Double-stranded ladderphanes with C2-symmetric planar chiral ferrocene linkers

Eight ladderphanes with C₂-symmetric planar chiral ferrocene linkers are synthesized by ring opening metathesis polymerization of bisnorbornene monomers using Grubbs-I catalyst. The aminobenzoate in both monomers and polymers shows absorption maximum around 320 nm. Both monomers and polymers are Circular dichroism (CD) active. Little enhancements of CD profiles around 320 nm are observed for ladderphanes having chiral chloro- or phenyl-substituted ferrocene linkers. However, ladderphanes with a phenyl substituent on the cyclopendienyl ring exhibits enhancement of CD curves aound 240–300 nm. The congested phenyl moieties in adjacent linkers in this polymer might be well oriented such that interactions between these aromatic substituents on different monomeric units might provoke the enhancement of the CD curves in this region. When the methyl-substituted cyclopendienyl ligand is used for chiral ferrocene linkers, the ladderphanes exhibit two-fold enhancement of CD spectrum around 320 nm. This enhancement is further increased when the cyclopentadienyl ligand contains an additional phenyl substituent, owing to exciton coupling between aminobenzoate moieties in adjacent monomeric units. Moreover, the intensity of the CD curves in the region of 240–300 nm is significantly increased. These results suggest that the later polymer may adopt a posible helical structure. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2017 , 55, 2999–3010     

Morita–Baylis–Hillman (MBH) Reaction Derived Nitroallylic Alcohols,Acetates and Amines as Synthons in Organocatalysis and Heterocycle Synthesis

The Morita–Baylis–Hillman (MBH) reaction is one of the most useful and efficient protocols for constructing new carbon–carbon bonds between an activated olefin and electrophiles in the presence of a tertiary amine/phosphine. Herein, we present the use of MBH alcohols, which are obtained from the reaction of nitrostyrenes with aldehydes, as well as acetates and amines derived thereof in several organocatalytic transformations. Densely functionalised MBH adducts can also be used to synthesise substituted heteroaromatic compounds, such as furan, pyrrole, pyrazole and imidazole derivatives.     

Positive solutions for Lotka–Volterra competition system with large cross-diffusion in a spatially heterogeneous environment

In this paper, we study the stationary problem for the Lotka–Volterra competition system with cross-diffusion in a spatially heterogeneous environment. Although some sufficient conditions for the existence of positive solutions are obtained by using global bifurcation theory, the information for their structure is far from complete. In order to get better understanding of the competition system with cross-diffusion, we focus on the asymptotic behaviour of positive solutions and derive two shadow systems as the cross-diffusion coefficient tends to infinity, moreover, the structure of positive solutions of the limiting system is analysed. The result of asymptotic behaviour also reveals different phenomena from that studied in Wang and Li (2013).     

Pyrrolidine-linker-camphor assembly: bifunctional organocatalysts for efficient Michael addition of cyclohexanone to nitroolefins under neat conditions

A simple and convenient strategy was developed to synthesize a new class of pyrrolidinyl-camphor based bifunctional organocatalysts possessing varying functional linkers. Catalytic screening of these camphor-pyrrolidine linked derivatives for asymmetric Michael reaction of cyclohexanone with β-nitrostyrene was carried out. Various aryl- and heteroaryl-nitroolefins, ketones as well as aldehydes gave the corresponding Michael adducts in high chemical yields (up to 95%) and exceptionally high diastereo-(syn/anti up to 99:1) and enantioselectivity (up to 95%) using catalyst 6 under solvent-free conditions.     

Synthesis, structure, and physicochemical properties of K[VO2(SeO4)(H2O)] and K[VO2(SeO4)(H2O)2] · H2O

The vanadium(V) complexes K[VO₂(SeO₄)(H₂O)] and K[VO₂(SeO₄)(H₂O)₂] · H₂O were synthesized using original procedures; their physicochemical properties were studied, and the crystal structure was determined on the basis of X-ray diffraction and neutron diffraction data. The structure of K[VO₂(SeO₄)(H₂O)₂] · H₂O is composed of VO₆ octahedra connected to form infinite chains by bridging SeO₄ tetrahedra. Each VO₆ tetrahedron has short terminal V-O bonds forming the bent dioxovanadium group VO₂⁺ The unit cell parameters of K[VO₂(SeO₄)(H₂O)₂] · H₂O are a = 6.4045(1) ?, b = 9.9721(2) ?, c = 6.6104(1) ?, β = 107.183(1)°, V = 403.34 ?³, Z = 2, monoclinic system, space group P2₁. The complex K[VO₂(SeO₄)(H₂O)] forms a two-dimensional layered structure composed of highly distorted VO₆ octahedra having two short terminal V-O bonds and SeO₄ groups coordinated simultaneously by three vanadium atoms. This compound crystallizes in the monoclinic system (space group P2₁/c): a = 7.3783(1) ?, b = 10.5550(2) ?, c = 10.3460(2) ?, β = 131.625(1)°, V = 602.894(5) ?³, Z= 4. The vibrational spectra of the studied compounds are fully consistent with their structural features.     

Quantitative analysis of multiple urinary biomarkers of carcinoid tumors through gold-nanoparticle-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry

A simple technique for quantitative analysis of four urinary biomarkers, tryptophan (TRP), 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP), 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid (5-HIAA) of carcinoid tumors is developed using gold nanoparticles as the assisted matrix in surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SALDI–TOF MS). The optimal SALDI conditions for the efficient ionization of those biomarkers are systematically explored by the adjustments of the concentrations of gold nanoparticles and internal standards. The mass spectra with strong signals and minimal background noise are obtained using 1-naphthaleneacetamide (NAD) as the internal standard. The calibration curves of the biomarker concentrations are determined using SALDI–TOF MS and the high linearity is obtained in all samples. For future clinical testing, multiplexed detection of those biomarkers in the urine samples of healthy males is performed. The successful quantitative detections of TRP, 5-HTP, 5-HT and 5-HIAA indicate that our technique provided great potentials to be developed a simple and rapid platform for the tumor biomarker detections.     

Analysis of nonsmooth vector-valued functions associated with infinite-dimensional second-order cones

Given a Hilbert space H, the infinite-dimensional Lorentz/second-order cone K is introduced. For any x∈H, a spectral decomposition is introduced, and for any function f:R→R, we define a corresponding vector-valued function f^H(x) on Hilbert space H by applying f to the spectral values of the spectral decomposition of x∈H with respect to K. We show that this vector-valued function inherits from f the properties of continuity, Lipschitz continuity, differentiability, smoothness, as well as s-semismoothness. These results can be helpful for designing and analyzing solution methods for solving infinite-dimensional second-order cone programs and complementarity problems.     

The Rayleigh-Ritz method, refinement and Arnoldi process for periodic matrix pairs

We extend the Rayleigh-Ritz method to the eigen-problem of periodic matrix pairs. Assuming that the deviations of the desired periodic eigenvectors from the corresponding periodic subspaces tend to zero, we show that there exist periodic Ritz values that converge to the desired periodic eigenvalues unconditionally, yet the periodic Ritz vectors may fail to converge. To overcome this potential problem, we minimize residuals formed with periodic Ritz values to produce the refined periodic Ritz vectors, which converge under the same assumption. These results generalize the corresponding well-known ones for Rayleigh-Ritz approximations and their refinement for non-periodic eigen-problems. In addition, we consider a periodic Arnoldi process which is particularly efficient when coupled with the Rayleigh-Ritz method with refinement. The numerical results illustrate that the refinement procedure produces excellent approximations to the original periodic eigenvectors.