New Bisbenzimidazolin‐2‐Ylidene Salts as N‐Heterocyclic Dicarbene Precursors: Synthesis,Characterization, and Involvement in Palladium‐Catalyzed Suzuki Reactions

A new series of bis‐N‐heterocyclic carbene precursors, LHX ( 3a–d ), have been synthesized and characterized by appropriate spectroscopic techniques and microanalyses. In situ prepared Pd(OAc)₂/bis‐N‐heterocyclic carbene precursors catalysts have catalyzed unactivated aryl chlorides on the Suzuki cross‐coupling reaction under mild reaction conditions in aqueous media.     

Preparation of a series of Ru(II) complexes with N-heterocyclic carbene ligands for the catalytic transfer hydrogenation of aromatic ketones

The reaction of [RuCl(2)(p-cymene](2) with Ag-N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) complexes yields a series of [(p-cymene)Ru(NHC)] complexes (2a-f). All synthesised compounds were characterized by elemental analysis, NMR spectroscopy and the molecular structure of 2a was determined by X-ray crystallography. All complexes have been tested as catalysts for the transfer hydrogenation of aromatic ketones, showing excellent activity in this reaction.     

Some exact solutions for Toda type lattice differential equations using the improved (G′/G)‐expansion method

Nonlinear lattice differential equations (also known as differential‐difference equations) appear in many applications. They can be thought of as hybrid systems for the inclusion of both discrete and continuous variables. On the basis of an improved version of the basic (G′/G)‐expansion method, we focus our attention towards some Toda type lattice differential systems for constructing further exact traveling wave solutions. Our method provides not only solitary and periodic wave profiles but also rational solutions with more arbitrary parameters. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A color image watermarking scheme based on hybrid classification method: Particle swarm optimization and k-nearest neighbor algorithm

In this paper, a novel robust watermarking technique using particle swarm optimization and k-nearest neighbor algorithm is introduced to protect the intellectual property rights of color images in the spatial domain. In the embedding process, the color image is separated into non-overlapping blocks and each bit of the binary watermark is embedded into the individual blocks. Then, in order to extract the embedded watermark, features are obtained from watermark embedded blocks using the symmetric cross-shape kernel. These features are used to generate two centroids belonging to each binary (1 and 0) value of the watermark implementing particle swarm optimization. Subsequently, the embedded watermark is extracted by evaluating these centroids utilizing k-nearest neighbor algorithm. According to the test results, embedded watermark is extracted successfully even if the watermarked image is exposed to various image processing attacks.     

Transfer Hydrogenation of Ketones Catalyzed by 1-Alkylbenzimidazole Ruthenium(II) Complexes

Summary. Six [RuCl₂(1-alkylbenzimidazole)(p-cymene)] complexes have been prepared and the new compounds characterized by C, H, N analyses, ¹H NMR, and ¹³C NMR. The reduction of ketones to alcohols via transfer hydrogenation was achieved with catalytic amounts of the complexes in the presence of t-BuOK.     

Active ruthenium‐(N‐heterocyclic carbene) complexes for hydrogenation of ketones

Four ruthenium‐N‐heterocyclic carbene complexes ( 3–6 ) have been prepared and the new compounds characterized by C, H, N analyses, ¹H‐NMR and ¹³C‐NMR. The reduction of ketones to alcohols via transfer hydrogenation was achieved with catalytic amounts of complexes 3–6 in the presence of t‐BuOK. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Preparation of sodium borosilicates using sodium silicate and boric acid

The gelling behaviour of an aqueous sodium silicate solution with boric acid was investigated for different initial compositions and solid sodium borosilicate samples were obtained by drying the gels at 100°C, 225°C and 450°C. The chemical composition, dissolution, pH, loose-packed bulk density, B.E.T. surface area, moisture, size distribution and XRD/IR patterns of the sodium borosilicate particles were determined. The minimum gelling times were observed at pH values between 9–10 and although no gels were obtained using HCl at pH = 11, the silicate solution was gelled with boric acid suggesting borate ions promote the formation of siloxane network and behave as a crosslinking agent.     

An analytic approach to a class of fractional differential-difference equations of rational type via symbolic computation

Fractional derivatives are powerful tools in solving the problems of science and engineering. In this paper, an analytical algorithm for solving fractional differential-difference equations in the sense of Jumarie's modified Riemann–Liouville derivative has been described and demonstrated. The algorithm has been tested against time-fractional differential-difference equations of rational type via symbolic computation. Three examples are given to elucidate the solution procedure. Our analyses lead to closed form exact solutions in terms of hyperbolic, trigonometric, and rational functions, which might be subject to some adequate physical interpretations in the future. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Rhodium Nanoparticle–Lewis Acidic Ionic Liquid Catalyst for the Chemoselective Reduction of Heteroarenes

We describe a catalytic system composed of rhodium nanoparticles immobilized in a Lewis acidic ionic liquid. The combined system catalyzes the hydrogenation of quinolines, pyridines, benzofurans, and furan to access the corresponding heterocycles, important molecules present in fine chemicals, agrochemicals, and pharmaceuticals. The catalyst is highly selective, acting only on the heteroaromatic ring, and not interfering with other reducible functional groups.