Separation of Cinchona alkaloids on a novel strong cation-exchange-type chiral stationary phase—comparison with commercially available strong cation exchanger and reversed-phase packing materials

A recently reported chiral strong cation exchanger (cSCX) type stationary phase was investigated for the LC separation of a series of Cinchona alkaloids and synthetic derivatives thereof to test its usefulness as alternative methodology for the separation of those important pharmaceuticals. The cSCX column-packing material was qualitatively compared on the one hand against a commercially available non-enantioselective SCX-material, PolySulfoethyl-A, and, on the other hand, against a modern C18 reversed-phase stationary phase which is commonly employed for Cinchona alkaloid analysis. Both SCX columns showed no pronounced peak-tailing phenomena which typically hamper Cinchona alkaloid RP analysis and require specific optimization. Thus, the cSCX-based assay provided new feasibilities for the separation of the Cinchona alkaloids in polar organic mode as opposed to conventional reversed-phase methodologies. In particular, a method for the simultaneous determination of eight Cinchona alkaloids (quinine, quinidine, cinchonine, cinchonidine, and their corresponding dihydro analogs) using the cSCX column in HPLC has been developed and exemplarily applied to impurity profiling of a commercial alkaloid sample. Furthermore, both SCX materials allowed successful separation of C9-epi and 10,11-didehydro derivatives from their respective educts in an application in synthetic Cinchona alkaloid chemistry. Figure An alternative separation principle - HPLC separation of strongly basic natural Cinchona alkaloids and synthetic derivatives thereof by means of a strong cation-exchanger type chiral stationary phase     

矩形区域不等圆形随机堆放的数值模拟

将若干待堆放的圆形堆放到一个给定矩形区域,是一类特殊的Packing问题。针对这一具有NP难度的困难问题,提出一种快速的数值模拟方法以及模拟力学检验的方法。该方法将圆形堆放的力学平衡规律化为几何形体相互接触的几何条件,把大量的圆形按级配及分布律等约束条件,随机堆放形成空间区域。按此方法得到的圆形堆体,在不加外力的情形下即可保持自身的稳定。使用该方法,在边长为15cm的正方形区域内,取圆形的直径范围为0.5cm~4cm,模拟了孔隙率小于25%(面积比)的圆形堆体。最后,将所模拟的圆形堆体试件进行了有限元网格划分及力学加载试算,结果表明该堆体是稳定的。为进一步在细观层次研究圆形堆体提供了一个快速的数值模拟方法。     

Evaluation of particle packing models by comparing with published test results

The existing particle packing density models each with two or more parameters accounting for certain particle interactions （the loosening effect parameter, wall effect parameter, wedging effect parameter, and compaction index, denoted by a, b, c, and K, respectively） may be classified into the 2-parameter model （with a and b incorporated）, the compressible model （with a, b, and 1（incorporated）, and the 3- parameter model （with a, b, and c incorporated）. This paper evaluates these models by comparing their respective packing density predictions with the test results published in the literature. It was found that their accuracy varies with both the size ratio and volumetric fractions of the binary mix. In general, when the size ratio is larger than 0.65, all the packing models are sufficiently accurate. However, when the size ratio is smaller than 0.65, some of them become inaccurate and the errors tend to be larger at around the volumetric fractions giving maximum packing density. Relatively, the 3-parameter model is the most accurate and widely applicable.     

The effect of blending granular aggregates of different origin on the strength of concrete

This work correlates the resistance of concrete cores with the physical properties of the granular material forming it. A basic physical characterization is conducted, taking into account the origin of the grains involved in the concrete mixture; that is, if they come from natural degradation (natural granular aggregates) or from a grinding process (crushed granular aggregates). Apparent and real densities, shape factors, packing densities, and specific surface areas of the grains are measured. The results are discussed as a function of size and origin of the grains. Several mixtures are prepared following a standard protocol and using different ratios of natural and crushed aggregates. For each ratio, six cores are prepared and uniaxial compression tests are performed. A non-monotonic relation between the resistance of concrete and the percentage of crushed aggregate present in it is obtained, with an optimum ratio depending on the physical properties of the grains.     

A column generation heuristic for the two-dimensional two-staged guillotine cutting stock problem with multiple stock size

We consider a two-dimensional cutting stock problem where stock of different sizes is available, and a set of rectangular items has to be obtained through two-staged guillotine cuts. We propose a heuristic algorithm, based on column generation, which requires as its subproblem the solution of a two-dimensional knapsack problem with two-staged guillotines cuts. A further contribution of the paper consists in the definition of a mixed integer linear programming model for the solution of this knapsack problem, as well as a heuristic procedure based on dynamic programming. Computational experiments show the effectiveness of the proposed approach, which obtains very small optimality gaps and outperforms the heuristic algorithm proposed by Cintra et al. [3].     

