Highly β-Selective Glycosylation Reactions for the Synthesis of ω-Functionalized Alkyl β-Maltoside as a Co-crystallizing Detergent

Russian Journal of Organic Chemistry - Methods have been reported for the preparation of ω-functionalized alkyl maltoside and glycoside detergents via a simple and inexpensive synthetic route....     

Aromatic A-ring analogues of orobanchol, new germination stimulants for seeds of parasitic weeds

Strigolactones are signaling compounds in plants of increasing importance. In this paper the focus is on their activity as germinating agents for seeds of parasitic weeds. The syntheses of aromatic A-ring analogues of the germination stimulant orobanchol have been described. Starting substrate is the ABC unit of the stimulant GR24. Oxidation at the C-4 position gives a 4-oxo derivative which on subsequent reduction produces two C-4 epimeric alcohols, syn and anti in a ratio of 82 : 3. For practical access of the C-4 anti alcohol, the predominant syn epimer is inverted by a Mitsunobu procedure. The anti C-4 alcohol is then coupled with the D-ring in a one-pot two-step process involving a formylation and a reaction with bromobutenolide to give a mixture of the diastereomeric aromatic A-ring analogues of orobanchol. In contrast, the syn C-4 alcohol cannot be coupled directly with the D-ring. Protection of the C-4 syn OH is a prequisite. The best protecting function is the SEM group as deprotection after coupling with the D-ring can then readily be achieved. The structures of these new analogues have been ascertained by X-ray analyses. Both diastereomers of the C-4 syn as well as the C-4 anti orobanchol analogues have been tested as germination agents of seeds of Striga hermonthica and Orobanche ramosa. In addition, the acetates of both epimeric C-4 alcohols have been prepared and tested. Both diastereomers of the 4-oxo derivative have been prepared and bioassayed as well. The bioassays reveal that the diastereomers having the natural relative configuration are most active. The data also suggest that hydrogen bonding is not an important factor in the binding of the stimulant molecules in the receptor.     

Effect of the acyl group and the dodecylsulfonate chain on the inclusion of pyrene inside the cavity of β-cyclodextrin

The solubilization of pyrene in aqueous solution of β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) or its derivatives such as β-CD-hexanoyl, β-CD-benzoyl and β-CD-dodecylsulfonate was investigated by spectrophotometry. Linear and non-linear regression methods were used to estimate the association constants (K₁). A 1:1 stoichiometric ratio and different effects of the hexanoyl, benzoyl and dodecylsulfonate groups on the association constant were observed for the binary inclusion complex between pyrene and β-CD. The formation constant was shown to decrease when β-CD was modified by a dodecylsulfonate chain. The value of K₁ was 190 ± 10 L mol⁻¹ for the [pyrene/β-CD] complex and 145 L mol⁻¹ for the [pyrene/β-CD-dodecylsulfonate] complex. Partitioning of the pyrene molecules between the dodecylsulfonate chains and cyclodextrin cavities can explain the decrease in the association constant value. In the cases of β-CD-hexanoyl and β-CD-benzoyl derivatives, no association constants were detected. Results suggest that the high hydrophobicity of the hexanoyl and benzoyl groups prevents the inclusion of pyrene molecules inside the cyclodextrin cavity.     

DSC study and computer modelling of the melting process in ice slurry

In order to understand the non-isothermal melting kinetics in the ice slurry, a differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used. Experimental results were compared to those obtained by a numerical simulation in which a general enthalpy method was applied. In this work the ice slurry studied consists of ice particles uniformly dispersed within a water-antifreeze liquid mixture. The effects of the heating rate and the initial antifreeze mass fraction are discussed. It has been found that the temperature gradients inside the sample of the solution become important if either heating rate increases or initial antifreeze mass fraction decreases.     

Synergistic extraction of Ce(III), Eu(III) and Tm(III) with a mixture of picrolonic acid and benzo-15-crown-5 in chloroform

Summary The synergistic mixture comprising picrolonic acid (HPA) and benzo-15-crown-5 (B15C5) in chloroform has been used for the extraction of Ce(III), Eu(III) and Tm(III) as representatives of lanthanide(III) ions from pH 1-2 solutions having ionic strength of 0.1 mol^. dm^-3(K⁺/H⁺, Cl^-). The composition of the extracted species has been determined as M(PA)₃^. nB15C5 where M is Ce, Eu and Tm and n=1 or 2. The influence of various anions and cations on the extraction of these ions has also been studied and only oxalate, cyanide and tartrate have some deleterious effect. The extraction equilibrium constants have been evaluated and discussed.     

Evaluation of sorption of uranium onto metakaolin using X-ray photoelectron and Raman spectroscopies

Metakaolin prepared from a natural clay mineral ore of aluminium kaolinite is a promising low cost and high activity aluminosilicate material that has been investigated for studying the sorption behavior of uranium. Here, metakaolin was characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and the effects of pH, contact time and initial metal ion concentration on its sorption behavior were studied. The sorption process was found to initially be rapid (∼60% at time 0 min) but became slower with time; equilibrium was established within 24 h (∼80% sorption). The data were applied to study the kinetics of the sorption process. The Langmuir and Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) sorption isotherms were used to describe partitioning behavior for the system at room temperature. The binding of metal ions was found to be pH dependent, with optimal sorption occurring at pH 5. The retained metal ions were eluted with 5 mL of 0.1 M HNO₃. Raman spectroscopy and XPS were used to evaluate the sorption mechanism of U(VI).     

Statefinder diagnostic and stability of modified gravity consistent with holographic and agegraphic dark energy

Recently one of us derived the action of modified gravity consistent with the holographic and new-agegraphic dark energy. In this paper, we investigate the stability of the Lagrangians of the modified gravity as discussed in (Setare in Int J Mod Phys D 17:2219, 2008; Setare in Astrophys Space Sci 326:27, 2010). We also calculate the statefinder parameters which classify our dark energy model.     

Restoring New Agegraphic Dark Energy in RS II Braneworld

Motivated by recent works (Saridakis in Phys. Lett. B 660:138, 2008; Sheykhi in Int. J. Mod. Phys. D 19(3):305, 2010), we investigate the new agegraphic model of dark energy in the framework of RS II braneworld. We also include the case of variable gravitational constant G in our model. Moreover, we reconstruct the potential and the dynamics of the quintessence, tachyon, K-essence and dilaton scalar field models according to the evolutionary behavior of the new agegraphic dark energy model in RS II braneworld cosmology including varying G.     

Form factors,branching ratio and forward–backward asymmetry in B→K<Subscript>1</Subscript>ℓ<Superscript>+</Superscript>ℓ<Superscript>-</Superscript> decays

We study long-distance effects in the rare exclusive semileptonic decays B→K₁ℓ⁺ℓ^-, where K₁ is the axial vector meson. The form factors describing the meson transition amplitudes of the effective Hamiltonian are calculated using the Ward identities, which are then used to calculate the branching ratio and the forward–backward asymmetry in these decay modes. The zero of the forward–backward asymmetry is of special interest and provides us with a precision test of the standard model.