The reaction of Wittig and Wittig–Horner reagents with dicyanomethylene derivatives of fluorenone,xanthone, and thiaxanthone. A novel synthesis of phosphoranylidenecyclobutylidene derivatives

>Wittig reagents 1a,b react with dicyanomethylene derivatives of fluorenone (3) and xanthone (4) to give the corresponding phosphoranylidenecyclobutylidene adducts 6a, 6b, 9a, and 9b. On the other hand, the reaction of Wittig–Horner reagents (2) with the same nitriles 3 and 4 afforded the respective phosphonate adduct 8 and the alkylated product 10. A mechanism that accounts for the formation of the new products is presented. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Heteroatom Chem 10: 263–269, 1999     

Entrained Flow Gasification of Polypropylene Pyrolysis Oil

Petrochemical products could be produced from circular feedstock, such as waste plastics. Most plants that utilize syngas in their production are today equipped with entrained flow gasifiers, as this type of gasifier generates the highest syngas quality. However, feeding of circular feedstocks to an entrained flow gasifier can be problematic. Therefore, in this work, a two-step process was studied, in which polypropylene was pre-treated by pyrolysis to produce a liquid intermediate that was easily fed to the gasifier. The products from both pyrolysis and gasification were thoroughly characterized. Moreover, the product yields from the individual steps, as well as from the entire process chain, are reported. It was estimated that the yields of CO and H₂ from the two-step process were at least 0.95 and 0.06 kg per kg of polypropylene, respectively, assuming that the pyrolysis liquid and wax can be combined as feedstock to an entrained flow gasifier. On an energy basis, the energy content of CO and H₂ in the produced syngas corresponded to approximately 40% of the energy content of the polypropylene raw material. This is, however, expected to be significantly improved on a larger scale where losses are proportionally smaller.     

Load-Sharing Model under Lindley Distribution and Its Parameter Estimation Using the Expectation-Maximization Algorithm

A load-sharing system is defined as a parallel system whose load will be redistributed to its surviving components as each of the components fails in the system. Our focus is on making statistical inference of the parameters associated with the lifetime distribution of each component in the system. In this paper, we introduce a methodology which integrates the conventional procedure under the assumption of the load-sharing system being made up of fundamental hypothetical latent random variables. We then develop an expectation maximization algorithm for performing the maximum likelihood estimation of the system with Lindley-distributed component lifetimes. We adopt several standard simulation techniques to compare the performance of the proposed methodology with the Newton–Raphson-type algorithm for the maximum likelihood estimate of the parameter. Numerical results indicate that the proposed method is more effective by consistently reaching a global maximum.     

Determination of gold fineness by laser induced breakdown spectroscopy with the simultaneous use of CW-CO2 and Q-SW Nd:YAG lasers

In this work, the gold fineness is precisely determined using the dual beam arrangement including simultaneous irradiation of CW-CO₂ and Q-SW Nd:YAG lasers. It was shown that the enhancement of the characteristic emission lines occurs at higher temperatures with minimal surface distortion of the target respect to that of single beam exposure. The accuracy of gold concentration was determined to be as low as 0.7% using calibration-free (CF) method.     

Stoichiometry,product and kinetics of catalytic oxidation of 2,6–dimethylphenol by bromo(N,N′- diethylethylenediamine)copper complexes in methylene chloride

Copper(I) dimer [(DEED)CuBr]2 (4, DEED=N,N-diethylethylenediamine) is rapidly oxidized by O2 to mixed valence peroxocopper complex [(DEED)CuBr]4O2 (1) in CH2Cl2 at –50 to 30°C. The long half- life for conversion of (1) into oxocopper(II) complex [(DEED)]CuBr]2O (3) allows (1), (3) and their carbonato derivative of [(DEED)CuBr]2CO3 (5) to be compared as oxidants of 2,6–dimethylphenol (DMPOH) to the corresponding diphenoquinone (DPQ) over a range of concentrations and temperatures. DPQ production is: 1)less than stoichiometric with deficits or slight excesses of DMPOH, but 2) mildly catalytic at moderate [DMPOH], as found with tetranuclear oxo-halo(pyridine)copper(II) oxidants. This behaviour is attributed to 1) co-product water destruction of initiators, and 2) inhibition by water of copper(I) reoxidation to complete the catalytic cycle. These inhibiting factors apparently are ameliorated by water incorporation in hydrogen-bonded phenol clusters in aprotic solvents. Initial rate measurements show that (1), (3) and (5) form monophenolate complexes with DMPOH in methylene chloride. The rate-determining step for conversion of these complexes to DPQ is fastest for oxocopper(II) complex (3) which is expected to be the strongest proticbase. Highest rates with (3) and activation parameter comparisons suggest that the ability of phenolatocoppercomplexes to accept protons from coordinated phenolate is an important factor in determining overall copper- catalyzed phenolic oxidative coupling rates.     

