Combining Living Anionic Polymerization with Branching Reactions in an Iterative Fashion to Design Branched Polymers

This paper reviews the precise synthesis of many‐armed and multi‐compositional star‐branched polymers, exact graft (co)polymers, and structurally well‐defined dendrimer‐like star‐branched polymers, which are synthetically difficult, by a commonly‐featured iterative methodology combining living anionic polymerization with branched reactions to design branched polymers. The methodology basically involves only two synthetic steps; (a) preparation of a polymeric building block corresponding to each branched polymer and (b) connection of the resulting building unit to another unit. The synthetic steps were repeated in a stepwise fashion several times to successively synthesize a series of well‐defined target branched polymers.

     

Automated determination of venlafaxine in human plasma by on‐line SPE‐LC‐MS/MS. Application to a bioequivalence study

A new automated SPE‐LC‐ESI‐MS/MS method was developed and validated to quantify venlafaxine in human plasma using fluoxetine as an internal standard. The analytes were automatically extracted from plasma by C18 SPE cartridges, separated on a C8 RP column and analyzed by MS in the multiple reaction‐monitoring (MRM) mode. The method has a chromatographic run time of 4.0 min and a linear calibration curve over the range of 0.25–200 ng/mL (r >0.997). The between‐run precisions, based on the percent RSD for replicate quality controls (0.75; 80, and 200 ng/mL), were < 8.5% for all concentrations. The between‐run accuracies, based on the percent relative error, were < 4.0%. This method was successfully employed in a bioequivalence study of two venlafaxine capsule formulations (test formulation from Eurofarma (Brazil) and Efexor XR, reference formulation, from Wyeth‐Whitehall, Brazil) in 48 healthy volunteers of both sexes who received a single 150 mg dose of each formulation. More than 3000 samples were analyzed eliminating the analyst's exposure to hazardous organic solvents normally employed in off‐line liquid–liquid extractions. The 90% confidence interval (CI) of the individual ratio geometric mean for Test/Reference was 91.6–103.4% for AUC_{0–48 h} and 102.2–112.6% for C_max. Since both 90% CI for AUC_{0–48 h} and C_max were included in the 80–125% interval proposed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Brazilian National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA), the test formulation was considered bioequivalent to Efexor XR according to both the rate and extent of absorption.     

Novel synthesis of (Z)-difluoroacrylates via a highly stereoselective addition-elimination reaction

[STRUCTURE: SEE TEXT] On treating readily prepared benzyl 2,3,3-trifluoroacrylate with various Grignard reagents, e.g., aryl-, alkyl-, or alkenylmagnesium halide, in the presence of a catalytic amount of copper(I) salt in THF at -78 degrees C for 1 h, the corresponding alpha,beta-difluoroacrylates were obtained in 54-98% yields with high Z-selectivity.     

Development of ambient sampling chemi/chemical ion source with dielectric barrier discharge

The development of a new configuration of chemical ionization (CI)‐based ion source is presented. The ambient air containing the gaseous sample is sniffed into an enclosed ionization chamber which is of sub‐ambient pressure, and is subsequently mixed with metastable species in front of the ion inlet of the mass spectrometer. Metastable helium atoms (He*) are used in this study as the primary ionizing agents and are generated from a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) source. The DBD is powered by an AC high‐voltage supply and the configuration of the electrodes is in such a way that the generated plasma is confined within the discharge tube and is not extended into the ionization chamber. The construction of the ion source is simple, and volatile compounds released from the bulky sample can also be analyzed directly by approaching the sample to the sampling nozzle. When combined with heated nitrogen or other desorption methods, its application can also be extended to non‐volatile compounds, and the consumption for helium can be kept minimum solely for maintaining the stable discharge and gas phase ionization. Applications to non‐proximate sample analysis, direct determination of active ingredients in drug tablets and the detection of trace explosive such as hexamethylene triperoxide diamine are demonstrated. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synthesis of mesoporous PtCu film modified with Ru submonolayer as catalyst for methanol electrooxidation

A mesoporous PtCu catalyst modified with a Ru submonolayer is successfully synthesized by a facile electrochemical process of electrodeposition, dealloying and Ru underpotential deposition. The material has a large specific surface area comparable to nanoparticles (11 m(2) g(-1)) and exhibits a promising catalyst activity for the methanol oxidation reaction.     

