Mechanistic Aspects of Gas‐Phase Hydrogen‐Atom Transfer from Methane to [CO].+ and [SiO].+: Why Do They Differ?

The reactivity of the two diatomic congeneric systems [CO]^.+ and [SiO]^.+ towards methane has been investigated by means of mass spectrometry and quantum‐chemical calculations. While [CO]^.+ gives rise to three different reaction channels, [SiO]^.+ reacts only by hydrogen‐atom transfer (HAT) from methane under thermal conditions. A theoretical analysis of the respective HAT processes reveals two distinctly different mechanistic pathways for [CO]^.+ and [SiO]^.+, and a comparison to the higher metal oxides of Group 14 emphasizes the particular role of carbon as a second‐row p element.     

Evaluation of methoxy polyethylene glycol‐polylactide diblock copolymers as additive in hypromellose film coating

This paper deals with a new application of diblock methoxy polyethylene glycol‐polylactide block copolymers, a class of synthetic biomaterials largely studied in the pharmaceutical and biomedical fields owing to their favorable properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, low immunogenicity, and good mechanical properties. In this work, these materials were evaluated as additives for gastro‐soluble pharmaceutical coating aimed to reduce film stiffness and water permeability. Two copolymers with different polylactide chain lengths were synthesized and characterized in term of molecular weight and solid‐state properties. A series of free films with different hypromellose/copolymers ratio were prepared and characterized in terms of appearance, components miscibility, plasticity, and water vapor permeability. The obtained results demonstrate that copolymers effectively influence hypromellose film properties according to their concentration and molecular weight. Specifically, the addition of the copolymer with a molecular weight of 6.5 kDa in a ratio hypromellose:polymer 5:1, allowed to obtain films with good appearance, improved plasticization, and water permeability properties. For higher molecular weight, copolymer or different ratios was not possible to observe the improvement of all the properties at the same time. The results also make possible to define the critical features to improve in order to use block copolymers as additive in hypromellose film coating. The availability of new water‐soluble additives able to work as plasticizer and moisture sealer in polymeric films represents an important progress not only in the field of pharmaceutical coating but also in that of food coatings, as for example in the formulation of edible films. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stereoselective Control by Face‐to‐Face Versus Edge‐to‐Face Aromatic Interactions: The Case of C3‐TiIV Amino Trialkolate Sulfoxidation Catalysts

The stereoselective oxidation of differently functionalised benzyl phenyl sulfides has been examined by using enantiopure Ti^IV trialkanolamine complexes. These complexes efficiently catalyse the sulfoxidation with good stereoselectivities. The data highlight the contribution to the stereoselectivity of steric effects and non‐covalent π–π interactions between the aromatic rings of the Ti^IV complex and those pertaining to the substrates. Enantiomeric excesses have been correlated with the electrostatic potential surfaces (EPS) of the reacting sulfides. The overall study leads to a mechanistic interpretation that explains the stereoselectivity of the system and dissects the role of aromatic and steric interactions in the stereoselective process.     

A Flexible Pro‐porous Coordination Polymer: Non‐conventional Synthesis and Separation Properties Towards CO2/CH4 Mixtures

The novel coordination polymers [Cu(Hoxonic)(H₂O)]_n ( 1 ) and [Cu(Hoxonic)(bpy)_0.5]_n ? 1.5 n H₂O ( 2?H₂O ) (H₃oxonic: 4,6‐dihydroxy‐1,3,5‐triazine‐2‐carboxylic acid; bpy: 4,4′‐bipyridine) have been isolated and structurally characterised by ab initio X‐ray powder diffraction. The dense phase 1 contains 1D zig‐zag chains in which Hoxonic dianions bridge square‐pyramidal copper(II) ions, apically coordinated by water molecules. On the contrary, 2?H₂O , prepared by solution and solventless methods, is based on 2D layers of octahedral copper(II) ions bridged by Hoxonic ligands, further pillared by bpy spacers. The resulting pro‐porous 3D network possesses small hydrated cavities. The reactivity, thermal, magnetic and adsorptive properties of these materials have been investigated. Notably, the adsorption studies on 2 show that this material possesses unusual adsorption behaviour. Indeed, guest uptake is facilitated by increasing the thermal energy of both the guest and the framework. Thus, neither N₂ at 77 K nor CO₂ at 195 K are incorporated, and CH₄ is only minimally adsorbed at 273 K and high pressures (0.5 mmol g^?1 at 2500 kPa). By contrast, CO₂ is readily incorporated at 273 K (up to 2.5 mmol g^?1 at 2500 kPa). The selectivity of 2 towards CO₂ over CH₄ has been investigated by means of variable‐temperature zero coverage adsorption experiments and measurement of breakthrough curves of CO₂/CH₄ mixtures. The results show the highly selective incorporation of CO₂ in 2 , which can be rationalised on the basis of the framework flexibility and polar nature of its voids.     