Iron(III) chloride-catalyzed convenient one-pot synthesis of β-acetamido carbonyl compounds

A one-pot multi-component reaction of aldehydes, enolizable ketones or 1,3-dicarbonyls, acetonitrile/benzonitrile, and acetyl chloride is described for the preparation of β-acetamido carbonyl compounds using FeCl₃·6H₂O as a mild, inexpensive, and highly efficient catalyst. The effect of substrate as well as substituent for multi-component reaction versus Knoevenagel condensation is also illustrated. The key features of this methodology are operational simplicity, mild reaction conditions, and good yields.     

Transesterification Reaction of Dimethyl Terephthalate by 2-Ethylhexanol in the Presence of Heterogeneous Catalysts under Solvent-free Condition

In this study, the synthesis of bis-（2-ethylhexyl） terephthalate, via the transesterification reaction of dimethyl terephthalate （DMT） by 2-ethylhexanol in the presence of different heterogeneous catalysts, such as Pb（OAc）2·3H2O, Cd（OAc）2·2H2O, Zn（OAc）2·2H2O, Hg（OAc）2·Ca（OAc）2·H2O, Cu（OAc）2·H2O, NaOAc, CaCO3, CaO, ZnSO4·7H2O, and sulfated zirconia, has been investigated. The reactivity of the catalysts in the reaction progress has been studied and compared. It was found that, hydrated cadmium acetate and sulfated zirconia were reactive catalysts to this reaction. The extent of transesterification of methyl ester groups reached up to 93% and 85.6% using these catalysts, respectively.     

Langmuir monolayers of cerebroside originated from Linckia laevigata: binary systems of cerebrosides and phospholipid

The surface pressure (pi)-area (A), the surface potential (DeltaV)-A and the dipole moment (mu( perpendicular))-A isotherms were obtained for six cerebrosides of LLC-2, LLC-2-1, LLC-2-8, LLC-2-10, LLC-2-12, and LLC-2-15, which were isolated from Linckia laevigata, and two-component monolayers of two different cerebrosides (LLC-2 and LLC-2-8) with phospholipid of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) on a subphase of 0.15 M sodium chloride solution as a function of cerebroside compositions in the two-component systems by employing the Wilhelmy method, the ionizing electrode method, and the fluorescence microscopy. The new finding was that LLC-2 showed a stable and liquid expanded type film. Four of them (LLC-2-8, -10, -12, and -15) had the phase transition from the liquid-expanded (LE) to the liquid-condensed (LC) states at 298.2 K. The apparent molar quantity changes (Deltas(gamma), Deltah(gamma), and Deltau(gamma)) on their phase transition on 0.15M at 298.2 K were calculated. The miscibility of cerebroside and phospholipid in the two-component monolayers was examined by plotting the variation of the molecular area and the surface potential as a function of the cerebroside molar fraction (X(cerebroside)), using the additivity rule. From the A-X(cerebroside) and DeltaV(m)-X(phospholipid) plots, a partial molecular surface area (PMA) and an apparent partial molecular surface potential (APSP) were determined at the discrete surface pressure. The PMA and APSP with the mole fraction were extensively discussed for the miscible systems. Judging from the two-dimensional phase diagrams, these were found to be one type, a positive azeotropic type; all the cerebrosides were miscible with DPPC. Furthermore, assuming a regular surface mixture, the Joos equation for the analysis of the collapse pressure of two-component monolayers allowed calculation of the interaction parameter (xi) and the interaction energy (-Deltavarepsilon) between the cerebrosides and DPPC. The miscibility of cerebroside and phospholipid components in the monolayer state was also supported by fluorescence microscopy.     

Daphcalycine,a novel heptacycle fused ring system alkaloid from Daphniphyllum calycinum

A novel Daphniphyllum alkaloid, daphcalycine (1), was isolated together with known daphnicyclidin D (2) from the stem bark of Daphniphyllum calycinum. The highly condensed polycyclic structure, established by spectral analysis, possessed an unusual framework: a central quinuclidine like tricycle produced by fusion of a piperidine, a tetrahydropyran, and an oxazine ring in turn condensed to surrounding three penta-, one hexa-, and one hepta-membered rings. The relative configuration of 11 carbon stereocenters of 1 was elucidated on the basis of NOESY.