One-pot enyne ring-closing metathesis–Diels–Alder reactions for the synthesis of polycyclic sulfamides

Ring-closing metathesis (RCM) and sequential Yb(OTf)₃ promoted Diels–Alder reactions of sulfamide-linked enynes proceeded selectively in one-pot to afford a series of bicyclic and tricyclic sulfamides. Excellent levels of diastereoselectivity are observed for the cycloaddition step, with only the endo-adducts being isolated. The protocol was further extended to incorporate a one-pot RCM–cross metathesis (CM)–Diels–Alder sequence, permitting rapid access to high levels of molecular complexity from simple and easily accessible precursors.     

Polyethylene Glycol Functionalized Graphene Oxide Nanoparticles Loaded with Nigella sativa Extract: A Smart Antibacterial Therapeutic Drug Delivery System

Flaky graphene oxide (GO) nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized using Hummer’s method and then capped with polyethylene glycol (PEG) by an esterification reaction, then loaded with Nigella sativa (N. sativa) seed extract. Aiming to investigate their potential use as a smart drug delivery system against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, the spectral and structural characteristics of GO-PEG NPs were comprehensively analyzed by XRD, AFM, TEM, FTIR, and UV- Vis. XRD patterns revealed that GO-PEG had different crystalline structures and defects, as well as a higher interlayer spacing. AFM results showed GONPs with the main grain size of 24.41 nm, while GONPs–PEG revealed graphene oxide aggregation with the main grain size of 287.04 nm after loading N. sativa seed extract, which was verified by TEM examination. A strong OH bond appeared in FTIR spectra. Furthermore, UV- Vis absorbance peaks at (275, 284, 324, and 327) nm seemed to be correlated with GONPs, GO–PEG, N. sativa seed extract, and GO –PEG- N. sativa extract. The drug delivery system was observed to destroy the bacteria by permeating the bacterial nucleic acid and cytoplasmic membrane, resulting in the loss of cell wall integrity, nucleic acid damage, and increased cell-wall permeability.     

Polyphenolics with Strong Antioxidant Activity from Acacia nilotica Ameliorate Some Biochemical Signs of Arsenic-Induced Neurotoxicity and Oxidative Stress in Mice

Neurotoxicity is a serious health problem of patients chronically exposed to arsenic. There is no specific treatment of this problem. Oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathological process of neurotoxicity. Polyphenolics have proven antioxidant activity, thereby offering protection against oxidative stress. In this study, we have isolated the polyphenolics from Acacia nilotica and investigated its effect against arsenic-induced neurotoxicity and oxidative stress in mice. Acacia nilotica polyphenolics prepared from column chromatography of the crude methanol extract using diaion resin contained a phenolic content of 452.185 ± 7.879 mg gallic acid equivalent/gm of sample and flavonoid content of 200.075 ± 0.755 mg catechin equivalent/gm of sample. The polyphenolics exhibited potent antioxidant activity with respect to free radical scavenging ability, total antioxidant activity and inhibition of lipid peroxidation. Administration of arsenic in mice showed a reduction of acetylcholinesterase activity in the brain which was counteracted by Acacia nilotica polyphenolics. Similarly, elevation of lipid peroxidation and depletion of glutathione in the brain of mice was effectively restored to normal level by Acacia nilotica polyphenolics. Gallic acid methyl ester, catechin and catechin-7-gallate were identified in the polyphenolics as the major active compounds. These results suggest that Acacia nilotica polyphenolics due to its strong antioxidant potential might be effective in the management of arsenic induced neurotoxicity.     

