Study of the dependence of Mössbauer parameters on the outer cation in nitroprussides

The Mössbauer spectra of 29 nitroprussides have been measured and the parameters and correlated with the polarizing power Z/r² of the outer cations. There is no overall correlation but there are limited groups in which a trend can be ascertained. In isoelectronic sequences such as Li⁺, Be²⁺; Mn²⁺, Fe³⁺, where the outer electronic shell remains fixed, while Z/r² increases, a definite trend of decreasing and with increasing Z/r² is observed.     

Photostability and toxicity of finasteride,diclofenac and naproxen under simulating sunlight exposure: evaluation of the toxicity trend and of the packaging photoprotection

Background

Drugs photostability plays two different opposite roles; a real advantage arises considering the longer expiration time of the drugs while the consequent persistence in the environment involves an obvious negative effect bound to their harmfulness.On this basis we tested the photostability and toxicity of three pharmaceutical active principles: Finasteride, Diclofenac and Naproxen. The pure active principles, as well as commercial drugs containing them, were considered; for the last, the protective effect of the packaging was also evaluated. Samples were irradiated according to the ICH Guidelines for photostability testing (The International Conference on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use); a simulating sunlight source (a mercury-vapor lamp coupled to a tungsten filament one) was used to cover the wavelength range 300–2000 nm; Temperature, Relative Humidity, Irradiance and Illuminance were maintained constant during the photodegradation. The concentrations of the pharmaceutical active principles during the photodegradation were monitored by HPLC with UV/Vis detector. Toxicity tests were performed by means of an amperometric biosensor based on suspended yeast cells. Since the products obtained by the photodegradation process can result as toxic or more toxic than the original molecules, tests were performed first and after the photodegadation.

Results

After 90 hours of exposure the concentration resulted lowered by 42.9%, 88.4% and 91% for Finasteride, Naproxen and Diclofenac respectively. Toxicity of the pure active principles follows the same order of the photostability. After photodegradation a contribute of the reaction products was evidenced.

Conclusions

The simple and cheap analytical procedure here proposed, allowed to obtain not only data on photostability and toxicity of the pure active principles but, even if roughly, also useful information on the reactions kinetic and toxicity of the photodegradation products.

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DFT and TD-DFT calculation of new thienopyrazine-based small molecules for organic solar cells

Background

Novel six organic donor-π-acceptor molecules (D-π-A) used for Bulk Heterojunction organic solar cells (BHJ), based on thienopyrazine were studied by density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) approaches, to shed light on how the π-conjugation order influence the performance of the solar cells. The electron acceptor group was 2-cyanoacrylic for all compounds, whereas the electron donor unit was varied and the influence was investigated.

Methods

The TD-DFT method, combined with a hybrid exchange-correlation functional using the Coulomb-attenuating method (CAM-B3LYP) in conjunction with a polarizable continuum model of salvation (PCM) together with a 6-31G(d,p) basis set, was used to predict the excitation energies, the absorption and the emission spectra of all molecules.

Results

The trend of the calculated HOMO–LUMO gaps nicely compares with the spectral data. In addition, the estimated values of the open-circuit photovoltage (V_oc) for these compounds were presented in two cases/PC₆₀BM and/PC₇₁BM.

Conclusion

The study of structural, electronics and optical properties for these compounds could help to design more efficient functional photovoltaic organic materials.

     

Ion mobility-mass correlation trend line separation of glycoprotein digests without deglycosylation

A high-throughput ion mobility mass spectrometer (IMMS) was used to rapidly separate and analyze peptides and glycopeptides derived from glycoproteins. Two glycoproteins, human α-1-acid glycoprotein and antithrombin III were digested with trypsin and subjected to electro-spray traveling wave IMMS analysis. No deglycosylation steps were performed; samples were complex mixtures of peptides and glycopeptides. Peptides and glycosylated peptides with different charge states (up to 4 charges) were observed and fell on distinguishable trend lines in 2-D IMMS spectra in both positive and negative modes. The trend line separation patterns matched between both modes. Peptide sequence was identified based on the corresponding extracted mass spectra and collision induced dissociation (CID) experiments were performed for selected compounds to prove class identification. The signal-to-noise ratio of the glycopeptides was increased dramatically with ion mobility trend line separation compared to non-trend line separation, primarily due to selection of precursor ion subsets within specific mobility windows. In addition, isomeric mobility peaks were detected for specific glycopeptides. IMMS demonstrated unique capabilities and advantages for investigating and separating glycoprotein digests in this study and suggests a novel strategy for rapid glycoproteomics studies in the future.     

