Alkane Oxidation with Molecular Oxygen Using a New Efficient Catalytic System: N-Hydroxyphthalimide (NHPI) Combined with Co(acac)(n)() (n = 2 or 3)

A novel class of catalysts for alkane oxidation with molecular oxygen was examined. N-Hydroxyphthalimide (NHPI) combined with Co(acac)(n)() (n = 2 or 3) was found to be an efficient catalytic system for the aerobic oxidation of cycloalkanes and alkylbenzenes under mild conditions. Cycloalkanes were successfully oxidized with molecular oxygen in the presence of a catalytic amount of NHPI and Co(acac)(2) in acetic acid at 100 degrees C to give the corresponding cycloalkanones and dicarboxylic acids. Alkylbenzenes were also oxidized with dioxygen using this catalytic system. For example, toluene was converted into benzoic acid in excellent yield under these conditions. Ethyl- and butylbenzenes were selectively oxidized at their alpha-positions to form the corresponding ketones, acetophenone, and 1-phenyl-1-butanone, respectively, in good yields. A key intermediate in this oxidation is believed to be the phthalimide N-oxyl radical generated from NHPI and molecular oxygen using a Co(II) species. The isotope effect (k(H)/k(D)) in the oxidation of ethylbenzene and ethylbenzene-d(10) with dioxygen using NHPI/Co(acac)(2) was 3.8.     

Structural Characteristics of Xyloglucan – Congo Red Aggregates as Observed by Small Angle X-ray Scattering

Xyloglucan is a type of hemicellulose with a cellulose backbone containing (1→6)-α-xylose or (1→2)-β-galactoxylose as a side chain. It is soluble in water. Its aqueous solution forms a gel or gel-like precipitate by addition of Congo red. Xyloglucan gel structures with various concentrations of Congo red were observed by small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) at the nano-level. SAXS results indicated that the xyloglucan chains interacted with Congo red, and that an increase of concentration of Congo red induced a characteristic cross-linking domain, which consisted of a flat structure containing stacked xyloglucan chain assemblies. The Congo red molecules are inserted between the xyloglucan chains.     

Five novel flavonoids from Wasabia japonica

From the fresh leaves of Wasabia japonica Matsum., five novel flavonoids 1-5, isovitexin derivatives having a trans-sinapoyl group at C-7, were isolated together with five known flavonoids, and their structures were elucidated on the basis of their spectroscopic data (NMR, MS, UV, and IR) and chemical evidence.     

A High Sensitivity Fluorescent Chemo-sensory System Based on β-Cyclodextrin Dimer Modified with Dansyl Moieties

-Cyclodextrin dimer linked with ethylenediamine at the upper rim of the cyclodextrin has been synthesized and then modified with two dansyl moieties inthe presence of N,N'-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide. The sensing ability and bindingproperty of the title compound were investigated for steroids and terpenoids. Thefluorescence intensity of this dimer was decreased when a host–guest complex was formed. The value I/I⁰, where I⁰ and I are fluorescence intensitiesin the absence and presence of a guest and I is I⁰- I, was used as a parameter of sensitivity. This host exhibited a much higher sensitivity and selective molecular recognition ability for bile acids such as ursodeoxycholic acid andchenodeoxycholic acid and terpenoids such as (-)-borneol than the dansyl-modifiedcyclodextrins reported previously including -cyclodextrin dimer. The behaviors of the appended moieties of the host during the formation of host–guest complexes were studied using induced circular dichroism (ICD) and fluorescence spectra. The ICD intensityof this dimer was decreased on accommodation of a guest and this spectral pattern of the title dimer was opposite to that of bis dansyl-modified -cyclodextrin monomer. Theguest-induced variations in the fluorescence and ICD intensities suggest that this dimer formed a 1 : 1 host–guest complex and the appended moieties act as a hydrophobic cap.     

Large-scale separation of metallic and semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes

In the applications of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), it is extremely important to separate semiconducting and metallic SWNTs. Although several methods have been reported for the separation, only low yields have been achieved at great expense. We show a separation method involving a dispersion-centrifugation process in a tetrahydrofuran solution of amine, which makes metallic SWNTs highly concentrated to 87% in a simple way.     

