Design,synthesis, and application of chiral electron-poor guanidines as hydrogen-bonding catalysts for the Michael reaction

The first chiral electron-poor guanidine organocatalysts were synthesized. The presence of a tunable electron-withdrawing group on the guanidine moiety allows for the modulation of the catalysts’ activity. The application of this new class of organocatalysts to the Michael reaction is demonstrated.     

Determination of anthocyanins in the urine of patients with colorectal liver metastases after administration of bilberry extract

Anthocyanins possess cancer chemopreventive properties in preclinical models. Their clinical pharmacology is only poorly understood. In this pilot study, anthocyanins and their metabolites were analysed in the urine of two patients with colorectal liver metastases. They received a single dose of 1.88 g standardized bilberry extract (mirtoselect) via either nasogastric or nasojejunal tube intra‐operatively during liver resection. HPLC‐MS/MS and HPLC‐UV analysis showed there were more anthocyanins and metabolites in the urine of the patient who received mirtoselect via the stomach than via the jejunum. This result is consistent with information obtained in rodents which suggests the stomach is the predominant site for anthocyanin absorption. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An Interpenetrated Framework Material with Hysteretic CO2 Uptake

A new, twofold interpenetrated metal–organic framework (MOF) material has been synthesized that demonstrates dramatic steps in the adsorption and hysteresis in the desorption of CO₂. Measurement of the structure by powder X‐ray diffraction (PXRD) and pair distribution function (PDF) analysis indicates that structural changes upon CO₂ sorption most likely involve the interpenetrated frameworks moving with respect to each other.     

Multiplicity-Free Permutation Representations of the Symmetric Group

We determine all the multiplicity-free representations of the symmetric group. This project is motivated by a combinatorial problem involving systems of set-partitions with a specific pattern of intersection.     

Minimality conditions on circularly ordered structures

We explore analogues of o‐minimality and weak o‐minimality for circularly ordered sets. Much of the theory goes through almost unchanged, since over a parameter the circular order yields a definable linear order. Working over ?? there are differences. Our main result is a structure theory (with infinitely many doubly transitive examples related to Jordan permutation groups) for ?₀‐categorical weakly circularly minimal structures. There is a 5‐homogeneous (or ‘5‐indiscernible’) example which is not 6‐homogeneous, but any example which is k‐homogeneous for some k ≥ 6 is k‐homogeneous for all k. (© 2005 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

ABA triblock copolymers with a ring‐opening metathesis polymerization/macromolecular chain‐transfer agent approach

Block copolymers containing polystyrene and polycyclooctene were synthesized with a ring‐opening metathesis polymerization/chain‐transfer approach. Polystyrene, containing appropriately placed olefins, was prepared by anionic polymerization and served as a macromolecular chain‐transfer agent for the ring‐opening metathesis polymerization of cyclooctene. These unsaturated polymers were subsequently converted to the corresponding saturated triblock copolymers with a simple heterogeneous catalytic hydrogenation step. The molecular and morphological characterization of the block copolymers was consistent with the absence of significant branching in the central polycyclooctene and polyethylene blocks [high melting temperatures (114–127 °C) and levels of crystallinity (17–42%)]. A dramatic improvement in both the long‐range order and the mechanical properties of a microphase‐separated, symmetric polystyrene–polycyclooctene–polystyrene block copolymer sample was observed after fractionation. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 361–373, 2007