Synthesis of 2-acyl-3-methylthiofurans from 3-methylthio-2-pentene-1,5-dione enolates

2-Acyl-3-methylthiofurans 3 are obtained in fair yields from 3-methylthio-2-pentene-1,5-dione enolates 1 by reaction with iodine. In a similar reaction 1-phenyl-3-methylthio-4-nitro-2-buten-1-one gave 3-methylthio-2-nitro-5-phenylfuran 11. In the crystalline state the 2-benzoyl-3-methylthio-5-phenylfuran 3b showed a non-bonded sulfur-oxygen interaction as inferred from an X-ray diffraction determination, with a S····O distance of 2.871(5)Å.     

Determination of 2-naphthylamine in urine by a novel reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography method.

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of 2-naphthylamine in urine using fluorescence detection was developed. The method validation analysis showed the method to be in analytical control, i.e. the distribution of the difference between the observed and true values of the method evaluation samples did not deviate significantly from the normal distribution. The recovery of the method was 85%. The entire run time of chromatography was 10 min using isocratic elution (acetonitrile-water, 35:65), and the retention time for 2-naphthylamine was 5.8 min. The relative short time of analysis in combination with the low limit of detection (0.272 nmol/l) makes the method potentially applicable for surveillance of occupational and environmental exposure to 2-nitronaphthalene. The developed method is presently used for measurement of 2-naphthylamine in urine samples from workers employed at factories, characterized by a low airborne exposure level of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, i.e. in general less than 25 micrograms/m3. The urine samples of exposed workers (n = 95) showed a 2-naphthylamine range of up to 9.4 nmol/l, whereas unexposed control individuals (n = 114) showed a range of up to 0.87 nmol/l.     

Effects of surface roughness on the electronic structure of metallic clusters

We study the electronic level density in spherical clusters. Due to the granularity of the ionic background the surface is irregular at the microscopical level. We show that this affects the shell structure and that the level statistics display from the bottom to the top of the spectrum a transition from a poissonian behaviour to one consistent with the predictions of random matrices theory.     

Liquid-phase microextraction in a microfluidic-chip – High enrichment and sample clean-up from small sample volumes based on three-phase extraction

In this work, a microfluidic-chip based system for liquid-phase microextraction (LPME-chip) was developed. Sample solutions were pumped into the LPME-chip with a micro-syringe pump at a flow rate of 3–4 μL min⁻¹. Inside the LPME chip, the sample was in direct contact with a supported liquid membrane (SLM) composed of 0.2 μL dodecyl acetate immobilized in the pores of a flat membrane of polypropylene (25 μm thickness). On the other side of the SLM, the acceptor phase was present. The acceptor phase was either pumped at 1 μL min⁻¹ during extraction or kept stagnant (stop-flow). Amitriptyline, methadone, haloperidol, loperamide, and pethidine were selected as model analytes, and they were extracted from alkaline sample solution, through the SLM, and into 10 mM HCl or 100 mM HCOOH functioning as acceptor phase. Subsequently, the acceptor phase was either analyzed off-line by capillary electrophoresis for exact quantification, or on-line by UV detection or electrospray ionization mass spectrometry for time profiling of concentrations. The LPME-chip was found to be highly effective, and extraction efficiencies were in the range of 52–91%. When the flow of acceptor phase was turned off during extraction (stop-flow), analyte enrichment increased linearly with the extraction time. After 10 min as an example, amitriptyline was enriched by a factor of 42 from only 30 μL sample solution, and after 120 min amitriptyline was enriched by a factor of 500 from 320 μL sample solution. This suggested that the LPME-chip has great potentials for very efficient analyte enrichments from limited sample volumes in the future.     

Effects of urea induced protein conformational changes on ion exchange chromatographic behavior

Urea is widely employed to facilitate protein separations in ion exchange chromatography at various scales. In this work, five model proteins were used to examine the chromatographic effects of protein conformational changes induced by urea in ion exchange chromatography. Linear gradient experiments were carried out at various urea concentrations and the protein secondary and tertiary structures were evaluated by far UV CD and fluorescence measurements, respectively. The results indicated that chromatographic retention times were well correlated with structural changes and that they were more sensitive to tertiary structural change. Steric Mass Action (SMA) isotherm parameters were also examined and the results indicated that urea induced protein conformational changes could affect both the characteristic charge and equilibrium constants in these systems. Dynamic light scattering analysis of changes in protein size due to urea-induced unfolding indicated that the size of the protein was not correlated with SMA parameter changes. These results indicate that while urea-induced structural changes can have a marked effect on protein chromatographic behavior in IEX, this behavior can be quite complicated and protein specific. These differences in protein behavior may provide insight into how these partially unfolded proteins are interacting with the resin material.     

Macrocyclization and molecular interlocking via Mitsunobu alkylation: highlighting the role of C-H...O interactions in templating

[reaction: see text] A series of diimide-based macrocycles have been prepared using Mitsunobu-mediated alkylation as the macrocyclization step. These macrocycles could not be incorporated into [2]catenanes using previously established building blocks and coupling methodology. However, when one of the macrocycle syntheses was conducted in the presence of a dinaphtho crown ether, catenane formation was achieved. This result is discussed in terms of the ability of the components to establish intermolecular C-H...O hydrogen-bonding contacts.     

Synthesis of Benz[a]azulenes Substituted at the Benzo Ring

It is shown that the thermal electrocyclic ring-closure reaction of 1,2-di[(E)-prop-1-enyl]benzene to yield 2,3-dimethylnaphthalene (cf. Scheme 1) [10] can successfully be applied also to the synthesis of benz[a]azulenes (cf. Schemes 2 and 3). Starting materials are methyl 4,6,8-trimethylazulen-2-yl ketone ( 6 ) and the corresponding 2-carbaldehyde 5 , which, in a Horner-Emmons reaction, are transformed into the (azulen-2-yl)-acrylates (E)- 8 and (E)- 7 , respectively. Vilsmeier formylation of these compounds, followed by the Horner-Emmons reaction leads to the formation of the bisacrylates (E,E)- 11 and (E,E)- 12 , respectively. In an alternative reaction, (E)- 8 , on treatment with dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate (ADM) in the presence of [RuH₂(PPh₃)₄], can be transformed into the methoxycarbonyl-substituted bisacrylates (E,E)- and (E,Z)- 17 . All three bisacrylates, on heating at 180–190° in p-cymene, undergo cyclization to yield the corresponding dihydrobenz[a]azulenes 13 , 14 , and 18 , respectively, which could easily be dehydrogenated on heating in the presence of Pd/C. The new benz[a]azulenes 15 , 16 , and 19 are fully characterized.