Solvent extraction studies of addition compounds of metal halides and triphenylphosphine, -arsine and -stibine : Detection of palladium

Palladium, is very efficiently extracted as PdI₂·₂(C₆H₅)₃Sb from weakly acidic medium, containing excess of iodide with a solution, of triphenylstibinc in cyclohexane. A test for the detection of palladium is described based on this property. In the presence of sulfite and in the absence of cyanide, which inhibits the reaction, the test is specific. A pink to red color develops in the organic layer enabling the identification of as little as 0.07 μg- Pd.     

Orderings of coherent systems with randomized dependent components

Consider a general coherent system with independent or dependent components, and assume that the components are randomly chosen from two different stocks, with the components of the first stock having better reliability than the others. Then here we provide sufficient conditions on the component’s lifetimes and on the random numbers of components chosen from the two stocks in order to improve the reliability of the whole system according to different stochastic orders. We also discuss several examples in which such conditions are satisfied and an application to the study of the optimal random allocation of components in series and parallel systems. As a novelty, our study includes the case of coherent systems with dependent components by using basic mathematical tools (and copula theory).     

Infinite-Dimensional Calculus Under Weak Spatial Regularity of the Processes

Two generalizations of Itô formula to infinite-dimensional spaces are given. The first one, in Hilbert spaces, extends the classical one by taking advantage of cancellations when they occur in examples and it is applied to the case of a group generator. The second one, based on the previous one and a limit procedure, is an Itô formula in a special class of Banach spaces having a product structure with the noise in a Hilbert component; again the key point is the extension due to a cancellation. This extension to Banach spaces and in particular the specific cancellation are motivated by path-dependent Itô calculus.     

A New Photoactivatable Ruthenium(II) Complex with an Asymmetric Bis-Thiocarbohydrazone: Chemical and Biological Investigations

The synthesis, photoactivation and biological activity of a new piano-stool Ru(II) complex is herein reported. The peculiarity of this complex is that its monodentate ligand which undergoes the photodissociation is an asymmetric bis-thiocarbohydrazone ligand that possesses a pyridine moiety binding to Ru(II) and the other moiety contains a quinoline that endows the ligand with the capacity of chelating other metal ions. In this way, upon dissociation, the ligand can be released in the form of a metal complex. In this article, the double ability of this new Ru(II) complex to photorelease the ligand and to chelate copper and nickel is explored and confirmed. The biological activity of this compound is studied in cell line A549 revealing that, after irradiation, proliferation inhibition is reached at very low half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) values. Further, biological assays reveal that the dinuclear complex containing Ni is internalized in cells.     

Effects of flavonoid derivatives on human microvascular endothelial cells

Some natural compounds, including flavonoids, are active in vasculature re-growth during hair follicle disruption, but their effects have not been yet evaluated directly on microvascular endothelial cells. Skin vascularisation regulates the physiological blood supply required for hair growth and its dysregulation is the basis of several human diseases. Follicle-derived vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) release from follicular keratinocytes promotes perifollicular vascularisation and increases follicle and hair size, while blockade of VEGF-mediated angiogenesis leads to impaired hair growth. Here, we tested three flavonoids, namely visnadin (VSD), hesperidin (HSP) and baicalin (BC), on cultured human microvascular endothelial cells (HMEC), comparing their effects with minoxidil (MXD), a synthetic drug broadly used in the treatment of androgenetic alopecia. The response to these compounds was assayed in terms of endothelial survival, proliferation, tubulogenesis and proangiogenic signalling. We show that BC promotes HMEC proliferation, while both VSD and MXD enhance tubulogenesis. Interestingly, only HSP increases VEGFR-2 phosphorylation.     

Evidence for cation-π interactions in calixcrown·KPic complexes from X-ray crystal structure analysis and energy calculations

Abstract

The crystal and molecular structures of the 1,3-diisopropoxy-p-tertbutyl calix[4]arene crown-5 fixed in the partial cone conformation and that of its potassium picrate salt have been determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction studies. Energy calculations have been performed to gain more insight on the stabilizing cation…ligand interactions. The calculation of the total potential energy indicates that the contribution which comes from the electrostatic polarization induced by the electric field of the cation on the rotated nucleus gives a net stabilizing contribution of almost 6 kcal/mol. A comparison between the molecular geometry of some partial cone 1,3-disubstituted-p-tertbutylcalix[4]arene derivatives is reported and discussed in view of the preorganization principle.