A Synergistic Approach towards Optimization of Coupled Cluster Amplitudes by Exploiting Dynamical Hierarchy

The coupled cluster iteration scheme for determining the cluster amplitudes involves a set of nonlinearly coupled difference equations. In the space spanned by the amplitudes, the set of equations are analyzed as a multivariate time-discrete map where the concept of time appears in an implicit manner. With the observation that the cluster amplitudes have difference in their relaxation timescales with respect to the distributions of their magnitudes, the coupled cluster iteration dynamics are considered as a synergistic motion of coexisting slow and fast relaxing modes, manifesting a dynamical hierarchical structure. With the identification of the highly damped auxiliary amplitudes, their time variation can be neglected compared to the principal amplitudes which take much longer time to reach the fixed points. We analytically establish the adiabatic approximation where each of these auxiliary amplitudes are expressed as unique parametric functions of the collective principal amplitudes, allowing us to study the optimization with the latter taken as the independent degrees of freedom. Such decoupling of the amplitudes significantly reduces the computational scaling without sacrificing the accuracy in the ground state energy as demonstrated by a number of challenging molecular applications. A road-map to treat higher order post-adiabatic effects is also discussed.     

Generation of nitrile oxides under nanometer micelles built in neutral aqueous media: synthesis of novel glycal-based chiral synthons and optically pure 2,8-dioxabicyclo[4.4.0]decene core

A highly efficient strategy for chemoselective oxidation of aldoximes to nitrile oxides by iodosobenzene in neutral aqueous media is reported. Their in situ intermolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition (1,3-DC) with olefins in nanometer aqueous micelles occurs with improved stereoselectivity and acceleration of reaction rate toward synthesis of new chiral synthons, 3-(2'-C-3',4',6'-tri-O-benzylglycal)-Delta(2)-isoxazolines and others. Construction of optically pure 2,8-dioxabicyclo[4.4.0]decene skeleta is performed by this green approach, and the stereochemistry of the new chiral center is predicted by B3LYP density functional theory.     

Investigation of the effect of larger monolayer coverage in the active layer of bilayer InAs/GaAs quantum-dot structure and effects of post-growth annealing

Morphological and optical properties of MBE-grown single and bilayer InAs/GaAs quantum-dot heterostructure with comparatively larger monolayer coverage (∼3.3 ML) are investigated. As compared to the similar single-layer quantum-dot (SQD) structure, the bilayer quantum-dot (BQD) structure showed a more uniform spatial distribution and increased size homogeneity of the dots. It also exhibited longer wavelength photoluminescence (PL) emission at room temperature, with the peak at a wavelength (1.34 μm) in the infrared communication window. The shift seen in the low temperature PL emission peak, even after annealing the BQD samples at temperatures up to 700°C, is negligible. However, the BQD samples showed an activation energy lower than that of the SQD sample, attributed to the In/Ga interdiffusion with the thin (8.5 nm thick) GaAs spacer layer during the growth process. Despite that, the higher thermal stability demonstrated by the BQD structure, along with a lower linewidth, makes the bilayer quantum dots a desirable proposition for efficient lasing devices requiring strict tolerances on operating wavelength.     

NO-NSAIDs. Part 3: nitric oxide-releasing prodrugs of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

In continuation of our efforts to discover novel nitric oxide-releasing non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NO-NSAIDs) as potentially "Safe NSAIDs," we report herein the design, synthesis and evaluation of 21 new NO-NSAIDs of commonly used NSAIDs such as aspirin, diclofenac, naproxen, flurbiprofen, ketoprofen, sulindac, ibuprofen and indomethacin. These prodrugs have NO-releasing disulfide linker attached to a parent NSAID via linkages such as an ester (compounds 9-16), a double ester (compounds 17-24), an imide (compounds 25-30) or an amide (compounds 31-33). Among these NO-NSAIDs, the ester-containing NO-aspirin (9), NO-diclofenac (10), NO-naproxen (11), and the imide-containing NO-aspirin (25), NO-flurbiprofen (27) and NO-ketoprofen (28) have shown promising oral absorption, anti-inflammatory activity and NO-releasing property, and also protected rats from NSAID-induced gastric damage. NO-aspirin compound 25, on further co-evaluation with aspirin at equimolar doses, exhibited comparable dose-dependent pharmacokinetics, inhibition of gastric mucosal prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) synthesis and analgesic properties to those of aspirin, but retained its gastric-sparing properties even after doubling its oral dose. These promising NO-NSAIDs could therefore represent a new class of potentially "Safe NSAIDs" for the treatment of arthritic pain and inflammation.     

