Some new ring-D seco steroids

The Beckmann fragmentation product, 3-methoxy-17-oxo-16,17-secoestra-1,3,5(10)-trien-16-nitrile (2) has been reduced by LAH giving the expected 3-methoxy-17-hydroxy-16,17-secoestra-1,3,5(10-trien-16-amine hydrochloride (3) and 3-methoxy-17-oxa-D-homoestra-1,3,5(10)-trien-16-ol (4), by a presumed neighbouring group participation of 17-OH group in the intermediary formed 16-imino derivative (A). The structure of 4 has been proved by an alternative synthetic route by reducing 3-methoxy-17-oxa-D-homoestra-1,3,5(10)-trien-16-one (7) with di-iso-butylaluminium hydride.     

The first decade of flow injection analysis: from serial assay to diagnostic tool

Some 804 papers on flow injection analysis published to the end of May 1985 are summarized. Past trends are discussed and new developments are briefly outlined.The paper entitled “Flow Injection Analysis. Part 1. A New Concept of Fast Continuous Flow Analysis” [1], which appeared in August 1975, was the first of some 804 papers [1/2-804] published on flow injection analysis (f.i.a.) during the past ten years. In the present contribution, all these papers are collected to record the status quo of the general method and to reveal the present trends in applications of f.i.a. and in the geographical distribution of the research activities. Important concepts and technological innovations are reviewed and the future development of f.i.a. is briefly outlined.     

Study of the Retention Behavior of Newly Synthesized s-Triazine Derivatives in RP TLC Systems,and the Lipophilicity of the Compounds

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC - The chromatographic behavior of nine newly synthesized s-tri-azines has been studied by thin-layer chromatography on C18/UV254...     

Development and prevalidation of a method for phenol determination by solid-phase spectrophotometry

A simple, sensitive and rapid solid-phase spectrophotometric procedure was developed for the determination of traces of phenol with 4-aminoantipyrine as a reagent (AAP-SPS), and the optimal experimental conditions were established. This method was performed by sorption and direct absorbance measurements of the product phenol-AAP sorbed on the anion-exchanger Dowex 1-X4 (0.2 g) at 495 nm (absorption maximum) and 700 nm (non-absorption wavelength). The sensitivity offered by the AAP-SPS procedure was higher by a factor of 40 compared with the respective conventional spectrophotometric method. Metrological characteristics were established using a prevalidation strategy. The AAP-SPS procedure is characterized by a linear calibration function in the working range of 0.05–0.50 μmol, low standard deviation of procedure (±0.012), low limit of determination (0.021 μmol), and favorable random (±0.85 to ±11.27%) and systematic deviations (−4.55 to +11.50%). Moreover, the accuracy of the system investigated by the recovery test is acceptable (99–102%). Favorable working and performance characteristics make the new SPS method ideal for phenol monitoring in pharmaceutical preparations as well as other matrices.     

Isotachophoretic analysis of the dihydrofolate reductase reaction in the presence of methotrexate and ascorbic acid

The antifolate methotrexate (MTX) is widely used in cancer chemotherapy. In this study, we show that MTX (MTX-Glu1) and MTX-polyglutamates (MTX-Glu2-5) strongly inhibited the growth of the leukemic cell line MOLT-4. This effect, however, was mitigated by ascorbic acid. We investigated whether ascorbic acid is able to reduce dihydrofolic acid (DHF) to tetrahydrofolic acid (THF) directly or by circumventing the MTX inhibition of dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR). The inhibition of this NADPH-dependent reduction of DHF by MTX-Glun in the absence or presence of ascorbate, was determined by analytical isotachophoresis. Using 0.01 M HCl/histidine, pH 6.0, as a leading electrolyte (L) and 0.005 M 2-(N-morpholino)ethanesulfonic acid (MES)/histidine, pH 6.0, as a terminating electrolyte (T), MTX-Glun derivatives including MTX-Glu1 could be easily separated, whereas the quantitative estimation of THF was not possible. A quantitative characterization of the DHFR reaction by measuring NADPH, NADP+ and ascorbate was achieved with another system (L: 0.01 M HCI/beta-alanine, pH 3.73; T: 0.01 M caproic acid, pH 3.27). Nanomolar concentrations of MTX-Glu1-5 inhibited consumption of NADPH and production of NADP+. Ascorbic acid was not able to reduce DHF, neither directly nor after inhibition of DHFR by MTX. However, ascorbic acid seemed to diminish the oxidation of THF and this may account for its capacity to reduce the inhibitory effect of MTX on MOLT-4 cells.     

