Memory of chirality in cascade rearrangements of enediynes

The cascade rearrangement of chiral enediynes 1c-e, involving successively 1,3-proton shift, Saito-Myers cyclization, 1,5-hydrogen atom transfer, and intramolecular coupling of the resulting biradical, proceeded at 80 °C to form tri- and tetracyclic heterocycles possessing a quaternary stereogenic center with a very high level of memory of chirality.     

Electron affinities of biscyclopentadienyl and phospholyl uranium(IV) borohydride complexes: Experimental and DFT studies

Electron affinities (EAs) of a series of biscyclopentadienyl and phospholyl uranium(IV) complexes L₂U(BH₄)₂ [L₂ = Cp₂, (tmp)₂, (tBuCp)₂, (Cp*)(tmp) and Cp*₂] related to the U(III)/U(IV) redox system were calculated using relativistic Density Functional Theory (DFT) based methods coupled with the Conductor-like Screening Model for Real Solvents (COSMO-RS) approach. Electrochemical measurements of half-wave potentials in solution (tetrahydrofuran THF) were carried out for all these compounds under the same rigorous conditions. A good correlation (r² = 0.99) is obtained between the calculated EA values, at the ZORA/BP86/TZ2P level, and the half-wave reduction potentials measured by electrochemistry. The investigations bring to light the importance of spin-orbit coupling and solvent effect and the use of a large basis set in order to achieve such a good agreement between theory and experiment. The study confirms the instability of the Cp₂U(BH₄)₂ complex during the reduction process. The influence of the substituted aromatic ligand L₂, namely their electron donating ability, on EA was studied. The role of involved orbitals (singled occupied molecular orbital –SOMO– of anionic species or lowest unoccupied molecular orbital –LUMO– of neutral species) in the redox process was revealed.     

Supercritical fluid chromatography hyphenated with twin comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography for ultimate analysis of middle distillates

This paper reports the conditions of online hyphenation of supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) with twin comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (twin-GC × GC) for detailed characterization of middle distillates; this is essential for a better understanding of reactions involved in refining processes. In this configuration, saturated and unsaturated compounds that have been fractionated by SFC are transferred on two different GC × GC columns sets (twin-GC × GC) placed in the same GC oven. Cryogenic focusing is used for transfer of fractions into the first dimension columns before simultaneous GC × GC analysis of both saturated and unsaturated fractions. The benefits of SFC–twin-GC × GC are demonstrated for the extended alkane, iso-alkane, alkene, naphthenes and aromatics analysis (so-called PIONA analysis) of diesel samples which can be achieved in one single injection. For that purpose, saturated and unsaturated compounds have been separated by SFC using a silver loaded silica column prior to GC × GC analysis. Alkenes and naphthenes are quantitatively recovered in the unsaturated and saturated fractions, respectively, allowing their identification in various diesel samples. Thus, resolution between each class of compounds is significantly improved compared to a single GC × GC run, and for the first time, an extended PIONA analysis of diesel samples is presented.     

The CH3D absorption spectrum in the 1.58 μm transparency window of methane: Empirical line lists at 81 K and 294 K and temperature dependence

In spite of its low isotopic abundance in methane (about 5×10⁻⁴), CH₃D contributes greatly to the very weak absorption in the 1.58 μm methane transparency window. This methane window deserves to be characterized in details because it is important for planetary applications in particular for Titan and the giant planets. In this work, we recorded the CH₃D spectrum by high sensitivity differential absorption spectroscopy (α_min≈5×10⁻⁸ cm⁻¹) both at room temperature and at 81 K. A list of more than 9000 lines was constructed from the 81 K spectrum for the 6099–6530 cm⁻¹ region. In order to get the temperature dependence of the line intensities, the low energy values have to be determined. The rovibrational assignments available in the literature provide low energy values for about 380 strong transitions of the region. This is insufficient to characterize the temperature dependence of the CH₃D absorption between 6200 and 6400 cm⁻¹. In this interval, a list of 5500 lines was constructed from the room temperature spectrum. The empirical energy values of the transitions were derived from the ratio of the intensities at 81 K and 294 K. The exact and empirical lower state energies included in the final line lists provided as Supplementary Material, allow for accounting for the temperature dependence of the CH₃D spectrum in the entire 6099–6530 cm⁻¹ region.Our measurements have been compared to the spectroscopic parameters and assignments available in the literature in particular those adopted in the HITRAN database. Improvements and corrections are proposed for the wavenumber calibration and for some lower state energies.     

The value of competitive information in forecasting FMCG retail product sales and the variable selection problem

Sales forecasting at the UPC level is important for retailers to manage inventory. In this paper, we propose more effective methods to forecast retail UPC sales by incorporating competitive information including prices and promotions. The impact of these competitive marketing activities on the sales of the focal product has been extensively documented. However, competitive information has been surprisingly overlooked by previous studies in forecasting UPC sales, probably because of the problem of too many competitive explanatory variables. That is, each FMCG product category typically contains a large number of UPCs and is consequently associated with a large number of competitive explanatory variables. Under such a circumstance, time series models can easily become over-fitted and thus generate poor forecasting results.