SnCl4 and SbCl5 promoted aromatization of enamines

Aromatic amines have been synthesized efficiently from enamines using SnCl₄ and SbCl₅ in CH₂Cl₂ at room temperature.     

An efficient procedure for the synthesis of coumarin derivatives using TiCl4 as catalyst under solvent-free conditions

The ability of titanium(IV) chloride as a catalyst to promote the Pechmann condensation reaction with a range of phenols and β-keto esters is described.The reaction was carried out by addition of TiCl₄ to a mixture of the phenol and the β-keto ester with thorough stirring in the absence of a solvent and represents an improvement on the classical Pechmann conditions. The yields of coumarins obtained via this novel protocol were significantly higher than those using the conventional method and the reaction duration was reduced to a few minutes or even a few seconds.     

De novo synthesis of 4'-ethoxy nucleoside analogues

Butenolides 5a and 13 were used as optically active templates in the de novo synthesis of 4'-disubstituted nucleoside analogues. The butenolides were reduced and acylated in situ to give acetates 10 and 14. Vorbrüggen coupling gave the protected nucleoside analogues 11 and 15. Reduction of 11 gave 4'-ethoxy-2',3'-dideoxythymidine (6) and deprotection of 15 gave 4'-ethoxy-2',3'-dideoxydidehydrothymidine (7). The cis-dihydroxylation of a variety of butenolides occurred with the major product formed from oxidation of the beta-face.     

Determination of hopane biomarkers in Arabian crude oils by gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry with the mass spectrometer operated in the tandem mode at a constant accelerating voltage was used to analyse for triterpanes in Arabian crude oils. Specific molecular parent-daughter ion pairs were selected for quantitative measurements owing to their metastable transitions in the first field-free region. More accurate relative distribution ratios of hydrocarbon biomarkers were determined by this sequential gating technique than by the conventional diagnostic daughter ion mass fragmentogram in common GC-MS. The data and spectra obtained from MS-MS operation may serve as unique “fingerprints” for these regional crudes     

Kinetic studies on the solvolysis and axial ligand substitutions of bis-triphenylphosphine(cyclohexane-1,2-dione-dioximato)ruthenium(II) in non-aqueous solvents

Kinetic studies of ligand substitutions of the six-coordinated Ru^II pseudo-macrocyclic complex [Ru(CHDH)₂- (PPh₃)₂] (CHDH=cyclohexanedione-dioximato) have been spectrophotometrically investigated in a variety of solvents and at 70, 80, 85 and 90°C. The reactions studied are of the form:[(PPh₃)Ru(CHDH)₂(PPh₃)] + L =[(PPh₃)Ru(CHDH)₂L] + PPH₃ where L is imidazole, pyridine, piperidine or thiophene or a solvent molecule (PhCl, PhMe, MeCN, DMSO or DMF). The solvolysis reactions with chlorobenzene and toluene proceed to an equilibrium position favoring the bis-triphenylphosphine complex. All other reactions proceed to completion. From a mechanistic point of view the reactions were found to proceed through the formation of a five coordinate intermediate that possesses little or no discriminating ability towards the incoming nucleophiles. The rate data were thus interpreted in terms of a dissociative (D) or dissociative interchange (Id) mechanism. Activation parameters H and S are reported. Preliminary studies on the solvatochromic behavior of [Ru(CHDH)₂(PPh₃)₂] and the corresponding mixed complexes are discussed.     

Characterization of oligosaccharide moieties of intact glycoproteins by microwave-assisted partial acid hydrolysis and mass spectrometry

A method, which utilizes microwave-assisted partial acid hydrolysis and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOFMS), to elucidate oligosaccharide composition of intact glycoproteins is presented here. Glycoproteins, such as ribonuclease B, avidin, alpha1-acid glycoprotein, and fetuin, are used as model systems to demonstrate this technique. Partial cleavage of oligosaccharides from whole intact glycoproteins with trifluoroacetic acid was observed after a short exposure to microwaves. Due to the high-resolution mass spectra obtained by MALDI-TOFMS from glycoproteins with molecular weights less than 20 kDa, the compositions of oligosaccharides are readily derived for ribonuclease B and avidin. The data agree with the proposed oligosaccharide structures of ribonuclease B (five glycoforms) and avidin (eight glycoforms). Larger glycoproteins such as alpha1-acid glycoprotein (many glycoforms) and fetuin (many glycoforms) exhibited only broad peaks with no glycoform resolution. Nevertheless, this method can be used successfully for analysis of glycoproteins with molecular weights greater than 20 kDa to determine the presence or absence of glycosylation.     