Signal processing to evaluate parameters affecting SPE for multi‐residue analysis of personal care products

This paper discusses the development of a comprehensive method for the simultaneous analysis of personal care products (PCPs) based on SPE and GC‐MS. The method was developed on 29 target compounds to represent PCPs belonging to different chemical classes: surfactants in detergents (alkyl benzenes), fragrances in cosmetics (nitro and polycyclic musks), antioxidants and preservatives (phenols), plasticizers (phthalates) displaying a wide range of volatility, polarity, water solubility. In addition to the conventional C₁₈ stationary phase, a surface modified styrene divinylbenzene polymeric phase (Strata^TM X SPE cartridge) has been investigated as suitable for the simultaneous extraction of several PCPs with polar and non‐polar characteristics. For both sorbents different solvent compositions and eluting conditions were tested and compared in order to achieve high extraction efficiency for as many sample components as possible. Comparison of the behavior of the two cartridges reveals that, overall, Strata‐X provides better efficiency with extraction recovery higher than 70% for most of the PCPs investigated. The best results were obtained under the following operative conditions: an evaporation temperature of 40°C, elution on Strata‐X cartridge using a volume of 15 mL of ethyl acetate (EA) as solvent and operating with slow flow rate (–10 KPa). In addition to the conventional method based on peak integration, a chemometric approach based on the computation of the experimental autocovariance function (EACVF_tot) was applied to the complex GC‐MS signal: the percentage recovery and information on peak abundance distribution can be evaluated for each procedure step. The PC‐based signal processing proved very helpful in assisting the development of the analytical procedure, since it saves labor and time and increases result reliability in handling GC complex signals.     

Optimization of a SPME/GC/MS Method for the Simultaneous Determination of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in Waters

A headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) method coupled with gas chromatography and MS detection (GC/MS) was optimized for the simultaneous determination of 21 target Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) in water samples. The analytes included fragrances, UV-filters, antiseptics, estrogens, anti-inflammatory drugs, and pesticides. An on-fiber SPME derivatization, using silyl reagents, was performed for the analysis of more polar acidic compounds. An experimental design approach was applied to systematically investigate and optimize the operative parameters affecting the extraction recovery, namely: extraction temperature and time, derivatization time, desorption temperature and time. The optimum operating conditions were: extraction time of 125?min at a temperature of 40?°C; derivatization time of 30.5?min; desorption time of 2?min at a temperature of 300?°C. Under these conditions, good reproducibility was assessed as RDS% values ≤10% for underivatized PPCPs and ≤20% for derivatized compounds. The method detection limits (LOD) were between 0.7 and 9.0?ng?L^?1, with the highest values in the range 2.5–9.0?ng?L^?1 for the derivatized analytes. Method accuracy was evaluated on spiked tap water samples: recoveries varied from 85 to 103% and from 75 to 110% for non-derivatized and derivatized compounds, respectively.     

Dynamic NMR of low‐sensitivity fast‐relaxing nuclei: 17O NMR and DFT study of acetoxysilanes

¹⁷O NMR is not routinely used for structure characterization, and kinetic studies of fluxional organic compounds are seldom undertaken because poor sensitivity and fast quadrupole relaxation are frequently regarded as intractable issues. This work shows how, nowadays, quantitative ¹⁷O dynamic NMR studies on small organic molecules are feasible without enrichment being needed. It reports on acetoxysilanes, a class of fluxional compounds whose structure and dynamics were to be clarified. Natural abundance ¹⁷O NMR spectra were recorded over a wide range of temperatures using standard instrumentation. The analysis relies on simple linewidth measurements and directly provides the activation parameters. The activation enthalpy is found to decrease with increasing number of acetoxy groups bound to silicon. Density functional theory calculations properly predict this trend and show that a single oxygen atom of the acetoxy group is bound to silicon, excluding chelation as binding mode, and that the dynamic process involves the shift of the silicon atom between the two oxygen atoms of the acetoxy group. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optically activated functionalization reactions in Si quantum dots

Using ab initio calculations, we have studied the influence of optical activation on functionalization reactions of silicon quantum dots with unsaturated hydrocarbons. We find that the energy barrier for the replacement of silicon-hydrogen with silicon-carbon bonds is dramatically reduced if the silicon dot is optically excited. These results provide an explanation for recent experiments on optically excited porous silicon. In addition, our calculations point at the existence of an intermediate spin-polarized state formed by the dot and an alkene or alkyne, upon relaxation after absorbing a photon. This state could be detected experimentally, by, for example, electron spin resonance measurements. Based on the results of our calculations as a function of the dot size, varied from 0.8 to 1.5 nm, we propose that light activated reactions could be used to functionalize and size select silicon quantum dots at the same time.