Study of two diastereomeric pairs of regiosomeric 2-isoxazolines by tandem mass spectrometry with electron impact ionization

On electron impact (EI) ionization, two cis/trans pairs of 4-methyl-5-phenyl and 4-phenyl-5-methyl regioisomeric 3-carbethoxy-2-isoxazolines showed normal mass spectra and mass-analysed ion kinetic energy (MIKE) spectra of metastable (MI) and collision-activated (CA) molecule ions, allowing unequivocal differentiation of the regioisomers. The cis/trans stereoisomers of each regioisomer showed very similar normal mass spectra. Very interestingly, the cis- and trans-4-phenyl-5-methyl stereoisomers appeared reasonably differentiated by the molecule ion MIKE spectra, whereas the 4-methyl-5-phenyl regioisomeric pair of stereoisomers did not. The influence of the phenyl substituent to the fragmentation processes was notable. Some fragments of interest were studied by comparison of their MIKE spectra with those of model ions, generated by EI from suitable substrates, including (i) the isomeric α,β-unsaturated oxime, namely ethyl (Z)-2-(hydroxymino)-3-methyl-4-phenylbut-3-enoate, a by-product of importance for the mechanism(s) of the addition/cycloaddition reactions of nitrile oxides to alkenes and (ii) trans-β-methylstyrene, a dipolarophilic reactant in the same reactions. The favoured heterocyclic C(5)–O(1) bond cleavage occurred only for the ionized 4-methyl-5-phenyl 2-isoxazoline pair, leading to a distonic ion of relevance, as it can represent either a reasonable precursor for both the isomerization to the ionized α,β-unsaturated oxime and the EI-induced cycloreversion yielding ionized β-methylstyrene, or the ionized form of a zwitterionic intermediate, which had been proposed previously for the addition/cycloaddition mechanism(s) in the solution phase, currently under study.     

Flow-injection spectrofluorimetric determination of ethylenethiourea

A flow-injection configuration is proposed for the fluorimetric determination of ethylenethiourea. The procedure is based on the inhibitory effect of ethylenethiourea on the oxidation of thiamine to thiochrome by mercury(II). A linear calibration graph was obtained between 0.1 and 2.0 μg mL^–1, with a sampling rate of 40 samples per hour and a relative standard deviation of about 1.11%. The usefulness of the method was tested for the determination of ethylenethiourea residues in water, milk, potatoes, pear, grape and apple. Received: 26 January 1998 / Revised: 6 April 1998 / Accepted: 9 April 1998     

REDUCTION OF NO BY CO OVER NiWO4, NiO, AND WO3 CATALYSTS

We present a comparative study of NiWO₄, NiO, and WO₃ catalysts for simultaneous conversion of NO and CO. Samples were synthesized by reacting ammonium metatungstate and/or nickel nitrate at high temperature (773 K to 903 K) under an oxygen stream. Catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, surface area measurements, energy dispersive spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The catalytic reduction of NO by CO took place in the temperature range (523 to 973) K under highly reductive conditions (NO:CO= 1:5) over NiWO₄NiO, and WO₃, respectively. The 100 % NO conversion at GHSV of 11460 h^-1 was achieved at 773 K over NiWO₄ and at 848 K over NiO. The WO₃ was deactivated at 898 K. However, in the range (523 to 723) K NiO was more active than NiWO₄ and WO₃ catalysts.     

Addition of carbon nucleophiles to cyclic N-acyliminium and oxocarbenium ions under solvent-free conditions

The InCl₃-catalyzed addition of carbon nucleophiles to cyclic N-acyliminium and oxocarbenium ions under solvent-free conditions at room temperature is described. The corresponding α-substituted heterocycles were obtained in moderate to excellent yields.     

Conformational dynamics of a bispyridinium cyclophane

A complete study of the conformational behavior of 4,8-diaza-3(1,4),9(4,1)-dipyridina-1,6(1,4)-dibenzenacyclodecaphan-3(1),9(1)-bis(ilium) bishexafluorophosphate is described. This study allows us to conclude that the process observed by which the different chemical shifts of the pyridinium protons show coalescence at a high-temperature 1H NMR is the rotation around the C-N bond, whereas the conformational equilibrium between the four conformers is produced at low temperature.     