Inhibition of Pb-Leaching from Lead Crystal Glass by Coating with Films Prepared by the Sol-Gel Method

The chemical durability of lead glass tumblers (24% PbO) in a 4% (v/v) acetic acid solution before and after coating with sol-gel derived SiO2 films was assessed to determine the extent of reduction in Pb-leaching that can be achieved. It was found that by coating the internal surface of the glass tumblers with 1 ml of 10% TEOS solutions at 100°C and densifying the coating formed at 500°C for 1 h, it was possible to reduce Pb-leaching to about one quarter of that of the uncoated glass.     

HPLC and GC Methods for Determination of Lubricants and Their Evaluation in Analysis of Real Samples of Polyethylene

High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography (GC) are introduced for analysis of polymer lubricants (stearamide, oleamide and erucamide). In the HPLC method, a reverse phase octadecylsilane (ODS) column along with acetonitrile/methanol (60:40) as a mobile phase were used. Detection of analytes was performed by a UV detector at 202 nm. The analysis time was less than 8 min. In the GC method, polar capillary column and flame ionization detector (FID) were used for separations and detection, respectively. The analysis time by GC was longer than HPLC and was about 30 min. Limits of detection, linear range and repeatability of both methods are similar, but determination of oleamide in real samples by HPLC method is difficult due to complexity of the initial part of HPLC chromatogram in polyethylene samples. That problem is not observed in the GC method. Detection limits in both methods for all analytes are lower than 0.003% which are much lower than the amount of lubricants in commercial polymers (0.05–0.2%).     

Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of Mentha pulegium L. essential oil

The dependence of Mentha pulegium L. (pennyroyal) essential oil composition, obtained by supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO₂), with the following parameters: pressure, temperature, extraction time (dynamic), and modifier (methanol) was studied. The results were also compared with those obtained by conventional hydrodistillation method in laboratory conditions. Regarding the percentages of menthone (30.3%) and pulegone (52.0%), the optimum SFE results were obtained at the following experimental conditions: pressure=100 atm, T=35 °C, dynamic time=10 min, and V_modifier=0 μl. The results of hydrodistillation showed that the major components of M. pulegium L. were pulegone (37.8%), menthone (20.3%), and piperitenone (6.8%). The evaluation of the composition of each extract was performed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.     

Swarm intelligence-based hyper-heuristic for the vehicle routing problem with prioritized customers

The vehicle routing problem (VRP) is a combinatorial optimization management problem that seeks the optimal set of routes traversed by a vehicle to deliver products to customers. A recognized problem in this domain is to serve ‘prioritized’ customers in the shortest possible time where customers with known demands are supplied by one or several depots. This problem is known as the Vehicle Routing with Prioritized Customers (VRPC). The purpose of this work is to present and compare two artificial intelligence-based novel methods that minimize the traveling distance of vehicles when moving cargo to prioritized customers. Various studies have been conducted regarding this topic; nevertheless, up to now, few studies used the Cuckoo Search-based hyper-heuristic. This paper modifies a classical mathematical model that represents the VRPC, implements and tests an evolutionary Cuckoo Search-based hyper-heuristic, and then compares the results with those of our proposed modified version of the Clarke Wright (CW) algorithm. In this modified version, the CW algorithm serves all customers per their preassigned priorities while covering the needed working hours. The results indicate that the solution selected by the Cuckoo Search-based hyper-heuristic outperformed the modified Clarke Wright algorithm while taking into consideration the customers’ priority and demands and the vehicle capacity.