Open-cage fullerene derivatives with 15-membered-ring orifices

The addition reaction of the N-MEM-ketolactam derivative of [60]fullerene with phenyl, p-Br-phenyl, and p-MeO-phenyl hydrazines proceeds regioselectively, affording three open-cage fullerene derivatives bearing a 15-membered-ring orifice on the fullerene cage. Both experimental data and theoretical calculations were utilized for the structure determination of the new [60]fullerene adducts.     

Solid Ion Conductors in Heterogeneous Catalysis

The electrochemical measurement of oxygen activity using ion-conducting solid electrolytes (λ-sensors) has become widely known, at least since the application of three-way catalysts in the postcombustion of exhaust gases from spark-ignition engines. However, the use of solid ion conductors is not limited to control devices. There are various other potential applications and numerous problems which can be studied: the formation of oxides in the course of catalytic reactions on metal surfaces, the improvement of selectivity and yield of catalytic reactions, such as the epoxidation of ethylene on silver catalysts and, finally, the cogeneration of electrical energy during oxidation reactions, such as the partial oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde.     

Automated sample preparation based on the sequential injection principle. Solid-phase extraction on a molecularly imprinted polymer coupled on-line to high-performance liquid chromatography

A molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) prepared using caffeine, as a template, was validated as a selective sorbent for solid-phase extraction (SPE), within an automated on-line sample preparation method. The polymer produced was packed in a polypropylene cartridge, which was incorporated in a flow system prior to the HPLC analytical instrumentation. The principle of sequential injection was utilised for a rapid automated and efficient SPE procedure on the MIP. Samples, buffers, washing and elution solvents were introduced to the extraction cartridge via a peristaltic pump and a multi-position valve, both controlled by appropriate software developed in-house. The method was optimised in terms of flow rates, extraction time and volume. After extraction, the final eluent from the extraction cartridge was directed to the injection loop and was subsequently analysed on HPLC. The overall set-up facilitated unattended operation, operation and improved both mixing fluidics and method development flexibility. This system may be readily built in the laboratory and can be further used as an automated platform for on-line sample preparation.     

Rapid spectrofluorimetric determination of lisinopril in pharmaceutical tablets using sequential injection analysis

The present work reports for the first time a simple and rapid method for the spectrofluorimetric determination of lisinopril (LSP) in pharmaceutical formulations using sequential injection analysis (SIA). The method is based on reaction of LSP with o-phthalaldehyde (OPA) in the presence of 2-mercaptoethanol (borate buffer medium, pH=10.6). The emission of the derivative is monitored at 455 nm upon excitation at 346 nm. The various chemical and physical conditions that affected the reaction were studied. The calibration curve was linear in the range 0.3–10.0 mg L^–1 LSP, at a sampling rate of 60 injections h^–1. Consumption of OPA reagent was significantly reduced compared with conventional flow injection (FI) systems, because only 50 L of OPA was consumed per run. The method was found to be adequately precise (s_r=2% at 5 mg L^–1 LSP, n=10) and the 3 detection limit was 0.1 mg L^–1. The method was successfully applied to the analysis of two pharmaceutical formulations containing LSP. The results obtained were in good agreement with those obtained by use of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), because the mean relative error, e_r, was <1.8%.     

Electrochemical speciation of organotin compounds in water and sediments. Application to sea water after ion-exchange separation

For the quantitative speciation of tributyltin, Bu₃Sn⁺ (TBT), in the presence of dibutyltin, Bu₂Sn²⁺ (DBT), monobutyltin, BuSn³⁺ (MBT), triphenyltin, Ph₃Sn⁺ (TPT), and inorganic tin in water samples and sediments, an accurate, reproducible, simple and rapid electrochemical method was developed. After extraction of the organotin compounds with dichloromethane, TBT could be selectively determined as species by alternating current polarography directly in the organic phase without any derivatisation. The successful application of this technique could be proved by the results obtained by intercomparison exercises on TBT in water samples and sediments, organized by the Community Bureau of Reference (BCR). For the application of this technique to sea water samples a preliminary ion exchange separation of TBT from the major components of sea water was performed, achieving a detection limit for TBT in the ppt range.     

