Acylimidazolides as Versatile Synthetic Intermediates for the Preparation of Sterically Congested Amides and Ketones: A Practical Synthesis of Proscar®

Acylimidazolides react with magnesium amides to produce car-boxamides in excellent yields, whereas Fe(III) catalyzed cross coupling between acylimidazolide and Grignard reagents produce ketones in high yields. These methods were utilized to prepare the α-reductase inhibitor Proscar® as well as various 17β-amide and ketone analogs of Δ¹-4-aza-5α-androsten-3-one.     

Antimony Trichloride: An Efficient and Mild Catalyst for Cyclization of 2-Aminochalcones to the Corresponding 2-Aryl-2,3-Dihydroquinolin-4(1H)-ones

Antimony trichloride is an efficient catalyst for the cyclization of 2-amino chalcones to the corresponding 2-aryl-2,3-dihydroquinolin-4(1H)-ones under mild reaction conditions and in almost quantitative yields.     

Interfacial Behavior,Structure, and Thermodynamics of Water in Oil Microemulsion Formation in Relation to the Variation of Surfactant Head Group and Cosurfactant

Interfacial behavior, structural, and thermodynamic parameters in relation to the formation of water-in-oil (w/o) microemulsion (μE) with varied surfactant head groups and cosurfactants have been evaluated through dilution technique at different temperature and [water]/[surfactant] mole ratio. Dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB), sodium dodecylsulphate (SDS), and polyoxyethylene sorbitan monolaurate (Tween-20) were used as surfactants and n-butanol and n-pentanol were used as cosurfactants. Distribution of cosurfactants between bulk oil and the interface using fixed amount of surfactant at varied [water]/[surfactant] mole ratio and temperature has been studied to evaluate thermodynamic parameters. Associated structural parameters, such as droplet dimension and aggregation number of surfactant and cosurfactant at the droplet interface, have also been evaluated. Spontaneity of the μE formation followed the order DTAB>SDS>Tween-20 for both butanol and pentanol in the studied range of temperature. Correlations of the results in terms of the evaluated physicochemical parameters have been attempted.     

Aliphatic Amine Discrimination by Pentafluorophenyl Dibromo BODIPY

Two new fluorescent BODIPY dyes have been designed and synthesized. They dyes differ in their meso substituents, which have different electronic properties. Their selective reactivity towards an Ar‐S_N2 reaction has been explored as a potential basis for colorimetric and fluorescent discrimination of primary, secondary and tertiary aliphatic amines. This dual‐mode, instantaneous recognition event is unprecedented.     

Evaluation of novel ZnO–Ag cathode for CO2 electroreduction in solid oxide electrolyser

CO₂ and steam/CO₂ electroreduction to CO and methane in solid oxide electrolytic cells (SOEC) has gained major attention in the past few years. This work evaluates, for the very first time, the performance of two different ZnO–Ag cathodes: one where ZnO nanopowder was mixed with Ag powder for preparing the cathode ink (ZnO_mix–Ag cathode) and the other one where Ag cathode was infiltrated with a zinc nitrate solution (ZnO_inf –Ag cathode). ZnO_mix–Ag cathode had a better distribution of ZnO particles throughout the cathode, resulting in almost double CO generation while electrolysing both dry CO₂ and H₂/CO₂ (4:1 v/v). A maximum overall CO₂ conversion of 48% (in H₂/CO₂) at 1.7 V and 700 °C clearly indicated that as low as 5 wt% zinc loading is capable of CO₂ electroreduction. It was further revealed that for ZnO_inf –Ag cathode, most of CO generation took place through RWGS reaction, but for ZnO_mix–Ag cathode, it was the synergistic effect of both RWGS reaction and CO₂ electrolysis. Although ZnO_inf –Ag cathode produced trace amount of methane at higher voltages, with ZnO_mix–Ag cathode, there was absolutely no methane. This seems to be due to strong electronic interaction between Zn and Ag that might have suppressed the catalytic activity of the cathode towards methanation.

     

Monitoring the Reaction of the Body State to Antibiotic Treatment against Helicobacter pylori via Infrared Spectroscopy: A Case Study

The current understanding of deviations of human microbiota caused by antibiotic treatment is poor. In an attempt to improve it, a proof-of-principle spectroscopic study of the breath of one volunteer affected by a course of antibiotics for Helicobacter pylori eradication was performed. Fourier transform spectroscopy enabled searching for the absorption spectral structures sensitive to the treatment in the entire mid-infrared region. Two spectral ranges were found where the corresponding structures strongly correlated with the beginning and end of the treatment. The structures were identified as methyl ester of butyric acid and ethyl ester of pyruvic acid. Both acids generated by bacteria in the gut are involved in fundamental processes of human metabolism. Being confirmed by other studies, measurement of the methyl butyrate deviation could be a promising way for monitoring acute gastritis and anti-Helicobacter pylori antibiotic treatment.     

Molecular interactions between amine and cyclic ketones at different temperatures

Measurement of densities ρ, viscosities η, and ultrasonic speeds u has been carried out for binary mixtures of N,N-diethylaniline (N,N-DEA) with acetophenone, cyclopentanone, cyclohexanone (CH), and 2-methylcyclohexanone (Me-CH) and their pure liquids at (303.15 and 308.15) K. These experimental data have been used to calculate the excess molar volume V ^E, deviation in ultrasonic velocity ?u, deviation in isentropic compressibility ?κ _s , and deviation in viscosity ?η. The variation of these properties with composition of the mixtures suggests dipole–dipole interactions and charge-transfer complex formation between N,N-diethylaniline and dipolar ketones. The magnitude of the property is found to depend on the chain length of the ketones’ molecule. The viscosity data have been correlated using three equations: Grunberg and Nissan (Nature 164:799–800, 1949), Katti and Chaudhri (J Chem Eng Data 9:442–443, 1964), and Hind et al. (Trans Faraday Soc 56:328–330, 1960). These results have been fitted to the Redlich–Kister polynomial using multiparametric nonlinear regression analysis to estimate the binary coefficients and standard errors.