A reference length approach for the 3D strip packing problem

In the three-dimensional strip packing problem (3DSP), we are given a container with an open dimension and a set of rectangular cuboids (boxes) and the task is to orthogonally pack all the boxes into the container such that the magnitude of the open dimension is minimized. We propose a block building heuristic based on extreme points for this problem that uses a reference length to guide its solution. Our 3DSP approach employs this heuristic in a one-step lookahead tree search algorithm using an iterative construction strategy. We tested our approach on standard 3DSP benchmark test data; the results show that our approach produces better solutions on average than all other approaches in literature for the majority of these data sets using comparable computation time.     

Non‐Planar Lithium‐Phthalocyanine in the Double Salt (nBu4N)2[Lipc]PF6

We report the synthesis of the diamagnetic double salt bis(tetra(n‐butyl)ammonium) phthalocyanato(2‐)lithate hexafluorophosphate (nBu₄N)₂[Lipc]PF₆ [pc = phthalocyanine, nBu₄N⁺ = tetra(n‐butyl)ammonium] in dme (dme = dimethoxyethane). According to single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction structure analysis [P$\bar{1}$ , a = 8.642(2) Å, b = 12.820(3) Å, c = 15.019(3) Å, α = 83.01(3)°, β = 87.87(3)°, γ = 74.45(3)°, Z = 1, R₁ = 6.4 %], the phthalocyanine building bloc shows a substantial distortion of the macrocyclic ring from planarity. The deviation from D_4h symmetry originates from packing effects induced by the two tetra(n‐butyl)ammonium cations located above and below the macrocycle. DFT structure optimization starting from the experimental non‐planar configuration produces a fully planar complex anion [Lipc]^–.     

Dense packing properties of mineral admixtures in cementitious material

The effect of ultra-fine fly ash （UFFA）, steel slag （SS） and silica fume （SF） on packing density of binary, ternary and quaternary cementitious materials was studied in this paper in terms of minimum water requirement of cement. The influence of mineral admixtures on the relative density of pastes with low water/hinder ratios was analyzed and the relationship between paste density and compressive strength of the corresponding hardened mortars was discussed. The results indicate that the incorporation of mineral admixtures can effectively improve the packing density ofcementitious materials; the increase in packing density of a composite with incorporation of two or three kinds of mineral admixtures is even more obvious than that with only one mineral admixture. Moreover, an optimal amount of mineral admixture imparts to the mixture maximum packing density. The dense packing effect of a mineral admixture can increase the packing density of the resulting cementitious material and also the density of paste with low water/binder ratio, which evidently enhances the compressive strength of the hardened mortar.     

An improved typology of cutting and packing problems

The number of publications in the area of Cutting and Packing (C&P) has increased considerably over the last two decades. The typology of C&P problems introduced by Dyckhoff [Dyckhoff, H., 1990. A typology of cutting and packing problems. European Journal of Operational Research 44, 145–159] initially provided an excellent instrument for the organisation and categorisation of existing and new literature. However, over the years also some deficiencies of this typology became evident, which created problems in dealing with recent developments and prevented it from being accepted more generally. In this paper, the authors present an improved typology, which is partially based on Dyckhoff’s original ideas, but introduces new categorisation criteria, which define problem categories different from those of Dyckhoff. Furthermore, a new, consistent system of names is suggested for these problem categories. Finally, the practicability of the new scheme is demonstrated by using it as a basis for a categorisation of the C&P literature from the years between 1995 and 2004.     

Packing algorithms for arborescences (and spanning trees) in capacitated graphs

In a digraph with real-valued edge capacities, we pack the greatest number of arborescences in time O(n ³m log(n ²/m)); the packing uses at mostm distinct arborescences. Heren andm denote the number of vertices and edges in the given graph, respectively. Similar results hold for integral packing: we pack the greatest number of arborescences in time O(min{n, logN}n ²m log(n ²/)) using at mostm + n – 2 distinct arborescences; hereN denotes the largest (integral) capacity of an edge. These resuts improve the best previous bounds for capacitated digraphs. The algorithm extends to several related problems, including packing spanning trees in an undirected capacitated graph, and covering such graphs by forests. The algorithm provides a new proof of Edmonds' theorem for arborescence packing, for both integral and real capacities, based on a laminar family of sets derived from the packing. © 1998 The Mathematical Programming Society, Inc. Published by Elsevier Science B.V.