Enantioenriched dihydropyrones from beta-lactone templates

[reaction: see text] Optically active 4-substituted 2-oxetanones provide conduits for preparing 2,3-dihydro-4H-pyrone heterocycles. Enantioenriched beta-lactones are prepared by asymmetric catalytic acyl halide-aldehyde cyclocondensation reactions. Hydrazone anion-mediated beta-lactone ring opening and ensuing cyclization-dehydroamination of the derived beta-ketohydrazone afford the desired dihydropyrones (68-81%). Optimized lactone ring-opening-cyclization reaction conditions render a variety of optically active 4-substituted-2-oxetanones as effective precursors to enantioenriched 2,3-dihydro-4H-pyrones.     

Synthesis of alpha-fluorosulfonamides by electrophilic fluorination

Alpha-fluorosulfonamides were prepared by electrophilic fluorination of tertiary sulfonamides using N-fluorobenzenesulfonimide as fluorinating agent and utilizing the dimethoxybenzyl group (DMB) as a new sulfonamide protecting group. Removal of the DMB group with TFA/CH(2)Cl(2) gave primary and secondary alpha-fluorosulfonamides.     

Mass spectrometric study of MgO clusters produced by the gas aggregation technique

Gas phase (MgO) _n ⁺ and (MgO) _n Mg⁺ clusters were produced in a gas aggregation source and studied by using laser-ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. A MgO molecule apparently serves as the nucleus for cluster growth, to which Mg and O atoms add. The heat generated by the formation of metal-oxygen bonds, and that added to the cluster by ionization leads to the production of clusters with the stoichiometry of the stable high-temperature oxide. The abundance maxima observed in the mass spectra indicate that the clusters form compact cubic structures similar to pieces of the MgO crystal lattice. The primary fragmentation channel responsible for the observed patterns is probably the loss of MgO monomers.     

Photochemical degradation of hyaluronic acid by singlet oxygen

Changes of the rheological properties of hyaluronic acid (sodium-magnesium salt) solutions after exposure to UV radiation indicate a vigorous decrease in their viscosity, but its still strong shear rate dependence. Whereas the presence of the singlet oxygen sensitizer (anthracene-1-sulphonic acid) brings about a loss of shear dependence; the studied solutions show newtonian behavior.     

Electroproduction of strangeness

Formalism for the electroproduction of strange particles based on the one photon exchange approximation and the Feynman diagrams representation of hadron current is reviewed. Different photoproduction models are compared with available photo and electroproduction data. New experiments are proposed that may resolve existing uncertainties and inconsistencies. The formation of hypernuclei via kaon electroproduction is investigated theoretically and compared with other reactions involving purely hadronic processes.     

Application of ionic liquids as low-volatility plasticizers for PMMA

Room temperature ionic liquids (ILs) based on imidazolium salts, were found to be excellent plasticizers for poly(methyl methacrylate), with improved thermal stability, and the ability to reduce glass transition temperatures to near 0 °C. Because ILs have environmentally benign properties, they can be used in place of traditional chemicals in numerous products and processes. In this work, PMMA was formulated using dioctyl phthalate, DOP, as a traditional plasticizer, and properties were compared to PMMA plasticized with two ILs: butyl methylimidazolium/hexafluorophosphate, [bmim⁺][PF₆⁻], and hexyl methylimidazolium/hexafluorophosphate, [hmim⁺][PF₆⁻]. Formulations incorporated up to 30 vol.% DOP and 50 vol.% ILs. Bulk and plasticized polymers were characterized for glass transition temperature, elastic modulus, and the thermal stability of the plasticizers.     

The transverse hadronic energy accompanying weak bosons

We study the hadronic transverse energy (E _T ) accompanyingZ ⁰ events in \(p\bar p\) interactions and compare our result with the observedE _T distribution in minimum bias events. We expect excess transverse energy to accompanyZ ⁰'s. This effect can also be probed experimentally using Drell-Yan lepton pairs and represents an interesting way to probe the multi-gluon structure of QCD.