Deep investigation on inorganic fraction of atmospheric PM in Mediterranean area by neutron and photon activation analysis

Background

Anthropogenic activities introduce materials increasing levels of many dangerous substances for the environmental quality and being hazardous to human health. Major attention has been given to those elements able to alter the environment and endanger human health.The airborne particulate matter pollutant is considered one of the most difficult task in environmental chemistry for its complex composition and implications complicating notably the behavior comprehension. So, for investigating deeply the elemental composition we used two nuclear techniques, Neutron Activation Analysis and Photon Activation Analysis, characterized by high sensitivity, precision and accuracy. An important task has been devoted to the investigation of Quality Control (QC) and Quality Assurance (QA) of the methodology used in this study.This study was therefore extended as far back as possible in time (from 1965 until 2000) in order to analyze the trend of airborne concentration of pollutant elements in connection with the industrial and lifestyle growth during the entire period.

Results

Almost all the elements may be attributed to long-range transport phenomena from other natural and/or anthropogenic sources: this behavior is common to all the periods studied even if a very light decreasing trend can be evidenced from 1970 to 2002. Finally, in order to investigate a retrospective study of elements in PM10 and their evolution in relationship with the natural or anthropogenic origins, we have investigated the Enrichment Factors. The study shows the EF trends for some elements in PM10 during four decades.

Conclusions

The two nuclear techniques have allowed to reach elevated sensibility/accuracy levels for determining elements at very low concentrations (trace and ultra-trace levels). The element concentrations determined in this study do not basically show a significant level of attention from a toxicological point of view.

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Rapid synthesis of pomalidomide-conjugates for the development of protein degrader libraries

Current methods for the preparation of heterobifunctional pomalidomide-conjugates rely on methods that are often low yielding and produce intractable byproducts. Herein we describe our strategy for the reliable and succinct preparation of pomalidomide-linkers which is essential to the formation of these conjugates. We present the preparation of 18 pomalidomide-linkers in high yield compared to current literature methods. Our findings show that secondary amines consistently afford greater yields than their primary counterparts, a trend that we were able to exploit in the synthesis of several new pomalidomide homo-dimers in enhanced yields compared to similar literature syntheses. This trend was further utilised to develop the first one-pot synthesis of JQ1-pomalidomide conjugates in yields up to 62%, providing a method that is suited to rapid preparation of conjugate libraries as is frequently required for the development of new protein degraders.

Current methods for the preparation of heterobifunctional pomalidomide-conjugates rely on methods that are often low yielding and produce intractable byproducts. Herein we describe our strategy for the succinct preparation of pomalidomide-linkers.     

Detailed kinetic and chemometric study of the cellulose thermal breakdown in artificially aged and non aged commercial paper. Different methods for computing activation energy as an assessment model in archaeometric applications

Background

The thermal oxidative degradation of aged and non aged cellulose samples of commercial paper was studied using thermogravimetry and derivative thermogravimetry under a forced air flow up to 800°C.

Results

TG and DTG data were processed using two non-isothermal-based model-fitting methods and one based on linear least squares to calculate E_a trend values, measured as a function of artificially induced sample age. The E_a trends thus obtained were compared in order to assess their potential for yielding archaeometric curves. As the trends of first two methods show an inversion of the direction between non aged cellulose samples and artificially aged samples, while the third method does not, an in-depth study was carried out using a multilinearity assumption.

Conclusions

The results are discussed and the outcomes indicate that the above cited inversion is real and not linked to the method. Additionally, it was evidenced that the number of points used for the estimation of linear least squares model parameters is of capital importance.

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Seasonal trend of Anisakidae infestation in South Mediterranean bluefish

Abstract

A total of 1104 fish samples from markets of Sicily were analysed for the detection and species identification of Anisakidae nematodes. The preliminary analysis of the fish samples showed the presence of 2459 larvae. All the fish species revealed different prevalence of infestation, with a maximum of 100% for Lepidopus caudatus and a minimum of 4.5% in Sardina pilchardus. The 80% of the larvae examined by PCR-RFLP analysis belonged to Anisakis pegreffii species. The seasonal infestation trend of Anisakis was evaluated in all the fish sample examined. The results of the seasonal infestation trend showed a marked connection with the ecological aspects of the fish species examined. As far as we know, this work report for the first time important ecological aspects of Lepidopus caudatus specimens of South Mediterranean. This work could be useful to plan a seasonal fishing strategy aimed at reducing the health risks related to Anisakis.     

