Nitrogen bridgehead compounds. Part 70. Studies on quinolizine derivatives. Part 4. Ultraviolet-visible spectra and chemical properties of some quinolizine derivatives and their monocyclic tautomers

Ultraviolet-visible spectra of 4-oxo 1 and 4-imino 2 quinolizines or their monocyclic tautomers 3, 4 have been studied in neutral, acidic and basic ethanolic solution as well as in dimethyl sulfoxide and chloroform. Ring B of 4-oxo and 6-unsubstituted 4-imino compounds can be cleaved by sodium ethanolate more or less easily. Ring B of 6-methyl-4-iminoquinolizines is very unstable and they are present mainly in the monocyclic form which are partly dissociated in ethanol and dimethyl sulfoxide especially in higher dilution or in the presence of sodium ethanolate. In dilute acidic ethanol or chloroform, the dissociation is suppressed and in the latter solvent and in some cases, absorption bands can be observed due to a small amount of the 4-imino-6-methylquinolizines. In acidic solution of compounds 3B=C, 3D, 4E, 4F=G having simultaneously cyano and ethoxycarbonyl groups in 1 and 3 position, not simple reprotonation occurs but irreversible changes can be observed.     

Asymptotic behaviour of the least squares estimator of the mean of AR(1) models

The aim of the paper is to investigate the limit behaviour of the least squares estimator of the shift parameter of nearly unstable, nearly stable, and nearly explosive AR(1) models. Both zero start and stationary cases are treated. Connection with the maximum likelihood estimator of the shift parameter of continuous time AR(1) processes is also discussed.     

Gradient- and Sensitivity-Enhanced TOCSY Experiments

A pulsed field gradient version of the sensitivity-enhanced 2D TOCSY experiment is proposed which yields high-quality spectra with improved sensitivity and a minimum of two scans pert₁increment. For rapid acquisition of 1D TOCSY spectra, the 1D DPFGSE–TOCSY experiment was modified to include phase-encoded multiple-selective excitation followed by a simple spectral editing. Combination of these two building blocks is used in a sensitivity-enhanced 2D analog of the 3D TOCSY–TOCSY experiment which provides an efficient tool for resolving severely overlapped signals of oligomers in short experimental time.     

Banana-shaped molecules peculiarly oriented in a magnetic field: (2)H NMR spectroscopy and quantum mechanical calculations.

The orientational properties of the banana-shaped liquid crystal 4-chloro-1,3-phenylenebis{4-[4'-(10-undecenyloxy)]benzoyloxy} benzoate (ClPbis11BB) are reported in the nematic phase under the effect of an external magnetic field. A new hypothesis, which states that the central ring of the aromatic core is oriented perpendicularly to the external magnetic field, is proposed. In support of this hypothesis, a series of studies based on (2)H NMR spectroscopy, both in the bulk and in solution, are discussed. (2)H NMR measurements on three selectively deuterium-labelled isotopomers are presented, together with DFT results from B3LYP/cc-pvDz calculations performed on the aromatic core. The rather flat shape of the investigated intramolecular energy surface allows for several different conformations to be populated, the computed magnetic susceptibilities of which are consistent with the proposed hypothesis of peculiar orientation of banana-shaped molecules. Moreover, the orientation of the magnetic susceptibility tensor is shown to be strongly dependent on the internal conformation of the banana-shaped molecules.     

Protein identification by in-gel digestion, high-performance liquid chromatography, and mass spectrometry: Peptide analysis by complementary ionization techniques

A biologically active protein fraction was isolated from rabbit intestine, purified by one-dimensional SDS-PAGE and stained with Coomassie Brilliant Blue. A predominant band of approximately 110-130 kDa was excised and digested in-gel with trypsin. The resulting peptides were extracted then separated by microbore reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Mass spectrometric data from one HPLC fraction obtained by two different ionization techniques proved to be complementary. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) showed nine peptide masses, which by post source decay analysis and database searching were attributed to two proteins. Nanoflow electrospray analysis performed on a hybrid tandem mass spectrometer of quadrupole-quadrupole-orthogonal acceleration time-of-flight (QqTOF) geometry detected six additional peptide components. On the basis of the additional peptides and superior quality collision-induced dissociation spectra typical of this instrument type, two further proteins were identified. The resolution afforded by the QqTOF instrument permitted charge state determination for the fragment ions while preserving the high detection sensitivity that was essential in obtaining the composition of this mixture of proteins.     

