- and [70]Fullerenes with a Series of meso-Tetraphenylporphyrins in the Solution State

Supramolecular complexes of [60]- and [70]fullerenes with various meso-tetraphenylporphyrins in toluene solutions have been studied by electronic absorption spectroscopy. Charge transfer (CT) absorption bands are observed in the visible region. Vertical ionization potentials (I _D ^V) of the meso-tetraphenylporphyrins are reported from a study of EDA interaction of these porphyrins with a number of electron acceptors like o-chloranil, p-chloranil, 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyanobenzoquinone (DDQ) and vitamin K. The dependence of the CT transition energy on the donor ionization potential has been utilized to estimate the vertical electron affinities (E _A ^V) of [60]- and [70]fullerenes in solution. The value of E _A ^V for [60]fullerene is found to be 0.10 eV lower in magnitude than that of [70]fullerene. We have extracted degrees of CT, and oscillator and transition dipole strengths of the fullerenes/meso-tetraphenylporphyrins complexes. The experimental results show that the CT complexes studied here have a neutral character in their ground states. Electronic coupling elements have been determined for fullerene/meso-tetraphenylporphyrin complexes. Values of the solvent reorganization energy indicate that the electron transfer process takes place at a faster rate in the case of [70]fullerene/meso-tetraphenylporphyrin complexes.     

Palladium catalyzed atom-efficient cross-coupling reactions of triarylbismuths with aryl bromides

Aryl bromides (3 equiv) were coupled efficiently with triarylbismuths (1 equiv) in an atom-efficient way using the Pd(OAc)₂/PPh₃ catalytic system in the presence of K₃PO₄ as base in DMF at 90 °C, providing excellent yields of the cross-coupled biaryls in short reaction times.     

Enhanced magnetic anisotropy of nickel nanosheet prepared in Na-4 mica

Nanosheets of nickel with thickness equal to 0.6 nm have been grown within the interlayer spaces of Na-4 mica. The sheets are made up of percolative clusters of nanodisks. Magnetization characteristics indicate a superparamagnetic behavior with a blocking temperature of 428 K. The magnetic anisotropy constant as extracted from the coercivity data has been found to be higher than that of bulk nickel by two orders of magnitude. This is ascribed to a large aspect ratio of the nickel nanophase. The Bloch exponent is also found to be considerably different from that of bulk nickel because of a size effect. The Bloch equation is still found to be valid for the two dimensional structures.     

Thionyl Chloride-pyridine Mediated Rearrangement. Synthesis of Potential Intermediates for (+) and (±)-Occidol

Thionyl chloride-pyridine mediated rearrangement of cylohexadienyl alcohols (2) and (8) has provided hyposantonin (3) and tetrahydronaphthalene (9), respectively, which in turn have served as potential intermediates for the synthesis of optically active and racemic occidol (6), respectively.     

Peptide‐poly(ε‐caprolactone) biohybrids by grafting‐from ring‐opening polymerization: Synthesis,aggregation, and crystalline properties

Well‐defined peptide‐poly(ε‐caprolactone) (Pep‐PCL) biohybrids were successfully synthesized by grafting‐from ring‐opening polymerization (ROP) of ε‐caprolactone (CL) using designed amine‐terminated sequence‐defined peptides as macroinitiators. MALDI‐TOF‐MS and ¹H NMR analyses confirmed the successful attachment of peptide to the PCL chain. The gel permeation chromatography (GPC) measurement showed that the Pep‐PCL biohybrids with controllable molecular weights and low polydispersities (PDI <1.5) were obtained by this approach. The aggregation of Pep‐PCL hybrid molecules in THF solution resulted in the formation of micro/nanospheres as confirmed through FESEM, TEM, and DLS analyses. The circular dichroism study revealed that the secondary structure of peptide moiety was changed in the peptide‐PCL biohybrids. The crystallization and melting behavior of Pep‐PCL hybrids were somewhat changed compared with that of neat PCL of comparable molecular weight as revealed by DSC and XRD measurements. In Pep‐PCL biohybrids, extinction rings were observed in the PCL spherulites, in contrast with the normal spherulite morphology of the neat PCL. There was a substantial decrease (4–5 folds) in the spherulitic growth rate after the incorporation of peptide moiety at the end of PCL chain as measured by polarizing optical microscopy. Pseudomonas lipase catalyzed enzymatic degradation was studied for Pep‐PCL hybrids and neat PCL. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

The k-essence scalar field in the context of Supernova Ia observations

We study a framework where the hypothesis of a minimum length in space-time is complemented with the notion of reference frame invariance. It turns out natural to interpret the action of the obtained reference frame transformations in the context of doubly special relativity. As a consequence of this formalism we find interesting connections between the minimum length properties and the modified velocity-energy relation for ultra-relativistic particles. For example, we can predict the ratio between the minimum lengths in space and time using the results from OPERA on superluminal neutrinos.     

An evaluation of the CYP2D6 and CYP3A4 inhibition potential of metoprolol metabolites and their contribution to drug–drug and drug–herb interaction by LC‐ESI/MS/MS

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the contribution of metabolites to drug–drug interaction and drug–herb interaction using the inhibition of CYP2D6 and CYP3A4 by metoprolol (MET) and its metabolites. The peak concentrations of unbound plasma concentration of MET, α‐hydroxy metoprolol (HM), O‐desmethyl metoprolol (ODM) and N‐desisopropyl metoprolol (DIM) were 90.37 ± 2.69, 33.32 ± 1.92, 16.93 ± 1.70 and 7.96 ± 0.94 ng/mL, respectively. The metabolites identified, HM and ODM, had a ratio of metabolic area under the concentration–time curve (AUC) to parent AUC of ≥0.25 when either total or unbound concentration of metabolite was considered. In vitro CYP2D6 and CYP3A4 inhibition by MET, HM and ODM study revealed that MET, HM and ODM were not inhibitors of CYP3A4‐catalyzed midazolam metabolism and CYP2D6‐catalyzed dextromethorphan metabolism. However, DIM only met the criteria of >10% of the total drug related material and <25% of the parent using unbound concentrations. If CYP inhibition testing is solely based on metabolite exposure, DIM metabolite would probably not be considered. However, the present study has demonstrated that DIM contributes significantly to in vitro drug–drug interaction. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.