Adsorption of designed pyrimidine derivative ligands on an activated carbon for the removal of Cu(II) ions from aqueous solution

The adsorption of five Nalpha-substituted amino acids with a 5-nitroso-6-oxo pyrimidine as substituent on a commercial activated carbon (AC) has been studied in aqueous solution at several pH values. The adsorption processes of these organic compounds have been analyzed on the basis of the electrolytic behavior of the adsorbates. In all cases, the adsorption process is highly irreversible due to strong pi-pi interactions between the arene centers of the AC and the pyrimidine residue of the adsorbates. This interaction is consistent with XPS data and HOMO-LUMO theoretical calculations. The adsorption of these organic compounds provides a new route for the functionalization of the AC surface with carboxyl groups. In addition, the adsorption capacity of the AC/organic compound systems for Cu(II) ions in aqueous solution has been studied at different pH values. These systems show an increase of the adsorption capacity for Cu(II) compared to the AC, which is related to the AC functionalization with carboxyl groups due to the adsorbed organic compounds.     

1,3-dipolar cycloadditions from tricyclic hemiaminals. Synthesis of the quinocarcin core through catalyst-free generation of azomethine ylides

The generation of azomethine ylides from the readily accessible hemiaminals 3 and 8 or from iminium salt 10 was studied. Compounds 8 gave anti- and syn-cycloadducts containing the quinocarcin core through a catalyst-free dehydration process.     

Impact of modified alumina oxides on the fire properties of PMMA and PS nanocomposites

Grafting of ethylene glycol methacrylate phosphate (EGMP) monomer polymerized from alumina nanoparticles has been performed in order to confer a better thermal stability and fire retardancy to PMMA and PS nanocomposites. Grafting and polymerization processes have been investigated using FTIR, TGA, and elemental analyses. Thermal stability and decomposition routes of monomer and polymer grafted alumina have been studied using thermogravimetric analysis and compared with the thermal behavior of the same alumina modified with octylsilane. The thermal stability of EGMP supported by the nanoparticles is higher than that of free EGMP. The incorporation of 5 wt% of both surface treated alumina in PMMA and PS leads to an improvement of thermal stability in comparison with unfilled polymers as well as nanocomposites containing unmodified alumina. Furthermore, the grafting of organic compounds on alumina also allows the peak of heat release rate measured using a cone calorimeter to be significantly reduced for PMMA nanocomposites. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Novel cyclopalladated imino-thiophenes: synthesis and reactivity toward alkynes and carbon monoxide

ortho-palladated complexes based on thiophene and benzothiophene ligands 1a and 1b have been synthesized by direct C-H activation under mild conditions. These species were fully characterized, including single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The reactions of these novel complexes with internal alkynes afforded a variety of thieno[3,2-c]pyridinium salts substituted at the 6- and 7-positions. The thiophene-based complex 2a also reacts with carbon monoxide, in the presence of different alcohols, forming the corresponding esters by tandem alkoxycarbonylations. This latter reaction can be exploited for the unexpected, but straightforward, formation of the monomeric bis-cyclometallated complexes 6a and 6b from 2a or 2b, whose syntheses do not require the employment of transmetallating agents. The structures of these monomeric palladacycles were also fully elucidated by means of X-ray diffraction studies.     

Design of Glycosyltransferase Inhibitors: Pyridine as a Pyrophosphate Surrogate

A series of ten glycosyltransferase inhibitors has been designed and synthesized by using pyridine as a pyrophosphate surrogate. The series was prepared by conjugation of carbohydrate, pyridine, and nucleoside building blocks by using a combination of glycosylation, the Staudinger–Vilarrasa amide‐bond formation, and azide–alkyne click chemistry. The compounds were evaluated as inhibitors of five metal‐dependent galactosyltransferases. Crystallographic analyses of three inhibitors complexed in the active site of one of the enzymes confirmed that the pyridine moiety chelates the Mn²⁺ ion causing a slight displacement (2 Å) from its original position. The carbohydrate head group occupies a different position than in the natural uridine diphosphate (UDP)–Gal substrate with little interaction with the enzyme.     