LQR based improved discrete PID controller design via optimum selection of weighting matrices using fractional order integral performance index

The continuous and discrete time Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) theory has been used in this paper for the design of optimal analog and discrete PID controllers respectively. The PID controller gains are formulated as the optimal state-feedback gains, corresponding to the standard quadratic cost function involving the state variables and the controller effort. A real coded Genetic Algorithm (GA) has been used next to optimally find out the weighting matrices, associated with the respective optimal state-feedback regulator design while minimizing another time domain integral performance index, comprising of a weighted sum of Integral of Time multiplied Squared Error (ITSE) and the controller effort. The proposed methodology is extended for a new kind of fractional order (FO) integral performance indices. The impact of fractional order (as any arbitrary real order) cost function on the LQR tuned PID control loops is highlighted in the present work, along with the achievable cost of control. Guidelines for the choice of integral order of the performance index are given depending on the characteristics of the process, to be controlled.     

Anion Selectivity of Metalloporphyrins in Membranes

Lipophilic Co(III) and Mn(III) complexes of 5,10,15,20-tetrakis[4-(hexyloxycarbonyl)phenyl]porphyrin act as positively charged carriers for anions and induce anion selectivities in membranes clearly deviating from the sequence of classical anion exchangers. Different anion selectivities are observed for the Co(III) and Mn(III) porphyrins.     

Electroreductive Radical Borylation of Unactivated (Hetero)Aryl Chlorides Without Light by Using Cumulene-Based Redox Mediators**

Single-electron transfer (SET) plays a critical role in many chemical processes, from organic synthesis to environmental remediation. However, the selective reduction of inert substrates (E_p/2<−2 V vs Fc/Fc⁺), such as ubiquitous electron-neutral and electron-rich (hetero)aryl chlorides, remains a major challenge. Current approaches largely rely on catalyst photoexcitation to reach the necessary deeply reducing potentials or suffer from limited substrate scopes. Herein, we demonstrate that cumulenes–organic molecules with multiple consecutive double bonds–can function as catalytic redox mediators for the electroreductive radical borylation of (hetero)aryl chlorides at relatively mild cathodic potentials (approximately −1.9 V vs. Ag/AgCl) without the need for photoirradiation. Electrochemical, spectroscopic, and computational studies support that step-wise electron transfer from reduced cumulenes to electron-neutral chloroarenes is followed by thermodynamically favorable mesolytic cleavage of the aryl radical anion to generate the desired aryl radical intermediate. Our findings will guide the development of other sustainable, purely electroreductive radical transformations of inert molecules using organic redox mediators.     

Copper(II) complexes of lipophilic aminoglycoside derivatives for the amino acid enantiomeric separation by ligand-exchange liquid chromatography

In this paper, a new class of ligand-exchange chiral stationary phase (LE-CSP) based on the copper complexes of lipophilic aminoglycoside derivatives was reported. Different stationary phases were developed by coating reversed-phase liquid chromatography supports with three neamine derivatives carrying a lipophilic octadecyl chain at the 4', 5 and 6 positions, respectively. The enantioselective ability of these LE neamine-based CSPs was evaluated and the 4'-derivative coated column was found to be the most interesting one for the amino acid resolution. The effects of the variation of several chromatographic parameters on the enantioseparation were evaluated in order to identify the analysis optimal conditions.