Synthesis of benzo[1,2-d;3,4-d']diimidazole and 1H-pyrazolo[4,3-b]pyridine as putative A2A receptor antagonists

The synthesis and the binding affinity for the putative adenosine receptor antagonist 6-methyl-7-[1,2,3]triazol-2-yl-1,6-dihydrobenzo[1,2-d;3,4-d']diimidazole (10) and 5-oxazol-2-yl-1H-pyrazolo[4,3-b]pyridin-3-ylamine (16) are reported. The title compounds were prepared from commercially available 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (1) and 2-chloro-6-methoxy-3nitropyridine (11), respectively, but proved devoid of affinity for the adenosine A1 and A2A receptors.     

Syntheses, structures, and anion-binding properties of two novel calix[2]benzo[4]pyrroles

Calix[2]benzo[4]pyrrole m-6 and p-6, each containing two dipyrromethane moieties and two m-phenylene or p-phenylene units, respectively, were readily synthesised from pyrrole, 1,3- and 1,4-bis(1,1'-dimethylhydroxymethyl)benzene, (m-4 and p-4, respectively) and acetone. Macrocycles m-6 and p-6 were tested as receptors for a selection of anions, such as acetate, dihydrogenphosphate and fluoride. The X-ray structures of m-6 and p-6 and those of the complexes m-6F(-), m-6Cl(-) and m-6CH(3)COO(-) (with an nBu(4)N(+) counterion) were also determined.     

Silver(I)-organophosphane complexes of electron withdrawing CF3- or NO2-substituted scorpionate ligands

New silver(I) complexes have been synthesized from the reaction of AgNO(3), monodentate tertiary phosphanes PR(3) (PR(3) = P(C(6)H(5))(3), P(o-C(6)H(4)CH(3))(3), P(m-C(6)H(4)CH(3))(3), P(p-C(6)H(4)CH(3))(3), PCH(3)(C(6)H(5))(2)) and two novel electron withdrawing ligands: potassium dihydrobis(3-nitropyrazol-1-yl)borate and potassium dihydrobis(3-trifluoromethylpyrazol-1-yl)borate. These compounds have been characterized by elemental analyses, FT-IR, ESI-MS and multinuclear ((1)H, (19)F and (31)P) NMR spectroscopy. Solid state structures of the potassium salts K[H(2)B(3-(NO(2))pz)(2)] and K[H(2)B(3-(CF(3))pz)(2)] have been reported. They form polymeric networks due to intermolecular contacts of various types between the potassium ion and atoms of the neighboring molecules. The silver adducts [H(2)B(3-(NO(2))pz)(2)]Ag[P(C(6)H(5))(3)](2) and [H(2)B(3-(NO(2))pz)(2)]Ag[P(p-C(6)H(4)CH(3))(3)] have pseudo tetrahedral and trigonal planar silver sites, respectively. The bis(pyrazolyl)borate ligand acts as a kappa(2)-N(2) donor. The nitro-substituents are coplanar with the pyrazolyl rings in all these adducts indicating efficient electron delocalization between the two units. The [H(2)B(3-(CF(3))pz)(2)]Ag[P(C(6)H(5))(3)] complex has been obtained from re-crystallization of {[H(2)B(3-(CF(3))pz)(2)]Ag[P(C(6)H(5))(3)](2)} in a dichloromethane-diethyl ether solution; it is a three-coordinate, trigonal planar silver complex.     

Efficiency and Aging Comparison Between N,N′-Bis (3-methylphenyl)-N,N′-diphenylbenzidine (TPD) and N,N′-Di-[(1-naphthalenyl)-N,N′-diphenyl]-1,1′-biphenyl-4,4′-diamine (NPD) Based OLED Devices

In this paper we present and discuss experimental results to evaluate performances and aging behaviour of two Hole Transporting Material (HTM), TPD and NPD, in Organic Light Emitting Device (OLED) with structure: ITO/HTM/Alq3/Al. For each of these HTMs, devices with several thicknesses have been built, to measure and emphasize behaviours of material-geometry combinations. Electro-optical properties have been measured to estimate and compare brightness, power efficiency and aging decays.     

Poly(ethylene-glycol)-based fluorinated esters: a readily available entry for novel F-MRI agents

Readily available, low cost, hydrosoluble poly(ethylene-glycol) derivatives of 2-(trifluoromethyl)-3,3,3-trifluoro-propanoic acid were easily synthesized and their properties as MRI agents are preliminarily investigated. Two novel polymers, of 2356 Da and 756 Da, respectively, both showing a single ¹⁹F signal at NMR in deuterated chloroform and D₂O were fully characterized; both compounds were shown to be soluble in water. However when experiments of in vitro MR imaging were conducted a clear imaging was obtained only with the sample of 756 MW, pointing at the importance of the fluorine content of the carrier.     

Proteomic characterization of donkey milk “caseome”

At present, compared with bovine milk, the characterization of donkey milk caseins is at a relatively early stage progress, and only limited data are related to its genetic polymorphism. In this work, the heterogeneity of donkey caseome was investigated using a proteomic approach, based on one- (PAGE, UTLIEF) and two-dimensional (PAGE → UTLIEF) electrophoresis, stained with either Coomassie Brilliant Blue or specific polyclonal antibodies, and structural MS analysis. These combined methodologies allowed the contemporary identification of donkey α_s1, α_s2, β and κ-CN with their related heterogeneity due to phosphorylation (α_s1, α_s2 and β-CN), glycosylation (κ-CN) and incorrect splicing of RNA in mRNA (deleted forms of α_s1-CN and β-CN). The results achieved showed 11 components for κ-CN, six phosphorylated components for β and α_s1-CN and three main phosphorylated components for α_s2-CN, each accounting for 10, 11 and 12 P/mole. At this regard, for the first time, the primary structure of the expressed protein corresponding to the only available donkey α_s2-CN cDNA sequence was determined. Furthermore β-CN was found in homozygous and heterozygous state for the occurrence of a genetic β-CN variant having a MW value 28 mass units higher than the common β-CN phenotype.     

Trends in transportation and logistics

Problems in transportation and logistics had to be tackled long before computers and Operational Research (OR) became available to support decision making. After the first optimization models were developed, OR has substantially contributed in making transportation systems efficient and companies with complex transportation and logistics problems competitive. Over the years, technology has evolved and the same has done OR. In this paper, the history of problems and OR contributions in transportation and logistics will be shortly reviewed together with the evolution of technology. Then, the future trends in this area will be discussed together with potential OR contributions.     

Smoothability and order bound for AS semigroups

In this paper we consider numerical semigroups S generated by arithmetic sequences m ₀,??,m _n (AS-semigroups). First we state some results on the module $T^{1}_{k[S]}$ ; further in the cases m ₀??1 and m ₀??n (modulo n), we prove these semigroups are Weierstrass by showing that the associated monomial curves $X=\operatorname {Spec}{k[S]}$ are smoothable. Finally for each semigroup S generated by an arithmetic sequence we evaluate the so-called ??order bounds??: when S is Weierstrass, these invariants are good approximations for the minimum distance of the related one-point codes.