Efficiency of wollastonite and ammonium polyphosphate combinations on flame retardancy of polystyrene

The thermal and fire properties of polystyrene (PS) flame retarded by a system composed of ammonium polyphosphate (APP) and wollastonite (W) were investigated by thermogravimetric analysis, pyrolysis‐combustion flow calorimeter, pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry, cone calorimetry and epiradiator. The combustion residues were observed by scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy and analyzed by X‐ray diffraction. The combination of both additives enables increasing the thermal stability of PS while increasing simultaneously the high temperature residue. The peak of HRR was also significantly reduced while time to ignition varied depending on the composition. It was shown that the degradation pathway of PS was affected by the presence of the additives implying a reduction of the effective heat of combustion. In the condensed phase, APP decomposition promotes char formation and favors the reactivity between phosphorus and silicate. A layer composed of char, W and a mixture of calcium and silicon phosphate is formed at the sample surface during combustion. This layer is cohesive enough to limit the release of combustible gases to the gas phase. Moreover, the thermally stable protective layer reaches high temperature enabling the re‐irradiation of a part of the incident heat flux. The flame retardancy of PS is thus enhanced. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Robust output synchronization of second-order systems

A technique to synchronize a network of dynamical systems described by second-order ordinary differential equations is presented. Each system can be driven by a coupling control signal, which is synthesized such that, at steady-state, the outputs of two given systems, say y _i and y _j , i ≠ j, satisfy a specified ratio, that is, y _i /y _j = α _i /α _j , α _i ≠ 0 ≠ α _j . Among others, this includes the cases where the outputs are synchronized in-phase or anti-phase. The proposed synchronization technique is robust; this means that a small synchronization error is preserved at steady-state, even if the systems were perturbed by external disturbances. Some level of parameter uncertainty can also be tolerated. The coupling control signals are synthesized based on a classical controller and a robust observer that estimates the generalized velocities and provides an estimation of the perturbation terms. Some experimental results, showing the performance of the proposed synchronization technique, are included.     

CCSD‐CTOCD static dipole shielding polarizability for quantification of the chiral NMR effects in oxaziridine derivatives

Chiral discrimination by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy might be achieved through the pseudo‐scalar derived from the dipole shielding polarizability tensor. Coupled Cluster Singles and Doubles‐Quadratic Response (CCSD‐QR) calculations inside the continuous translation of the origin of the current density formalism have been carried out to determine the effects of basis set, electron correlation, and gauge translation on the determination of this magnitude in oxaziridine derivatives. Inclusion of electronic correlation is needed for adequately describing the pseudo‐scalar for the heavier nuclei, making CCSD a rigorous and affordable method to compute these high order properties in medium‐sized molecules. The observable magnitudes for chiral discrimination (produced RF voltage and required electric field) are calculated. Half of the considered molecules show values of the observable magnitudes near the lower limit for experimental detection. Nuclei ¹⁹F, ³¹P, and ⁷⁹Br produce the largest values of RF voltage (50–80 nV). Moreover, ³¹P and ⁷⁹Br are the nuclei requiring smallest electric fields (3 MVm^?1) to separate the NMR signals, being then suitable for both the techniques. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Comparative structural and chemical studies of ferritin cores with gradual removal of their iron contents

Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), X-ray Absorption Near Edge Spectroscopy (XANES), Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy (EELS), Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS), and SQUID magnetic studies were performed in a batch of horse spleen ferritins from which iron had been gradually removed, yielding samples containing 2200, 1200, 500, and 200 iron atoms. Taken together, findings obtained demonstrate that the ferritin iron core consists of a polyphasic structure (ferrihydrite, magnetite, hematite) and that the proportion of phases is modified by iron removal. Thus, the relative amount of magnetite in ferritin containing 2200 to 200 iron atoms rose steadily from approximately 20% to approximately 70% whereas the percentage of ferrihydrite fell from approximately 60% to approximately 20%. These results indicate a ferrihydrite-magnetite core-shell structure. It was also found that the magnetite in the ferritin iron core is not a source of free toxic ferrous iron, as previously believed. Therefore, the presence of magnetite in the ferritin cores of patients with Alzheimer's disease is not a cause of their increased brain iron(II) concentration.     

A posteriori error estimates and maximal regularity for approximations of fully nonlinear parabolic problems in Banach spaces

A posteriori error estimates are provided for discretizations in time of abstract nonlinear parabolic problems u′ = F(u), by the backward Euler method in the maximal regularity framework of Banach spaces. The estimates are of conditional type, i.e., are valid under assumptions on the approximate solution, and the proofs are based on appropriate fixed point arguments. Work partially supported by Grant HPMD-CT-200100121, Institute of Applied and Computational Mathematics, FORTH, 71110 Heraklion-Crete, Greece, by a Spain–Greece Research Collaboration grant jointly funded by the Ministry of Education and Science, Spain, and the General Secretariat of Research and Technology, Greece and a Pytrhagoras–EPEAEK II grant.