Thermal analysis and X-ray studies of chiral ferroelectric liquid crystalline materials and their binary mixtures

Summary Thermal properties of a homologous series of ferroelectric liquid crystals S-(-)-[4-(2-n-alkoxy-propionyloxy)]biphenyl-4'-[n-alkoxy-(3,5-dimethyl)]benzoate have been investigated by polarizing optical microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. The mesophases were identified and confirmed by X-ray too. Three binary mixtures were prepared from the individual homologues. In one of the mixtures (Mix1), the ferroelectric SmC* phase has broadened and became enantiotropic. This mesophase remained monotropic in the other two mixtures (Mix2, Mix3). The chiral nematic N* phase did not appear in Mix1, but remained monotropic for the other two mixtures. Two molecular parameters, the layer spacing and the average intermolecular distance have been calculated from the X-ray results for the homologues and their mixtures. An intercalated tail-to-tail packing of molecules was found both in the single compounds and their mixtures resulting in the layer spacing about half of the molecular length of the single compounds.     

Kinetic Modeling of the Decomposition of Carbon Tetrachloride in Thermal Plasma

Decomposition of carbon tetrachloride in a RF thermal plasma reactor was investigated in argon atmosphere. The net conversion of CCl₄ and the main products of its decomposition were determined from the mass spectrometric analysis of outlet gases. Flow and temperature profiles in the reactor were calculated and concentration profiles of the species along the axis of the reactor were estimated using a newly developed chemical kinetic mechanism, containing 12 species and 34 reaction steps. The simulations indicated that all carbon tetrachloride decomposed within a few microseconds. However, CCl₄ was partly recombined from its decomposition products. The calculations predicted 70\% net conversion of CCl₄, which was close to the experimentally determined value of 60\%. A thermodynamic equilibrium model also simulated the decomposition. Results of the kinetic and thermodynamic simulations agreed well above 2000 K. However, below 2000 K the thermodynamic equilibrium model gave wrong predictions. Therefore, application of detailed kinetic mechanisms is recommended for modeling CCl₄ decomposition under thermal plasma conditions.     

Kinetic studies of dicopper complexes in catechol oxidase model reaction by using an approximationless evaluating method

The oxidation of 3,5-di-tert-butylcatechol to 3,5-di-tert-butyl-o-benzoquinone catalyzed by dinuclear copper(II) complexes {[Cu₂(L¹)(CF₃SO₃)₂(H₂O)₄]-(CF₃SO₃)₂ (1) and [Cu₂(L²O)](CF₃SO₃)₂ (2)| has been investigated in methanol saturated with O₂ at ambient temperature. Detailed kinetic studies were carried out and for the treatment the fitting software ZiTa was applied. On the basis of the results in the kinetic studies a possible mechanism of the catalytic reaction is proposed.This revised version was published online in December 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Investigation of complete oxidation of organic materials by means of a derivatograph

Oxidation of three selected organic model materials, saccharose, gelatine and styrene-divinylbenzene with and without combustion catalysts, was studied with a derivatograph. The catalysts significantly lowered the combustion temperature of the model materials. The amount of carbon dioxide formed during the oxidation process was simultaneously determined gas-titrimetrically. The catalysts used ensured complete carbon to carbon dioxide conversion in the cases of saccharose and gelatine.     

Copper(II) interaction with unstructured prion domain outside the octarepeat region: speciation, stability, and binding details of copper(II) complexes with PrP106-126 peptides

Copper(II) complexes of the neurotoxic peptide fragments of human and chicken prion proteins were studied by potentiometric, UV-vis, CD, and EPR spectroscopic and ESI-MS methods. The peptides included the terminally blocked native and scrambled sequences of HuPrP106-126 (HuPrPAc106-126NH2 and ScrHuPrPAc106-126NH2) and also the nona- and tetrapeptide fragments of both the human and chicken prion proteins (HuPrPAc106-114NH2, ChPrPAc119-127NH2, HuPrPAc109-112NH2, and ChPrPAc122-125NH2). The histidyl imidazole-N donor atoms were found to be the major copper(II) binding sites of all peptides; 3N and 4N complexes containing additional 2 and 3 deprotonated amide-N donors, respectively, are the major species in the physiological pH range. The complex formation processes for nona- and tetrapeptides are very similar, supporting the fact that successive deprotonation and metal ion coordination of amide functions go toward the N-termini in the form of joined six- and five-membered chelates. As a consequence, the peptide sequences investigated here, related to the neurotoxic region of the human PrP106-126 sequence, show a higher metal-binding affinity than the octarepeat fragments. In the case of the HuPrP peptide sequences, a weak pH-dependent binding of the Met109 residue was also detected in the 3N-coordinated complexes.