Crystal structure and magnetic properties of two new cobalt selenite halides: Co5(SeO3)4X2 (X=Cl, Br)

Two new isostructural cobalt selenite halides Co₅(SeO₃)₄Cl₂ and Co₅(SeO₃)₄Br₂ have been synthesized. They crystallize in the triclinic system space group P−1 with the following lattice parameters for Co₅(SeO₃)₄Cl₂: a=6.4935(8) Å, b=7.7288(8) Å, c=7.7443(10) Å, α=66.051(11)°, β=73.610(11)°, γ=81.268(9)°, and Z=1. The crystal structures were solved from single-crystal X-ray data, R1=3.73 and 4.03 for Co₅(SeO₃)₄Cl₂ and Co₅(SeO₃)₄Br₂, respectively. The new compounds are isostructural to Ni₅(SeO₃)₄Br₂.Magnetic susceptibility measurements on oriented single-crystalline samples show anisotropic response in a broad temperature range. The anisotropic susceptibility is quantitatively interpreted within the zero-field splitting schemes for Co²⁺ and Ni²⁺ ions. Sharp low-temperature susceptibility features, at T_N=18 and 20 K for Co₅(SeO₃)₄Cl₂ and Co₅(SeO₃)₄Br₂, respectively, are ascribed to antiferromagnetic ordering in a minority magnetic subsystem. In isostructural Ni₅(SeO₃)₄Br₂ magnetically ordered subsystem represents a majority fraction (T_N=46 K). Nevertheless, anisotropic susceptibility of Ni₅(SeO₃)₄Br₂ is dominated at low temperatures by a minority fraction, subject to single-ion anisotropy effects and increasing population of S_z=0 (singlet) ground state of octahedrally coordinated Ni²⁺.     

Cyclic trihydroxamic acid derivatives

In the crystal structures of two cyclic trihydroxamic acid derivatives containing the same substructure unit, viz. 1,3,5‐trihydroxy‐1,3,5‐triazinane‐2,4,6‐trione dihydrate, C₃H₃N₃O₆·2H₂O, (I), and 1,3,5‐benz­yloxy‐1,3,5‐triazinane‐2,4,6‐trione, C₂₄H₂₁N₃O₆, (II), there is no significant difference in the geometric parameters. In (I), there are 11 hydrogen bonds of the O—H⋯O type inter­connecting the mol­ecules in a three‐dimensional network, while in (II) there are only two weak C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds. The results of IR spectroscopic analysis are in good agreement with the crystallographic study.     

Synthesis of novel, potentially biologically active dibenzosuberone derivatives

Novel representatives of the important group of biologically active dibenzosuberone derivatives were prepared: 3,7-dibromo-5-(dimethylaminoethyl- oxyimino)-10,11-dihydro-5H-dibenzo[a,d]cyclohepta-1,4-diene (1), 3,7-dibromo-5-(3- dimethylaminopropylidene)-10,11-dihydro-5H-dibenzo[a,d]cycloheptene (2) and 1,7- dibromo-5-(3-dimethylaminopropylidene)-10,11-dihydro-5H-dibenzo-[a,d]-cycloheptene (3). These compounds are potential tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), which are still the most frequently prescribed antidepressants in many countries.     

A.C. Cyclic voltammetry: A digital simulation study of the slow scan limit condition for a reversible electrode process

Rate laws presented to date for analysis of a.c. cyclic voltammetric data have invoked the so-called “slow scan limit approximation” which requires that ΔEω ? v, where Δ E and ω are the applied a.c. potential amplitude and angular frequency, respectively, and v is the d.c. potential scan rate. To provide a more useful guideline for the experimentalist than this qualitative condition, a pure digital simulation approach has been used to compute the a.c. cyclic time domain waveform for a reversible process under small amplitude conditions. The a.c. content of this waveform is extracted by the digital FFT alogirthm. Results of this study are presented here. Among the conclusions reached are more quantitative limitations for the slow scan limit rate laws describing the fundamental and second harmonic responses (approximately 128 a.c. cycles/d.c. cyclic sweep and 512 a.c. cycles/d.c. cyclic sweep, respectively) and an interesting prediction that the latter limitations can be relaxed further by a current waveform subtraction strategy, to as low as about 16 a.c. cycles/d.c. cyclic sweep for the fundamental and second harmonics. The cycles/sweep values assume one triangular wave potential scan of ±200 mV is encompassed.     

Thermal oxidation of cellulose investigated by chemiluminescence. The effect of magnesium and calcium carbonates and of different pHs

Whatman cellulose impregnated with calcium and magnesium carbonates was oxidized and chemiluminescence accompanying this oxidation has been measured. It was shown that magnesium ions in deacidified cellulose pulp promote the light emission significantly. On the other hand, acid papers give the more pronounced light signals at temperatures close to ambient. The relation between chemiluminescence runs and paper degradation has been implicated, with an attempt to extrapolate half-lives of paper samples to conditions close to ambient. To cite this article: J. Rychlý et al., C. R. Chimie 9 (2006).     