Facile radical trifluoromethylation of lithium enolates

[reaction: see text] Highly basic lithium enolates are shown to be applicable to radical trifluoromethylation. The reaction is extremely fast, and the minimum reaction time is approximately 1 s.     

Crystal structures and topochemical polymerizations of 7,7,8,8-tetrakis(alkoxycarbonyl)quinodimethanes

Highly conjugated monomers, 7,7,8,8-tetrakis(alkoxycarbonyl)quinodimethanes (methoxy (1a), ethoxy (1b), isopropoxy (1c), benzyloxy (1d), chloroethoxy (1e), and bromoethoxy (1f)), were synthesized. Recrystallizations of 1a, 1c, 1e, and 1f yielded two crystal forms (prisms (1a-A) and needles (1a-B), needles (1c-A) and plates (1c-B), prisms (1e-A) and plates (1e-B), and prisms (1f-A) and needles (1f-B)), which have different molecular packing modes by X-ray crystal structure analysis, indicating that the crystals are polymorphic. In the photopolymerizations of these monomer crystals in the solid state, 1a-A, 1e-A, and 1f-A polymerized topochemically to give crystalline polymers. For their thermal polymerizations in the solid state, in addition to 1a-A, 1e-A, and 1f-A, 1e-B and 1f-B polymerized, but polymers formed from the 1e-B and 1f-B were amorphous. The packing of quinodimethane molecules in the crystals was defined by four kinds of parameters, stacking distance (d(s)), the distance between the reacting exomethylene carbon atoms (d(cc)), the angles formed between the stacking axis and longer axis of the monomer molecule (theta(1)), and the shorter axis of the monomer molecule (theta(2)), and then the polymerization reactivity of these quinodimethanes in the solid state was discussed on the basis of these parameters.     

Soluble polymer-supported catalysts containing pendant quaternary onium salts for the addition reaction of oxiranes with carbon dioxide

The addition reaction of oxiranes ( 15a-d ) with carbon dioxide (CO₂) was carried out using 1 mol % of soluble polymer-supported quaternary onium salts as catalysts under atmospheric pressure. The reaction of 15a-d with CO₂ proceeded very smoothly to give the corresponding five-membered cyclic carbonates ( 16a-d ) in high yields at 90-100°C. The catalytic activity of the soluble polymer-supported quaternary onium salts was strongly affected by the following factors: kind of reaction solvent, degree of introduction of the pendant onium salt residues in the polymer chain, and type of alkyl group on the onium salts due to the balance between lipophilicity and steric hindrance of the onium salt residue. Furthermore, these soluble polymer-supported quaternary onium salts were found ordinarily to have higher catalytic activity than low molecular weight quaternary onium salts under the same reaction conditions. It was also found that the rate of reaction was proportional both to catalyst concentration and to oxirane concentration. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A study of Feynman integrals by micro-differential equations

We use the holonomic character of Feynman integrals to describe their singularity structure explicitly in some simple cases. The results in §1 show that under moderate conditions Feynman amplitudes can be locally expressed essentially in terms of Legendre functions near the points where two positive- Landau-Nakanishi surfaces meet. Related topics such as hierarchical principle in perturbation theory are also discussed in terms of holonomic systems involved. In §4 we use the concrete expressions for Feynman amplitudes obtained in §1 to discuss the validity of Sato's conjecture.Supported in part by NSF MCS 75-2333Supported in part by NSF GP 36269     

Effect of molecular dynamics and modulated structure on H NMR spectrum studied in [Mg(H2O)6][SiF6]

The spectrum of magnetic resonance is typically affected by a modulated structure in an incommensurate phase, resulting in the broadened spectrum characterized by ‘edge singularities’. We demonstrate that the modulated structure in the crystal where molecular motion exists is responsible for the narrowing of the spectrum in the fast motional region by means of the simulation of ²H NMR spectrum of [Mg(H₂O)₆][SiF₆]. The program developed by combining the theories of phase solitons in the incommensurate phase and motional change of ²H NMR spectrum was used for the simulation. We obtained a good agreement between the theoretical ²H NMR spectrum and experimental one for [Mg(H₂O)₆][SiF₆].