A convenient strategy of dimerization by microwave heating and using 2,5-diketopiperazine as scaffold

A novel and convenient microwave-assisted dimerization of an active peptide compound using the DKPs as scaffold is described. The key reaction giving rise to the diketopiperazine scaffold is the intermolecular coupling. No epimerization was detected in the reactions used. Conventional and microwave heating of the reactions are compared. Synthesis by microwave irradiation gave the desired compounds in higher yields and in shorter reaction times than those obtained by conventional heating.     

The mass-spectral fragmentation of bicyclo[3.3.1]nonanes

The mass spectra of twelve bicyclo[3.3.1]nonanes have been recorded. The high number of metastables observed, exact mass measurements of the ions and low ionising voltage spectra, permitted the rationalisation of most of the fragmentation pathways. The 1-phenyl substituent triggers the major fragmentation in the hydrocarbon, whereas it has minor influence in the oxygenated compounds. Significant differences in the abundance of [M ? H₂O]⁺ ions for stereoisomeric alcohols of this series have been observed.     

Effect of the mobile phase composition on the retention behaviour of diphenylsilica pre-coated plates

The retention of some rifamycins and steroids on diphenyl bonded pre-coated silica gel plates, in relation to the mobile phase used, was examined by thin-layer chromatography. Neat organic solvents, non-aqueous and aqueous binary mixtures were tested as eluents. By comparison of retention data for rifamycins and steroids, respectively, under non-aqueous and aqueous conditions, a dual retention mechanism on this diphenyl phase was found. Interactions with the residual silanol groups seemed to prevail when employing as mobile phase the more lipophilic solvents tested, such as chloroform or dichloromethane, whereas interactions with the aryl groups of the bonded phase prevailed when using high polarity alcohols or aqueous mixtures. As a consequence, by changing the mobile phase, a large variation in selectivity with a concomitant change in retention order of the test compounds was observed.     

Research on african medicinal plants - X: Glucosides of Hypoxis nyasica bak. the structure of nyasoside,a new glucoside biologically related to hypoxoside

From rhizome of $\text{Hypoxis nyasica}$ two diglucosides were isolated: hypoxoside, (1), and a new one, the 0,0-β,β-di-D-glu- copyranoside of 1-(4$\text{-}\text{?}$hydroxyphenyl)-3-(4$\text{-}\text{?}$hydroxyphenyl)-1,4-pen- tadiene, (2), named nyasoside.     

3-nitrocoumarins as dienophiles in the Diels-Alder reaction in water. An approach to the synthesis of nitrotetrahydrobenzo[c]chromenones and dihydrodibenzo[b,d]furans

The [4 + 2] cycloadditions of 3-nitrocoumarin (1a), 6-chloro-3-nitrocoumarin (1b), and 6-, 7-, and 8-hydroxy-3-nitrocoumarins (1c, 5, and 6) with (E)-piperylene (7), isoprene (8), 2,3-dimethyl-1,3-butadiene (9), 2-methoxy-1,3-butadiene (10), 2,3-dimethoxy-1,3-butadiene (11), and cyclopentadiene (12) were investigated in aqueous medium, in organic solvent and under solventless conditions. The reactions performed in water occurred in heterogeneous phase but were faster than those executed in toluene or dichloroethane (DCE). 1a-c, 5, and 6 behaved as 2pi components in the Diels-Alder cycloadditions with 7-10 and 12, and exo adducts were preferentially or exclusively produced. Surprisingly 1a, behaved as a 4pi component in the cycloaddition in water with 11 and 4-substituted 3-nitrochromanones 20 and 21 were isolated. The cycloadditions of hydroxy-3-nitrocoumarins 1c, 5, and 6 with 1,3-diene 9 did not work in water or in organic solvent, but did work under solventless conditions. Nitrotetrahydrobenzo[c]chromenones 13-16, 24, and 25, originating from the normal electron-demand Diels-Alder reactions, were converted into dihydrodibenzo[b,d]furans 27-31 in water, via one-pot Nef-cyclodehydration reactions.     

Blood lead monitoring in Italy: Assessment of the quality of results obtained between 1992 and 1994

Between 1992 and 1994, a new screening campaign for blood Pb monitoring in the Italian general population was carried out. Since the first campaign (started in 1978, in accomplishment of the European Community Directive 77/312/EEC) a working group of the Laboratory of Clinical Biochemistry at the Italian National Institute of Health (Istituto Superiore di Sanità), as the Reference Centre (RC), has coordinated the activity of various laboratories spread over the national territory. Appropriate quality assurance procedures, including an external quality assessment scheme (EQAS), were elaborated. Within the EQAS, three or four trials were carried out every year. Each laboratory participating in the trial analyzed eight control samples prepared from cow blood at different Pb concentrations. The results obtained by each peripheral laboratory and the RC between 1992 and 1994 have been compared by regression analysis. The same statistical method was adopted to compare the results obtained by each peripheral laboratory and the RC in the duplicate analysis of about 10 per cent of the human samples collected during the 1992–1994 monitoring campaign. There was no evidence of systematic differences between the regression lines obtained on control and human samples. In spite of the lower Pb concentration in the control samples analyzed during the 1992–1994 campaign, the analytical performance of the laboratories was better than that obtained in the previous screening campaign (1985–1986). Blood Pb levels observed in human samples collected between 1992 and 1994, confirm the downward time trend observed in the campaigns carried out in 1978–1979, 1980–1981 and 1985–1986. This study confirms that the results obtained in an EQAS are representative of the actual performance in the analysis of real (human) samples.