Titanocene-catalyzed cascade cyclization of epoxypolyprenes: straightforward synthesis of terpenoids by free-radical chemistry

The titanocene-catalyzed cascade cyclization of epoxypolyenes, which are easily prepared from commercially available polyprenoids, has proven to be a useful procedure for the synthesis of C(10), C(15), C(20), and C(30) terpenoids, including monocyclic, bicyclic, and tricyclic natural products. Both theoretical and experimental evidence suggests that this cyclization takes place in a nonconcerted fashion via discrete carbon-centered radicals. Nevertheless, the termination step of the process seems to be subjected to a kind of water-dependent control, which is unusual in free-radical chemistry. The catalytic cycle is based on the use of the novel combination Me(3)SiCl/2,4,6-collidine to regenerate the titanocene catalyst. In practice this procedure has several advantages: it takes place at room temperature under mild conditions compatible with different functional groups, uses inexpensive reagents, and its end step can easily be controlled to give exocyclic double bonds by simply excluding water from the medium.     

A study of method robustness for arsenic speciation in drinking water samples by anion exchange HPLC-ICP-MS

Regulating arsenic species in drinking waters is a reasonable objective, since the various species have different toxicological impacts. However, developing robust and sensitive speciation methods is mandatory prior to any such regulations. Numerous arsenic speciation publications exist, but the question of robustness or ruggedness for a regulatory method has not been fully explored. The present work illustrates the use of anion exchange chromatography coupled to ICP-MS with a commercially available "speciation kit" option. The mobile phase containing 2 mM NaH(2)PO(4) and 0.2 mM EDTA at pH 6 allowed adequate separation of four As species (As(III), As(V), MMAA, DMAA) in less than 10 min. The analytical performance characteristics studied, including method detection limits (lower than 100 ng L(-1) for all the species evaluated), proved the suitability of the method to fulfill the current regulation. Other parameters evaluated such as laboratory fortified blanks, spiked recoveries, and reproducibility over a certain period of time produced adequate results. The samples analyzed were taken from water utilities in different areas of the United States and were provided by the U.S. EPA. The data suggests the speciation setup performs to U.S. EPA specifications but sample treatment and chemistry are also important factors for achieving good recoveries for samples spiked with As(III) as arsenite and As(V) as arsenate.     

Separation of biomolecules by μ-high-performance anion-exchange chromatography using a tentacle-like stationary phase

A variety of biomolecules and their variants, which have previously been problematic to separate, have been analysed using a novel anion-exchange resin based on a non-porous polystyrene polymeric support with a hydrophilic coating and grafted tentacular quaternary ammonium functional groups. The hydrophilic coating results in minimal interaction between the support and the biomolecule, while the highly flexible tentacular-like anion-exchange groups increase the ionic interaction potential and act as an umbrella to hold the proteins away from the surface. Because of the removal of silanophilic interactions, minimisation of hydrophobic interactions, and the highly flexible nature of the tentacle-like ion exchangers, ionic interactions can therefore dominate the separation. As such this phase is highly suited to the separation of highly charged biomolecules and their variants. This polymeric strong anion-exchange (SAX) support was packed into a fused-silica capillary column and, using a salt concentration gradient, various recombinant proteins were analysed by -HPLC resulting in baseline resolution.Awarded a poster prize on the occasion of the Euranalysis XIII conference, Salamanca, Spain, 5–10 September 2004     

Formation of Iron Macro-Spheres in Plasma

In this paper the formation mechanism of iron macro-spheres in a plasma medium is dealt with, including the conditions under which such spheres are formed. The geometry of the spheres referred to above depends on the main technological parameters involved in the production of pores. Conditions under which pores occur within macro-spheres are also established. The radii of these pores are sensitive to the velocity distribution within the plasma jet section     

A new approach for the sequential injection spectrophotometric determination of the total antioxidant activity

