Three New Polyoxygenated Steroids from Two Species of the South China Sea Gorgonian Muricella flexuosa and Menella verrucosa Brundin

Three new polyoxygenated steroids, muricesteroid ( 1 ), and menellsteroids A ( 2 ) and B ( 3 ), were isolated from two species of the South China Sea gorgonian Muricella flexuosa and Menella verrucosa Brundin , respectively. The structures of these new compounds were elucidated on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analysis, chemical methods and comparison with known related compounds.     

A finite model property for RMImin

It is proved that the variety of relevant disjunction lattices has the finite embeddability property. It follows that Avron's relevance logic RMI _min has a strong form of the finite model property, so it has a solvable deducibility problem. This strengthens Avron's result that RMI _min is decidable. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Assay of vecuronium in plasma using solid-phase extraction, high-performance liquid chromatography and post-column ion-pair extraction with fluorimetric detection

An assay has been developed and validated for the routine monitoring of vecuronium in plasma. It consists of solid-phase extraction using C18 disposables as sample pre-treatment, high-performance liquid chromatography and post-column ion-pair extraction with fluorimetric detection. The fluorescent anion 9,10-dimethoxyanthracene-2-sulphonate (DAS) is used as the counter ion. The detection limit is ca. 5 ng/ml in plasma with a signal-to-noise ratio of 10. The assay is also applicable for monitoring vecuronium and its potential metabolites in other biological media, e.g., urine, bile and tissue (liver, kidney) homogenates.     

Bulk and microprobe analysis for trace elements with synchrotron radiation

Blood serum samples were irradiated by monochromatic synchrotron radiation (15 keV) and by 2.4-MeV protons to compare their performance for the detection of trace elements by x-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry. Absolute concentration assignment was based on the addition of an internal standard and on a method which uses the incoherent and coherent radiation as a flux monitor of the incoming beam. Preliminary experiments with a synchrotron XRF microprobe are reported.     

Hamiltonian N2‐locally connected claw‐free graphs

A graph G is N₂‐locally connected if for every vertex ν in G, the edges not incident with ν but having at least one end adjacent to ν in G induce a connected graph. In 1990, Ryjá?ek conjectured that every 3‐connected N₂‐locally connected claw‐free graph is Hamiltonian. This conjecture is proved in this note. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 48: 142–146, 2005     

A lithium ethyl­ene­diphos­phon­ate containing lithium chains and symmetric hydrogen bonds

In the title compound, catena‐poly[lithium‐μ₃‐ethyl­ene­diphos­phon­ato], [Li(C₂H₇O₆P₂)]_n, the supra­molecular monoclinic (C2/c) structure consists of one‐dimensional lithium chains [Li⋯Li = 2.7036 (8) Å] that are embedded within ethyl­ene­diphosphon­ate anions linked by strong symmetric hydrogen bonds [O⋯O = 2.473 (3) Å]. The Li atoms and the H atom in the symmetric hydrogen bond reside on twofold rotation axes and there is an inversion center at the mid‐point of the C—C bond of the ethylenediphosphonate ligand.     

Elliptic equations with BMO coefficients in Reifenberg domains

The inhomogeneous Dirichlet problems concerning divergence form elliptic equations are studied. Optimal regularity requirements on the coefficients and domains for the W^1,p theory, 1 < p < ∞, are obtained. The principal coefficients are supposed to be in the John‐Nirenberg space with small BMO seminorms. The domain is a Reifenberg domain. These conditions for the W^1,p theory not only weaken the requirements on the coefficients but also lead to a more general geometric condition on the domains. In fact, these domains might have fractal dimensions. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Evidence of a Photo‐Radical Pathway Responsible of the Rearrangement of a Manganese(III)‐Schiff Base Complex in Solution

A new Mn^III‐Schiff base complex, [MnL(OH₂)](ClO₄) ( 1 ) (H₂L = N, N′‐bis‐(3‐Br‐5‐Cl‐salicylidene)‐1, 2‐diimino‐2‐methylethane), an inorganic model of the catalytic center (OEC, Oxygen Evolving Complex) in photosystem II (PSII), has been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, IR and EPR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, magnetic susceptibility measurement and the study of its redox properties by cyclic and normal pulse voltammetry. This complex mimics reactivity (showing a relevant photolytic activity), and also some structural characteristics (parallel‐mode Mn^III EPR signal from partially assembled OEC cluster) of the natural OEC. The complex 1 was found to rearrange in solution into a crystallographically solved square‐pyramidal complex, [MnLL′] ( 2 ) (HL′ = 6‐bromo‐4‐chloro‐2‐cyanophenol), through a process, which probably liberates radical species (detected by EPR), and provokes a C—N bond cleavage in the ligand. A photo‐radical mechanism is discussed to explain this rearrangement.