New understanding of the nature of OH adsorption on Pt(1 1 1) electrodes

The adsorption of hydroxyl on Pt(1 1 1) single crystal electrodes from aqueous acidic solutions is carefully reinvestigated. The effect of small additions (10⁻⁸–10⁻⁵ M) of chloride and bisulphate anions on the OH adsorption region in perchloric acid solution has been studied. Two regions can be differentiated in the voltammetric profile, that behave differently after the addition of the foreign anion. The initial broad adsorption process is unaffected until the highest concentration is attained. However, the sharper peak at higher potentials is affected even at the lower anion concentration. Since mass transport limitations allow to discard the anion adsorption as the main process giving this peak, we propose that the two processes are due to the dissociative adsorption of two different kinds of water, that are affected by the anion in a different way. From this idea, a new model, based on the Frumkin adsorption isotherm, is proposed, which gives an excellent fit of the experimental results.     

Coarse-grained rigid blob model for soft matter simulations

We have developed a coarse-grained multiscale molecular simulation method for soft matter systems that directly incorporates stereochemical information. We divide the material into disjoint groups of atoms or particles that move as separate rigid bodies; we call these groups "rigid blobs," hence the name coarse-grained rigid blob model. The method is enabled by the construction of transferable interblob potentials that approximate the net intermolecular interactions, as obtained from ab initio electronic structure calculations, other all-atom empirical potentials, experimental data, or any combination of the above. We utilize a multipolar expansion to obtain the interblob potential-energy functions. The series, which contains controllable approximations that allow us to estimate the errors, approaches the original intermolecular potential as the number of terms increases. Using a novel numerical algorithm, we can calculate the interblob potentials very efficiently in terms of a few interaction moment tensors. This reduces the labor well beyond what is required in standard molecular-dynamics calculations and allows large-scale simulations for temporal scales commensurate with characteristic times of nano- and mesoscale systems. A detailed derivation of the formulas is presented, followed by illustrative applications to several systems showing that the method can effectively capture realistic microscopic details and can easily extend to large-scale simulations.     

Reaction between quinone and thiazolidine. A study on the formation mechanism of new antiproliferative quinolindiones

Reaction between quinolinquinone and thiazolidine in basic medium was investigated. 2-Arylthiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid ethyl esters undergo two different cleavages in basic medium, yielding the 1-aryl-2-azadiene and a thiolic species. In the presence of quinolinquinone, the isomeric 1-aryl-3-ethoxycarbonyl-pyridoisoquinolin-5,10-diones and 3-amino-3-ethoxycarbonyl-dihydrothienoquinolin-4,9-diones are formed by a hetero-Diels-Alder reaction and 1,4-Michael addition reaction, respectively. A mechanism for the formation of the reaction products is presented.     

Studies on the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds. VII. Action of acyl halides on heterocyclic compounds containing the O-M-O (M  P,As, Sb) bond in the ring

The action of acyl halides on heterocyclic compounds of five-membered rings containing an O-M-O (M ? P, As, Sb) linkage is described. The reactions were either carried out in the presence of a solvent (benzene or toluene) or by direct heating of the reagent with the substrate. In the case of arsole, stibole and stannole derivatives, the cleavage of O-M bond and the formation of the respective mono- and diesters were always obtained, while with the phospholes, no cleavage of the compounds was observed. The products IIa-c (M = Sb) have been obtained in excellent yields starting from VIa-c and antimony trichloride. The structure of the compounds which were prepared was determined by analytical and spectroscopic methods and also by comparations with authentic samples where possible.     

A novel synthesis of 3-cyanoindoles and a new route to indole-3-carboxylic acid derivatives

2-Alkyl-3-cyanoindoles are obtained when 1-alkylmethyl-2-chloro-(or 2-phenylsulfonyl)-3-phenylsulfonylindoles are reacted with excess azide ion (90°/DMF). The reaction is considered to occur by a fragmentation recombination process in which the Schiff's base $\text{12}$ is of central importance. This proposal is supported by the formation of 2-substituted indole-3-carboxylates $\text{17}$ from aldehydes and the α-phenylsulfonyl-$\text{o}$-aminophenylacetic acid ester derivative $\text{16}$.