New iminophosphine–Ru(II) complexes and their application in hydrogenation and transfer hydrogenation

Ruthenium complexes [RuCl₂L₂] were prepared by treating [RuCl₂(p‐cymene)]₂ with structurally similar N‐(2‐(diphenylphosphino)benzylidene)‐3‐methylpyridin‐2‐amine, 4‐(2‐(diphenylphosphino)benzylideneamino)‐3‐methylphenol and 4‐(2‐(2‐(diphenylphosphino)benzylideneamino)ethyl)phenol refluxed in toluene. These complexes were used as catalysts for the transfer hydrogenation of acetophenones in 2‐propanol and for the direct hydrogenation of styrenes under hydrogen pressure. The results of the catalytic studies provide evidence that these complexes function as excellent catalysts for hydrogenation and transfer hydrogenation. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Carboligation reactivity of benzaldehyde lyase (BAL,EC 4.1.2.38) covalently attached to magnetic nanoparticles

Epoxy-functionalized Fe₃O₄–SiO₂ core–shell magnetic nanoparticles (epoxy-M-support) were prepared by modification with glycidyloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GPTMS) and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) methods. Pure histidine-tagged recombinant benzaldehydelyase (BAL, EC 4.1.2.38) was efficiently immobilized onto the epoxy-M-support with covalent binding. An immobilized BAL epoxy-M-support system was tested to catalyze the self and cross condensation reactions of aldehydes, and the kinetic resolution of racemic acyloins. The acyloin products were obtained in high yield and with high enantiomeric excesses (?98% ee). The carboligation reactivity of the immobilized enzyme was comparable to that of free enzyme-catalyzed reactions. The covalent immobilization offers high enzyme activity and stability (at least 5 repeats without losing its activity).     

Polymer electrolyte membranes based on p‐toluenesulfonic acid doped poly(1‐vinyl‐1,2,4‐triazole): Synthesis,thermal and proton conductivity properties

Throughout this work, the synthesis, thermal as well as proton conducting properties of acid doped heterocyclic polymer were studied under anhydrous conditions. In this context, poly(1‐vinyl‐1,2,4‐triazole), PVTri was produced by free radical polymerization of 1‐vinyl‐1,2,4‐triazole with a high yield. The structure of the homopolymer was proved by FTIR and solid state ¹³C CP‐MAS NMR spectroscopy. The polymer was doped with p‐toluenesulfonic acid at various molar ratios, x = 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, with respect to polymer repeating unit. The proton transfer from p‐toluenesulfonic acid to the triazole rings was proved with FTIR spectroscopy. Thermogravimetry analysis showed that the samples are thermally stable up to ～250 °C. Differential scanning calorimetry results illustrated that the materials are homogeneous and the dopant strongly affects the glass transition temperature of the host polymer. Cyclic voltammetry results showed that the electrochemical stability domain extends over 3 V. The proton conductivity of these materials increased with dopant concentration and the temperature. Charge transport relaxation times were derived via complex electrical modulus formalism (M*). The temperature dependence of conductivity relaxation times showed that the proton conductivity occurs via structure diffusion. In the anhydrous state, the proton conductivity of PVTri1PTSA and PVTri2PTSA was measured as 8 × 10^?4 S/cm at 150 °C and 0.012 S/cm at 110 °C, respectively. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 48: 1016–1021, 2010     

A quantum chemical investigation on methylated pyridines

The structural features of the methylated pyridine series have been studied by quantum chemical methods. The aromatic character of these molecules is derived from the frontier molecular orbital energies, harmonic oscillator model of aromaticity (HOMA), and nucleus independent chemical shift (NICS) values. Hybrid density functional theory with 6-311++G(d,p) basis set was employed for all calculations.     

