Syntheses,characterization, and biological evaluation of new zinc-and gold-chloroquine diphosphate complexes

Antimalarial drugs such as chloroquine are beneficial agents in systemic lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. In this work, two new chloroquine diphosphate (CQDP) complexes containing Zn(II) and Au(III) of formula Zn(CQDP)(NO₃)₂ (1) and Au(CQDP)Cl₃ (2), respectively, were synthesized and characterized by physico-chemical and spectroscopic methods. To examine their possible anti-inflammatory properties, the new derivatives were tested in the range from 1 to 100 μM on the respiratory burst of isolated human neutrophils (PMNs) as well as in whole blood. In isolated PMNs, complex 1 inhibited the isoluminol-enhanced chemiluminescence (IL-CL) only at the highest concentration tested, whereas in the whole blood assay, 10 μM of this complex was sufficient to significantly inhibit the luminol-enhanced chemiluminescence (L-CL). On the contrary, complex 2 dose-dependently inhibited the IL-CL but affected the L-CL only at 100 μM. In conclusion, both complexes are more active than CQDP and may be useful for future treatment of diseases resulting from exacerbated neutrophil functions.     

A Flory–Huggins thermodynamic approach for predicting sorption equilibrium in ternary polymer systems

The Flory–Huggins theory as modified by Pouchlý has been applied to calculate preferential (λ) and total (Y) sorption coefficients for a ternary polymer system. The ternary interaction function (?₁?₂?₃G_T(u₁, ?₃)) is described as the product of three independent binary functions. This expression allows prediction of λ and Y from binary interaction parameters χ, χ, g, g, and g₁₂(?₁₀). Three ternary polymer systems are used to check the validity of the expression. Moreover for polymer systems in which the parameters g and/or g are unknown, a procedure to evaluate them has been developed and verified on systems for which sufficient experimental information is available.     

First structural characterization of a protactinium(V) single oxo bond in aqueous media

The present work describes the first structural studies of protactinium(V) in sulfuric and hydrofluoric acid media using X-ray absorption spectroscopy. The results show unambiguously the absence of the trans-dioxo bond that characterizes the other early actinide elements such as U and Np. In concentrated sulfuric acid (13 M), Pa(V) is proved to exhibit a single oxo bond as postulated in the literature for species in more dilute media. In a 0.5 M HF medium, XANES and EXAFS spectra indicate the absence of any oxo bond: Pa(V) exists in the form of a pure fluoro complex.     

The first synthesis of organic-inorganic hybrid materials with chiral bis(oxazoline) ligands

Condensation of tetraethoxysilane with silane-functionalized bis(oxazolines) in the presence of dodecylamine leads to hybrid materials whose textural and catalytic properties depend on both the ligand and the spacer structure.     

Hydrocarboxylation of terminal alkenes in supercritical carbon dioxide using perfluorinated surfactants

High selectivity in acids is obtained in the first example of hydrocarboxylation of 1-octene in supercritical carbon dioxide using a Pd/P(4-C6H4-CF3)3 catalyst system and a perfluorinated surfactant.     

Mesoscopic scales in hierarchical configuration models

To understand mesoscopic scaling in networks, we study the hierarchical configuration model (HCM), a random graph model with community structure. Connections between communities are formed as in a configuration model. We study the component sizes of HCM at criticality, and we study critical bond percolation. We find the conditions on the community sizes such that the critical component sizes of HCM behave similarly as in the configuration model. We show that the ordered components of a critical HCM on $N$ vertices are $O\left(N^{2∕3}\right)$. More specifically, the rescaled component sizes converge to the excursions of a Brownian motion with parabolic drift.     

A generalized Turán problem in random graphs

We study a generalization of the Turán problem in random graphs. Given graphs T and H, let ex(G(n,p),T,H) be the largest number of copies of T in an H‐free subgraph of G(n,p). We study the threshold phenomena arising in the evolution of the typical value of this random variable, for every H and every 2‐balanced T. Our results in the case when m₂(H) > m₂(T) are a natural generalization of the Erd?s‐Stone theorem for G(n,p), proved several years ago by Conlon‐Gowers and Schacht; the case T = K_m was previously resolved by Alon, Kostochka, and Shikhelman. The case when m₂(H) ≤ m₂(T) exhibits a more complex behavior. Here, the location(s) of the (possibly multiple) threshold(s) are determined by densities of various coverings of H with copies of T and the typical value(s) of ex(G(n,p),T,H) are given by solutions to deterministic hypergraph Turán‐type problems that we are unable to solve in full generality.