Reactions of O-methyl o-quinone monoximes with methyl-, methylene- and methine- substituted aromatic compounds. Synthesis of benzo[d]oxazole and 1,4-benzoxazine derivatives

O-Methyl o-quinone monoxime 1 reacts thermally with compounds 2a-d or 6a,b or 7a,b to give mainly the corresponding 2-substituted phenanthroxazoles 3a-c and 8 . The reaction of 1 with aromatic methylene compounds lOa-c affords the ketones 13a-c in moderate to high yields. Similar products are also obtained from the reaction of monoximes 15a,b with some of the above reactants. The unexpected products 5 and 20 are obtained from the reaction of 1 with 2-methylimidazole ( 2d ) and with phenyloxirane ( 19 ) respectively, while the 4H-1,4-oxazine derivative 23 is obtained from the reaction of 1 with indene ( 21 ).     

[Methyl-D<Subscript>3</Subscript>]<Subscript>2</Subscript>hypericin as internal standard for quantification in human plasma

The multistep synthesis and negative ion-ESI fragmentation pattern of [methyl-D(3)](2)hypericin (1-D(6)) is described. The application of 1-d(6) as internal standard for the quantification of hypericin (1) in the ng mL(-1) range in human plasma by isotope-dilution LC-MS is demonstrated. The hypericin-containing plasma samples are spiked with 1-D(6), deproteinized and extracted with ethyl acetate. The extracts are injected into a HPLC-ESI-ion-trap system and the mass-separated negative ions from 1 and 1-D(6) are analysed. From their intensities linear standard curves over the concentration range from 1 to 10 ng mL(-1) are obtained. Accuracy, precision and recovery are discussed.     

Microwave-promoted Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling of aryl halides with phenylboronic acid under aerobic conditions catalyzed by a new palladium complex with a thiosemicarbazone ligand

A new air- and moisture-stable palladium complex with salicylaldehyde N(4)-hexamethyleneiminylthiosemicarbazone has been synthesized. According to its crystal structure, the metal is bonded to 2 equiv monoanionic thiosemicarbazone moieties in a N,S-bidentate fashion, forming two five-membered chelate rings, while additional intramolecular bonds stabilize the structure. In contrast to other palladium complexes with thiosemicarbazones, this complex was inactive towards the Suzuki-Miyaura coupling under aerobic conditions, by conventional heating. On the other hand, microwave irradiation promoted the effective catalytic activity of the complex for the coupling of aryl bromides and chlorides with phenylboronic acid in DMF/H₂O, under aerobic conditions, with turnover numbers of up to 37,000.     

Olefin metathesis: remote substituents governing the stereoselectivity of 11-membered-ring formation

[reaction: see text] Stereospecific RCM reaction of 7 (R1 = Me) results in the formation of (Z)-11-membered macrocycle 9c. Cascade RCM/ROM/RCM transformation of 7 (R1 = H) affords the thermodynamically more stable spirocycle product 12.     

Deleting Outliers in Robust Regression with Mixed Integer Programming

In robust regression we often have to decide how many are the unusual observations, which should be removed from the sample in order to obtain better fitting for the rest of the observations. Generally, we use the basic principle of LTS, which is to fit the majority of the data, identifying as outliers those points that cause the biggest damage to the robust fit. However, in the LTS regression method the choice of default values for high break down-point affects seriously the efficiency of the estimator. In the proposed approach we introduce penalty cost for discarding an outlier, consequently, the best fit for the majority of the data is obtained by discarding only catastrophic observations. This penalty cost is based on robust design weights and high break down-point residual scale taken from the LTS estimator. The robust estimation is obtained by solving a convex quadratic mixed integer programming problem, where in the objective function the sum of the squared residuals and penalties for discarding observations is minimized. The proposed mathematical programming formula is suitable for small-sample data. Moreover, we conduct a simulation study to compare other robust estimators with our approach in terms of their efficiency and robustness.