An experimental and theoretical study on the substituent effect of the permanganate oxidation of styrenes

The kinetic data obtained for the cycloadditions of the permanganate ion to a series of styrene derivatives in dichloromethane solution in the presence of a quaternary ammonium ion were examined with two theoretical approaches, on the assumption that the reactions proceed via a concerted [3 + 2] mechanism. The semi-quantitative frontier molecular orbital analysis of the kinetic data shows a linear free energy relationship with better correlation than the Hammett plot with a values when the point for p-NO2 group is omitted. Further examination of the results of the FMO analysis reveals that the deviation of the point for p-nitrostyrene is attributed to the transition structure being more reactant-like than that of the other derivatives. The plot of log k2 vs. -deltaG++ calculated by the density functional theory (Becke3LYP) follows a straight line with the desired correlation for all the substituents. A marked tendency was observed for the MO calculations to underestimate the deltaG++ value for electron-withdrawing substituents when the calculation was carried out excluding the quaternary ammonium ion. This inconsistency was much improved by the calculations incorporating the quaternary ammonium ion. The actual values of deltaG++ obtained from the Eyring analysis are in good agreement with those calculated at the B3LYP/6-311 +G(d,p)//B3LYP/ LanL2DZ level.     

Tetracyanoethylene oxide not only oxidizes sulfides to sulfoxides but also reduces sulfoxides to sulfides

It was found that tetracyanoethylene oxide not only oxidizes sulfides to sulfoxides but also reduces sulfoxides to sulfides with generation of two molecules of carbonyl cyanide. The reaction thus also functions as a new method for generation of carbonyl cyanide.     

Syntheses of some 2-hydroxypyrazine 1-oxides

A series of 2-hydroxypyrazine 1-oxides were prepared from the corresponding chloropyrazines by two methods, including oxidation processes in satisfactory yields. The treatment of 2,3-diphenylpyrazine 1,4-dioxide ( 6 ) led to 2,3-dichloro-5,6-diphenylpyrazine ( 7 ) and 2-chloro-5,6-diphenylpyrazine 1-oxide ( 8 ), and the latter was converted to 5,6-diphenyl-2-hydroxypyrazine 1-oxide ( 9 ) by an alkaline hydrolysis.     

Combined NMR and quantum chemical studies on the interaction between trehalose and dienes relevant to the antioxidant function of trehalose

In a previous study (Oku, K.; Watanabe, H.; Kubota, M.; Fukuda, S.; Kurimoto, M.; Tujisaka, Y.; Komori, M.; Inoue, Y.; Sakurai, M. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2003, 125, 12739), we investigated the mechanism of the antioxidant function of trehalose against unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) and revealed that the key factor relevant to the function is the formation of OH...pi and CH...O hydrogen bonds between trehalose and the cis double bonds of the UFA. Here, we investigate whether such intriguing interactions also occur between this sugar and cis double bonds in other unsaturated compounds. For this purpose, we selected various diene compounds (1,3-butadiene, 1,3-pentadiene, 1,4-pentadiene, and 2,5-heptadiene) as interaction partners. All NMR experiments performed, including 1H-1H NOESY measurements, indicated that trehalose selectively interacts with the cis-olefin proton pair in the above diene with a 1:1 stoichiometry, and the C-3 (C-3') and C-6' (C-6) sites of the sugar are responsible for the interaction. Similar interactions were not observed for the mixtures of the diene and other saccharides (neotrehalose, kojibiose, nigerose, maltose, isomaltose, sucrose, maltitol, and sorbitol). Quantum chemical calculations revealed that the OH-3 and OH-6 groups bind to the olefin double bonds of the diene through OH...pi and CH...O types of hydrogen bonds, respectively, and the stabilization energy of the resulting complex is 5-6 kcal mol(-1). These results strongly support the above NMR results. Finally, the activation energies were calculated for the hydrogen abstraction reactions from the activated methylene group of heptadiene. In particular, when the reaction was initiated by a methyl radical, the activation energy was only 10 kcal mol(-1) for the free heptadiene, but on complexation with trehalose it drastically increased to ca. 40 kcal mol(-1). This indicates that trehalose has a significant depression effect on the oxidation of the diene compounds. These results strongly support the antioxidant mechanism deduced in the previous study and indicate that the formation of unique multiple hydrogen bonds between trehalose and cis-olefin bonds is rather a general event not confined to the case of UFA.     

Preparation and properties of metallacyclobutanes of nickel and palladium

Bis(phosphine)-3,3-dimethylnickela- and palladacyclobutanes have been prepared by intramolecular C-H insertion reaction of the corresponding dineopentyl metal complexes. Nickelacyclobutane complexes decompose when heated thereby undergoing competitive carbon-carbon bond cleavage to give isobutene and ethylene, with reductive elimination affording 1,1-dimethylcyclopropane and skeletal isomeri-zation of the metallacyclic ring yielding 3-methyl-1-butene, whereas the palladium analog gave no significant amounts of CC bond cleavage products.Added phos-phine was seen to have an effect on CC bond scission of nickelacyclobutane complexes. Nickelacyclobutane complexes in solution are thought to be in equilibrium with olefin-coordinated nickel-carbene complex on the basis of available experimental evidence from hydrogenolysis, carbene-trap reactions with olefins and reaction with carbon monoxide