Alkylation of toluene with ethylene on HZSM-5

Alkylation of toluene with ethylene on unmodified large-crystal HZSM-5 has been studied in a flow system at 673 K, atmospheric pressure. The yield of ethyltoluenes increased and that of benzene and xylenes decreased with time on stream. This change in yields was accelerated by increasing the ethylene content of feed and by pretreating the catalyst with ethylene. Selectivity for toluene ethylation increase with increasing space velocity.

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HZSM-5 673 . - , . - - -. .

     

Density functional theory/time-dependent DFT studies on the structures, trend in DNA-binding affinities, and spectral properties of complexes [Ru(bpy)2(p-R-pip)]2+ (R = -OH, -CH3, -H, -NO2)

Studies on the electronic structures and trend in DNA-binding affinities of a series of Ru(II) complexes [Ru(bpy)2(p-R-pip)]2+ (bpy = 2,2-bipyridine; pip = 2-phenylimidazo[4,5-f] [1,10]-phenanthroline; R = -OH, -CH3, -H, -NO2) 1-4 have been carried out, using the density functional theory (DFT) at the B3LYP/LanL2DZ level. The electronic absorption spectra of these complexes were also investigated using time-dependent DFT (TDDFT) at the B3LYP//LanL2DZ/6-31G level. The computational results show that the substituents on the parent ligand (pip) have a significant effect on the electronic structures of the complexes, in particular, on the energies of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) and near some unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMO+x, x = 1-4). With the increase in electron-withdrawing ability of the substituent in this series, the LUMO+x (x = 0-4) energies of the complexes are substantially reduced in order, for example, epsilon(LUMO)(1) approximately epsilon(LUMO)(2) > epsilon(LUMO)(3) > epsilon(LUMO)(4), whereas the pi-component populations of the LUMO+x (x = 0-4) are not substantially different. Combining the consideration of the bigger steric hindrance of complex 2, the trend in DNA-binding affinities (K(b)) of the complexes, that is, K(b)(2) < K(b)(1) < K(b)(3) < K(b)(4) can be reasonably explained. In addition, the experimental singlet metal-to-ligand charge transfer ((1)MLCT) spectra of these complexes can be well simulated and discussed by the TDDFT calculations.     

Kinetics of the catalytic transformation of isobutene into methacrylonitrile with NO on supported nickel oxide aerogel

Kinetic studies of the nitroxidation of isobutene by NO show that the reaction follows a redox mechanism in the temperature range of 300–400°C. This mechanism implies an interaction between dehydrogenated isobutene -allyl radical and atomic nitrogen due to the decomposition of NO by the reduced catalyst, which is then reoxidized.

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NO , 300–400°C. - , NO , .

     

Studies of the state and catalytic properties of platinum and tin in prereduced Pt?Sn/ZnAl2O4 and Pt?Sn/MgAl2O4 catalysts

X-ray diffraction and Mössbauer spectroscopy studies indicate that the thermal pretreatment of Pt–Sn catalysts supported on ZnAl₂O₄ and MgAl₂O₄ spinels, in the reduction medium leads to the formation of coarse-disperse particles of PtSn, Pt₂Sn₃ and PtSn₂ alloys, which deactivate the catalysts.

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, Pt–Sn , ZnAl₂O₂ VgAl₂O₄ , PtSn, Pt₂Sn₃ PtSn₂. .

     

Alder-ene reaction: aromaticity and activation-strain analysis

We have computationally explored the trend in reactivity of the Alder-ene reactions between propene and a series of seven enophiles using density functional theory at M06-2X/def2-TZVPP. The reaction barrier decreases along the enophiles in the order H₂CCH₂ > HCCH > H₂CNH > H₂CCH(COOCH₃) > H₂CO > H₂CPH > H₂CS. Thus, barriers drop in particular, if third-period atoms become involved in the double bond of the enophile. Activation-strain analyses show that this trend in reactivity correlates with the activation strain associated with deforming reactants from their equilibrium structure to the geometry they adopt in the transition state. We discuss the origin of this trend and its relationship with the extent of synchronicity between H transfer from ene to enophile and the formation of the new C C bond. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2011     

An abnormal trend in J(13C?CH) values in some aldehydes

The ²J(¹³C? CH) couplings involving the formyl proton of α-halogeno-aldehydes have been found to decrease with increasing halogen electronegativity. This trend may be rationalised in terms of inductive withdrawal and a conformation dependent hyperconjugative effect. The direct J(¹³CH) couplings are also anomalous.     

Influence of structural promoters on reduction dilatograms of iron catalyst

In each reduction step, changes in the catalyst pellet volume during reduction of precipitated iron catalysts are determined by the concentration of structural promoters and the reaction temperature.

