Regio- and stereoselective syntheses of l-pentose derivatives from l-arabinose

Novel l-arabinose, l-ribose, 2-deoxy-l-ribose and 2-fluoro-2-deoxy-l-arabinose derivatives were synthesized from readily available l-arabinose. Different synthetic routes to methyl 3,5-di-O-acylated-l-arabino(ribo)furanosides as valued intermediates for the preparation of C-2 functionalized l-pentoses were investigated via regioselective transformations of 1,2-di-O-acetyl-3,5-di-O-pivaloyl-l-arabinofuranose, and selective acylation of methyl l-arabinofuranoside with 4-chlorobenzoyl or pivaloyl chloride. Short three-five-step syntheses of methyl 2-deoxy-α-l-ribofuranoside, its 3,5-di-O-acyl derivatives, valuable precursors for preparation of antiviral 2′-deoxy-l-nucleosides, were accomplished via simple and efficient reduction of methyl 2-O-mesyl-l-arabinofuranoside with L-Selectride or tandem reaction involving a complex hydride 2-deoxygenation/acylation of intermediate 2-deoxysugar. A new synthesis of 2′-deoxy-2′-fluoro-β-l-arabinofuranosyl thymine (l-FMAU) was performed using a mild fluorination of protected l-ribofuranoside and a novel sequence of conversions for the preparation of 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-l-arabinofuranoside derivatives.     

Reactions of 2- and 4-pyrones with secondary phosphine chalcogenides: a facile synthesis of functional phosphorylated pyrones

The oxidative cross-coupling between 4-hydroxy-6-methyl-2-pyrone or 3-hydroxy-2-methyl-4-pyrone and secondary phosphine chalcogenides proceeds in CCl₄/Et₃N under mild conditions (20–52 °С, 0.75–10 h) through the hydroxyl group to give O-(6-methyl-2-oxo-2H-pyran-4-yl) diorganylphosphinochalcogenoates or O-(2-methyl-4-oxo-4H-pyran-3-yl) diorganylphosphinochalcogenoates, in high yields.     

Morphological changes in the cellulose and lignin components of biomass occur at different stages during steam pretreatment

Morphological changes to the different components of lignocellulosic biomass were observed as they occurred during steam pretreatment by placing a pressure reaction cell in a neutron beam and collecting time-resolved neutron scattering data. Changes to cellulose morphology occurred mainly in the heating phase, whereas changes in lignin morphology occurred mainly in the holding and cooling phases. During the heating stage, water is irreversibly expelled from cellulose microfibrils as the elementary fibrils coalesce. During the holding phase lignin aggregates begin to appear and they increase in size most noticeably during the cooling phase. This experiment demonstrates the unique information that in situ small angle neutron scattering studies of pretreatment can provide. This approach could be useful in optimizing the heating, holding and cooling stages of pretreatments to allow the exact size and nature of lignin aggregates to be controlled in order to enhance enzyme accessibility to cellulose and therefore the efficiency of biomass conversion.     

Muography of Large Natural and Industrial Objects

Physics of Atomic Nuclei -     

Reactions of 2-phenylpyrrole with bromobenzoylacetylene on metal oxides active surfaces

The solvent-free interaction of 2-phenylpyrrole with bromobenzoylacetylene (room temperature) upon their grinding with solid metal oxides (MgO, CaO, ZnO, BaO, Al₂O₃, TiO₂, ZrO₂) and salts (CaCO₃, ZrSiO₄) leads to either the cross-coupling product or the adduct of pyrrole addition to the riple bond of acetylene. The ethynylation is accompanied by the formation of intermediate and side products: E-2-(1-bromo-2-benzoylethenyl)-5-phenylpyrrole and 1,1-di(5-phenylpyrrol-2-yl)-2-benzoylethene. The activity of the metal oxides in the ethynylation reaction falls in the order (in the brackets, the content of 2-benzoylethynyl-5-phenylpyrrole in the reaction mixture is given): ZnO (81%), BaO (73%), Al₂O₃ (71%), MgO (69%), CaO (50%). The oxides, SiO₂, TiO₂, ZrO₂, and the salts, CaCO₃ and ZrSiO₄, are inactive in the ethynylation reaction affording only the intermediate adduct, with ZrO₂ the isolated yield of the bromoethenylpyrrole reaching 60%. ESR monitoring shows the reaction to start from one electron transfer from pyrrole to acetylene mediated by the oxide surface. The adduct is readily converted on Al₂O₃ to 2-(benzoylethynyl)-5-phenylpyrrole crystallized mostly as cis-rotamer (X-ray data).     

