Molecular associations between indolizines and tetracyanoethylene

Spectroscopic, thermodynamic and kinetic properties of molecular interactions between indolizines and tetracyanoethylene are reported. The interactions involved in the complexes are weak as evidenced by the low formation constants. The kinetic behaviour indicates the initial formation of a pI-complex that is rapidly transformed into a σ-complex and thereafter into the final adduct(s). Apart from the results obtained by other techniques, infrared data clearly evidence vibrational contributes characteristic of the complexes, the tricyanovinyl derivatives and the tetracyanoethylene radical anion.     

Some Spin Glass Ideas Applied to the Clique Problem

In this paper we introduce a new algorithm to study some NP-complete problems. This algorithm is a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) inspired by the cavity method developed in the study of spin glass. We will focus on the maximum clique problem and we will compare this new algorithm with several standard algorithms on some DIMACS benchmark graphs and on random graphs. The performances of the new algorithm are quite surprising. Our effort in this paper is to be clear as well to those readers who are not in the field.     

Well-posedness and long-time behaviour for a singular phase field system of conserved type

In this paper, we study the well-posedness of a singular non-linearpartial differential equation system and the long-time behaviourof its solutions. Namely, an equation ruling the evolution ofthe absolute temperature of the system (recently introducedin BONETTI, E., COLLI, P., FABRIZIO, M. & GILARDI, G. (2006)Modelling and long-time behaviour for phase transitions withentropy balance and thermal memory conductivity. Discrete Contin.Dyn. Syst. Ser. B, 6, 1001–1026 (electronic) and BONETTI,E., COLLI, P., FABRIZIO, M. & GILARDI, G. (2007) Globalsolution to a singular integrodifferential system related tothe entropy balance. Nonlinear Anal., 66, 1949–1979) iscoupled with a generalization of the well-known Cahn–Hilliardequation for the order parameter . In particular, under suitableassumptions on the non-linearities involved, we prove that theelements of the -limit set (i.e. the cluster points) of thetrajectories solve the steady-state system that is naturallyassociated to the evolution problem.     

Influence of gel-phase microdomains and lipid rafts in lipid monolayers on the electron transfer of a lipophilic redox probe: dioctadecylviologen

Gel-phase microdomains and lipid rafts form spontaneously in monolayers of lipid mixtures of dioleoylphosphatidylcholine (DOPC), palmitoylsphingomyelin (PSM) and cholesterol (Chol), self-assembled on mercury. The influence of microdomains on the electron transfer properties of 2 mol% dioctadecylviologen (DODV), incorporated in these lipid monolayers, was investigated by cyclic voltammetry. In pure DOPC, the DODV molecules tend to aggregate, giving rise to strong attractive lateral interactions. With an increase in the PSM mole fraction in DOPC/PSM binary mixtures, the edges of the resulting gel-phase microdomains act as docking sites for the DODV molecules, decreasing lateral interactions and modifying the DODV redox properties. A similar behavior is shown by lipid rafts formed by adding Chol to the above binary mixtures. By varying the DOPC/PSM molar ratio, the midpoint between the peak potentials of the DODV reduction and oxidation peaks shifts in parallel with the surface dipole potential of the lipid mixture. This behavior indicates that the formal (half-reduction) potential of a redox pair, as measured versus a given reference electrode, may include a surface dipole potential if one or both members of the redox pair are embedded in a medium different from the bulk phase containing the reference electrode.     

Nitroxide biradicals as thread units in paramagnetic cucurbituril-based rotaxanes

The first example of paramagnetic rotaxane containing cucurbit[6]urils has been reported and characterized both by ESR and NMR spectroscopy.     

Regioselective synthesis of 1,2- vs 1,3-squaraines

Squaraines have been known for many decades as very stable and versatile vis-NIR absorbing dyes. They have found applications for example as sensitizers in organic photovoltaics and photodetectors. The most common squaraine structure is the 1,3-regioisomer. Their 1,2-regioisomers are seldom mentioned and unanimously regarded as side products. A facile direct synthesis of 1,2-squaraines, highlighting the role played by reaction conditions and electronic factors, is described. The first electrochemical characterization of these dyes is also shown.     

BINEPINES: chiral binaphthalene-core monophosphepine ligands for multipurpose asymmetric catalysis

The atropisomeric structure of 4,5-dihydro-3H-dinaphtho[2,1-c;1',2'-e]phosphepine is the common axially chiral scaffold of a library of monophosphine ligands nicknamed BINEPINES that have shown a quite remarkable stereoselection efficiency in a broad variety of enantioselective reactions involving the formation of new C-H or C-C or C-X bonds. In this critical review the properties and scope of this type of chiral ligands are illustrated (70 references).