Synthesis of the melatonin receptor agonist Ramelteon using a tandem C–H activation–alkylation/Heck reaction and subsequent asymmetric Michael addition

An asymmetric synthesis of the melatonin receptor agonist Ramelteon 1 has been achieved, which involved a tandem C–H activation–alkylation/Heck reaction and subsequent highly diastereoselective asymmetric Michael addition to generate the corresponding chiral intermediate, which was readily converted into Ramelteon 1 in 19% overall yield in 15 linear steps.     

Enhanced electrochemical properties of LiMnPO4/C via doping with Cu

Li_0.98Cu_0.01MnPO₄/C composite cathode materials for lithium ion battery are synthesized by sol-gel method followed by heat treatment in the air. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy measurements show that both firing temperature and carbon content affect the morphology of the end products. X-ray powder diffraction analysis indicates that the samples are olivine-structured. The galvanostatic charge?Cdischarge results show that the optimal firing temperature registers 500°C and that the electrochemical performances of Li_0.98Cu_0.01MnPO₄/C are improved by elevating its carbon amount. The cyclic ability and rate performances of LiMnPO₄ are greatly improved by doping Cu.     

Improved solution for inventory model with defective goods

This paper is a consequence for a paper of Lin et al. [S.W. Lin, Y.W. Wou, P. Julian, Note on minimax distribution free procedure for integrated inventory model with defective goods and stochastic lead time demand, Appl. Math. Model. 35 (2011) 2087–2093]. We simplified their complicated solution procedure and then presented a revision to patch their negligence for the boundary minimums. Numerical examples are provided to demonstrate our findings.     

Enantioselective Synthesis of Chiral Carboxylic Acids from Alkynes and Formic Acid by Nickel-Catalyzed Cascade Reactions: Facile Synthesis of Profens

We report a stereoselective conversion of terminal alkynes to α-chiral carboxylic acids using a nickel-catalyzed domino hydrocarboxylation-transfer hydrogenation reaction. A simple nickel/BenzP* catalyst displayed high activity in both steps of regioselective hydrocarboxylation of alkynes and subsequent asymmetric transfer hydrogenation. The reaction was successfully applied in enantioselective preparation of three nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory profens (>90 % ees) and the chiral fragment of AZD2716.     

A versatile A2 + B3 approach to hyperbranched polyacenaphthenequinones

A series of hyperbranched polyacenaphthenequinones has been prepared by superelectrophilic aromatic substitution of (substituted) acenaphthenequinone and 1,3,5‐tris‐(4‐phenoxybenzoyl)benzene via a facile A₂ + B₃ approach. Because of the strongly increased reactivity of the second A functionality, gelation was efficiently avoided during the polymerization. The structure of the resulting polymer was characterized by NMR spectroscopy and gel permeation chromatography. Further modification of the hyperbranched polyacenaphthenequinone was explored both on the acenaphthenequinone and aromatic moieties. Moreover, the polymer modified through sulfonation was investigated as a water‐soluble acid catalyst for the degradation of biomass resources. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2014 , 52, 2596‐2603     

Higher integrability for nonlinear elliptic equations with variable growth and discontinuous coefficients

In this paper, based on the theory of variable exponent spaces, we study the higher integrability for a class of nonlinear elliptic equations with variable growth and discontinuous coefficients. Under suitable assumptions, we obtain a local gradient estimate in Orlicz space for weak solution.