Quantum-chemical,spectroscopic and X-ray diffraction studies on nickel complex of 2-hydroxyacetophenone thiosemicarbazone with triphenylphospine

Reaction of 2-hydroxyacetophenone thiosemicarbazone with [Ni(PPh₃)₂Cl₂] in optimized conditions afforded a mixed ligand complex with an isolated triphenylphosphine molecule. The structure was characterized by elemental analysis, IR, NMR and UV–Vis. spectroscopies and single crystal X-ray diffraction technique. In addition, the molecular geometry, vibrational frequencies and gauge including atomic orbital (GIAO) ¹H and ¹³C NMR chemical shift values of the title compound in the ground state have been calculated using the density functional theory (DFT/B3LYP) method with the 6-31G(d,p) basis set for the C, N, O, S, P, H atoms and LANL2DZ pseudo-potential for the Ni atom, and compared with the experimental data. Besides, atomic charge distributions, molecular electrostatic potential and frontier molecular orbitals (FMO) analysis of the title compound were investigated by theoretical calculations. The thermodynamic properties of the compound at different temperatures have been calculated and corresponding relations between the properties and temperature have also been obtained. Atomic charge distributions indicate that during forming the title compound, the free ligand of thiosemicarbazone ion transfers their negative charges to central Ni(II) ion. The effect of different solvents (chloroform, methanol and water) on the geometry, vibrational frequencies, total energies and dipole moments was studied using the density functional theory (DFT/B3LYP) method by applying the Onsager and the Polarizable Continuum Model (PCM).     

On normalized Ricci flow and smooth structures on four-manifolds with b + = 1

We find an obstruction to the existence of non-singular solutions to the normalized Ricci flow on four-manifolds with b⁺ = 1. By using this obstruction, we study the relationship between the existence or non-existence of non-singular solutions of the normalized Ricci flow and exotic smooth structures on the topological 4-manifolds , where . Received: 13 November 2008     

On the regularity condition in a convex feasibility problem

The regularity properties of a family of closed convex sets with nonempty intersection are investigated in the frame of a real Hilbert space. The significant role of these properties in solving convex feasibility problems with projection algorithms is pointed out.     

Synthesis, interface (Au/M2Pc2/p-Si), electrochemical and electrocatalytic properties of novel ball-type phthalocyanines

The phthalodinitrile derivative (3) was prepared by the reaction of 4,4'-(octahydro-4,7-methano-5H-inden-5-ylidene)bisphenol (1) and 4-nitrophthalonitrile (2) with dry DMF as the solvent in the presence of the base K(2)CO(3) by the method of nucleophilic substitution of an activated nitro group in an aromatic ring. The template reaction of 3 with the corresponding metal salts gave the novel bi-nuclear ball-type metallophthalocyanines, MPcs {M = Co (4), Cu (5), Zn (6)}. Newly synthesized compounds were characterized by elemental analysis, UV-vis, FT-IR (ATR), MALDI-TOF mass and (1)H-NMR spectroscopy techniques. The electronic spectra exhibit an intense π→π* transition of characteristic Q and B bands of the Pc core. The dielectric properties and interface between the spin coated films of 4-6 and a p-type silicon substrate have been studied by fabricating metal-insulator-semiconductor capacitors. The results indicated that the frequency dependence of the dielectric permittivity, ε'(ω), exhibits non-Debye type relaxation for all the temperatures investigated. The ac conductivity results indicated that the conduction mechanism can be explained by a hopping model at low temperatures (<430 K) and a free band conduction mechanism at high temperatures (≥430 K). The density of interface state calculations on these novel compounds showed that the combination of Au/4/p-Si is a promising structure with a high dielectric constant and a low interface trap density suitable for metal-oxide-semiconductor devices. The electrochemical properties of the Pc complexes were examined by cyclic voltammetry, differential voltammetry and controlled potential coulometry on platinum in non-aqueous media. The complexes showed ring-based and/or metal-based mixed-valence behaviours as a result of the remarkable interaction between the two Pc rings and/or metal centres. The mixed-valence splitting values for the complexes suggested that the mixed valence species are considerably stable. The Vulcan XC-72(VC)/Nafion(Nf)/4 modified glassy carbon electrode showed much a higher catalytic performance towards oxygen reduction than those of VC/Nf/5 and VC/Nf/6 modified ones.