One-pot assembly of 4-methylene-3-oxa-1-azabicyclo[3.1.0]hexanes from alkyl aryl(hetaryl) ketoximes, acetylene, and aliphatic ketones: a new three-component reaction

A new three-component reaction between alkyl aryl(hetaryl)ketoximes, acetylene, and aliphatic ketones in the superbasic systems KOH/DMSO and LiOH/CsF/DMSO (70-90 °C, initial acetylene pressure 13-15 atm, 5-60 min) affords novel 4-methylene-3-oxa-1-azabicyclo[3.1.0]hexanes in yields of up to 75%. Using KOH/DMSO, the side products of the reaction are O-vinylketoximes and 2-aryl(hetaryl)pyrroles, while with LiOH/CsF/DMSO, the reaction proves to be selective, only minor amounts of the corresponding alkyl aryl(hetaryl) ketones being detectable.     

Muon Radiography of Large Natural and Industrial Objects—A New Stage in the Nuclear Emulsion Technique

Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics - A new study of a historical object on the territory of the Russian Federation, the Holy Trinity Danilov Monastery, implemented by the muon...     

Liquid–gas critical phenomena under confinement: small-angle neutron scattering studies of CO2 in aerogel

Small angle neutron scattering (SANS) is a well-established technique for investigating the behavior of confined binary liquid solutions, as it can probe the correlation length and susceptibility in pores on length scales 1 – 100 nm. We applied SANS to explore the influence of confinement on critical behavior of an individual fluid carbon dioxide (CO₂) in a highly porous aerogel. The results demonstrate that quenched disorder induced by aerogel significantly depresses density fluctuations. Despite the negligible volume occupied by aerogel (< 4%), the macroscopic phase separation of confined CO₂ into coexisting liquid and gaseous phases is suppressed and below the critical temperature of the bulk fluid frozen methastable microdomains are formed. Experimental data show that critical adsorption is as important as the effect of confinement in defining the behavior of confined fluids.     

Characterization of nanocrystals in laser condensates deposited through vanadium evaporation in an oxygen atmosphere

The influence of the substrate temperature T _sub (20–360°C) and the oxygen pressure P(O₂) (5 × 10⁻³−0.13 Pa) in an evaporation chamber on the structure and phase composition of films prepared through laser sputtering of a vanadium target is investigated by electron diffraction and in situ transmission electron microscopy (with the use of the bend extinction contour technique for determining the bending of the crystal lattice). It is demonstrated that the oxygen content in the films increases with an increase in the oxygen pressure P(O₂) at a fixed substrate temperature T _sub and decreases with an increase in the substrate temperature T _sub at a fixed oxygen pressure P(O₂). The conditions responsible for the formation and composition of the crystalline (VO_0.9) and amorphous (V₂O₃) phases in the films are determined. It is established that the phase composition of the film depends on the angle of condensation of the vapor-plasma flow. The crystallization of the V₂O₃ amorphous phase is accompanied by an increase in the density by 9.2%. It is revealed that the V₂O₃ spherulites growing in the amorphous film have a bent crystal lattice. The bending of the crystal lattice can be as large as ∼42 deg/μm.

     

Advances in applications of nanostructured silicon as a new multifunctional material

Abstract

The presented method of surface modification of single-crystal silicon by chemical etching makes it possible to obtain homogeneous nanostructured silicon layers with a thickness from 3 to 60?nm for application in micro- and nano-electronics as new multifunctional material. These results could be applied to the creation of sensitive photodetectors for visible and ultraviolet ranges. The method of scanning tunneling spectroscopy shows, that the changes in the thickness of nanostructured silicon layers affect the type of conductivity, and it opens new prospective for a practical application of nanostructured silicon in nano-electronics. The obtained current-voltage characteristics of nanostructured silicon layers showed different degrees of filling of the valence band, the conduction band and the appearance on the curve of the tunneling conductance of new peaks in the gas environment. The latter gives the possibility to use the method of scanning tunneling spectroscopy for a generation of gas and biosensors. The immune biosensor is proposed in the lab on a chip form based on the nanostructured silicon for the simultaneous analysis of numerous samples. The developed biosensor based on nanostructured silicon is very promising for use in so-called systems of lab-on-chip because it can be used for rapid analysis of various immune responses and is fully compatible with silicon planar technology used in the manufacturing of the semiconductor devices.