Ferrocenylmethylation of estrone and estradiol: Structure,electrochemistry, and antiproliferative activity of new ferrocene–steroid conjugates

Conjugates of ferrocene with steroidal estrogens as selective antiproliferative agents against hormone-dependent breast cancer cells are believed to be limited by the inherent estrogenicity of the conjugates. Motivated by a significant cytotoxicity of the ester of ferrocenecarboxylic acid and the phenolic group of estradiol toward such a cell line, we decided to explore other a -ring-tethered ferrocene–estra-1,3,5(10)-triene conjugates; in this study, ferrocenylmethylation of estradiol and estrone with (ferrocenylmethyl)trimethylammonium iodide in the presence of potassium carbonate yielded five new compounds ( 1 – 5 ). In dimethylformamide, only O-alkylated products formed ( 1 and 3 ), while a mixture of O- and C-alkylated products was obtained when methanol was used ( 2 , 4 , and 5 in addition to 1 and 3 ). All compounds were characterized using 1D and 2D NMR, IR, UV–Vis, and high-resolution mass spectrometry. Two of the conjugates, a 3-O- and a 4-C-alkylated derivative of estrone ( 3 and 4 , respectively), were also analyzed using single-crystal X-ray diffraction. A cyclic voltammetric investigation of the electrochemical properties of 1 – 5 was performed. While some of the compounds were shown to have a slight-to-moderate antiproliferative activity against at least one of the six tested human tumor cell lines and were nontoxic to (the noncancerous) fetal human fibroblasts, compound 2 (4-(ferrocenylmethyl)estra-1,3,5(10)-triene-3,17β-diol) with an IC₅₀ value of 0.34 μM was found to be more active against the hormone-dependent breast cancer cell line MCF-7 than doxorubicin. These results suggest that a -ring substitution of steroidal estrogens is a plausible strategy for preparing other ferrocene–steroid conjugates acting against tumor cells.     

Current-confined-path (CCP) giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensors

Current-perpendicular-to the plane (CPP) giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensors with a current-confined-path (CCP) layer inserted within the Cu spacer have been manufactured using ultrahigh vacuum PVD sputtering, photolithography, and ion milling processes. Compared with a pure metallic CPP system, the CCP insertion layer enables a substantial increase in sensor resistance with an equivalent or better GMR ratio, and thus a significant improvement in the ΔRA amplitude. Heads with such a sensor have been tested under various bias currents, both quasistatically and on a spinstand. It was found that the resistance of the sensors increases with increasing bias current and voltage, following typical metallic behavior. Also, the CCP insertion layer enables operation at higher bias currents compared with the pure metallic sensors (without the insertion layer) and thus a higher output signal. This effect is attributed to less magnetic instability due to the reduced Ampere fields around the narrow (∼6 nm) current-confined paths. Finally, the CPP-GMR heads with CCP layer were tested under high-density recording conditions using the perpendicular recording media. Bit error rate (BER) as a function of linear density is reported. Microtrack profiles were also recorded to determine track density capability.     

Iron oxide modified diamond blends containing ultradispersed diamond

Iron oxide modified diamond blends containing different amounts of ultradispersed diamond were prepared and characterized by nitrogen physisorption, X-ray diffraction, temperature programmed reduction, M?ssbauer and IR spectroscopy. The catalytic behavior of these composite materials in methanol decomposition to hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and methane has been also studied. The initial state and phase transformations of the supported highly dispersed iron oxide particles in various pretreatment media, as well as their reductive and catalytic properties, strongly depend on the ultradispersed diamond content in the diamond blends.     

Catalytic abatement of CO and volatile organic compounds in waste gases by gold catalysts supported on ceria-modified mesoporous titania and zirconia

Mesoporous oxides TiO2 and ZrO2, synthesized by surfactant templating via a neutral C13(EO)6–Zr(OC3H7)4 assembly pathway, and ceria‐modified TiO2 and ZrO2, prepared by a deposi‐tion–precipitation (DP) method, featuring high surface areas and uniform pore size distributions were used as supports for gold catalysts. The supported gold catalysts were assessed for the cata‐lytic abatement of air pollutants, i.e., CO, CH3OH, and (CH3)2O. The gold was supported on the mes‐oporous oxides by a DP method. The supports and catalysts were characterized by powder X‐ray diffraction, high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy, N2 adsorption–desorption analysis, and temperature‐programmed reduction technique. A high degree of synergistic interaction be‐tween ceria and mesoporous ZrO2 and TiO2 as well as a positive modification of the structural and catalytic properties by ceria was observed. The ceria additive interacts with the mesoporous oxides and induces a strong effect on the reducibility of the supports. The catalytic behavior of the catalysts was discussed to determine the role of the ceria modifying additive and possible interaction be‐tween the gold nanoparticles and ceria‐mesoporous oxide supports. The gold catalysts supported on ceria‐modified mesoporous ZrO2 displayed superior catalytic activity (~100%conversion of CO at 10 °C and CH3OH at 60 °C). The high catalytic activity can be attributed to the ability of the sup‐port to assist oxygen vacancies formation. The studies indicate that the ceria‐modified mesoporous oxide supports have potential as supports for gold‐based catalysts.     

Zeros of Gegenbauer and Hermite polynomials and connection coefficients

In this paper, sharp upper limit for the zeros of the ultraspherical polynomials are obtained via a result of Obrechkoff and certain explicit connection coefficients for these polynomials. As a consequence, sharp bounds for the zeros of the Hermite polynomials are obtained.

     

Copper(II) complexes of the antihypertensive drug nadolol

The complexation of the non-selective β-blocker nadolol, HL, 1 with copper(II) leads to formation of mono-and dinuclear complexes depending mainly on the metal-to-ligand molar ratio. The mononuclear violet complex CuL₂·2Solv, 2, was obtained in a soluble form at metal-to-ligand molar ratio Cu(II): HL ≤ 1: 10 in methanolic or slightly alkaline aqueous solutions. The dinuclear green complex Cu₂L₂Cl₂·H₂O, 3 was synthesized at Cu(II): HL ≥ 1: 2 molar ratio in methanolic solutions. The complexes were studied using spectral (UV-Vis, FT-IR, EPR), magnetochemical, thermogravimetric methods and elemental analysis. In the complexes nadolol acts as a monoanionic bidentate ligand coordinated to copper(II) through the NH-and the deprotonated OH-groups of its aminoalcohol fragment.