Kinetics and Mechanism of the Oxidation of Propan-1-ol and Propan-2-ol by Permanganate in the Absence and Presence of Tween-20 in Perchloric Acid Medium

The kinetics of the oxidation of propan-1-ol and propan-2-ol by KMnO₄ in HClO₄ medium has been studied in absence and presence of Tween-20. In the absence of Tween-20 the reaction is of first order with respect to each of permanganate and H⁺, but of complex order with respect to substrate. The active oxidant species HMnO₄ reacts with the alkanol molecule to form an intermediate complex, which decomposes in the rate-determining step to form the respective product and Mn^v. In the presence of Tween-20, both the oxidant and the substrate are distributed between the aqueous phase and the micellar pseudo-phase and then react. Different kinetic and thermodynamic parameters have been evaluated. Compensation between water structure destruction and substrate–micelle interaction plays an important role in the presence of the surfactant.     

Microstructural characterization of acrylonitrile/pentyl acrylate copolymers by one and 2‐D NMR spectroscopy

Acrylonitrile/pentyl acrylate (A/P) copolymers of different monomer composition were prepared by solution polymerization using benzoyl peroxide as initiator. Copolymer compositions were determined by elemental analysis and quantitative ¹³C¹H‐NMR spectroscopy. The comonomer reactivity ratios, determined by both Kelen Tudos (KT) and nonlinear error in variables (EVM) methods are r_A = 0.75 and r_p = 0.45. 2‐D heteronuclear correlation spectroscopy (HSQC) was used to simplify the complex ¹H spectra of A/P copolymers in terms of configurational and compositional sequences. The microstructure was obtained in terms of the distribution of A‐ and P‐ centered triad sequences from ¹³C¹H‐NMR spectra of the copolymers. The copolymerization mechanism was found to follow a first order Markov Model. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 37: 533–543, 1999     

Isolation of dithiocarbazate salts as oxinato-complexes of titanium(IV), zirconium(IV) and hafnium(IV)

Summary Ionic chelate complexes of the type, [(⁵-R)₂ML][dtz] [R=cyclopentadienyl (Cp) or indenyl (C₉H₇); M=Ti^IV, Zr^IV or Hf^IV; HL=oxine; dtz=phenyldithiocarbazate (PhNHNHCS₂)] have been synthesised and characterised. Conductance measurements indicate that the complexes are 11 electrolytes. From i.r. and u.v. spectral studies we conclude that the oxinato-group is chelating. Consequently there is tetrahedral coordination around the metal ion.¹H and¹³C N.m.r. studies are consistent with the stoichiometries. X-ray powder diffraction studies have been made for [(⁵-Cp)₂ZrL][dtz]. For [(⁵-Cp)₂TiL][dtz] and [(⁵-Cp)₂ZrL][dtz] thermal (t.g. and d.t.a.) and mass spectral studies have been carried out.     

Polymer‐supported palladium: A hybrid system for multifunctional catalytic application

Polymer‐supported palladium was synthesized by applying a single‐step wet chemical synthesis route and the resultant composite material was characterized by means of various techniques. Infrared and UV–visible spectra provided information on the chemical structure of the polymer. Microscopy techniques showed the general morphology of the polymer. The oxidation state of palladium was determined using the X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy method. The synthesized material was applied as a heterogeneous catalyst for the Heck coupling reaction and also as an electrocatalyst for the oxidation of cysteine.     

DIRECT‐ID: An automated method to identify and quantify conformational variations—application to β2‐adrenergic GPCR

The conformational dynamics of a macromolecule can be modulated by a number of factors, including changes in environment, ligand binding, and interactions with other macromolecules, among others. We present a method that quantifies the differences in macromolecular conformational dynamics and automatically extracts the structural features responsible for these changes. Given a set of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of a macromolecule, the norms of the differences in covariance matrices are calculated for each pair of trajectories. A matrix of these norms thus quantifies the differences in conformational dynamics across the set of simulations. For each pair of trajectories, covariance difference matrices are parsed to extract structural elements that undergo changes in conformational properties. As a demonstration of its applicability to biomacromolecular systems, the method, referred to as DIRECT‐ID, was used to identify relevant ligand‐modulated structural variations in the β₂‐adrenergic (β₂AR) G‐protein coupled receptor. Micro‐second MD simulations of the β₂AR in an explicit lipid bilayer were run in the apo state and complexed with the ligands: BI‐167107 (agonist), epinephrine (agonist), salbutamol (long‐acting partial agonist), or carazolol (inverse agonist). Each ligand modulated the conformational dynamics of β₂AR differently and DIRECT‐ID analysis of the inverse‐agonist vs. agonist‐modulated β₂AR identified residues known through previous studies to selectively propagate deactivation/activation information, along with some previously unidentified ligand‐specific microswitches across the GPCR. This study demonstrates the utility of DIRECT‐ID to rapidly extract functionally relevant conformational dynamics information from extended MD simulations of large and complex macromolecular systems. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Organotin(IV) complexes of thiohydrazones: synthesis, characterization and antifungal study

Some new organotin(IV) complexes with salicylaldehyde aniline-N-thiohydrazone (L1) and cinamaldehyde aniline-N-thiohydrazone (L2) of the type (p-ClC6H4)3Sn[L] Cl and (p-ClC6H4)2Sn[L]Cl2 have been synthesized (where L = L1 and L2). The complexes and ligands were characterized by elemental analysis and spectral (UV-vis, IR and 1H NMR) studies. In all the complexes, ligands act as bidentate, coordination through sulphur and azomethane nitrogen. Complexes are 1:1 metal ligands complexes. Antifungal studies of some complexes against Rhizoctonia bataticola fungal strain have been carried out.     

A Variational Framework for Spectral Approximations of Kohn–Sham Density Functional Theory

We reformulate the Kohn–Sham density functional theory (KSDFT) as a nested variational problem in the one-particle density operator, the electrostatic potential and a field dual to the electron density. The corresponding functional is linear in the density operator and thus amenable to spectral representation. Based on this reformulation, we introduce a new approximation scheme, termed spectral binning, which does not require smoothing of the occupancy function and thus applies at arbitrarily low temperatures. We prove convergence of the approximate solutions with respect to spectral binning and with respect to an additional spatial discretization of the domain.     

A facile and rapid one-step synthesis of 8-substituted xanthine derivatives via tandem ring closure at room temperature

N-Bromo succinimide (NBS) was found to be an efficient and regioselective reagent in combination with AIBN for an unprecedented, facile and rapid one-step synthesis of 8-substituted xanthine derivatives at room temperature. The inexpensive, nontoxic and readily available NBS efficiently promoted the condensation of several aryl/cycloaryl/heteroaryl aldehydes with 5,6-diamino-1,3-dimethyluracils in presence of catalytic amount of AIBN in a single step via radical chain reaction. The notable advantages of this protocol were short reaction time, milder reaction conditions, simple work-up procedure, no requirement for chromatographic separation, use of non-hazardous reagent/solvent and applicable to a variety of substrates.