Polyborylation of azulenes

In the presence of an active Ir-based catalyst, azulene underwent stepwise borylation with bis(pinacolato)diboron to produce polyborylated products. The reactivity of the ring atoms toward borylation was found to decrease in the following order: 2-position>1,3-positions>6-position>5,7-positions. Extension of the borylation to some azulenes substituted at the five-membered ring was also examined. Furthermore, the reaction of 2,6-bis(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaborolanyl)azulene (3a) with an equivalent of hydrogen peroxide revealed that the oxidation proceeds preferentially at the 6-position. This indicates that the reactivity of the boryl group is governed by the π-polarization of the azulenyl skeleton.     

Oxidation Reactivity of Bis(μ‐oxo) Dinickel(III) Complexes: Arene Hydroxylation of the Supporting Ligand

In the nick(el) of time : Bis(μ‐oxo) dinickel(III) complexes 2 (see scheme), generated in the reaction of 1 with H₂O₂, are capable of hydroxylating the xylyl linker of the supporting ligand to give 3 . Kinetic studies reveal that hydroxylation proceeds by electrophilic aromatic substitution. The lower reactivity than the corresponding μ‐η²:η²‐peroxo dicopper(II) complexes can be attributed to unfavorable entropy effects.

     

Decomposing capacity utilization in data envelopment analysis: An application to banks in India

This paper briefly reviews the existing methods of capacity utilization in nonparametric framework from economic perspectives, and then suggests an alternative in the light of limitations therein. In the spirit of work by Coelli et al. [Coelli, T.J., Grifell-Tatje, E., Perelman, S., 2002. Capacity utilisation and profitability: A decomposition of short run profit efficiency. International Journal of Production Economics 79, 261–278], we propose two methods, radial and non-radial, to decompose the input-based physical (technological) capacity utilization into various meaningful components viz., technical inefficiency, ray economic capacity utilization and optimal capacity idleness. A case study of Indian banking industry is taken as an example to illustrate the potential application of these two methods of decomposition. Our two broad empirical findings are that first, competition created after financial sector reforms generates high efficiency growth, and reduces excess capacity; second, the cost gap of the short-run cost from the actual cost is higher for the nationalized banks over the private banks indicating that the former banks, though old, do not reflect their learning experience in their cost minimizing behavior.     

Homochiral helices of oligonaphthalenes inducing opposite-handed cholesteric phases

The helical structure of the chiral nematic phases (cholesterics) obtained by doping nematic solvents with chiral non-racemic compounds is a macroscopic proof of the solute chirality. Oligonaphthalene (tetra-, hexa-, octa-) derivatives linked at the 1,4-positions have been used as chiral dopants: When the chirality axes are configurationally homogeneous (that is, all-S), the molecular structures correspond to right-handed helices. Yet, we have found series of derivatives with the surprising property that the handedness of the induced cholesteric phase alternates from positive to negative and to positive again, on passing from tetra- to hexa- and to octanaphthalene. A comparison with oligonapthalene derivatives, which do not exhibit this twisting ability, points to the importance of the substitution pattern. Both the possibility of inducing oppositely-handed cholesteric phases by homochiral helices of different length, and the role played of substituents, are confirmed by calculations performed with the surface chirality model.     

Study on the surface density of surface-active substances through total-reflection X-ray absorption fine structure measurement

