Nickel(0)‐Catalyzed Enantioselective Annulations of Alkynes and Arylenoates Enabled by a Chiral NHC Ligand: Efficient Access to Cyclopentenones

Cyclopentenones are versatile structural motifs of natural products as well as reactive synthetic intermediates. The nickel‐catalyzed reductive [3+2] cycloaddition of α,β‐unsaturated aromatic esters and alkynes constitutes an efficient method for their synthesis. Here, nickel(0) catalysts comprising a chiral bulky C₁‐symmetric N‐heterocyclic carbene ligand were shown to enable an efficient asymmetric synthesis of cyclopentenones from mesityl enoates and internal alkynes under mild conditions. The bulky NHC ligand provided the cyclopentenone products in very high enantioselectivity and led to a regioselective incorporation of unsymmetrically substituted alkynes.     

Enantioselective CpxRhIII-Catalyzed Carboaminations of Acrylates

Enantioselective carboaminations of olefins constitute an attractive strategy for a rapid increase in molecular complexity from readily available starting materials. Reported here is an intermolecular asymmetric carboamination of acrylates using rhodium(III)-catalyzed alkenyl C−H activations of N-enoxysuccinimides to generate the nitrogen and carbon portion for the transfer. A rhodium complex equipped with a tailored bulky trisubstituted chiral Cp^x ligand ensures carboamination chemoselectivity as well high levels of enantioinduction. The transformation operates under mild reaction conditions at ambient temperatures and provides access to a variety of α-amino esters in good yields and excellent enantiomeric ratios of >99.5:0.5.     

A Chiral Naphthyridine Diimine Ligand Enables Nickel‐Catalyzed Asymmetric Alkylidenecyclopropanations

A novel class of chiral naphthyridine diimine ligands (NDI*) readily accessible from C₂‐symmetric 2,6‐di‐(1‐arylethyl)anilines is described. The utility of these ligands, particularly one with fluorinated aryl side arms, is demonstrated by a reductive Ni‐catalyzed enantioselective alkylidene transfer reaction from 1,1‐dichloroalkenes to olefins. This transformation provides direct access to a broad range of synthetically valuable alkylidenecyclopropanes in high yields and enantioselectivities.     

Polarized and depolarized dynamic light scattering of concentrated polystyrene solutions

Polarized and depolarized dynamic light scattering have been used to examine the dynamics of concentrated polystyrene solutions in dioctyl phthalate and toluene. Time-temperature superposition of the depolarized intensity correlation functions gave master curves covering more than 10 decades on the time scale. Polarized correlation functions are resolved into relaxational and diffusive components having different temperature dependences. When the relaxation rate of the concentration fluctuations approaches the reorientational relaxation rate, the concentration fluctuations become q-independent i.e. the diffusional relaxation is rate-determined by the backbone mobility. With a small molecule solvent as toluene, however, a part of the concentration fluctuations relaxes faster than the orientational relaxation, i.e., the diffusion occurs in the free volume within the “frozen” network.     

Survey of chemical residues and biological evaluation of photochemically pre-vulcanized surgical gloves

Abstract  

Latex allergies arise from the presence of latex proteins as well as noxious rubber additives (mainly accelerators and activators used in conventional sulfur-accelerated vulcanization processes) in medical devices (e.g., medical gloves, catheters) made from natural rubber latex. As a new approach the ultraviolet (UV) light-initiated pre-vulcanization of natural rubber latex makes efficient cross-linking feasible without using any toxic, mutagenic, or irritating chemicals. The cross-linking in the latex particles is accomplished via the thiol-ene addition reaction in the presence of a polyfunctional thiol and a photoinitiator. The new process is carried out in a falling film photoreactor on a pilot scale which provides a continuous irradiation of the latex emulsion. The UV technique is suitable for an easy up-scaling and represents the entrance into large-volume industrial production. The surgical gloves are then made by a conventional coagulant dipping process comprising good physical properties and high ageing stabilities. The aim of this study was to evaluate the biological properties and skin compatibility of UV-pre-cured gloves in skin sensitization, skin irritation studies, and cytotoxic tests. In addition the biologically available chemical residues in the gloves were characterized by UV–visible spectroscopy, elementary analyses, and high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectroscopy. The results of the studies revealed that UV-cross-linked surgical gloves exhibit good skin compatibility together with low cytotoxicity and residual chemical levels in the range of 60 and 120 μg/g_glove.     

(E,E,E)‐1,3,5‐Tris[4‐(acetyl­sulfan­yl)­styr­yl]­benzene toluene hemisolvate

The first crystal structure of a three‐terminal sulfur end‐capped oligo­phenyl­ene­vinyl­ene, C₃₆H₃₀O₃S₃·0.5C₇H₈, has been determined at 122 (1) K. The mol­ecular threefold symmetry is not utilized in the crystal structure. It is confirmed that the double bonds have been fully transformed into a trans configuration by iodine treatment.     

A possible constructive approach to (super-φ3)4 (III). On the normalization of Schwinger functions

The question of normalizability of (super-φ³)₄ is reduced to the verification of two conjectures pertaining to the construction of the infinite volume limit in the presence of a UV cutoff k. Assuming their validity it is shown that the image of the renormalization map covers a set at least as large as $\text{R}$₊³ for any k < ∞.