Use of wood elemental composition to predict heat treatment intensity and decay resistance of different softwood and hardwood species

Heat treatment is an attractive alternative to improve decay resistance of low natural durability wood species. Decay resistance is strongly correlated to thermal degradations of wood cell wall components. Some recent studies proposed the use of wood elemental composition as a valuable marker to predict final properties of the material. These results, initially obtained with pine, have been extended to different softwood and hardwood species to check validity of the method using equipment specially designed to measure mass losses during thermal treatment. Heat treatment was performed on two softwood species (pine and silver fir) and three hardwood species (poplar, beech and ash) at 230 °C under nitrogen for different times to reach mass losses of 5, 10 and 15%. Heat-treated specimens were exposed to fungal decay using the brown rot fungus Poria placenta and the weight losses due to fungal degradation determined as well as initial wood elemental composition. Correlations between weight losses recorded after fungal exposure and elemental composition indicated that carbon content and O/C ratio can be used to predict wood durability conferred by heat treatment. Moreover, it was observed that for given curing conditions thermo-degradation patterns differed considerably according to the wood species. The sole analysis of wood physical properties like its density, thermal conductivity and diffusivity cannot allow explaining the observed differences, which should also depend on thermally activated chemical processes depending on wood chemical composition.     

Improved Copper(I)–NHC Catalytic Efficiency on Huisgen Reaction by Addition of Aromatic Nitrogen Donors

A simple addition with a large impact : Addition of aromatic amines such as phenanthroline and 4‐DMAP (4‐dimethylaminopyridine) increases copper(I)‐catalyzed azide alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) catalytic activity of [CuCl(SIMes)] at a large range of temperatures in such a way that efficient catalysis can safely take place in hydro‐alcoholic solvents (see scheme).

     

Microwave‐Promoted Palladium(II)‐Catalyzed C?P Bond Formation by Using Arylboronic Acids or Aryltrifluoroborates

The first Pd^II‐catalyzed P arylation has been performed by using palladium acetate, the rigid bidentate ligand dmphen (dmphen=2,9‐dimethyl‐1,10‐phenanthroline), and without the addition of base or acid. Couplings of arylboronic acids or aryl trifluoroborates with H‐phosphonate dialkyl esters were conducted in 30 min with controlled microwave (MW) heating under non‐inert conditions. Aryl phosphites were also synthesized at room temperature with atmospheric air as the sole reoxidant. The arylated phosphonates were isolated in 44–90 % yields. The excellent chemoselectivity of the method was illustrated in the synthesis of a Mycobacterium tuberculosis glutamine synthetase (MTB‐GS) inhibitor. Online ESIMS was used to detect cationic palladium species in ongoing reactions directly, and a catalytic cycle has been proposed based on these results.     

Equilibria between metallosupramolecular squares and triangles with the new rigid linker 1,4-bis(4-pyridyl)tetrafluorobenzene. Experimental and theoretical study of the structural dependence of NMR data

The new fluorinated rigid ligand L, 1,4-bis(4-pyridyl)tetrafluorobenzene, was used in combination with different diphosphine Pd(II) and Pt(II) triflates to build metallosupramolecular assemblies. Complex equilibria between triangular and square entities were detected for all the cases. Characterization of the equilibria was accomplished by 1H, 31P(1H), 19F, and 195Pt(1H) NMR in combination with mass spectrometry. The square/triangle ratio was seen to depend on several factors, such as the nature of the metal corners, the concentration, and the solvent. The relative stability of the square and triangular complexes was explored by using force field methods. A GIAO-DFT study was carried out to analyze the changes of the 31P and 1H NMR data with the geometry of the complexes.     

Synthesis of Spiro and Fused Five Membered <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>-Heterocycles from Alkylidenephosphoranes

Summary. Triketoindan-2-oxime reacted readily with ethoxycarbonylmethylene triphenylphosphorane to give mainly the corresponding spiro-pyrrole (38%) along with the fused 1-hydroxydihydropyrrole (14%), whereas the spiro-dimer (29%) was obtained from the reaction of the oxime with methoxycarbonylmethylenetriphenyl phosphorane in addition to the corresponding 1-hydroxydihydropyrrole (31%). Conversely, Wittig products, mono-olefin (52%) and diolefin (<7%) along with the reduced substrate (10%), were observed when the oxime was treated with a cyano ylide. The reactions of the oxime with allyl- and vinyl phosphonium salts proceeded under phase-transfer catalysis to afford fused oxazole (46%) and spiro[2]oxazole (17%), while with the latter the fused 1-hydroxypyrrole (55%) was produced.Received February 26, 2003; accepted (revised) March 19, 2003 Published online August 28, 2003     

One‐pot Synthesis of 1,2,3,4‐Tetrahydropyrimidin‐2(1H)‐thione Derivatives and their Biological Activity

