A stereoselective total synthesis of (−)-seychellene

A stereoselective total synthesis of the tricyclic sesquiterpene (−)-seychellene, starting from (R)-carvone via (R)-3-methylcarvone has been accomplished, employing a combination of intermolecular Michael addition-intramolecular Michael addition sequence, a stereoselective hydrogenation, and an intramolecular alkylation reaction.     

Synthesis,characterisation and photocatalytic activity of Ag<Superscript>+</Superscript>- and Sn<Superscript>2+</Superscript>-substituted KSbTeO<Subscript>6</Subscript>

Ag⁺- and Sn²⁺-substituted KSbTeO₆ were prepared by a facile ion-exchange method at ambient temperature. All the samples were characterised by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectra, thermogravimetric analysis, powder X-ray diffraction, Raman spectra and UV-VIS diffuse reflectance spectra. Both Sn²⁺- and Ag⁺-substituted KSbTeO₆ were crystallised in a cubic lattice with the \(Fd\bar 3m\) space group. The band-gap energy of all the samples was deduced from their UV-VIS diffuse reflectance spectral profiles. The visible light-induced photocatalytic oxidation of the methylene blue (MB) dye was examined in the presence of all the as-prepared materials. The Ag⁺- and Sn²⁺-substituted KSbTeO₆ exhibited a higher photocatalytic activity than the parent KSbTeO₆ in degradation of the MB dye under visible light irradiation.     

Influence of ligand coordination of cobalt ions on structural properties of ZnO-ZnF2-B2O3 glass system by means of spectroscopic studies

The glasses of the composition 10ZnO-30ZnF₂-60B₂O₃ doped with different concentrations of CoO were prepared. Differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) studies, optical absorption, photoluminescence and infrared spectra of these glasses have been carried out. DSC studies have indicated that the resistance of the glass against devitrification increases with the increase in the concentration of CoO. Optical absorption spectra have exhibited one octahedral band due to ⁴T_1g(F)→²T_1g(H) and two tetrahedral bands due to ⁴A₂(⁴F)→⁴T₁(⁴P) ⁴A₂(⁴F)→⁴T₁(⁴F) transitions of Co²⁺ ions at about 525, 570 and 1400 nm, respectively. As the concentration of CoO is increased the tetrahedral bands are observed to grow at the expense of octahedral band. The luminescence spectra have exhibited two emission bands in the spectral regions of 600-700 nm and 800-900 nm due to ⁴T₁(⁴P)→⁴A₂(⁴F) and ⁴T₁(⁴P)→⁴T₂(⁴F) tetrahedral transitions of Co²⁺ ions, respectively. With the increasing content of cobalt ions in the glass matrix, the half width and intensity of these bands are observed to increase. The analysis of the results of these two spectra coupled with IR spectra has indicated that as the concentration of CoO is increased in the glass matrix, the tetrahedral occupancy of cobalt ions dominates over the octahedral occupancy and increase the rigidity of the glass network.     

Universal consequences of the presence of excluded volume interactions in dilute polymer solutions undergoing shear flow

The role of solvent quality in determining the universal material properties of dilute polymer solutions undergoing steady simple shear flow is examined. A bead-spring chain representation of the polymer molecule is used, and the influence of solvent molecules on polymer conformations is modelled by a narrow Gaussian excluded volume potential that acts pairwise between the beads of the chain. Brownian dynamics simulations data, acquired for chains of finite length, and extrapolated to the limit of infinite chain length, are shown to be model independent. This feature of the narrow Gaussian potential, which leads to results identical to a delta-function repulsive potential, enables the prediction of both universal crossover scaling functions and asymptotic behavior in the excluded volume limit. Universal viscometric functions, obtained by this procedure, are found to exhibit increased shear thinning with increasing solvent quality. In the excluded volume limit, they are found to obey power law scaling with the characteristic shear rate beta, in close agreement with previously obtained renormalization group results. The presence of excluded volume interactions is also shown to lead to a weakening of the alignment of the polymer chain with the flow direction.     

