Quantitative investigation of a hybrid Ziegler-Natta catalyst support prepared by grafting di(n-butyl)magnesium onto partially dehydroxylated silica

MgCl(2)-modified silica is an important component of some Ziegler-Natta catalysts used in the manufacture of polyethylene. Information about the structure of the dispersed magnesium sites formed by the reaction of di-n-butylmagnesium (nBu(2)Mg) with silica was sought to provide a basis for understanding their subsequent interactions with transition-metal or co-catalyst components. From infrared spectra and elemental analysis, we deduced that nBu(2)Mg reacts with porous silica in two ways: about half (47%, 0.99 mmol g(-1)) is grafted through protonolysis by surface hydroxyl groups (≡SiOH), whereas the other half (53%, 1.11 mmol g(-1)) reacts directly with siloxane bonds (≡SiOSi≡). In the (29)Si and (13)C CP/MAS NMR spectra of Sylopol-2100 silica pretreated at 500 °C then modified with nBu(2)Mg at room temperature, both alkylsilicon and alkylmagnesium sites are evident. The alkylmagnesium-modified silica surface is proposed to contain dimers and/or tetramers with the empirical formula [≡SiOMg(nBu)](n). Upon exposure of nBu(2)Mg-modified silica to anhydrous HCl, alkanes are liberated, hydroxyl groups are regenerated, and water is formed. The appearance of water suggests condensation of hydroxyl group pairs, induced by the coordinatively unsaturated nanoclusters (MgCl(2))(n) that arise by ligand exchange on the silica-supported n-butylmagnesium oligomers.     

A Biomimetic Pathway for Vanadium‐Catalyzed Aerobic Oxidation of Alcohols: Evidence for a Base‐Assisted Dehydrogenation Mechanism

The first step in the catalytic oxidation of alcohols by molecular O₂, mediated by homogeneous vanadium(V) complexes [LV^V(O)(OR)], is ligand exchange. The unusual mechanism of the subsequent intramolecular oxidation of benzyl alcoholate ligands in the 8‐hydroxyquinolinato (HQ) complexes [(HQ)₂V^V(O)(OCH₂C₆H₄‐p‐X)] involves intermolecular deprotonation. In the presence of triethylamine, complex 3 (X=H) reacts within an hour at room temperature to generate, quantitatively, [(HQ)₂V^IV(O)], benzaldehyde (0.5 equivalents), and benzyl alcohol (0.5 equivalents). The base plays a key role in the reaction: in its absence, less than 12 % conversion was observed after 72 hours. The reaction is first order in both 3 and NEt₃, with activation parameters ΔH^≠=(28±4) kJ mol^?1 and ΔS^≠=(?169±4) J K^?1 mol^?1. A large kinetic isotope effect, 10.2±0.6, was observed when the benzylic hydrogen atoms were replaced by deuterium atoms. The effect of the para substituent of the benzyl alcoholate ligand on the reaction rate was investigated using a Hammett plot, which was constructed using σ_p. From the slope of the Hammett plot, ρ=+(1.34±0.18), a significant buildup of negative charge on the benzylic carbon atom in the transition state is inferred. These experimental findings, in combination with computational studies, support an unusual bimolecular pathway for the intramolecular redox reaction, in which the rate‐limiting step is deprotonation at the benzylic position. This mechanism, that is, base‐assisted dehydrogenation (BAD), represents a biomimetic pathway for transition‐metal‐mediated alcohol oxidations, differing from the previously identified hydride‐transfer and radical pathways. It suggests a new way to enhance the activity and selectivity of vanadium catalysts in a wide range of redox reactions, through control of the outer coordination sphere.     

Mass Spectrometric Study on Sodium Ion Induced Central Nucleotide Deletion in the Gas Phase

We report a mass spectrometric study on sodium ion induced central nucleotide deletion from protonated oligonucleotides (ONTs) and the concurrent recombination of the terminal nucleotides. To shed some light on the mechanism behind this intriguing fragmentation channel, we have studied the metastable decay of a number of different protonated hexameric and octameric oligonucleotides with 0-6 and 0-8 of their exchangeable protons replaced with sodium ions, respectively. In selected cases, we have also studied the further fragmentation of the parent ions after initial base loss. Our findings are concurrent with a reaction mechanism where the initial step is the elimination of a protonated, high proton affinity (PA) base from the center of the ONTs. This is followed by an elimination of a (next neighbour) nucleotide that contains a second high PA base and the concurrent recombination of the terminal nucleotides. To our knowledge, such central nucleotide deletion in the gas phase has only been reported in one previous study (Flosadóttir et al., J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom 20:689-696, 2009), and this is the first systematic approach to understand the mechanism behind this channel.     

Siciak–Zahariuta extremal functions,analytic discs and polynomial hulls

We prove two disc formulas for the Siciak–Zahariuta extremal function of an arbitrary open subset of complex affine space. We use these formulas to characterize the polynomial hull of an arbitrary compact subset of complex affine space in terms of analytic discs. Similar results in previous work of ours required the subsets to be connected.     

