<Emphasis Type="Italic">L</Emphasis>-Carnitine Supplementation: A New Paradigm for its Role in Exercise

Summary. Early research investigating the effects of L-carnitine supplementation has examined its role in substrate metabolism and in acute exercise performance. These studies have yielded equivocal findings, partially due to difficulties in increasing muscle carnitine concentrations. However, recent studies have proposed that L-carnitine may play a different role in exercise physiology, and preliminary results have been encouraging. Current investigations have theorized that L-carnitine supplementation facilitates exercise recovery. Proposed mechanism is as follows: 1) increased serum carnitine concentration enhances capillary endothelial function; 2) increased blood flow and reduced hypoxia mitigate the cascade of ensuing, destructive chemical events following exercise; 3) thus allowing reduced structural damage of skeletal muscle mediated by more intact receptors in muscle needed for improved protein signaling. This paradigm explains decreased markers of purine catabolism, free radical formation, and muscle tissue disruption after resistance exercise and the increased repair of muscle proteins following long-term L-carnitine supplementation.     

Stability of a fluid-fluid interface in a biconical pore segment

Pore networks that include biconical pore segments are frequently used to model two-phase flow. In this work, we describe in detail the displacement of a fluid-fluid interface in such a pore segment. We assume sharp edges in the throat, inlet, and outlet of the pore segment to be the limiting cases of round edges, the radii of which vanish. We account for interfacial and lineal tensions that cause nonconstant contact angles. For zero lineal tension, we provide analytical solutions for flow induced by changing infinitesimally slowly either capillary pressure or the volume of one fluid. In diverging and converging cones, the common line among the two fluids and the solid phase slides while it is pinned in the throat, inlet, and outlet. We observe hysteresis within the pore segment, and drainage entry pressures deviate from prior work.     

Reactions of amidoximes with orthoacetates

The reaction of two amidoximes 4 with ethyl orthoacetate in the presence of an acid catalyst gave triazine N-oxides 7 . A mechanism via a Beckmann rearrangement to a carbodiimide, followed by reaction with amidoxime and the ortho ester, is proposed.     

Accurate and efficient method for predicting thermochemistry of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons - bond-centered group additivity

A self-consistent estimation method for the thermochemical properties of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) is presented. This method is based on enthalpies of formation (DeltaHf(degrees), entropies (S(degrees)298, and heat capacities (C(degrees)p obtained from B3LYP/6-31G(d) calculations of the total energies and frequencies for 139 PAHs, including C(60) and C(70) fullerenes. The enthalpies of formation were calculated using an optimized set of homodesmic reactions given the available experimental DeltaHf(degrees) of PAHs. The theoretical entropies were compared with the existing experimental entropies, and some inconsistencies in the experimental data were identified. The estimation method presented here is a systematic extension of the widely employed atom-centered group additivity method originally proposed by Benson. This new method is based on bond-centered groups that define bonds linking two atom-centered groups and specify the size of the rings to which they belong. In addition, a term to describe the resonance energy is included. The thermochemical properties of PAHs up to C(70) fullerene are estimated with a mean average deviation of 2.8 kcal mol(-1) in DeltaHf(degrees), 0.7 cal K(-1) mol(-1) in S(degrees)298, and about 0.5 cal K(-1) mol(-1) in the C(degrees)p. This bond-centered group additivity method for the thermochemical properties of PAHs significantly expands both the range of systems that can be estimated and the accuracy of the estimations. The results of this work also allow us to assess the quality of available experimental data. For example, there are strong indications that the literature DeltaHf(degrees)of benzo[k]fluoranthene is about 10 kcal mol(-1) too low.     

High-energy collision-induced dissociation of oxosteroids derivatised to Girard hydrazones

Neutral oxosteroids have been derivatised with Girard T and P hydrazine reagents to give the corresponding Girard hydrazone quaternary ammonium salts. Both Girard T (GT) and Girard P (GP) hydrazones of oxosteroids give very intense [M](+) ion signals in electrospray (ES) mass spectra and fragment within the ES interface and collision cell to give characteristic fragment ions. GT and GP derivatives give informative high-energy collision-induced dissociation spectra, from which the structure of the precursor oxosteroid can be determined. Both charge-remote and charge-mediated mechanisms are responsible for the formation of the fragment ions at high collision-energy.     

