Synthesis and characterization of some heterocyclic derivatives by cyclization of carbohydrate thiosemicarbazone ‐ part III

Synthesis of (3′R) 2‐acetamido‐4‐N‐acetyl‐3′‐spiro‐[1,2′:5′,6′‐di‐O‐isopropylidene‐α‐D‐glucofuranosyl]‐1,3,4‐thiadiazoline diastereomerically pure is described. We report the physical and spectroscopic characterization of the new heterocyclic compound as well as its immediate precursors. We discuss also the possibilities for cyclization and established the stereochemistry of the new stereogenic center.     

NMR chemical shift substituent effects: 2-α-monosubstituted N,N-diethylacetamides

¹H NMR chemical shifts for some α-hetero-substituted N,N-diethylacetamides were recorded. The resonance assignments for the syn- and anti-methylene and -methyl protons have been made unambiguously through their aromatic solvent induced shifts and are opposed to the literture assignments for the N-methylene protons. An empirical relationship between the Charton polar (σ_L) and steric (V) parameters and the α-methylene proton resonances was found. The N-methylene proton chemical shifts also showed a qualitative dependence on the α-substituent electronegativity, while the N-ethyl methyl proton chemical shifts were related to the α-substituent steric effects. The Paulsen and Todt anisotropic model and the more populated rotamers proposed seem to explain the results very well.     

Preparation and liquid-crystalline properties of toluene-4-sulphonyl urethane of hydroxypropylcellulose

A novel liquid-crystalline polymer, the toluene-4-sulphonyl urethane of hydroxypropylcellulose (TSUHPC), was prepared through chemical modification of hydroxypropylcellulose (HPC) of M_w = 60000 g mol^-1. The resulting polymer was characterized by infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and polarizing microscopy. It was found that thermotropic liquid crystal phases are formed between about 60°C and 110°C. Concentrated solutions of TSUHPC in acetone and N,N-dimethylacetamide exhibit cholesteric behaviour, at room temperature. When approaching the lyotropic mesophase to solid transition, either by cooling or by solvent evaporation, very interesting arborescent structures of a seemingly fractal nature may be observed, depending on the kinetics of the transition. A banded texture can be observed when the polymer is sheared near the transition to the isotropic phase.     

Reduced effective spin-orbital degeneracy and spin-orbital ordering in paramagnetic transition-metal oxides: Sr2IrO4 versus Sr2RhO4

We discuss the notions of spin-orbital polarization and ordering in paramagnetic materials, and address their consequences in transition-metal oxides. Extending the combined density functional and dynamical mean field theory scheme to the case of materials with large spin-orbit interactions, we investigate the electronic excitations of the paramagnetic phases of Sr(2)IrO(4) and Sr(2)RhO(4). We show that the interplay of spin-orbit interactions, structural distortions and Coulomb interactions suppresses spin-orbital fluctuations. As a result, the room temperature phase of Sr(2)IrO(4) is a paramagnetic spin-orbitally ordered Mott insulator. In Sr(2)RhO(4), the effective spin-orbital degeneracy is reduced, but the material remains metallic, due to both, smaller spin-orbit and smaller Coulomb interactions. The corresponding spectra are in excellent agreement with photoemission data. Finally, we make predictions for the spectra of paramagnetic Sr(2)IrO(4).     

Zinc oxide, a multifunctional material: from material to device applications

In this paper we report on some of the recent advances in transparent thin film oxide semiconductors, specifically zinc oxide produced by radio frequency magnetron sputtering at room temperature, with multifunctional properties. By controlling the deposition parameters it is possible to produce undoped material with electronic semiconductor properties, or by doping it to get either n-type or p-type semiconductor behavior. In this work we refer to our experience in producing n-type doped zinc oxide as transparent electrode to be used in optoelectronic applications such as solar cells and position sensitive detectors, while the undoped zinc oxide can be used as active layer of fully transparent thin film transistors.     

Evidence for radial flow of thermal dileptons in high-energy nuclear collisions

The NA60 experiment at the CERN SPS has studied low-mass dimuon production in 158A GeV In-In collisions. An excess of pairs above the known meson decays has been reported before. We now present precision results on the associated transverse momentum spectra. The slope parameter Teff extracted from the spectra rises with dimuon mass up to the rho, followed by a sudden decline above. While the initial rise is consistent with the expectations for radial flow of a hadronic decay source, the decline signals a transition to an emission source with much smaller flow. This may well represent the first direct evidence for thermal radiation of partonic origin in nuclear collisions.     

Antibacterial activity of 15-deoxygoyazensolide isolated from the stems of Minasia alpestris (Asteraceae) against oral pathogens

This work reports the isolation of the sesquiterpene lactone 15-deoxygoyazensolide from the stems of Minasia alpestris and the evaluation of its antimicrobial activity against the following oral pathogens: Enterococcus faecalis, Streptococcus salivarius, Streptococcus sobrinus, Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus mitis, Streptococcus sanguinis, and Lactobacillus casei. Despite the cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of other sesquiterpene lactones of the furanoheliangolide-type, our results revealed that this compound exhibits low antibacterial activity against the evaluated oral pathogens; however, an interesting selectivity against E. faecalis (minimum inhibitory concentration [MIC]=40 μg mL(-1)) and S. sobrinus (MIC=60 μg mL(-1)) was observed.     

Faces of faces of the tridiagonal Birkhoff polytope

The tridiagonal Birkhoff polytope, , is the set of real square matrices with nonnegative entries and all rows and columns sums equal to 1 that are tridiagonal. This polytope arises in many problems of enumerative combinatorics, statistics, combinatorial optimization, etc. In this paper, for a given a p-face of , we determine the number of faces of lower dimension that are contained in it and we discuss its nature. In fact, a 2-face of is a triangle or a quadrilateral and the cells can only be tetrahedrons, pentahedrons or hexahedrons.