2‐Thioxo/oxo‐1,2,3,4‐tetrahydropyrimidine‐5‐carboxylate derivatives 2a , 2b , 2c , 2d were prepared by the reaction of ethyl acetoacetate and thiourea or urea with aldehydes using NH₄Cl as a catalyst. Compounds 2a and 2c reacted with mono and bihalogenated compounds such as ethyl iodide, chloroacetonitrile, epichlorohydrin, acetyl chloride, ethyl bromoacetate, chloroacetic acid, chloroacetylchloride, and/or oxalyl chloride to afford compounds 3 , 4a , 4b , 5 , 6a , 6b , 7 , 8 , 9 and 10 , respectively. Compounds 2a , 2c , and 7 were allowed to react with p‐fluorobenzaldehyde to yield the corresponding products 11a , 11b , and 12 , respectively. Oxidation of 2a and 2c gave 2b , 13a , 13b , 14 , 15 , 16 dependent on the oxidizing agent used. Vilsmeiere‐Haack formylation of 2a and 2b with POCl₃/DMF afforded 17a and 17b . Chlorination of 2b and 2d gave the chlorinated derivative 18a and 18b , which reacted with thiourea to give thioureidopyrimidine 19a and 19b . Reactions of 2a with hydrazine monohydrate, semicarbazide hydrochloride, and sodium hydroxide gave compounds 20 , 21 , 22 , respectively. The cytotoxicity and in vitro anticancer evaluation of some prepared compounds have been assessed against two different human tumor cell lines including breast adenocarcinoma MCF‐7 and human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2. Antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of some compounds were investigated. The newly synthesized compounds were characterized by IR, ¹H‐NMR, ¹³C‐NMR, and mass spectral data.     

Voies d'accès à un analogue pyrannique de la puromycine

In a continuation of our studies with methyl 3-amino-3,4-dideoxypetopyranosides, two pyranic analogues of puromycin 3A and 3b have been synthesized by two routes starting from methyl 2,3-anhydro-4-deoxy-or D, L -erythro-pentopyranosides. In the first one, both amino group and erythro stereochemistry have been introduced before the introduction of the purine moiety; in the second one the introduction of the erythro stereochemistry and of the 3-butrigeb atom has, more advantageously, been performed in the same step using an intermediate (22) with a suitable conformation. The two diastereoisomerws 3A and 3B have been separated and, after assignment of absolute configuration and the heterocyclic studies, will permit and evaluation of the role plays played by the heterocyclic oxygen atom by comparison with previous studies on cyclohexyl puromycin analogues (Vince et al.).     

Metal–ligand bond strength determines the fate of organic ligands on the catalyst surface during the electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction

Colloidally synthesised nanocrystals (NCs) are increasingly utilised as catalysts to drive both thermal and electrocatalytic reactions. Their well-defined size and shape, controlled by organic ligands, are ideal to identify the parameters relevant to the activity, selectivity and stability in catalysis. However, the impact of the native surface ligands during catalysis still remains poorly understood, as does their fate. CuNCs are among the state-of-the-art catalysts for the electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction (CO₂RR). In this work, we study CuNCs that are capped by different organic ligands to investigate their impact on the catalytic properties. We show that the latter desorb from the surface at a cathodic potential that depends on their binding strength with the metal surface, rather than their own electroreduction potentials. By monitoring the evolving surface chemistry in situ, we find that weakly bound ligands desorb very rapidly while strongly bound ligands impact the catalytic performance. This work provides a criterion to select labile ligands versus ligands that will persist on the surface, thus offering opportunity for interface design.

The metal–ligand binding strength is a key parameter in determining the role and fate of the surface ligands on nanoparticle catalysts during the electrochemical CO₂ reduction reaction.     

Interaction of microwaves with atmospheric pressure plasmas

In this paper, the interaction of microwaves with a plasma, generated at atmospheric pressure, is studied. The refractive index, attenuation index, skin depth, attenuation coefficient, phase coefficient, and reflectivity are investigated as functions of the plasma number density, the wave frequency and type of polarization, and the grazing angle. It is found that two frequency regimes characterize these type of plasmas. The first is a range where the phase velocity and attenuation of the wave both increase with frequency. The second is a frequency range in which the phase velocity and attenuation of the wave remain constant. It is also found that to have a shallow skin depth, the plasma number density has to be in the 10¹³ cm^–3 range. The reflectivity is found to be an increasing function of the number density. In horizontal polarization, the reflectivity is a decreasing function of the grazing angle. But in vertical polarization and for grazing angle less than 20°, the reflectivity has a maximum at a frequency , where f_pe is the electron plasma frequency and v is the collision frequency.     

Useful spectrokinetic methods for the investigation of photochromic and thermo-photochromic spiropyrans

This review reports on the main results of a set of kinetic elucidation methods developed by our team over the last few years. Formalisms, procedures and examples to solve all possible AB photochromic and thermophotochromic kinetics are presented. Also, discussions of the operating conditions, the continuous irradiation experiment, the spectrokinetic methods testing with numerical integration methods, and the identifiability/distinguishability problems, are included.