A sequential injection system based on the ABTS (2,2′-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic-acid) methodology was developed. The proposed method, incorporating a mixing chamber in the side port of the selection valve, was evaluated to measure the total antioxidant activity of several beverages and foods.The ABTS⁺ is generated by oxidation of ABTS with potassium persulfate and is reduced in presence of hydrogen-donating antioxidants converting into a colourless product. The applicability of the developed method was tested by measurement of the antioxidant activity of pure compounds as well as by analysing complex food and beverage samples. The antioxidant activity was presented as l(+) ascorbic acid equivalence. The values obtained by this methodology were not significantly different from the results obtained by the original spectrophotometric ABTS assay. For most of the studied antioxidants, antioxidant activity varied with pH and dilution. The proposed SIA system is suitable for screening direct or diluted total antioxidant activity of pure compounds or food samples.     

One-pot enantioselective formation of eight-membered rings from alkenyl Fischer carbene complexes and ketone enolates

Eight-membered carbocycles with up to five new stereogenic centers are enantioselectively obtained following a one-pot procedure that involves the coupling of three components: an alkenyl Fischer carbene complex, a ketone enolate, and allyl lithium.     

A Restudy of Direct Chelatometric Titration of Vanadium(IV) with N-Benzoyl-N-phenylhydroxylamine as Indicator

This paper restudies the method of direct chelatometric titration of V(IV) with N-benzoyl-N-phenylhydroxylamine (BPHA) as indicator. The indicator functions entirely differently from indicators hitherto used in chelatometry. The solution contains two independent systems – the indicator and the titrand-titrant system – without any color changing species. The BPHA-V(V) chelate once formed as the result of aerial oxidation constitutes the indicator system and does not react with EDTA. Its color therefore remains unchanged throughout titration. It is not a metallochromic indicator. Its function is that of color-screening. The color of the titrant system deepens during titration, but does not change. The end-point is indicated by one color completely covering up the other. Hence, this method is of purely empirical nature.Received July 5, 2002; accepted February 11, 2003 Published online July 16, 2003     

Assignment of Saharan dust sources to episodes in Hungarian atmosphere by PIXE and TOMS observations

Summary Thirty-seven episodes of dust intrusion were observed between February 12, 1991 and August 31, 2000 in the Hungarian atmosphere and found to be of Saharan origin. They have been assigned to typical source areas in Northern Africa selected by systematic investigations related to the Mediterranean Basin. Elemental concentrations and regional signatures deduced from PIXE analysis, total suspended particle mass, and black carbon mass have been measured on dust samples collected in Debrecen, Hungary. These data combined with Aerosol Index data, and dust plume axes obtained from TOMS data from NASA satellites were used for assigning the most probable source areas of the dust transported to the sampling site. Our data and conclusions are in accordance with other published investigations on the predominant role of Saharan dust emission in building up the aerosol load of the global atmosphere.     

The Role of Carnitine Acyltransferases in the Maintenance of Cell Function

Summary. Carnitine acyltransferases catalyse equilibria between acyl-CoA esters and the respective acylcarnitines. Therefore, they act not only as pathway enzymes, but also as modulators of acyl-CoA concentrations within individual sub-cellular compartments. Because acyl-CoA esters are potent biologically active metabolites, carnitine acyltransferase activities are potentially able to affect a diverse range of physiological processes, ranging from insulin secretion, to appetite control, and insulin sensitivity of tissues. The distinctive subcellular distributions of the different types of carnitine acyltransferases also enables them to participate in the transfer of acyl moieties across intracellular membranes, and of particular acylcarnitine esters across the plasma membrane and into the plasma. Pharmacological strategies that make use of these properties to improve cell function are discussed.     

Generation of Molecular Fields, Quantum Similarity Measures and Related Questions

A straightforward discussion on how to generate molecular fields is developed within the postulates of quantum mechanics. The theoretical formalism points towards the generalization and extension of the well-known molecular field forms, associated to density function and electrostatic molecular potential (EMP), including another category of fields associated to quantum molecular similarity measures. The results show that the new formalism can be easily applied to obtain an unlimited number of new information about molecular behavior.