Pd-catalyzed reduction of aryl halides using dimethylformamide as the hydride source

The Pd-catalyzed homocoupling of aryl halides in a basic DMF solution is often accompanied by the dehalogenation of the substrate as side reaction. When an inorganic base such as sodium bicarbonate is used, the reducing role of the solvent has been demonstrated using DMF-d₇ and GC/MS analysis.     

Structure, stability, and activity of myoglobin adsorbed onto phosphate-grafted zirconia nanoparticles

The adsorption of myoglobin (Mb) onto phosphate grafted-zirconia (ZrO2-P) nanoparticles was studied in terms of conformational studies and thermal stability, determined by circular dichroism (CD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The changes in protein structure have been correlated with the catalytic activity of free and adsorbed Mb. CD and DSC studies indicate marked rearrangements in Mb structure upon adsorption onto phosphate-grafted zirconia nanoparticles. These structural rearrangements of Mb could be responsible for the loss of catalytic activity observed for the adsorbed Mb. In particular, the conformational changes due to the adsorption process induced a reduction of kcat and KM. AFM measurements indicate that the interaction with the grafted-zirconia nanoparticles also affects the morphology of the bound protein, inducing the nucleation of prefibrillar-like aggregates.     

Multivariate calibration on NIR data: development of a model for the rapid evaluation of ethanol content in bakery products

A new NIR method based on multivariate calibration for determination of ethanol in industrially packed wholemeal bread was developed and validated. GC-FID was used as reference method for the determination of actual ethanol concentration of different samples of wholemeal bread with proper content of added ethanol, ranging from 0 to 3.5% (w/w). Stepwise discriminant analysis was carried out on the NIR dataset, in order to reduce the number of original variables by selecting those that were able to discriminate between the samples of different ethanol concentrations. With the so selected variables a multivariate calibration model was then obtained by multiple linear regression. The prediction power of the linear model was optimized by a new “leave one out” method, so that the number of original variables resulted further reduced.     

Determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in particulate matter collected with low volume samplers

The determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) contained in samples of particulate matter (PM), collected with low volume pumps, were carried out with an high sensitivity method that comes from several revisions of a previous method. The present work describes how, by using programmable temperature vaporization (PTV) and a mass selective detector with inert ionic source for the GC-MS analysis and the modifications of microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), the sensitivity of the method can be increased.The PAHs chosen for testing the method are: benzo[a]anthracene (BaA), benzo[b]fluoranthene (BbF), benzo[k]fluoranthene (BkF), benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene (Ip) and dibenzo[a,h]anthracene (DbA). They, in fact, belong to that group of substances that are the most harmful for human health for their carcinogenicity.PAHs recoveries for spiked standard solutions at different concentrations were between 95 and 100% with relative standard deviation ranging from 1 to 3%. The revised method was validated using a 1649a urban dust standard reference material (SRM). The results obtained were in good agreement with certified values. The high sensitivity of the method allows to carry out analyses using only a half of the sampled filter (usually 47 mm diameter membranes). In this way, the other half can be used for the characterization of the other components of PM (heavy metals, organic carbon, ions, etc). The last step has been constituted by application of the optimized method on real samples collected in two cities located in Southern Italy (Bari and Taranto).     

Determination of complex formation constants by phase sensitive alternating current polarography: Cadmium-polymethacrylic acid and cadmium-polygalacturonic acid

The use of phase sensitive alternating current polarography (ACP) for the evaluation of complex formation constants of systems where electrodic adsorption is present has been proposed. The applicability of the technique implies the previous selection of the phase angle where contribution of capacitive current is minimized. This is made using Multivariate Curve Resolution by Alternating Least Squares (MCR-ALS) in the analysis of ACP measurements at different phase angles. The method is checked by the study of the complexation of Cd by polymethacrylic (PMA) and polygalacturonic (PGA) acids, and the optimal phase angles have been ca. −10° for Cd-PMA and ca. −15° for Cd-PGA systems. The goodness of phase sensitive ACP has been demonstrated comparing the determined complex formation constants with those obtained by reverse pulse polarography, a technique that minimizes the electrode adsorption effects on the measured currents.     

Cyclic Hypervalent Iodine Reagents for Atom‐Transfer Reactions: Beyond Trifluoromethylation

Hypervalent iodine compounds are privileged reagents in organic synthesis because of their exceptional reactivity. Among these compounds, cyclic derivatives stand apart because of their enhanced stability. They have been widely used as oxidants, but their potential for functional‐group transfer has only begun to be investigated recently. The use of benziodoxol(on)es for trifluoromethylation (Togni's reagents) is already widely recognized, but other transformations have also attracted strong interest recently. In this Review, the development in the area since 2011 will be presented. After a short summary of synthetic methods to prepare benziodoxol(on)e reagents, their use to construct carbon–heteroatom and carbon–carbon bonds will be presented. In particular, the introduction of alkynes by using ethynylbenziodoxol(on)e (EBX) reagents has been highly successful. Breakthroughs in the introduction of alkoxy, azido, difluoromethyl, and cyano groups will also be described.     

Evaluation of thermal stability of enalapril maleate tablets using thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetry (TG) were used in order to evaluate the thermal stability of an enalapril maleate formulation packaged in two types of packaging, polyvinyl chloride/aluminum blister and aluminum strip. Enalapril and the excipients employed in the formulation were also evaluated by TG and DSC. Tablets were analyzed before and after storage in an acclimatized room at 40 °C and relative humidity of 75 % for 90 days. The DSC and TG results were compared with the results of dosage of enalapril and related compounds obtained by high-performance liquid chromatography. These results indicate an occurrence of chemical interaction between enalapril maleate and the excipients during its storage. After storage, it was observed that the enalapril content reduced and the predominant degradation product was diketopiperazine for both types of packaging. The predominance of diketopiperazine could be related to the absence of sodium bicarbonate in the tablets, alkalinizing agent employed in the thermal stabilization of the drug.     

2D FT-ICR MS of Calmodulin: A Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approach

Two-dimensional Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (2D FT-ICR MS) allows data-independent fragmentation of all ions in a sample and correlation of fragment ions to their precursors through the modulation of precursor ion cyclotron radii prior to fragmentation. Previous results show that implementation of 2D FT-ICR MS with infrared multi-photon dissociation (IRMPD) and electron capture dissociation (ECD) has turned this method into a useful analytical tool. In this work, IRMPD tandem mass spectrometry of calmodulin (CaM) has been performed both in one-dimensional and two-dimensional FT-ICR MS using a top-down and bottom-up approach. 2D IRMPD FT-ICR MS is used to achieve extensive inter-residue bond cleavage and assignment for CaM, using its unique features for fragment identification in a less time- and sample-consuming experiment than doing the same thing using sequential MS/MS experiments.

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