Cyclic chronopotentiometry of nickel(II) at mercury electrodes in acidic perchlorate solutions: Case of higher order nonregenerative reactions following electron transfer

The reduction of Ni²⁺ ions at mercury electrodes in acidic perchlorate solutions, at perchlorate concentrations below 0.2 M, is characterized by absence of kinetic control in the preceding step, and by a complex reaction mechanism following the electron transfer. This reaction sequence is known to involve intermetallic compound formation between Ni and Hg and is best described, as shown here, by a parallel second and third order kinetic scheme. Apparent rate coefficients for this kinetic scheme were determined using cyclic chronopotentiometric data and fitting by digital simulation. A linearization test of computed kinetic rate coefficients versus the number of transitions permits quantitative tests of validity of assumptions made.     

Correlation between C-H and C-C spin-spin coupling constants and s character of hybrids calculated by the maximum overlap method

For some thirty hydrocarbons the s character of hybrids obtained by the application of the maximum overlap method have been correlated with C-H and C-C spin-spin coupling constants. The following relationships were obtained: $$J_{{\text{C}}^{{\text{13}}} - {\text{H}}} = 1079a_{{\text{CH}}}^{\text{2}} /(1 + S_{{\text{CH}}}^{\text{2}} ) - 54.9$$ , $$J_{{\text{C}}_{\text{1}}^{{\text{13}}} - {\text{C}}_{\text{2}}^{{\text{13}}} } = 1020.5a_{{\text{C}}_{\text{1}} }^2 a_{{\text{C}}_{\text{2}} }^{\text{2}} /(1 + S_{{\text{CC}}}^{\text{2}} ) - 8.2$$ . Here the coupling constants are expressed in cps units. In the calculation of the maximum overlap hybrids either the experimental bond lengths or a standard bond lengths were used. For the \(J_{{\text{C}}^{{\text{13}}} - {\text{H}}}\) and \(J_{{\text{C}}^{{\text{13}}} - {\text{H}}} \) coupling constants the standard deviations are 0.9 cps and 1.9 cps respectively. It has been suggested that the large additive constant in the \(J_{{\text{C}}^{{\text{13}}} - {\text{H}}}\) correlation may be attributed to the ionic character of C-H bonds. A good agreement with the experimental data strongly supports the idea that the Fermi contact term and the hybridization are dominant factors in determining carbon-hydrogen and carbon-carbon spin-spin coupling constants across one bond, at least in hydrocarbons.     

An Efficient Route to Phenylselenoethers in the Presence of Ag2O

An efficient protocol for the preparation of phenylselenoethers from unsaturated alcohols using phenylselenenyl halides at room temperature was developed. The procedure employs phenylselenenyl chloride and bromide, some Δ ⁴- and Δ ⁵-alkenols and Ag₂O, as an additive, to generate the tetrahydropyrans or tetrahydrofurans. This method permits the preparation of cyclic phenylselenoethers in high yields and under extremely mild conditions.     

Influence of biomass on hydrodynamics of an internal loop airlift reactor

The effect of the biomass presence on the overall circulation velocity, the linear velocities both in the riser and the downcomer and the overall gas hold-up was studied in a three-phase internal loop airlift reactor (ILALR). The measured data were compared with those obtained using a two-phase system (air—water). All experiments were carried out in a 40 dm³ ILALR at six different biomass concentrations (ranging from 0 g dm⁻³ to 7.5 g dm⁻³), at a temperature of 30°C, under atmospheric pressure. Air and water were used as the gas and liquid model media, respectively. Pellets of Aspergillus niger produced during the fermentation of glucose to gluconic acid in the ILALR were considered solid phase. In addition, liquid velocities were measured during the fermentation of glucose to gluconic acid using Aspergillus niger. All measurements were performed in a bubble circulation regime. At given experimental conditions the effect of the biomass on the circulation velocities in the ILALR was negligible. However, increasing of the biomass concentration led to lower values of the total gas hold-up. Presented at the 33rd International Conference of the Slovak Society of Chemical Engineering, Tatranské Matliare, 22–26 May 2006.     

Mössbauer spectroscopic and X-ray diffraction study of the thermal decomposition of natural siderite and goethite

Thermal decomposition of natural siderite and goethite has been studied using Mössbauer spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Hematite and magnetite were the principal compounds formed during high temperature treatment of siderite. Natural goethite transformed to hematite at high temperatures. The crystal structures, stoichiometry and the nuclear magnetic properties of Fe-oxides formed are discussed.