A non-interactive elicitation method for non-linear multiattribute utility functions: Theory and application to agricultural economics

Practical implementation of Multiattribute Utility Theory is limited, partly for the lack of operative methods to elicit the parameters of the Multiattribute Utility Function, particularly when this function is not linear. As a consequence, most studies are restricted to linear specifications, which are easier to estimate and to interpret. We propose an indirect method to elicit the parameters of a non-linear utility function to be compatible with the observed behaviour of decision makers, rather than with their answers to direct surveys. The idea rests on approaching the parameter estimation problem as a dual of the decision problem by making the observed decisions to be compatible with a rational decision making process.     

Biphenyl‐Derived Phosphepines as Chiral Nucleophilic Catalysts: Enantioselective [4+1] Annulations To Form Functionalized Cyclopentenes

Because of the frequent occurrence of cyclopentane subunits in bioactive compounds, the development of efficient catalytic asymmetric methods for their synthesis is an important objective. Introduced herein is a new family of chiral nucleophilic catalysts, biphenyl‐derived phosphepines, and we apply them to an enantioselective variant of a useful [4+1] annulation. A range of one‐carbon coupling partners can be employed, thereby generating cyclopentenes which bear a fully substituted stereocenter [either all‐carbon or heteroatom‐substituted (sulfur and phosphorus)]. Stereocenters at the other four positions of the cyclopentane ring can also be introduced with good stereoselectivity. An initial mechanistic study indicates that phosphine addition to the electrophilic four‐carbon coupling partner is not the turnover‐limiting step of the catalytic cycle.     

Competitive reactions among three monomers over a catalytic surface

We studied in this work a three-monomer reaction model on one- and two-dimensional lattices. We have taken different reactivity rates among pairs of monomers and the reaction between two selected monomers was forbidden. We have employed the mean field and the pair approximation to decouple the equations of motion for the densities of single and pairs of monomers. We found the stationary states and the phase diagram of the model. We have shown that, in two dimensions and within the pair approximation, there is a first-order transition line between active and poisoned steady states.     

Copper(I)-catalyzed [3+1] cycloaddition of alkenyldiazoacetates and iminoiodinanes: easy access to substituted 2-azetines

The copper(I)-catalyzed reaction of alkenyldiazoacetates and iminoiodinanes affords functionalized azetine derivatives. This process is consistent with the formation of an aziridinyldiazoacetate intermediate, which gives rise to the four-membered heterocycles by metal-catalyzed ring expansion. The resulting azetine structure is a direct precursor of azeditine-2-carboxylic acid derivatives (EWG = electron-withdrawing group).     

4-Cyanopyridine and amide-N and amide-O linkage isomers of 4-pyridinecarboxamide on trans-chloro(1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane)ruthenium(II/III)

The synthesis, UV-vis spectra, and electrochemical behavior of the nitrile-bonded trans-[Ru(II)Cl(cyclam)(4-NCpyH(+))](BF(4))(2) (4-Ncpy = 4-cyanopyridine; cyclam = 1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclotetradecane) and of trans-[Ru(III)Cl(cyclam)(NHC(O)-4-pyH(+))](2+) are described. The UV-vis spectrum of the Ru(II) nitrile complex shows a MLCT band at 548 nm at pH 1, which is shifted to 440 nm at pH approximately 6, for the unprotonated species. trans-[Ru(II)Cl(cyclam)(4-NCpyH(+))](2+) was electrolytically oxidized (+600 mV vs Ag/AgCl) at pH 1 to Ru(III), followed by hydrolysis (k = 0.25 s(-1)) of the coordinated nitrile to give trans-[Ru(III)Cl(cyclam)(NHC(O)-4-pyH(+))](2+), in which the amide is deprotonated and coordinated through nitrogen. The identity of the species is pH dependent, the nitrogen-bonded amide prevailing at low pH (< 7), but the oxygen-bonded amide is formed through linkage isomerization at higher pH (>8). Reduction of trans-[Ru(III)Cl(cyclam)(NHC(O)-4-pyH)](2+) in acidic media does not result in fast aquation (k = approximately 2.4 x 10(-5) s(-1)) as for other amides on ruthenium(II) pentaammine, but instead linkage isomerization occurs, resulting in the oxygen-bonded species, with an estimated rate constant of approximately 2 x 10(-2) s(-1), smaller than in the pentaammine analogues.