Metal-thiophen derivatives. Organometallic compounds of palladium and platinum

Thienylmercury(II)chloride reacts with [Pd(PPh₃)₂Cl₂], [Pd(PPh₃)₄] and [Pt(PPh₃)₄] to afford new compounds containing a metal-2-thienyl linkage. The compound [Pd(PPh₃)₂(2-C₄H₃S)Cl] probably has trans stereochemistry.2-Bromothiophen undergoes oxidative addition with [Pd(PPh₃)₄] and [Pt(PPh₃)₄], probably via a radical mechanism. With [Pd(CO)(PPh₃)₃], a carbonyl inserted product is obtained. The bromo-metal(II) complexes have trans stereochemistry. The course of the reaction between 3-methyl-2-bromothiophen and Pd(PPh₃)₄ is more complex. Thus, there is evidence of some cis bromopalladium(II) compounds amongst the products, also there is good evidence to support the view that some isomerisation of 3-methyl-2-thienyl to 4-methyl-2-thienyl occurs during the reaction, thus giving greater molar quantities of [Pd(PPh₃)₂(4-CH₃-2-C₄H₂S)Br] than can be accounted for from any initial 4-methyl-2-bromothiophen impurity.The metallation of the thiophen ring, probably in the 4-position, with palladium(II) is described for 3-theylidene-4-methylaniline.     

The crystal structure of 1,1-bis(η5-cyclopentadienyl)-2,3,4,5-tetraphenylzirconole

The crystal and molecular structure of (η⁵-C₅H₅)₂Zr[C₄(C₆H₅)₄] has been determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction methods. The compound is isostructural with its titanium and hafnium analogues, and crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P2₁/n with unit cell parameters a = 13.790(5), b = 11.136(5), c = 18.692(7) », β = 92.82(4)°, and ?_calc = 1.34 g cm^?3 for Z = 4. Full-matrix least-squares refinement converged with a conventional R value of 0.049 for 2986 observed reflections. The metallocyclic ring is planar to within 0.05 », and the π-electron density is largely localized. The two independent ZrC(σ) bond lengths are 2.250(5) and 2.265(6) ». The ZrC(η⁵) distances range from 2.482(6) to 2.546(7) », and average 2.521(20) ». A comparison of zirconium- and hafnium-carbon bonds based on the data available shows that for M = Hf the MC bonds are shorter for all cases: C(sp), C(sp²), C(sp³), C(η⁵).     

Inorganic Chemistry in Liquid Ammonia : by David Nicholls,Elsevier Scientific Publ. Co., Amsterdam/Oxford/New York, 1979, x + 238 pp., Dfl. 110.00, $ 49.00.

Substitution of the hydrogen atoms of the cyclopentadienyl ring of (N, N-dimethylaminomethyl)cymantrene by deuterium changes the direction of orientation of metalation of this amine.     

Stoffwechselprodukte von Mikroorganismen. 177. Mitteilung. Avilamycin C

From cultures of the Avilamycin (Avilamycin A) producing organism, Streptomyces viridochromogenes, strain ETH 23575, a second antibiotic, Avilamycin C, C₆₁H₉₀Cl₂O₃₂ could be isolated in crystalline form. Both Avilamycins belong to the group of the Orthosomycins. By IR., ¹H- and ¹³C-NMR. spectroscopy and by transformation to a common derivative it could be proven that Avilamycin A is a methyl ketone, Avilamycin C the corresponding methyl carbinol.     

CNDO/2 calculations of some polyazaindenes

The theoretically estimated dipole moments of indolizine, imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine, imidazo-[1,5-a]pyridine and of pyrazolo[ 1,5-a]pyridine obtained by the CNDO/2 approximation have been compared with the experimental values. The bond angles and bond distances for these polyazaindenes have been estimated.