Macrocyclization of polymers via ring‐closing metathesis and azide/alkyne‐“click”‐reactions: An approach to cyclic polyisobutylenes

The end‐to‐end cyclization of telechelic polyisobutylenes (PIB's) toward cyclic polyisobutylenes is reported, using either ring‐closing metathesis (RCM) or the azide/alkyne‐“click”‐reaction. The first approach uses bisallyl‐telchelic PIB's (M_n = 1650, 3680, 9770 g mol^?1) and Grubbs 1st‐, 2nd‐, and 3rd‐generation catalyst leading to cyclic PIB's in 60–80% yield, with narrow polydispersities (M_w/M_n = 1.25). Azide/alkyne‐“click”‐reactions of bisalkyne‐telechelic PIB's (M_n = 3840 and 9820 g mol^?1) with excess of 1,11‐diazido‐undecane leads to the formation of mixtures of linear/cyclic PIB's under formation of oligomeric cycles. Subsequent reaction of the residual azide‐moieties in the linear PIB's with excess of alkyne‐telechelic PEO enables the chromatographic removal of the resulting linear PEO‐PIB‐block copolymers by column chromatography. Thus pure cyclic PIB's can be obtained using this double‐“click”‐method, devoid of linear contaminants. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 671–680, 2010     

Power limitations in fiber-optic frequency-division multiplexed systems

Launch power is limited to the milliwatt level by stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in a single-channel, coherent fiber-optic network. Increasing the number of frequency-division multiplexed channels causes the power limit to decrease quickly to submilliwatt levels due to three-wave intermodulation to keep the signal-to-noise ratio from deteriorating significantly. As the number of channels increases, stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) begins to dominate. If a maximum of 0.5-dB depletion in the highest-frequency channel is allowed, SRS dominates when the number of multiplexed channels reaches about 300. Generally, the launch-power-limiting phenomenon is dependent on the number of channels being multiplexed.     

Consistent Lyapunov exponent Estimation for one-dimensional dynamical systems

Summary  The author proves the consistency of a nearest neighbor estimator of the Lyapunov exponent for a general class of one-dimensional ergodic dynamical systems. The author shows that this estimator has good practical properties on a set of simulations.     

Hamiltonian Formulation of FRW Equations of Cosmology

We give a general Hamiltonian formulation of the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) fundamental equations of a homogeneous and isotropic universe in the Standard Cosmological model. It gives some interesting insight on the 3-curvature of the universe, which is found to be obtained in terms of the scale factor (also termed radius of the universe) and its first derivative. It also leads to an easy determination of the Schrödinger equation for the (R) wave function of the universe, in the radiative era.     

Impact of potassium on the heats of adsorption of adsorbed CO species on supported Pt particles by using the AEIR method

The heats of adsorption at several coverages of the linear and bridged CO species (denoted L and B, respectively) adsorbed on the Pt⁰ sites of the 2.9 wt% Pt/10% K/Al₂O₃ catalyst are determined using the Adsorption Equilibrium Infrared spectroscopy method. The addition of K on 2.9% Pt/Al₂O₃ modifies significantly the adsorption of CO on the Pt particles: (a) the ratio L/B is decreased from 8.4 to 1, (b) a new adsorbed CO species is detected with an IR band at 1763 cm⁻¹, (c) the heats of adsorption of L and B CO species are significantly altered and the positions of their IR bands are shifted. The heats of adsorption of L CO species are decreased: i.e. 206 and 105 kJ/mol at low coverages on Pt/Al₂O₃ and Pt/K/Al₂O₃ respectively. Two B CO species denoted B1 and B2, with different heats of adsorption are observed on Pt/K/Al₂O₃. The heats of adsorption of B2 CO species (major B CO species) are significantly larger than those measured in the absence of K: i.e. 94 and 160 kJ/mol at low coverages on Pt/Al₂O₃ and Pt/K/Al₂O₃ respectively, whereas those of B1 CO species (minor species) are similar: 90 kJ/mol at low coverages. These values are consistent with the qualitative High Resolution Electron Energy Loss Spectrometry literature data on Pt(1 1 1) modified by potassium.     

A study on densities of sets of points and lines

In this paper, firstly, our purpose is to give the relationship among the densities of the sets of collinear points, the relationship among the densities of the sets of noncollinear points, and the relationship among the densities of the sets of the intersecting lines in Euclidean plane, respectively. In addition to that, we define the density formulas for the sets of points and lines under the two‐parameter planar Euclidean motion. By means of these results, we obtain essential properties that explain the connection among the densities of the sets of points and among the densities of the sets of intersecting lines under the two‐parameter planar Euclidean motion.