Catalytic C–C coupling through C–H arylation of arenes or heteroarenes

The present review refers to catalytic methods to arylate arene or heteroarene compounds. The resulting compounds are ubiquitous in biology and in pharmaceuticals or fine chemicals production. Until a few decades ago they were prepared according to laborious procedures often involving a series of steps all requiring product isolation. Catalytic methods are much simpler and convenient and often consist of one-pot procedures leading to highly selective reactions. The reaction types described here encompass intermolecular as well as intramolecular reactions. Assistance by chelating groups, heteroatoms and metallacycles are considered for metal-catalyzed reactions not involving the use of oxygen or stoichiometric oxidants.     

Identification of disinfection by‐products of selected triazines in drinking water by LC‐Q‐ToF‐MS/MS and evaluation of their toxicity

During the development of an on‐line solid phase extraction‐liquid chromatography‐ultraviolet detection (SPE‐LC‐UV) analytical method for determination of eight selected triazines; ametryn, atrazine, cyanazine, metrybuzine, prometryn, propazin, simazine, and terbutryn, in drinking water, it was observed that the retention times of three of them (ametryn, prometryn, and terbutryn) in Milli‐Q water were different from those in chlorinated Milli‐Q water, indicating the formation of new products. The cause of this change was found in the oxidation of the molecules as a result of chlorination with sodium hypochlorite. Experiments performed at varying concentrations of triazines and hypochlorite showed that the extent of the reaction depended on their relative concentrations. At the maximum admissible level of 100 ng/l for individual pesticides in drinking water, no apparent transformation was observed in the absence or at low concentrations (0.05 mg/l) of hypochlorite; however, on increasing the concentration of hypochlorite to the level typically present in drinking water (0.9 mg/l) the transformation was complete. The reaction is quite fast; within 1 h the parent compound is completely degraded and after 22 h the concentrations of the by‐products are constant. Investigation of the by‐products by ultra performance liquid chromatography‐quadrupole‐time of flight‐ tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC‐Q‐ToF‐MS/MS) has shown that all three triazines follow a similar transformation pathway, forming four new molecules whose structure have been elucidated. The acute toxicity of the new products was investigated using a standard method based on the bioluminescence inhibition of Vibrio fischeri, and the by‐products showed a higher toxicity than that of the parent compounds. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Automated analysis of perfluorinated compounds in human hair and urine samples by turbulent flow chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) are ubiquitous contaminants of humans and animals worldwide. PFCs are bioaccumulated because of their affinity for proteins. It has been shown they could have a variety of toxicological effects and cause damage to human health, emphasizing the need for sensitive and robust analytical methods to assess their bioaccumulation in humans. In this paper we report the development and validation of an analytical method for analysis of PFCs in the non-invasive human matrices hair and urine. The method is based on rapid and simple sample pre-treatment followed by online turbulent flow liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry (TFC–LC–MS–MS) for analysis of 21 PFCs. The method was validated for both matrices. Percentage recovery was between 60 and 105 for most compounds in both matrices. Limits of quantification ranged from 0.1 to 9 ng mL⁻¹ in urine and from 0.04 to 13.4 in hair. The good performance of the method was proved by investigating the presence of selected PFCs in 24 hair and 30 urine samples from different donors living in Barcelona (NE Spain). The results were indicative of bioaccumulation of these compounds in both types of sample. PFOS and PFOA were most frequently detected in hair and PFBA in urine.     

Long-lived photoinduced charges in donor-acceptor anthraquinone-substituted thiophene copolymers

The photoinduced charge-transfer properties of a series of polyalkylthiophene copolymers, carrying anthraquinone substituents covalently linked to the conjugated backbone, have been studied in the solid state by photoinduced absorption (PA) and light-induced electron spin resonance (LESR) spectroscopy. The measurements indicate the formation of metastable charges arising from the photoinduced electron transfer from the polythiophene backbone to the anthraquinone moieties. At low temperatures (below 200 K), long-lived persistent charges are formed, exhibiting lifetimes that extend for several minutes; their recombination kinetics has been studied by following the formation and decay of the PA and LESR signals. The results are rationalized using a model originally proposed to describe the low-temperature recombination kinetics of long-lived photoexcited carriers in amorphous inorganic semiconductors. It is clearly evidenced that, in these polymers, the number of acceptor substituents in the chain, easily tuned by chemical tailoring, plays a key role in the photoexcitation scenario.     

Synthesis and structure of a stable pentavalent-uranyl coordination polymer

The polymeric complex {[UO2Py5][KI2Py2]}n was isolated by controlled oxidation of uranium tris-iodide in pyridine and structurally characterized using X-ray diffraction. The described synthetic method allows us to isolate a stable derivative of the elusive pentavalent UO2+ species providing a potential starting material for the development of anhydrous UO2+ coordination chemistry.     

Isolation of a tetrameric cation-cation complex of pentavalent uranyl

A polymetallic assembly containing mutually coordinated highly reactive UO2+ groups was isolated in the presence of dibenzoylmethanate. NMR studies showed unambiguously the presence of the cation-cation complex in pyridine solution while more polar solvents lead to the disruption of the UO2+/UO2+ interaction and increased stability.     

Evaluation of tramadol and its main metabolites in horse plasma by high‐performance liquid chromatography/fluorescence and liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry techniques

Tramadol is a centrally acting analgesic drug that has been used clinically for the last two decades to treat pain in humans. The clinical response of tramadol is strictly correlated to its metabolism, because of the different analgesic activity of its metabolites. O‐Desmethyltramadol (M1), its major active metabolite, is 200 times more potent at the µ‐receptor than the parent drug. In recent years tramadol has been widely introduced in veterinary medicine but its use has been questioned in some species. The aim of the present study was to develop a new sensible method to detect the whole metabolic profile of the drug in horses, through plasma analyses by high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with fluorimetric (FL) and photodiode array electrospray ionization mass spectrometric (PDA‐ESI‐MS) detection, after its sustained release by oral administration (5 mg/kg). In HPLC/FL experiments the comparison of the horse plasma chromatogram profile with that of a standard mixture suggested the identification of the major peaks as tramadol and its metabolites M1 and N,O‐desmethyltramadol (M5). LC/PDA‐ESI‐MS/MS analysis confirmed the results obtained by HPLC/FL and also provided the identification of two more metabolites, N‐desmethyltramadol (M2), and N,N‐didesmethyltramadol (M3). Another metabolite, M6, was also detected and identified. The present findings demonstrate the usefulness and the advantage of LC/ESI‐MS/MS techniques in a search for tramadol metabolites in horse plasma samples. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.