Investigation of chiral reactions: the structural detection of new hydrogenated isocinchona alkaloids from mixtures without isolation using electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

The reaction mixture for the hydrogenation of ethyl pyruvate on Pt-alumina catalyst modified with isocinchona alkaloids (alpha-ICN (I) and beta-ICN (II)) was studied by electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS). It was established that part of the chiral modifiers themselves are converted into ions of m/z 299, 305 and 309 in the course of chiral hydrogenation. The experimental data allowed the determination of the probable structure of the ions mentioned. According to ESI-MS/MS spectra the structure of the new cinchona alkaloids was assumed: tetrahydro-isocinchonines (III-VI), decahydro-isocinchonines (VII, VIII) and hydrogenated compounds of VII and VIII by scission of their C--N and C--O bonds (IX/1, IX/2, X). Fragmentation pathways are proposed for these new compounds.     

Adsorption of 1-octanol at the free water surface as studied by Monte Carlo simulation

The adsorption of 1-octanol at the free water surface has been investigated by Monte Carlo computer simulation. Six different systems, built up by an aqueous and a vapor phase, the latter also containing various number of octanol molecules, have been simulated. The number of the octanol molecules has been chosen in such a way that the octanol surface density varies in a broad range, between 0.27 and 7.83 micromol/m(2) in the six systems simulated. For reference, the interfacial system containing bulk liquid octanol in the apolar phase has also been simulated. The results have shown that the formation of hydrogen bonds between the interfacial water and adsorbed octanol molecules is of key importance in determining the properties of the adsorbed layer. At low octanol surface concentration values all the octanol molecules are strongly (i.e., by hydrogen bonds) bound to the aqueous phase, whereas their interaction with each other is negligibly small. Hence, they are preferentially oriented in such a way that their own binding energy (and thus their own free energy) is minimized. In this preferred orientation the O-H bond of the octanol molecule points flatly toward the aqueous phase, declining by about 30 degrees from the interfacial plane, irrespectively from whether the octanol molecule is the H-donor or the H-acceptor partner in the hydrogen bond. Hence, in its preferred orientation the octanol molecule can form at least two low energy hydrogen bonds with water: one as a H-donor and another one as a H-acceptor. Moreover, the preferred orientation of the hydrogen bonded water partners is close to one of the two preferred interfacial water alignments, in which the plane of the water molecule is parallel with the interface. When increasing the octanol surface density, the water surface gets saturated with hydrogen bonded octanols, and hence any further octanol molecule can just simply condense to the layer of the adsorbed octanols. The surface density value at which this saturation occurs is estimated to be about 1.7 micromol/m(2). Above this surface density value the hydrogen bonded octanols and their water partners are oriented in such a way that the number of the water-octanol hydrogen bonds is maximized. Hence, the preferred alignment of the O...O axes of these hydrogen bonds is perpendicular to the interface. This orientation is far from the optimal alignment of the individual octanol molecules, which is also reflected in the observed fact that, unlike in the case of many other adsorbents, the average molecular binding energy of the adsorbed octanol molecules increases (i.e., becomes less negative) with increasing octanol surface density.     

Synthesis and characterization of hyperbranched mesoporous silica SBA-15

Branched mesoporous silica SBA-15 materials have been prepared in a simple process using non-ionic surfactant in acidic conditions in the presence of metal ions.     

The kinetics of homogeneous nucleation of silver nanoparticles stabilized by polymers

The formation of Ag nanoparticles synthesized by homogeneous nucleation, stabilized by polymers (PVA and PVP) was monitored by UV–Vis spectrophotometry and transmission electron microscopy. Our aim was to differentiate between the two main phases of particle formation, i.e. nucleation and growth and to characterize their rates with the help of appropriate kinetic equations. Time resolved spectrophotometric measurements revealed that particle formation is an autocatalytic process: a slow, continuous nucleation phase (3–5 min) is followed by a rapid, autocatalytic growth phase where the maximal particle size is 5–7 nm. By freezing the reaction mixture, the process of particle growth can be followed from 5 to 40 min on TEM pictures. The first order rate constants were calculated and they are strongly depend on the polymer concentration. If the growing particles are attached by PEI to the surface of a solid support, the formation of silver nanoparticles can also be followed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and we can control the particle growth on mica surface. The cross section analysis of the pictures show, that the particle growing process can be also monitored at solid–liquid interface.     

Local ergodicity for systems with growth properties including multi-dimensional dispersing billiards

We prove local ergodicity of uniformly hyperbolic discrete time dynamical systems with singularities, which satisfy certain regularity conditions and an assumption on the growth of unstable manifolds. We apply the result to prove ergodicity of a class of multi-dimensional dispersing billiards.     

Light Element Analysis of Individual Microparticles Using Thin-Window EPMA

 The determination of the concentration of light elements, such as carbon, nitrogen and oxygen, in e.g. atmospheric aerosol particles is important to study the chemical behaviour of atmospheric pollution. The knowledge of low-Z element concentrations gives us information on the speciation of nutrients (species having nutritional value for plants) and toxic heavy metals in the particles. The capability of the conventional energy-dispersive EPMA is strongly limited for the analysis of low-Z elements, mainly because the Be window in the EDX detector hinders the detection of characteristic X-rays of light elements such as C, N, O and Na. WDS is suitable for analysis of light elements, but the measurement of beam sensitive microparticles requires the minimisation of the beam current and the measurement time. A semi-quantitative analytical method based on EPMA using an ultra-thin window EDX detector was developed. It was found that the matrix and geometric effects that are important for low-energy X-rays can be reliably evaluated by Monte Carlo calculations. Therefore, the quantification part of the method contains reverse Monte Carlo calculation done by iterative simulations. The method was standardised and tested by measurements on single particles with known chemical compositions. Beam-sensitive particles such as ammonium-sulphate and ammonium-nitrate were analysed using a liquid nitrogen cooled sample stage. The shape and size of the particles, which are important for the simulations, were determined using a high-magnification secondary electron image. Individual marine aerosol particles collected over the North Sea by a nine-stage Berner cascade impactor were analysed using this new method. Preliminary results on five samples and 4500 particles show that the method can be used to study the modification of sea-salt particles in the troposphere.     

Sum-Avoiding Subsets

We estimate the maximal number of elements that can be selected from a set of n numbers so that the sum of two selected elements are never in the original set. We improve Choi’s upper bound of n^2/5 to e^{c√log n n}.To Professor Nicolas, on the occasion of his 60th birthday.2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: Primary—11B75Supported by Hungarian National Foundation for Scientific Research (OTKA), Grants No. T 38396, T43623 and T42750.     

Evaluation of a New LC Method for Analysis of Vancomycin Released from an Orthopaedic Drug Carrier System

Because of the increasing spread of antibiotic multiresistance, the drug vancomycin is a commonly used in orthopaedic surgery. The objective of our research was to develop a new method for analysis of the drug carrier systems—i.e. systems providing prolonged drug release—used in orthopaedics. The development of a pharmaceutical formulation requires a simple method for analysis of the active ingredient. For characterization of a drug release profile as a function of time, release of antibiotics from hydrophobic matrices was followed by in vitro tests. A rapid LC method, using a 2.1 mm × 150 mm, 5 μm particle, C₁₈ column and methanol–water–acetate buffer as mobile phase was developed for quantitative analysis of samples taken in drug release studies.