The total-reflection X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) method previously employed for the adsorption of dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB) at the air/water interface was applied to that in the presence of NaBr. The surface concentration of the bromide ions Gamma(X)(B) of DTAB and NaBr was evaluated by using the Br K-edge absorption jump values of the total-reflection XAFS spectra and was compared to the corresponding value Gamma(H)(B) estimated from the dependence of surface tension on the bulk concentrations of DTAB m(1) and NaBr m(2). The Gamma(X)(B) values trace almost perfectly the Gamma(X)(B) versus m(1) curve up to a concentration near the critical micelle concentration (cmc) and deviate gradually above the concentration. This behavior is basically similar to that of the single DTAB system and ensures that the XAFS method is also applicable to the DTAB system, even in the presence of NaBr. In addition, this method was extended to the single nonionic amphiphile with covalently bonded bromine, and the surface concentrations of 6-bromo-1-hexanol (BrC6OH), Gamma(X)(1) and Gamma(H)(B), were evaluated and compared with each other. It was found that the Gamma(X)(1) value almost perfectly traces the Gamma(H)(1) versus m(1) curve, even at high surface concentrations. The excellent coincidence confirmed that the total-reflection XAFS method can be applied to the nonionic amphiphile system as well as a cationic surfactant with or without an added salt system. Finally, the difference between the Gamma(X)(B) and Gamma(H)(B) values observed in the DTAB with and without an added salt system is briefly described.     

Open-loop and closed-loop control of dissociative ionization of ethanol in intense laser fields

The relative yield of the C-O bond breaking with respect to the C-C bond breaking in ethanol cation C2H5OH+ is maximized in intense laser fields (10(13)-10(15) Wcm2) by open-loop and closed-loop optimization procedures. In the open-loop optimization, a train of intense laser pulses are synthesized so that the temporal separation between the first and last pulses becomes 800 fs, and the number and width of the pulses within a train are systematically varied. When the duration of 800 fs is filled with laser fields by increasing the number of pulses or by stretching all pulses in a triple pulse train, the relative yield of the C-O bond breaking becomes significantly large. In the closed-loop optimization using a self-learning algorithm, the four dispersion coefficients or the phases of 128 frequency components of an intense laser pulse are adopted as optimized parameters. From these optimization experiments it is revealed that the yield ratio of the C-O bond breaking is maximized as far as the total duration of the intense laser field reaches as long as approximately 1 ps and that the intermittent disappearance of the laser field within a pulse does not affect the relative yields of the bond breaking pathways.     

Targeting glycosylation pathways and the cell cycle: sugar-dependent activity of butyrate-carbohydrate cancer prodrugs

Short-chain fatty acid (SCFA)-carbohydrate hybrid molecules that target both histone deacetylation and glycosylation pathways to achieve sugar-dependent activity against cancer cells are described in this article. Specifically, n-butyrate esters of N-acetyl-D-mannosamine (But4ManNAc, 1) induced apoptosis, whereas corresponding N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (But4GlcNAc, 2), D-mannose (But5Man, 3), or glycerol (tributryin, 4) derivatives only provided transient cell cycle arrest. Western blots, reporter gene assays, and cell cycle analysis established that n-butyrate, when delivered to cells via any carbohydrate scaffold, functioned as a histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi), upregulated p21WAF1/Cip1 expression, and inhibited proliferation. However, only 1, a compound that primed sialic acid biosynthesis and modulated the expression of a different set of genes compared to 3, ultimately killed the cells. These results demonstrate that the biological activity of butyrate can be tuned by sugars to improve its anticancer properties.     

Interrelation between inhomogeneity and cyclability in O3‐NaFe1/2Co1/2O2

O3‐NaFe_1/2Co_1/2O₂ shows initial capacity of 160 mAh/g and an average operating voltage of 3.1 V (vs. Na) with good cyclability, and is a promising candidate of the cathode materials for sodium‐ion secondary batteries (SIBs). Here, we found that the cyclability of the slowly‐cooled sample is much worse than that of quenched one, even though the former sample keeps the O3‐type structure. The energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (EDX) images suggest that the slow‐cooled sample (Na_x Fe_1–yCo_y O₂) is inhomogeneous in the Fe concentration (1 – y), perhaps triggered by the Na deficiency (1 – x). We ascribed the poor cyclability in the slowly‐cooled sample to the concentration inhomogeneity (Δy). The Δy is further responsible for the fluctuation of the lattice constants (a and c), as revealed by the Williamson–Hall plot. (© 2016 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)