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, , .

     

Effect of Sn addition on the catalytic properties of the metallic phase in Pt?Sn/Al2O3 catalysts

Platinum-tin/alumina supported catalysts have been studied. The TPR results show an assisted reduction of tin by platinum. The effect of alloying in cyclohexane dehydrogenation, o-xylene hydrogenation and cyclopentane hydrogenolysis is discussed.

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- , . . , - .

     

Study of the combustion of a fire retardant coating by thermal analysis and different complementary techniques

An intumescent fire retardant coating can effectively control fire spread and damage. Its dual purpose is to confine the surface spread of flame to the boundaries of an already established fire, and to retard the penetration of heat and flame to and through the coated surface. Our composition expanded and provided an insulation layer between the flame source and the combustion substrate, and liberated a quantity of primarily non-flammable decomposition products which tended to extinguish the flame. The main ingredients of the coating were cellulose acetate butyrate and HMDI (Desmodur N) for Polyurethane, and Chlorowax-70 (chlorinated paraffins) as fire retardant component. This fire retardant coating was applied to wood panels, and tested in a 2-foot tunnel, its flame spread rating being measured. The effects of three parameters of interest were investigated: the type of wood used, the percentage of Chlorowax, and the coating thickness. It was found of interest to study the oxidation of the coating using different techniques, e.g. flash pyrolysis under oxygen and GC/MS for analysis of the decomposed products. Combustion studies of the coating were also conducted using DSC and thermogravimetry, either with the scanning mode or under isothermal conditions. Comparisons were made between the results obtained from pyrolysis and combustion.

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Zusammenfassung Ein schwellender feuerhemmender Überzug kann Ausbreitung und Schäden von Feuer wirksam einschränken und wird zwei Zwecken gerecht: Verhinderung der Ausbreitung von ausgebrochenem Feuer und Schutz der überzogenen Oberfläche vor Hitze- und direkter Flammeneinwirkung. Die beschriebene Komposition quillt und bildet eine Isolationsschicht zwischen der Flammenquelle und dem brennbaren Material, liefert zugleich aber auch eine gewisse Menge von nichtbrennbaren, die Flamme erstickenden primären Zersetzungsprodukten. Die Hauptbestandteile des Überzugs sind Celluloseacetat und -butyrat und HMDI (Desmodur N) für Polyurethan sowie Chlorowax-70 (chlorierte Paraffine) als feuerhemmende Komponente. Dieser feuerhemmende Überzug wurde auf Holzplatten aufgebracht und in einem 2ft-Tunnel getestet, wobei die Flammenausbreitungsgeschwindigkeit gemessen wurde. Der Einfluß von drei interessierenden Parametern wurde untersucht: Typ des benutzten Holzes, Anteil von Chlorowax und Überzugsschichtdicke. Es erwies sich als interessant, die Oxydation des Überzugmaterials mit verschiedenen Techniken zu untersuchen, z.B. durch Schnellpyrolyse und Analyse der Zersetzungsprodukte mittels GC/MS. Verbrennungsuntersuchungen des Überzugmaterials wurden auch mittels DSC und Thermogravimetrie entweder nach der scanning-Arbeitsweise oder unter isothermen Bedingungen ausgeführt. Die bei Pyrolyse und Verbrennung erhaltenen Ergebnisse werden miteinander verglichen.

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. -, , — . , . - ( ) ( ) . , . : , . , , , - . . , .

     

Nonempirical SQM FF calculation of vibrational spectra for the acetonitrile molecule coordinated to Lewis acids BF3 and BCl3

In terms of SQM FF methods, nonempirical quantumchemical calculations of vibrational spectra for acetonitrile molecule coordinated to Lewis acids BF₃ and BCl₃ were carried out. Scaling factors were obtained from the conditions to reproduce vibrational spectra of CH₃CN and CD₃CN molecules. Contribution of the increase in the power force constant and the kinetic effect of the NB bond to the shift of _CN and _CC under coordination has been determined.

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SQM FF BF₃ BCl₃. CH₃CN CD₃CN. NB _{CN CC} .

     

Exchange kinetics of amino acid anions in solutions of ternary copper(II) complexes with diethylenetriamine

Rate constants for the chemical exchange of some amino acid anions in solutions of copper(II) ternary complexes with diethylenetriamine have been determined by the NMR method. The coordination of amino acid anions in ternary and binary species is different and ligand substitution in the Cu(II) complexes follows an associative mechanism.

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- (II) . - (II).