Studies on organophosphorus compounds—V: Pyridines from secondary car☐amides and HMPA

A new pyridine synthesis has been found by refluxing certain simple secondary car☐amides in HMPA. Thus 2,6-dimethylpyridine, 2-ethyl-6-methylpyridine, 2,3,6-trimethylpyridine, 2-ethyl-3,6-dimethylpyridine, 2-benzyl-6-methyl-3-phenylpyridine, 2-ethyl-3-methyl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydroquinoline and 2-t-butyl-6-methylpyridine were prepared in 15–40% yield.     

Poly(phosphoramidites)-Polycondensation Products of Phosphorous Triamides with Aliphatic Diols and Dibasic Phenols

Phosphorous triamides react with aliphatic diols and dibasic phenols: 1,6-hexanediol, 2,2'-(4-hydroxyphenyl)propane, 1,4-hydroquinone, and 4,4'-dihydroxybiphenyl in the temperature range 80-110°C in diethylene glycol dimethyl ether or without a solvent to afford phosphorus-containing regular high-molecular products having an O₂P(NR₂) moiety in the monomeric unit. The resulting poly(phosphoramidites) are capable of swelling in organic solvents, and they can be used as macroligands in the catalytic hydrogenation of styrene over rhodium(I) complexes.     

Structure,tautomerism, and transformations of β-(3-nitro-2-pyridyl)- and β-(3-nitro-4-pyridyl)pyruvic acid esters

It was shown by means of IR, UV, and PMR spectra that -(3-nitro-2-pyridyl)pyruvic acid esters are practically completely enolized in the crystal state and in solution; ethyl -(3-nitro-4-pyridyl)pyruvate has an enol structure in the crystalline state and in pyridine solution but exists as a mixture of keto and enol forms in low-polarity solvents.Translated from Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 3, pp. 389–393, March, 1974.     

Determination of the aminoglycoside antibiotics sisomicin and netilmicin in dried blood spots on filter discs, by high-performance liquid chromatography with pre-column derivatization and fluorimetric detection

A simple method for the determination of the aminoglycoside antibiotic sisomicin or its 1-N-ethyl derivative, netilmicin in whole blood, using dried blood spots (DBSs) on filter-paper punched discs has been developed. Sisomicin or netilmicin in the DBSs were recovered most effectively in 0.5 M Na2HPO4 using ultrasonication. The eluates from the DBSs were treated by ultrafiltration for deproteinization and subjected to pre-column fluorescent derivatization using o-phthalaldehyde and beta-mercaptopropionic acid in 0.05 M KH2PO4-borate buffer (pH 9.0), followed by determination by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. The detection limits of sisomicin and netilmicin in the DBSs on punched discs (10.1 microliters of whole blood) were 0.053 and 0.50 micrograms per ml of whole blood, respectively (signal-to-noise ratio greater than or equal to 2). The method permits a simple collection of blood at the microlitre level and should prove particularly useful for monitoring sisomicin and netilmicin in blood at therapeutic levels in geriatric and paediatric patients.     

A new synthesis of ampicillin and related investigations

Quaternization of (S)-α-bromophenylacetic acid amide (8) with hexamethylentetramine (hexamine) preceded with ca. 80% inversion of configuration. Accordingly, starting from the trimethylsilylester of N-(S)-(α-bromo-α-phenylacetyl)-6-aminopenicillanic acid (4) quaternization with hexamine and subsequent hydrolysis afforded N-(R)-α-phenylglycyl-6-aminopenicillanic acid (1, ampicillin). Some other model reactions have been investigated.     

Adducts of Rh2[MTPA]4 with some phosphine chalcogenides: nature of binding and ligand exchange

Adducts of four phosphine chalcogenides with the chiral dirhodium complex ([Rh-Rh]) were investigated by variable-temperature 1H and 31P NMR spectroscopy in order to compare their properties as axial ligands. Whereas the selenide (1) and the sulfide (2) are strong ligands with electrostatic attraction and, in addition, a significant orbital (HOMO-LUMO) interaction, the phosphine oxide compounds (P=O) bind primarily via electrostatic attraction and are relatively weak donors. Moreover, the overall bond strength in these adducts depends on steric congestion around the P=O group.     

Development of a new analytical method for the evaluation of hazards from slow decomposition of waste streams and process solutions

A wide variety of liquid streams are generated as part of the process research and development effort. Frequently these streams are drummed off, either as intermediates that must be held for processing or as wastes that must be sent off-site for disposal. Because of the long times and low concentrations often involved, current thermoanalytical techniques were inadequate to detect the potential of streams to generate gas. A custom-made apparatus, the gas evolution test cell (GETC), was developed in the Merck Research Laboratories to measure the gas generation potential of various streams under precisely defined conditions, is the key innovation for the development of a quantitative gas-generation test method.     

Convergence of optimal stochastic bin packing

Consider independent identically distributed random variables (X_i) valued in [0,1]. Let B(n) be the optimal (minimum) number of unit size bins needed to pack n items of size X₁, X₂,…,X_n. We prove that there exists a numerical constant C such that for t > 0,

$\text{Pr(∣B(n)?E(B(n))∣>t}\text{n}\text{)≤ C exp(? t).}$

The constant C does not depend on the distribution of X.     

Synthesis and evaluation of a C8 stationary phase on a silica hydride surface by hydrosilation of 1-octyne

The silanization/hydrosilation method is used to bond an alkyne (1-octyne) to a silica hydride surface. The new bonded material is characterized by elemental analysis and diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy. The hydrophobic behavior of this material was determined by the retention characteristics of aromatic solutes and the shape selectivity as well as phase classification (monomeric or polymeric) was measured by the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon mixture standard reference material 869. The presence of residual silanols on the bonded phase was probed by several basic solutes at pH 7. Long-term stability studies were conducted by measuring retention and peak symmetry of basic compounds over several thousand column volumes at pH 10.