Parahydrogen induced polarization of barbituric acid derivatives: 1H hyperpolarization studies

Homogeneous hydrogenation of barbituric acid derivatives with parahydrogen yields a substantial increase of the (1)H NMR signals of the reaction products. These physiologically relevant compounds were hydrogenated at both ambient and elevated temperatures and pressures using a standard cationic rhodium catalyst. The resulting nonthermal nuclear spin polarization (hyperpolarization) is limited by the spin-lattice relaxation time T(1) of the corresponding nuclei in the products, being shorter than the time constant of the hydrogenation. The signal-to-noise ratio of the NMR spectra could be further increased upon signal averaging the antiphase PHIP signals of 25 successive scans following 30 degrees pulse experiments and a delay of 10 s.     

Non-affine structural evolution of soft colloidal crystalline latex films under stretching as observed via synchrotron X-ray scattering

A polymer dispersion consisting of soft latex spheres with a diameter of 135 nm was used to produce a crystalline film with face-centered cubic (fcc) packing of the spheres. Different from conventional small-molecule and hard-sphere colloidal crystals, the crystalline latex film in the present case is soft (i.e., easily deformable). The structural evolution of this soft colloidal latex film under stretching was investigated by in-situ synchrotron ultra-small-angle X-ray scattering. The film exhibits polycrystalline scattering behavior corresponding to fcc structure. Stretching results not only in a large deformation of the crystallographic structure but also in considerable nonaffine deformation at high draw ratios. The unexpected nonaffine deformation was attributed to slippage between rows of particles and crystalline grain boundaries. The crystalline structure remains intact even at high deformation, suggesting that directional anisotropic colloidal crystallites can be easily produced.     

The DMAP-catalyzed acetylation of alcohols--a mechanistic study (DMAP = 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine)

The acetylation of tert-butanol with acetic anhydride catalyzed by 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine (DMAP) has been studied at the Becke3 LYP/6-311 + G(d,p)//Becke3 LYP/6-31G(d) level of theory. Solvent effects have been estimated through single-point calculations with the PCM/UAHF solvation model. The energetically most favorable pathway proceeds through nucleophilic attack of DMAP at the anhydride carbonyl group and subsequent formation of the corresponding acetylpyridinium/acetate ion pair. Reaction of this ion pair with the alcohol substrate yields the final product, tert-butylacetate. The competing base-catalyzed reaction pathway can either proceed in a concerted or in a stepwise manner. In both cases the reaction barrier far exceeds that of the nucleophilic catalysis mechanism. The reaction mechanism has also been studied experimentally in dichloromethane through analysis of the reaction kinetics for the acetylation of cyclohexanol with acetic anhydride, in the presence of DMAP as catalyst and triethylamine as the auxiliary base. The reaction is found to be first-order with respect to acetic anhydride, cyclohexanol, and DMAP, and zero-order with respect to triethyl amine. Both the theoretical as well as the experimental studies strongly support the nucleophilic catalysis pathway.     

Messungen zum thermischen Zerfall von HCN hinter Sto?wellen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Selective oxidation and reduction of trinuclear titanium(II) hexaazatrinaphthylene complexes-synthesis, structure, and electrochemical investigations

Titanocene complexes with chelating N-heterocyclic ligand bridges react with ferrocenium salts as selective oxidants to afford air-stable cationic complexes and allow the preparation of exceptional mixed valence hexaazatrinaphthylene complexes [(Cp2Ti)3(mu3-HATNMe6)]n+ (1n+) (n=1, 2, 3, 4). Cyclic voltammograms (CV) and differential pulse voltammograms (DPV) show that nine oxidation states of 1 are generated without decomposition. Comproportionation constants Kc have been calculated in order to determine the extent of electronic communication between the titanium centers. The Kc values of the mixed valence states are indicative of uncoupled (14+), moderately coupled (15+), and strongly coupled (1-, 1+, and 12+) systems. Small but significant structural changes occurring upon oxidation of neutral 1 are observed by X-ray structural analysis on 1+-14+. Anion-pi interactions between the electron-deficient central ring of the HATNMe6 moiety and PF6- and BF4- counterions, respectively, are found for 12+, 13+, and 14+. The short cation-anion contacts cause interesting molecular allignments in terms of molecular architecture. For 12+ the assembly of an one-dimensional (1D) polymer is observed. Electrochemical investigations on the mononuclear cationic titanocene complexes [(Cp2Ti)(L)]+ (L=2,2'-biquinoline (2+), 4,4'-dimethyl-2,2'-biquinoline (3+), and 5,8'-dimethyl-2,3'-biquinoxaline (4+)) showed similar oxidation and reduction characteristics among each other. Conversion to monoanionic, neutral, and dicationic states is enabled. As found for the trinuclear compounds 1n+, the molecular structures of 2+-4+ reveal significant differences compared to their neutral parents.     

Functional connectivity between task-positive and task-negative brain areas and its relation to working memory performance

Functional brain imaging studies have identified a set of brain areas typically activated during cognitive tasks (task-positive brain areas) and another set of brain areas typically deactivated during cognitive tasks (task-negative brain areas). Negative correlations, or anticorrelations, between task-positive and task-negative brain areas have been reported at rest. Furthermore, the strength of these anticorrelations appears to be related to cognitive function. However, studies examining anticorrelations have typically employed global regression or similar analysis steps that force anticorrelated relationships to exist between brain areas. Therefore the validity of these findings has been questioned. Here we examine anticorrelations between a task-negative region in the medial frontal gyrus/anterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a classic task-positive area, using an analysis that does not include global regression. Instead, we control for whole-brain correlations in the group-level analysis. Using this approach, we demonstrate that the strength of the functional connection between the medial frontal cortex and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is related to cognitive function and that this relationship is not an artifact of global regression.     

Method for the determination of thorium and uranium in urine by ICP-MS

ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry) is shown as a very sensitive method for quantitative determination of Th and U concentration and excretion analysis in urine without any sample pretreatment. The current standard method for incorporation monitoring applies alpha-spectrometry, a very tedious and time consuming technique. ICP-MS offers an attractive alternative for monitoring of thorium and uranium body burdens in occupationally exposed subjects and also larger groups of the general population. A limit of determination of 0.5 ng/L in aqueous solutions and 1 ng/L in urine samples for both elements was achieved, with a precision of about ± 10% in the concentration range of appr. 10 ng/L. Due to the lack of a suitable reference material, the accuracy of the method was tested by comparing some of the results with those obtained by -spectrometry, especially for U. There was a sufficient agreement on both results.