Copper(I)-catalysed homo-coupling of aryldiazonium salts: synthesis of symmetrical biaryls

Copper(I) triflate acts as an efficient stoichiometric reagent for the homo-coupling of aryldiazonium salts bearing electron-withdrawing group(s), to yield symmetrical biaryls in acetonitrile under mild reaction conditions. Aryldiazonium salts bearing electron-donating groups undergo the reaction by using catalytic amounts of a copper complex prepared in situ from copper(II) triflate and 2,2′-bipyridine with metallic copper as an ultimate reductant.     

Poly(2‐oxazoline) hydrogels crosslinked with aliphatic bis(2‐oxazoline)s: Properties,cytotoxicity, and cell cultivation

A series of hydrogels from 2‐ethyl‐2‐oxazoline and three bis(2‐oxazoline) crosslinkers—1,4‐butylene‐2,2′‐bis(2‐oxazoline), 1,6‐hexamethylene‐2,2′‐bis(2‐oxazoline), and 1,8‐octamethylene‐2,2′‐bis(2‐oxazoline)—are prepared. The hydrogels differ by the length of aliphatic chain of crosslinker and by the percentage of crosslinker (2–10%). The influence of the type and the percentage of the crosslinker on swelling properties, mechanical properties, and state of water is studied. The equilibrium swelling degree in water ranges from 2 to 20. With a proper selection of the crosslinker, Young's modulus can be varied from 10 kPa to almost 100 kPa. To evaluate the potential for medical applications, the cytotoxicity of extracts and the contact toxicity toward murine fibroblasts are measured. The hydrogels with the crosslinker containing a shorter aliphatic exhibit low toxicity toward fibroblast cells. Moreover, the viability and the proliferation of pancreatic β‐cells incubated inside hydrogels for 12 days are analyzed. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2016 , 54, 1548–1559     

Explicit–implicit mapping approach to nonlinear blind separation of sparse nonnegative dependent sources from a single mixture: pure component extraction from nonlinear mixture mass spectra

The nonlinear, nonnegative single‐mixture blind source separation problem consists of decomposing observed nonlinearly mixed multicomponent signal into nonnegative dependent component (source) signals. The problem is difficult and is a special case of the underdetermined blind source separation problem. However, it is practically relevant for the contemporary metabolic profiling of biological samples when only one sample is available for acquiring mass spectra; afterwards, the pure components are extracted. Herein, we present a method for the blind separation of nonnegative dependent sources from a single, nonlinear mixture. First, an explicit feature map is used to map a single mixture into a pseudo multi‐mixture. Second, an empirical kernel map is used for implicit mapping of a pseudo multi‐mixture into a high‐dimensional reproducible kernel Hilbert space. Under sparse probabilistic conditions that were previously imposed on sources, the single‐mixture nonlinear problem is converted into an equivalent linear, multiple‐mixture problem that consists of the original sources and their higher‐order monomials. These monomials are suppressed by robust principal component analysis and hard, soft, and trimmed thresholding. Sparseness‐constrained nonnegative matrix factorizations in reproducible kernel Hilbert space yield sets of separated components. Afterwards, separated components are annotated with the pure components from the library using the maximal correlation criterion. The proposed method is depicted with a numerical example that is related to the extraction of eight dependent components from one nonlinear mixture. The method is further demonstrated on three nonlinear chemical reactions of peptide synthesis in which 25, 19, and 28 dependent analytes are extracted from one nonlinear mixture mass spectra. The goal application of the proposed method is, in combination with other separation techniques, mass spectrometry‐based non‐targeted metabolic profiling, such as biomarker identification studies. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Unsymmetrical Benzotristhiazole: A New Electron‐Withdrawing Core for Octupolar Chromophores

A six‐step synthesis of the unsymmetrical trimethylbenzotristhiazole has been developed. Starting from 2‐methylbenzothiazole following nitration, reduction, acetylation, thionation, and twofold cyclization, the desired trimethylbenzotristhiazole was obtained in good yield. Its condensation with donor‐substituted benzaldehydes presents the way to new octupolar chromophores. The attempt to synthesize such benzotristhiazole from dinitroaniline failed; this procedure afforded a new benzimidazole derivative.     

Phytochemical and Biological Activity Studies on Nasturtium officinale (Watercress) Microshoot Cultures Grown in RITA® Temporary Immersion Systems

The main compounds in both extracts were gluconasturtiin, 4-methoxyglucobrassicin and rutoside, the amounts of which were, respectively, determined as 182.93, 58.86 and 23.24 mg/100 g dry weight (DW) in biomass extracts and 640.94, 23.47 and 7.20 mg/100 g DW in plant herb extracts. The antioxidant potential of all the studied extracts evaluated using CUPRAC (CUPric Reducing Antioxidant Activity), FRAP (Ferric Reducing Ability of Plasma), and DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) assays was comparable. The anti-inflammatory activity of the extracts was tested based on the inhibition of 15-lipoxygenase, cyclooxygenase-1, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and phospholipase A₂. The results demonstrate significantly higher inhibition of COX-2 for in vitro cultured biomass compared with the herb extracts (75.4 and 41.1%, respectively). Moreover, all the studied extracts showed almost similar antibacterial and antifungal potential. Based on these findings, and due to the fact that the growth of in vitro microshoots is independent of environmental conditions and unaffected by environmental pollution, we propose that biomass that can be rapidly grown in RITA^® bioreactors can serve as an alternative source of bioactive compounds with valuable biological properties.