A transparent photo-responsive organogel based on a glycoluril supergelator

The synthesis of an azo-benzene glycoluril supergelator is reported. The control over the gel/sol state can be accomplished by irradiation and heat, but also (in a unidirectional sense) by incorporation of the glycoluril into a more stable supramolecular assembly.     

Radiation stability study on cerium loaded iron phosphate glasses by ion irradiation method

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - To study radiation stability of iron phosphate glasses, cerium is used as surrogate of actinides. Cerium doped iron phosphate glasses have been...     

Synthesis and carboxylate anion binding studies on cyclic sugar-amino acid hybrids

Abstract

Here in, the condensation of boc-glycine with 2,6-anhydro-3,4,5-tri-O-benzyl-D-gluco-heptitol followed by its boc-deprotection to form 2,6-anhydro-3,4,5-tri-O-benzyl-D-gluco-heptitolyl bis-glycinate, which in turn on condensation with succinic acid/pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylic acid led to the formation of sugar-amino acid hybrid macrocyclic compounds 4, 6 and debenzylated marocyclic compound 5, having amide bonds that function as efficient host for polar, hydrogen bond acceptors and carboxylate ions. The anion inclusion capability of synthesized macrocylic hosts has been evaluated by the study of their binding with boc-GlyCOOˉ anion as guest through 1H NMR titration studies in CDCl₃. The binding constant (K_a) of boc-GlyCOOˉ guest with macrocyclic hosts 4 and 6 involving succinate and pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylate linkers was found to be 9.201?×?10³ and 1.437?×?10⁴ M^?1, respectively. The higher binding constant was observed in the complex of boc-GlyCOOˉ with pyridine-dicarboxylate containing host may be due to the extra rigidity & suitable conformation attained by the presence of rigid-aromatic dicarboxylate linker.     

Thoughts on Quotient-fine Nearness Frames

We characterize nearness frames whose completions are fine (we call them quotient-fine), and show that the subcategory QfNFrm they form is reflective in the category of strong nearness frames. The resulting functor commutes with the completion functor. QfNFrm is isomorphic to the subcategory of the functor category (RegFrm) ² given by the dense onto \(h\colon M\to L\), where 2 denotes the category with only two objects and exactly one morphism between them.     

A Novel Ternary Graphene‐based Nanocomposite Modified Electrode for Acetaminophen Detection

Herein, design and synthesis of ternary gold nanoparticles@ sulfourea‐functionalized reduced graphene oxide (Gold‐NPs@SFG) is reported. It involves interaction of ‘sulfourea’ to the graphene sheets via amidation of edged carboxyls of graphene oxide with N‐terminals of sulfourea followed by association of Gold‐NPs. Sulfourea not only reduced the graphene oxide but interestingly, it is functionalized to graphene sheets via carbodiimide covalent junctions, which gives it local effect to increase the active surface area and excellent electrocatalytic properties. The prepared nanocomposite was characterized with SEM, TEM, FTIR, Raman, XRD, XPS and CV. Gold‐NPs@SFG was found to be more efficient electrocatalyst for the electrocatalytic oxidation of a drug ‘Acetaminophen’ using differential pulse voltammetry and it was employed as a highly sensitive and selective electrochemical sensor for the quantification of ‘Acetaminophen’ with the detection limit of 0.09 μM in the wide linear range of 1.2 to 300 μM.     

A route to functionalized pyrimidines from carbohydrates via amine-driven dehydrative ring transformations

A novel and expeditious synthetic protocol for functionalized pyrimidines using unprotected aldoses as biorenewable resources is reported. The synthesis involves aza-Michael addition of aromatic amines to aldose-derived 1,3-oxazin-2-ones(thiones) followed by dehydrative ring transformation to afford 4-polyhydroxyalkylpyrimidin-2-ones(thiones) in excellent yields. This is a one-pot Montmorillonite K-10 clay-catalyzed amine-driven process proceeding under solvent-free microwave irradiation conditions.     

