An Improved Procedure for Cyclisation of Chalcones to Flavanones Using Celite Supported Potassium Fluoride in Methanol: Total Synthesis of Bavachinin

Chalcones may be cyclised to the corresponding flavanones by stirring with KF-celite suspended in methanol at reflux. This method gives consistently higher conversion than other reported procedures and its utility is illustrated by the synthesis of the linear prenylated flavanone bavachinin.     

The Ritter reaction in the synthesis of ortho-fused nitrogen-containing heterocycles

The acid-catalysed condensation of a 1,4- and a 1,5-ditertiary diol with various arylated nitriles is shown to provide a simple and novel route to reduced benz[f]indoles, naphth[1,8a,8-fg]indoles, benzo[4,5]cyclohepta[1,2-b]pyrroles, and benzo[g]quinolines.     

Development and validation of a liquid chromatographic-mass spectrometric assay for the determination of sumatriptan in plasma

Sumatriptan succinate is a novel compound currently in development for the acute treatment of migraine. During early studies in man a sensitive and selective assay was required, which had to be developed rapidly, to determine plasma concentrations following an intravenous infusion. Thermospray liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry combined with the advanced automated sample processor was selected to achieve this. Although the assay was required quickly criteria for intra- and inter-assay accuracies and precisions of +/- 10% had to be achieved. These were obtained only by using a co-eluting deuterium-labelled internal standard. Attempts to use a homologue as an internal standard, which did not co-elute with sumatriptan, gave inferior results. The assay was linear over the calibration range 2-50 ng/ml with a limit of quantification of 2 ng/ml. The application of the technique to the analysis of samples from a volunteer study is demonstrated.     

Redox control within single-site polymerization catalysts

The activity of a single-site titanium-based lactide polymerization initiator supported by a ferrocenyl-derivatized salen ligand is shown to be modulated by a chemical redox switch; a substantially higher rate of propagation is found for the neutral catalyst compared to its oxidized dicationic ferrocenium counterpart.     

The synthesis, coordination chemistry and ethylene polymerisation activity of ferrocenediyl nitrogen-substituted ligands and their metal complexes

Treatment of aminoferrocene with substituted 2-hydroxybenzaldehydes yields the air- and moisture-stable ligands 1–4, which were then reacted to form the chromium dichloride complexes 5–7 and the nickel bis-chelate species 8 and 9. The metal compounds are very air-sensitive but the chromium compounds act as pre-catalysts for the polymerisation of ethylene. Reaction of 1,1′-bis(amino)ferrocene with similarly substituted 2-hydroxybenzaldehyes or simple benzaldehyde gives the ligands 10–12 and 17, respectively. The X-ray crystal structure of 11 shows the molecule to have non-crystallographic C₂ symmetry and to be linked by C–Hπ interactions between the anthracene rings. Titanium-containing complexes 13–16 can be formed utilising ligands 10–12 and there is a change in geometry within the complexes dependent on the adjacent co-ligands, whilst ligand 17 can be reacted with PdClMe(COD) to form the chelate complex 18. Cyclic voltammetric studies have been carried out on 18 and its oxidised analogue 19, but both complexes are inactive towards ethylene polymerisation.     

Automated sample preparation on-line with thermospray high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for the determination of drugs in plasma

The combination of a solid-phase extraction module, the AASP, on-line with thermospray high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for the automated determination of drugs in plasma is described. The technique was evaluated successfully using, as an example, the determination of labetalol in human plasma. [2H7]Labetalol was used as an internal standard to compensate for changes in ionization efficiencies between analyses. The chromatographic and mass spectrometric conditions were optimized for labetalol. The combined technique was demonstrated as being robust and reliable for the analysis of plasma samples from a clinical study.     

On the algorithmic construction of classifying spaces and the isomorphism problem for biautomatic groups

We show that the isomorphism problem is solvable in the class of central extensions of word-hyperbolic groups,and that the isomorphism problem for biautomatic groups reduces to that for biautomatic groups with finite centre.We describe an algorithm that,given an arbitrary finite presentation of an automatic group Γ,will construct explicit finite models for the skeleta of K(Γ,1) and hence compute the integral homology and cohomology of Γ.     

A HYPERBOLIC SYSTEM OF CONSERVATION LAWS FOR FLUID FLOWS THROUGH COMPLIANT AXISYMMETRIC VESSELS

We are concerned with the derivation and analysis of one-dimensional hyperbolic systems of conservation laws modelling fluid flows such as the blood flow through compliant axisymmetric vessels.Early models derived are nonconservative and/or nonhomogeneous with measure source terms,which are endowed with infinitely many Riemann solutions for some Riemann data.In this paper,we derive a one-dimensional hyperbolic system that is conservative and homogeneous.Moreover,there exists a unique global Riemann solution for the Riemann problem for two vessels with arbitrarily large Riemann data,under a natural stability entropy criterion.The Riemann solutions may consist of four waves for some cases.The system can also be written as a 3×3 system for which strict hyperbolicity fails and the standing waves can be regarded as the contact discontinuities corresponding to the second family with zero eigenvalue.     

Study on particle removal efficiency of an impinging jet by an image-processing method

 An image-processing method is proposed to obtain the distribution of the removal efficiency of particles on a plate by an air jet. This method can be used to measure particle removal from a flat surface by processing the image of the reflected light from the surface. Factors affecting the particle removal efficiency such as air pressure, distance between the nozzle and the impinging surface and the impinging angle are discussed. Optimal conditions are determined to obtain the most effective particle removal by the air jet. Received: 10 April 2001 / Accepted: 2 August 2001