10-Alkyl-10-demethylcolchicines

It is shown that colchicine ( 4 ) can regiospecifically be transetherified at C(10) by heating in ROH in the presence of (RO)₄M (M = Ti, Zr; cf. Scheme 2). (PrO)₄Zr in PrOH gives better yields than (PrO)₄Ti in PrOH, and also in the catalytic variant of the conversion is (PrO)₄Zr more effective than (PrO)₄Ti.     

MAP: microwave-assisted extraction of cockroaches

A Microwave-Assisted Process (MAP is a Trade-Mark of Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada as represented by the Minister of the Environment) solvent extraction procedure was used in conjunction with GC-MS analysis to investigate the chemical composition of dried and live cockroaches. The main components extracted were classified into four groups: sterols. fatty acids and their esters, long chain alkanes and fused aromatic hydrocarbons.     

Enantioselective ring opening of meso-epoxides by aromatic amines catalyzed by lanthanide iodo binaphtholates

[reaction: see text] Lanthanide iodo binaphtholates are efficient enantioselective catalysts for the ring opening of meso-epoxides by various aromatic amines. The study of the influence of temperature on the ring opening of cyclohexene oxide by o-anisidine catalyzed by the samarium complex shows an isoinversion effect with the maximum enantiomeric excess at -40 degrees C. Reactions of aniline, o-anisidine, or p-anisidine with five- or six-membered ring epoxides at this temperature allow the preparation of beta-amino alcohols with enantiomeric excesses up to 93%.     

Nuclear fluorination of 3,5-diarylisoxazoles with Selectfluor

C-4 Fluorination of a series of 3,5-diarylisoxazoles has been accomplished using the N-F reagent Selectfluor^®. With substrates containing neutral or activating substituents on the 5-phenyl ring, acetonitrile at room temperature or at reflux could be used as solvent. However, when deactivating substituents were present, a higher reaction temperature was required for which sulfolane was found to be a good solvent. At this higher temperature, a unique trifluorination of the isoxazole nucleus by an addition mechanism occurred as a side reaction.     

PHOTOINDUCED ELECTRON TRANSFER QUENCHING OF EXCITED Ru(II) POLYPYRIDYLS BOUND TO DNA: THE ROLE OF THE NUCLEIC ACID DOUBLE HELIX

In the presence of double helical polynucleotides (sodium poly(dA-dT).poly(dA-dT) or calf thymus DNA), the efficiency of oxidative or reductive electron transfer between photoexcited ruthenium(II) chelates Ru(tap)2(hat)2+ or Ru(phen)2+(3) (where tap = 1,4,5,8-tetraazaphenanthrene, hat = 1,4,5,8,9,12-hexaazatriphenylene, and phen = 1,10-phenanthroline) and appropriate cationic quenchers (ethidium, Ru(NH3)3+(6), methyl viologen, or M(phen)3+(3), where M = Co, Rh, Cr) increases 1-2 orders of magnitude compared to the efficiency of the same quenching in microhomogeneous aqueous medium (kq = 0.3-1.8 x 10(9) M-1 s-1). The enhancement is more pronounced when the binding constant of the quencher (10(3) less than Kb less than 10(6) M-1) is large. Similar trends are found when the biopolymers are replaced by sodium poly(styrenesulfonate) (PSS). The accelerated electron transfer process is proposed to be due mainly to the effect of accumulation of the reagents in the electrostatic field of the polymer; if corrections for this effect are introduced (e.g. ratioing [quencher]/[polynucleotide]), the reaction rate becomes essentially independent of the polymer concentration. Based upon a model for electron transfer reaction of the complexes within a small cylindrical interface around the DNA helix, calculations of the bimolecular electron transfer rate constants are computed to be 10(3) times smaller when the reactants are bound to the double-stranded polynucleotides and decreased mobility of the cationic species is apparent. The effect is less pronounced if a simpler polyelectrolyte (PSS) is employed. Emission lifetimes of the Ru(II) polypyridyls bound to the DNA (0.32-2 microseconds, double exponential decays) are discussed as well.     