Predicting the redox properties of uranyl complexes using electronic structure calculations

A plethora of chemical reactions is redox driven processes. The conversion of toxic and highly soluble U(VI) complexes to nontoxic and insoluble U(IV) form are carried out through proton coupled electron transfer by iron containing cytochromes and mineral surfaces such as machinawite. This redox process takes place through the formation of U(V) species which is unstable and immediately undergo the disproportionation reaction. Thus, theoretical methods are extremely useful to understand the reduction process of U(VI) to U(V) species. We here have carried out the structures and reduction properties of several U(VI) to U(V) complexes using a variety of electronic structure methods. Due to the lack of experimental ionization energies for uranyl (UO₂(V)‐UO₂(VI)) couple, we have benchmarked the current and popularly used density functionals and cost effective ab initio methods against the experimental electron detachment energies of [UO₂F₄]^1‐/2‐ and [UO₂Cl₄]^1‐/2‐. We find that electron detachment energy of U(VI) predicted by RI‐MP2 level on the BP86 geometries correlate nicely with the experimental and CCSD(T) data. Based on our benchmark studies, we have predicted the structures and electron detachment energies of U(V) to U(VI) species for a series of uranium complexes at the RI‐MP2//BP86 level which are experimentally inaccessible till date. We find that the redox active molecular orbital is ligand centered for the oxidation of U(VI) species, where it is metal centered (primarily f‐orbital) for the oxidation of U(V) species. Finally, we have also calculated the detachment energies of a known uranyl [UO₂]¹⁺ complex whose X‐ray crystal structures of both oxidation states are available. The large bulky nature of the ligand stabilizing the uncommon U(V) species which cannot be routinely studied by present day CCSD(T) methods as the system size are more than 20–30 atoms. The success of our efficient computational strategy can be experimentally verified in the near future for the complex as the structures are stable in gas phase which can undergo oxidation.     

Molecular‐Recognition‐Assisted pKa Shifts and Metal‐Ion‐Induced Fluorescence Regeneration in p‐Sulfonatocalix[6]arene‐Encapsulated Acridine

The host–guest interactions of cationic (AcH⁺) and neutral (Ac) forms of the dye acridine with the macrocyclic host p‐sulfonatocalix[6]arene (SCX6) were investigated by using ground‐state absorption, steady‐state and time‐resolved fluorescence, and NMR measurements. The cationic form undergoes significant complexation with SCX6 (K_eq=2.5×10⁴ M ^?1), causing a sharp decrease in the fluorescence intensity and severe quenching in the excited‐state lifetime of the dye. The strong binding of the AcH⁺ form of the dye with SCX6 is attributed to ion–ion interactions involving the sulfonato groups (SO₃^?) of SCX6 and the positively charged AcH⁺ at pH of approximately 4.3. Whereas, the neutral Ac form of the dye undergoes weak complexation with SCX6 (K_eq=0.9×10³ M ^?1) and the binding constant is lowered by one order of magnitude compared with that of the SCX6–AcH⁺ system. The strong affinity of SCX6 to the protonated form leads to a large upward pK_a shift (≈2 units) in the dye. In contrast, strong emission quenching upon SCX6 interaction and the regeneration of fluorescence intensity of the dye in the presence of Gd³⁺ through competitive binding have also been demonstrated.     

A new butenolide cinnamate and other biological active chemical constituents from Polygonum glabrum

Phytochemical investigation of the methanol extract of the aerial parts of Polygonum glabrum afforded one new natural product ( ? )-2-methoxy-2-butenolide-3-cinnamate (1) along with six known compounds, β-hydroxyfriedalanol (2), 3-hydroxy-5-methoxystilbene (3), ( ? ) pinocembrin (4), sitosterol-(6′-O-palmitoyl)-3-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (5), ( ? ) pinocembrin-5-methyl ether (6) and sitosterol-3-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (7). Compound 1 showed promising in vitro anti-HIV-1 activity against primary isolates HIV-1_UG070 (X4, subtype D) and HIV-1_VB59 (R5, subtype C) assayed using TZM-bl cell line with IC₅₀ in the range of 15.68–22.43 μg/mL. The extract showed TI in the range of 19.19–27.37 with IC₅₀ in the range of 10.90–15.55 μg/mL. Compounds 1, 3 and 4 exhibited in vitro anti-mycobacterium activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra with IC₅₀ values of 1.43, 3.33 and 1.11 μg/mL in dormant phase and 2.27, 3.33 and 1.21 μg/mL in active phase, respectively. Compound 4 was found to be the most active antiproliferative with IC₅₀ values of 1.88–11.00 μg/mL against THP-1, A549, Panc-1, HeLa and MCF7 cell lines.