The water‐promoted Diels–Alder reaction in quaternary ammonium salts

Prevailing classification of salts based on their effect in solubility and stability of proteins in aqueous solution predicts that tetraalkylammonium salts, guanidinium chloride (GnCl), LiClO₄ act as salting‐in (S/I) and LiCl, NaCl act as salting‐out (S/O) in aqueous conditions. In the same context the behaviour of GnCl, LiClO₄ and LiCl are contradictory in polar solvents like ethylene glycol and formamide. In these solvents, expected salt effect shows just opposite nature from their usual expectation. However, in the aqueous solution salts like tetraalkylammonium halide (R₄NX, R = alkyl group, X = Br group) behave like salting‐in salts. The physicochemical origin of the salting in effect of R₄NX type of salts has been discussed elaborately in the present work. The role of cations in terms of substitution of various alkyl groups on R₄NX has been systematically presented here on the basis of experimental kinetic and thermodynamic studies. The abnormal behaviour of R₄NX salts in aqueous solution has also been explained by the Setschenov equation (k_s) and Δμ_solvation values, which highlights their individual nature out of common properties of R₄NX. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Confinement of CuII–Phthalocyanine in a Bioinspired Hybrid Nanoparticle‐Assembled Structure Yields Selective and Stable Epoxidation Catalysts

Herein, we demonstrate that a bioinspired assembly of silica nanoparticles with polyamines as structure‐directing agents similar to that known for the biosilicification of diatoms can pave the way for the efficient encapsulation of sulfonated copper–phthalocyanine in a hybrid microcapsule structure, in which the organic component provides a capable environment for its catalytic activity in epoxidation reactions and the nanoassembled structure imparts stability.     

Invoking Pairwise Interactions in Water‐Promoted Diels–Alder Reactions by using Ionic Liquids as Cosolvents

Rate constants and derived activation parameters of organic reactions in aqueous media, in particular Diels–Alder reactions, are sensitive to the presence of cosolvents in water. To enhance the solubility window of water, we introduced ionic liquids as cosolvents in the aqueous Diels–Alder reaction between anthracene‐9‐carbinol and N‐ethylmaleimide. The reactive potentials of the organic compounds are parameterized by using semi‐empirical quantum chemical methods. The principle of Savage–Wood additivity of group interactions is used to quantify the pairwise group interactions among chemically inert ionic liquids and organic reactants, both at initial and transition states of the reaction. The present approach shows promise, as the use of simple calculations from easily available kinetic data can help researchers to understand the versatility of green ionic‐liquid alternatives to volatile organic solvents.     

Metabolomic profiling and anti-infective potential of Zinnia elegans and Gazania rigens (Family Asteraceae)

Abstract

The present study evaluates the chemical composition of Zinnia elegans and Gazania rigens based on their metabolomic profiles using liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC‐HR-MS), alongside with the anti-infective activities of their ethanol extracts, as well as, different fractions. A significant difference was observed between the LC-MS profiles of the two plants such as, coumarins, sesquiterpene lactones and phenylethanoids which were characteristic for Z. elegans, while amides and phenolic acid derivatives were characteristic for G. rigens. These results highlight the chemical potential of Z. elegans and G. rigens. Furthermore, the ethyl acetate fraction of Z. elegans showed a significant antimalarial activity with IC₅₀ values of 21.03 and 13.72?µg/mL against Plasmodium falciparum D₆ and P. falciparum W₂, respectively.     

Experimental investigation into the nonlinear dynamics of a bistable laminate

Nonlinear Dynamics - An experimental study of the single-well and twin-well, also referred to as intra-well and inter-well, respectively, nonlinear dynamics of a bistable composite laminate is...     

Theoretical study of the interaction between sodium ion and a cyclopeptidic tubular structure

DFT calculations have been carried out to describe the pathway of a sodium ion along the stacking direction of a tubular structure set up by five cyclopeptidic units, which can be considered a suitable model of a hollow tubular structure of indefinite length. A lattice of points inside the tubular structure is defined and the DFT interaction energy values with a sodium ion are obtained. The data allow predicting a zigzag path of the ion inside the hosting structure.     

Ab initio study of the tautomeric forms of some quinolinediones

7,8-dihydroquinoline-4,5 (1H,6H)-dione (1) and 7,8-dihydroquinoline-2,5-(1H,6H)-dione (2) in their tautomeric oxo and hydroxy forms have been studied by ab initio Hartree-Fock calculations; tautomerization energies predict a more stable hydroxy structure having an intramolecular hydrogen bond for compound 1, whereas the oxo form is slightly-preferred for compound 2. Fourier Transform-Infra Red (FT-IR) spectra in CHCl₃ solution indicate that the predicted most stable tautomers in the vapour phase remain as such.     

Angle‐dependent light scattering by highly uniform colloidal rod‐shaped microparticles: Experiment and simulation

While extensive theoretical work has been devoted to analyzing scattering behavior for nonspherical particles, few experimental studies of the light‐scattering properties of such particles are available, largely because of the difficulty of synthesizing such particles with uniform geometries. Here we report the synthesis of highly uniform, volume‐equivalent rod‐shaped colloidal particles prepared from their commercial spherical counterparts, on which we performed light scattering experiments as a function of scattering angle for micro rods with varying aspect ratio and volume. These results were compared to values calculated using the T‐Matrix method. Good agreement with theoretical predictions was found for the experimentally measured scattering cross sections and the angular dependence of the scattering intensity. An increase in the forward scattering intensity is observed and predicted for particles with larger aspect ratios relative to their volume equivalent spheres, with only minor differences observed at both mid‐range and backscattering angles. Furthermore, the light scattering results for the rod‐shaped particles did not show the scattering fringes seen in scattering by the spheres, indicating that as three‐dimensional symmetry is broken, the associated Lorenz–Mie resonances are strongly attenuated. This observation also was predicted by theory. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2016 , 54, 1889–1895     

Stability-Indicating High-Performance Thin-Layer Chromatographic Method for Simultaneous Estimation of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Metolazone and Spironolactone

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC - This work represents the validation of a stability-indicating thin-layer chromatographic technique for the simultaneous estimation...