Kinetics of decomposition of hydrogen peroxide on Fe(III)?Al(III) hydroxide-oxide systems

The kinetics of decomposition of hydrogen peroxide have been studied on mixed Fe(III)–Al(III) hydroxide and oxide catalysts. While iron hydroxide possesses considerable catalytic activity, aluminium hydroxide has very little activity. The rate of decomposition on mixed hydroxides increases with increasing concentration of aluminium hydroxide up to about 1.5 mol% and decreases thereafter. The mixed oxides possess negligible activity compared to the corresponding hydroxides. The energy of activation, as calculated from the Arrhenius equation, is 10.1 kcal/mol for sample S4, containing 1.52 mol% of alumina. The rate of decomposition of S4 increases with increasing pH up to 6.8 and decreases thereafter. The rate is first order in all these cases. A suitable mechanism is suggested.

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Fe(III)–Al(III). , . , 1,5 , . . , , 10,1 / S4, 1,52 . S4 pH 6,8, . . .

     

Cobalt perchlorate hexahydrate catalyzed one-pot synthesis of dihydropyrimidin-ones/-thiones through sonochemistry and its mechanistic study using density functional theory calculations

A cobalt(II) perchlorate hexahydrate coordinated synthesis of dihydropyrimidin-ones and -thiones through sonochemistry is developed. Herein, the reaction was demonstrated as a simple, efficient, and one-pot method for synthesizing a series of interesting 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-ones. Further, the reaction mechanism was investigated using mass spectrometry and density functional theory calculations suggesting that a Lewis acid character of cobalt(II) perchlorate hexahydrate plays a crucial role in coordinating carbonyl functionalities and stabilizing the polar intermediates like imine–enamine which further led to cyclized dihydropyrimidin-ones and -thiones. This methodology was further explored to synthesize a gram-scale synthesis of monastrol drug, a kinase inhibitor.     

Thermal Expansion and Superconductivity in Alkali Metal- and Silver-doped Bi?Sr?Ca?Cu?O System

Samples with the nominal composition Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O_y with na doped at the Ca site and K doped at the Sr site are prepared by solid state reaction method. From the X-ray diffraction data it is found that all the the samples have exhibited a single phase 2212. The D.C. electrical resistivity data show that for Na-doped samples the T_c (zero) varies from 80 K to 85 K and for K-doped samples it is from 79 K to 82 K. The loss of oxygen from these samples around 400°C was confirmed by high temperature dilatometry. The variation of the thermal expansion coefficient (“α”) with temperature for different alkali dopings are discussed. Also the samples with the nominal composition Bi₄Sr₃Ca₃Cu_4−xAg_xO_y (with x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3) were studied.     

Intramolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of cyclo-1,3-diene-tethered nitrile oxides

Intramolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of cyclo-1,3-diene- and -1,3,5-triene-tethered nitrile oxides gave tricyclic isoxazolines as a single stereoisomer in most cases. The relative stereochemistry of tricycle-fused isoxazolines resulting from 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of cyclo-1,3-diene-tethered nitrile oxides is cis-cis, whereas from cyclohepta-1,3,5-triene-tethered nitrile oxides the cis-trans isomer predominates.     

The Existence of Positive Solutions to Neutral Differential Equations

In this paper, we shall consider a class of neutral differential equations of the form

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where τ (0, ∞), σ [0, ∞), Q(t) C([t₀, ∞), R ⁺ ), r(t) C([t₀, ∞), (0, ∞)) with r(t) nondecreasing on [t₀ − τ, ∞). We shall show that all positive solutions of ( * ) can be classified into four types, A, B, C, and D, and we shall obtain sufficient and necessary conditions for the existence of A-type, B-type, and D-type positive solutions of ( * ), respectively. A sufficient condition for the existence of C-type positive solutions of ( * ) is also given. Finally, we shall offer a sharp oscillation result for all solutions of ( * ). Our results generalize and improve those established in B. Yang and B. G. Zhang (Funkcial. Ekvac.39 (1996), 347–362).     

Cobalt Hexacyanoferrate-Modified Electrode for Amperometric Assay of Hydrazine

A graphite electrode modified with cobalt hexacyanoferrate by mechanical immobilization was used for amperometric determination of hydrazine. The modified electrode exhibits good catalytic activity for the oxidation of hydrazine at a reduced overpotential with remarkable sensitivity. The modified electrode showed a linear response for hydrazine in the concentration range of 2.0 × 10^–5 to 2.8 × 10^–4 M. The detection limit was 9.8 × 10^–6 M (S/N = 3). The proposed modified electrode was simple, sensitive, rapid, stable and promising.