The kinetics of polyolefin oxidation in aqueous media

The thermal oxidation, at 75–92°C, of antioxidant-free low-density polyethylene (LDPE) is faster in most aqueous environments than in air. The accelerative environments include water, solutions of sodium salts, and a basic buffer. However, an acidic buffer retards oxidation. Transition metal salts are not examined here since their catalytic effect is wellknown. The acceleration is predominantly a surface phenomenon, and so is most obvious in thin polymer films. For antioxidant-containing polyolefins, complications arise because of the possibility of extraction of stabilizers, but the trend in oxidative lifetime is similar to that of the antioxidant-free specimens, and the antioxidants are observed to react chemically during the aging process. For example, a commercial crosslinked polyethylene (XLPE) shows a reduction in thermo-oxidative lifetime of at least a factor of two in aqueous environments compared to air. High-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP) show similar behavior, but the magnitude of the effect of aqueous environments is less. This phenomenon is discussed in terms of nucleophilic attack by peroxy anions on hydroperoxides.     

Phase-selective solubility of poly(N-alkylacrylamide)s

The extent of the phase-selective solubility of poly(N-alkylacrylamide)s was studied by UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopy using poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) and poly(N-octadecylacrylamide) as representative polar and nonpolar poly(N-alkylacrylamide)s in a mixture of polar and nonpolar thermomorphic solvents. Phase-selective solubilities of greater than 10000:1 were seen with each labeled polymer in polar and nonpolar solvents such as heptane and DMF or heptane and 90% EtOH-H(2)O. Using a poly(N-acryloxysuccinimide) as a common precursor, a pool-split synthesis was devised to prepare a library of poly(N-alkylacrylamide)s whose members varied only in the size of their N-alkyl substituent. The solubilities of these library members were measured in both the polar and nonpolar phases of a thermomorphic heptane/90% EtOH-H(2)O mixture at 25 degrees C. Such solvent mixtures are miscible hot (70 degrees C) and biphasic cold (25 degrees C). The results show that poly(N-pentylacrylamide) is selectively soluble (>99.5%) in the polar EtOH-rich phase at rest. Poly(N-alkylacrylamide)s with larger N-alkyl groups are predominantly (C(6), 85%; C(7), 95%) or exclusively (>C(8), >99.5%) in the heptane-rich phase at rest.     

Delocalized and localized pictures of excited and ionized states

The valence shell repolarization under a core ionization in a diatomic molecule as N₂ is analyzed through localized and delocalized pictures, showing their total equivalence. The interpretation is easier in the localized model, appearing mainly through local single excitation processes; in the delocalized model the repolarization effect is hidden (partly or totally) under double excitation processes involving simultaneous excitations in the valence shell and hole change in the core level, appearing therefore as a “correlation effect”. This effect is analyzed forn Be atoms, showing an ^?1 behaviour of the single excitations effect in the delocalized model, and explains the Hartree-Fock unstability numerically verified on O ₂ ⁺ , but it prevents to give any physical meaning to the “localization of the core hole in a diatomic molecule”.     

Multicut-HDMR with an application to an ionospheric model

A new High Dimensional Model Representation (HDMR) tool, Multicut-HDMR, is introduced and applied to an ionospheric electron density model. HDMR is a general set of quantitative model assessment and analysis tools for improving the efficiency of deducing high-dimensional input-output system behavior. HDMR describes an output [f(x)] in terms of its input variables (x = [x(1), x(2), em leader, x(n)]) via a series of finite, hierarchical, correlated function expansions. Various forms of HDMR are constructed for different purposes such as modeling laboratory or field data, or reproducing a complicated mathematical model. The Cut-HDMR technique, which expresses f(x) with respect to a specified reference point x in the input space, is appropriate when the input space is sampled in an orderly fashion. However, if the desired domain of the input space is too large, the HDMR function expansion may not converge, and Cut-HDMR will be unable to accurately approximate f(x). The new Multicut-HDMR technique addresses this problem through the use of multiple reference points in the input space.     

Design of single chain magnets through cyanide-bearing six-coordinate complexes

The design and preparation of stable cyanide-bearing six-coordinate complexes of formula [M^III(L)(CN)_x]^{(x + l − m)−} (M = trivalent transition metal ion and L = polydentate blocking ligand) are summarized here. Their use as ligands towards either fully hydrated metal ions or coordinatively unsaturated preformed species, to afford a wide variety of low-dimensional metal assemblies whose nuclearity, dimensionality and magnetic properties can be tuned, is also reviewed. Special emphasis is put on the appropriate choice of the end-cap ligand L whose denticity determines the number of coordinated cyanide groups in the mononuclear precursors. Among the different new spin topologies obtained through this rational synthetic strategy, ferromagnetically coupled 4,2-ribbon like bimetallic chains which exhibit slow magnetic relaxation and hysteresis effects (chain as magnets) are one of the most appealing and constitute the heart of the present contribution.