SPANamine derivatives in the catalytic asymmetric α-fluorination of β-keto esters

The use of C₂-symmetric enantiopure nitrogen ligands in the asymmetric catalytic α-fluorination of β-ketoesters is described. SPANamine 1 in the presence of nickel salts gives up to 63% ee in the fluorination of tert-butyl 2-oxocyclopentanecarboxylate with N-fluorosuccinimide (NFSI). The same enantioselectivity is obtained when SPANamine 1 is used as an organocatalyst, although the reaction is much slower.     

Loss reserving using loss aversion functions

This article discusses the determination of risk capital based on “aversion” functions. Aversion functions weigh different outcomes according to perceived severity. Many practical and popular risk measures are usefully viewed in terms of aversion functions including those arising from distortion operators and risk margin loadings. The approach of this paper builds on, unifies, and extends existing disparate approaches discussed in the literature. Analytical and computer generated illustrations are given as well as suggestions for the practical determination of aversion functions.     

Highly selective hydroaminomethylation of internal alkenes to give linear amines

The application of phenoxaphosphino-modified Xantphos-type ligands (1-9) in the rhodium-catalyzed hydroaminomethylation of internal olefins to give linear amines is reported. Excellent chemo- and regioselectivities have been obtained through the use of 0.1 mol % [Rh(cod)2]BF(4)/0.4 mol % xantphenoxaphos (1), providing a practical and environmentally attractive synthetic route for the preparation of amines from internal alkenes. For the first time, both functionalized internal olefins and mixtures of internal and terminal olefins have been converted highly selectively into linear amines. Investigations of the effects of the calculated natural bite angles of ligands on hydroaminomethylation shows that the regioselectivity for the linear product follows a similar trend to that seen in the hydroformylation of internal alkenes with the aid of these ligands. Hydroaminomethylation and each of its individual steps were monitored by high-pressure infrared spectroscopy. The results suggest that hydroaminomethylations take place by a sequential isomerization/hydroformylation/amination/hydrogenation pathway.     

Rotational averaging and optimization of laser-induced population transfer in molecules

The dynamics of a molecule subject to a short laser pulse is investigated, with focus on the averaging over initial rotational states and on the optimization of laser parameters for the efficient population transfer between vibrational and electronic states. A relation is established between final-state populations obtained with a fixed orientation and those based on a full treatment of the rotational degrees of freedom. In the short-pulse approximation, rotational averaging amounts to integrating the fixed molecule results over all orientations. The theory is applied to a variety of model systems and verified with numerical calculations using Gaussian pulses. We calculate target state populations with three procedures, optimizing the laser pulse for a fixed orientation without orientational averaging, averaging without changing the laser parameters, and reoptimizing the parameters after averaging. The analysis of the two-level system provides a reference for the order of magnitude of the effects of averaging. The three-level system brings out the relevant role of the geometry of polarization vectors and transition dipoles. The multiphoton excitation of a Morse oscillator shows the importance of taking into account the dependence of resonance frequencies on the laser intensity. Within a proton transfer model we discuss the results obtained with and without chirping and we show that "optimizing after averaging" can be as effective as choosing a more refined pulse shape.     

General framework for testing Poisson‐Voronoi assumption for real microstructures

Modeling microstructures is an interesting problem not just in materials science, but also in mathematics and statistics. The most basic model for steel microstructure is the Poisson‐Voronoi diagram. It has mathematically attractive properties and it has been used in the approximation of single‐phase steel microstructures. The aim of this article is to develop methods that can be used to test whether a real steel microstructure can be approximated by such a model. Therefore, a general framework for testing the Poisson‐Voronoi assumption based on images of two‐dimension sections of real metals is set out. Following two different approaches, according to the use or not of periodic boundary conditions, three different model tests are proposed. The first two are based on the coefficient of variation and the cumulative distribution function of the cells area. The third exploits tools from to topological data analysis, such as persistence landscapes.     

Multiplying after the turn

In education multiplying is usually viewed as repeated joining together and dividing as repeated taking away or, which comes to the same thing, as an equal distribution. This presentation springs from Antiquity, when thought was mostly concrete. In modern mathematics we have relation-numbers instead of, image-numbers and likewise multiplying is a facet of relational thinking. The view that children merely can learn through the concrete is often biassedly understood in the sense that the concrete has to be abstracted, which characterizes substantial thinking. However, in the case of relational thinking, learning through the concrete means that to achieve insight the mathematical activities have to be applied to reality, a crucial point, for most people have difficulties with applying multiplication, much more than with, the inherent algorithms. It appears that they do not really know what multiplication is, particularly not its space structure. The more general the structure the more and wider the applications. This thesis infers that multiplying as multiple of classes is much less useful than multiplying as space form. Questing for the essence of multiplication is the major topic of this paper. Which changes has its structure undergone and how can education deal with them? At the end it is illustratively explained why probability, based on the established multiplication, is usually such a tough domain.     