Identification and discrimination of bilingual talkers across languages

This study investigated the extent to which language familiarity affects the perception of the indexical properties of speech by testing listeners' identification and discrimination of bilingual talkers across two different languages. In one experiment, listeners were trained to identify bilingual talkers speaking in only one language and were then tested on their ability to identify the same talkers speaking in another language. In the second experiment, listeners discriminated between bilingual talkers across languages in an AX discrimination paradigm. The results of these experiments indicate that there is sufficient language-independent indexical information in speech for listeners to generalize knowledge of talkers' voices across languages and to successfully discriminate between bilingual talkers regardless of the language they are speaking. However, the results of these studies also revealed that listeners do not solely rely on language-independent information when performing these tasks. Listeners use language-dependent indexical cues to identify talkers who are speaking a familiar language. Moreover, the tendency to perceive two talkers as the "same" or "different" depends on whether the talkers are speaking in the same language. The combined results of these experiments thus suggest that indexical processing relies on both language-dependent and language-independent information in the speech signal.     

Unexpected formation of 2′-deoxy-N3-(3,3,3-trifluoro-1-propenyl)uridine via a Michael-type addition to 3,3,3-trifluoropropyne

Reaction of 3,3,3-trifluoropropyne with 2′-deoxy-5-iodouridine under conditions that have previously been used to prepare 5-alkynyl-2′-deoxyuridine derivatives gave 2′-deoxy-N3-(3,3,3-trifluoro-1-propenyl)uridine. This unexpected alkylation is a result of a Michael-type addition of N3 on the pyrimidine base to the electron deficient trifluoropropyne.     

Kinetics and mechanism of the mercury(II)-assisted hydrolysis of methyl iodide

The kinetics and mechanism of the reaction of aqueous Hg(II) with methyl iodide have been investigated. The overall reaction is best described as Hg(II)-assisted hydrolysis, resulting in quantitative formation of methanol and, in the presence of excess methyl iodide, ultimately, HgI2 via the intermediate HgI+. The kinetics are biexponential when methyl iodide is in excess. At 25 degrees C, the acceleration provided by Hg2+ is 7.5 times greater than that caused by HgI+, while assistance of hydrolysis was not observed for HgI2. Thus, the reactions are not catalytic in Hg(II). The kinetics are consistent with an SN2-M+ mechanism involving electrophilic attack at iodide. As expected, methylation of mercury is not a reaction pathway; traces of methylmercury(II) are artifacts of the extraction/preconcentration procedure used for methylmercury analysis.     

Mucoadhesive Sustained Drug Delivery System Based on Cationic Polymer and Anionic Cyclodextrin/Triclosan Complex

In this study the interactions between a cationic polymer and an anionic cyclodextrin were investigated. The system has the potential for use in a sustained release dosage forms for use on mucous membranes. As mucous membranes are negatively charged the objective of this study was to investigate whether a drug delivery system based on a cationic polymer and an anionic cyclodextrin would be more mucoadhesive than a system containing a cationic polymer and a neutral cyclodextrin. For this purpose the cationic polymer hexadimethrine bromide (HDMBr) and anionic sulfobutylether -cyclodextrin (SBECD) were utilized as well as the neutral hydroxypropyl-cyclodextrin (HPCD). Triclosan was used as a model drug. The drug delivery system was formulated as a solution or semi-solid and its adhesion to porcine buccal mucosa and cation exchange media was measured. In addition the release of triclosan from the system was quantified. No difference was observed between the two systems when they were applied to the mucosal surface. However, the formulations showed improved adhesion, compared to the neutral cyclodextrin/drug delivery system, when they could also reach the underlying surface of the excised tissue. The drug delivery system was much better retained on the cation exchange media than the uncharged system. Significant interactions were observed between the negatively charged cyclodextrin and the positively charged polymer. The results indicate that the interactions could be used to obtain a mucoadhesive sustained drug delivery system under certain circumstances. The positive charge of HDMBr did not have the expected effect on the buccal mucosa and it can be concluded that although a positive charge is likely to promote mucoadhesion, other attributes of polymers, such as molecular weight and viscosity, may have equally beneficial effect.     

The Effects of Cyclodextrins on Hydrocortisone Permeability Through Semi-Permeable Membranes

Determinations of drug fluxes through semi-permeable cellophanemembranes are used to evaluate cyclodextrin complexes and cyclodextrin containingdrug formulations. In the present study we investigated how the cyclodextrin concentration,the membrane thickness and the molecular weight cut off (MWCO) of the membraneinfluence drug fluxes. The cyclodextrin used was 2-hydroxypropyl--cyclodextrin(HP--CD) and the sample drug was hydrocortisone. The MWCO ofthe membranes ranged from 500 to 14,000 and the HP--CD concentrationranged from 0 to 25% (w/v). The hydrocortisone flux from saturated solutions through the MWCO 500 membrane was unaffected by the cyclodextrin concentration. When MWCO of the membrane was greater than the molecular weight of the complex the flux fromsolutions saturated with hydrocortisone increased with increasing HP--CD concentration.This increase showed negative deviation from linearity. When the flux was correctedfor the viscosity increase with increasing HP--CD concentration then the fluxpattern could be described on the basis of Fick's first law and Stokes–Einsteinequation. However the flux did not correlate with the viscosity when it was increasedby adding polymer to the saturated drug solutions. It was shown that the observed fluxpattern was consistent with self-association of cyclodextrin complexes in the aqueousdonor phase.     

Certification of standard reference material (SRM) 1941a, organics in marine sediment

SRM 1941a, Organics in Marine Sediment, has been recently issued with certified concentrations for 23 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, 21 polychlorinated biphenyl congeners, 6 chlorinated pesticides, and sulfur. Noncertified concentrations have been also reported for additional PAHs, PCB congeners, and chlorinated pesticides and for percent total organic carbon (TOC), aliphatic hydrocarbons, and trace elements. SRM 1941a is the most extensively characterized natural matrix SRM issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).