3′-(1,2,3-Triazol-1-yl)-2′,3′-dideoxythymidine and 3′-(1,2,3-triazol-1-yl)-2′,3′-dideoxyuridine

Cycloaddition of different acetylenic compounds on the azido function of 3′-azido-2′,3′-dideoxythymidine and 3′-azido-2′,3′-dideoxyuridine afforded products with a 1,2,3-triazol-1-yl substituent in the 3′-position. In contrast with the parent compounds, these triazolyl derivatives had no appreciable activity against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1).     

Poly-N-hydroxyethylacrylamide (polyDuramide): a novel,hydrophilic, self-coating polymer matrix for DNA sequencing by capillary electrophoresis

A replaceable polymer matrix, based on the novel monomer N-hydroxyethylacrylamide (HEA), has been synthesized for application in DNA separation by microchannel electrophoresis. The monomer was found by micellar electrokinetic chromatography analysis of monomer partitioning between water and 1-octanol to be more hydrophilic than acrylamide and N,N-dimethylacrylamide. Polymers were synthesized by free radical polymerization in aqueous solution. The weight-average molar mass of purified polymer was characterized by tandem gel permeation chromatography-multiangle laser light scattering. The steady-shear rheological behavior of the novel DNA sequencing matrix was also characterized, and it was found that the viscosity of the novel matrix decreases by more than 2 orders of magnitude as the shear rate is increased from 0.1 to 1000 s(-1). Moreover, in the shear-thinning region, the rate of change of matrix viscosity with shear rate increases with increasing polymer concentration. Poly-N-hydroxyethylacrylamide (PHEA) exhibits good capillary-coating ability, via adsorption from aqueous solution, efficiently suppressing electroosmotic flow (EOF) in a manner comparable to that of poly-N,N-dimethylacrylamide. Under DNA sequencing conditions, adsorptive PHEA coatings proved to be stable and to maintain negligible EOF for over 600 h of electrophoresis. Resolution of DNA sequencing fragments, particularly fragments > 500 bases, in PHEA matrices generally improves with increasing polymer concentration and decreasing electric field strength. When PHEA is used both as a separation matrix and as a dynamic coating in bare silica capillaries, the matrix can resolve over 620 bases of contiguous DNA sequence within 3 h. These results demonstrate the good potential of PHEA matrices for high-throughput DNA analysis by microchannel electrophoresis.     

Characterization and sequence confirmation of unnatural amino acid containing peptide libraries using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

The content of 24 12-membered heptapeptide libraries was investigated using capillary liquid chromatography coupled with an electrospray ionization quadrupole orthogonal acceleration time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Adjustment of the chromatographic parameters led to the separation of most of the components. Extraction of the [M + 2H]2+ ions allowed us to demonstrate the presence of all expected species in the library and to evaluate their relative abundance in the mixture. Rapid sequence confirmation was achieved by subtraction of product ion spectra, a way to eliminate common ions and to simplify the spectra for interpretation. This technique can also easily be applied to other libraries consisting of components with a common core.     

Probing the molecular orbitals and charge redistribution in organometallic (PP)Pd(XX) complexes. A Pd K-edge XANES study

Pd K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES) is used to probe the unoccupied molecular orbitals in bidentate diphosphine Pd complexes. Complexes containing a series of bidentate diphosphine ligands (PP) are examined to study the effect of the ligand bite angle on the charge redistribution in these complexes. Different coordinating moieties (XX) have been used to induce a range of Pd oxidation states. A full interpretation of the Pd K-edge XANES data is presented. The negative second derivative of these XANES data provides direct information on the energy and electronic distribution of the different unoccupied molecular orbitals probed. The charge redistributions within the complexes, as reflected in the effective Pd oxidation state, are indicated by both the intensity of the first edge feature, the "Pd d peak", and the energy of the second edge feature, the "Pd p peak", which can be easily observed in the negative second derivative of the XANES data. Additionally, the changing covalent interaction between the Pd and coordinated moieties via the Pd p orbitals is reflected directly in the energy splitting of the "Pd p" peak. Thus, investigation of these (PP)Pd(XX) complexes, some used as catalysts in organic synthesis, with XANES spectroscopy provides new essential information on their electronic properties. Further, the XANES analysis techniques described in this paper can be applied to investigate the unoccupied molecular orbitals and charge redistributions within a wide range of samples.