Regioselective Hydroformylation of Internal and Terminal Alkenes via Remote Supramolecular Control

Regioselective catalytic transformations using supramolecular directing groups are increasingly popular as it allows for control over challenging reactions that may otherwise be impossible. In most examples the reactive group and the directing group are close to each other and/or the linker between the directing group is very rigid. Achieving control over the regioselectivity using a remote directing group with a flexible linker is significantly more challenging due to the large conformational freedom of such substrates. Herein, we report the redesign of a supramolecular Rh–bisphosphite hydroformylation catalyst containing a neutral carboxylate receptor (DIM pocket) with a larger distance between the phosphite metal binding moieties and the DIM pocket. For the first time regioselective conversion of internal and terminal alkenes containing a remote carboxylate directing group is demonstrated. For carboxylate substrates that possess an internal double bond at the Δ-9 position regioselectivity is observed. As such, the catalyst was used to hydroformylate natural monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) in a regioselective fashion, forming of an excess of the 10-formyl product (10-formyl/9-formyl product ratio of 2.51), which is the first report of a regioselective hydroformylation reaction of such substrates.     

Flexible,dicationic imidazolium salts for in situ application in palladium‐catalysed Mizoroki–Heck coupling of acrylates under aerobic conditions

The synthesis, characterization and in situ catalytic performance of new unsymmetric N,N′‐disubstituted imidazolium‐based dicationic salts in Mizoroki–Heck coupling of acrylates with aryl bromides under aerobic conditions are described. A series of flexible dicationic salts with varying steric and electronic properties were synthesized in good to excellent yields. All the salts were well characterized using spectroscopic techniques. X‐ray diffraction analysis of two salts with the same dicationic backbone and different counter anions shows that the ligand adopts two different conformations which are influenced by the nature of the anion. Thus, the ligand is capable of changing its conformation according to the change in environment due to its flexible nature. All the synthesized imidazolium salts were found to be active in in situ palladium‐catalysed Mizoroki–Heck coupling under aerobic conditions. Amongst the salts, the hydroxyl‐functionalized imidazolium salt, incorporating the features of both bidentate chelating O,O ligand and carbene, shows the maximum catalytic activity. A variety of aryl and heteroaryl methyl and ethyl cinnamates were synthesized using these imidazolium salts as preligands. In addition, NMR studies confirm in situ generation of normal N‐heterocyclic carbenes from the C‐2 position of imidazol‐2‐ylidene ring. The mercury poisoning test was also performed to ascertain the nature of catalytically active palladium species. Aerobic conditions, low catalytic loading (0.5 mol%), shorter reaction times, broad functional group tolerance and good to excellent isolated yields are some of the significant features of the novel catalytic systems described here. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

New Enantioselective Routes to Cyclic and Acyclic S,O-acetals; Enzymatic Resolution of α-Acetoxy Sulfides and Enantioselective Synthesis of the Antiviral Agent Lamivudine

A new method for the synthesis of cyclic and acyclic optically active S,O-acetals is reported, along with subsequent stereocontrolled transformations, culminating in a synthesis of the important antiviral nucleoside Lamivudine.     

Al2O3/K2O-containing non-stoichiometric lithium disilicate-based glasses

The crystallisation kinetics of experimental glasses in 3 different systems: (A) Li₂O–SiO₂, (B) Li₂O–Al₂O₃–SiO₂ and (C) Li₂O–K₂O–Al₂O₃–SiO₂ were studied under non-isothermal conditions. The DTA results revealed a stronger tendency to crystallisation of binary compositions in comparison to the ternary and quaternary compositions comprising Al₂O₃ and K₂O which present the lower crystallisation, i.e. the crystallisation propensity follows the trend A > B > C. The devitrification process in the Li₂O–SiO₂ and Li₂O–Al₂O₃–SiO₂ systems began earlier and the rate was higher in comparison to that of glasses in the quaternary Li₂O–K₂O–Al₂O₃–SiO₂ system. Thus, addition of Al₂O₃ and K₂O to glasses of Li₂O–SiO₂ system was demonstrated to promote glass stability against crystallisation. However, the activation energy for crystallisation was shown to depend also on the SiO₂/Li₂O ratio with the binary system showing a decreasing trend with increasing SiO₂/Li₂O ratio, while the opposite tendency was being observed for compositions with added Al₂O₃ and K₂O.     

TG and DSC analyses of eucalyptus black liquor as alternative methods to estimate solids content

As a consequence of the continuous increase in the production rate of pulp and paper mills around the world, a great quantity of black liquor, a by-product of the wood digestion process, is produced. This by-product has a great potential as biomass, but needs to be concentrated to higher solids content to be burned as fuel in a recovery boiler. This is necessary to make the pulping process economically feasible, incinerating black liquor to produce high pressure steam, recycling inorganic chemicals to the process. The greater the solids content in black liquor, the better the combustion process in the boiler. Nevertheless, concentration of solids in black liquor above 75 mass/%, causes scaling formation on the heat transfer surfaces of evaporators and concentrators, due to the precipitation of sodium salts, reducing the overall efficiency of this equipment. The aim of this work is to evaluate the use of thermal analyses techniques, TG and DSC, as alternative methods to estimate solids content in eucalyptus black liquor samples since this information is essential to understand scaling formation process, allowing actions to reduce this industrial problem. Traditional techniques applied to determine solids content use gravimetric methods, which are simple, fine, but take a lot of time to be executed. Thermal analyses have proved to be very accurate and have the advantage to be faster than the traditional techniques. On the other hand, the cost-benefit relationship of the traditional technique is much greater and the final decision which one should be used depends on the conditions available.     

Growth of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes on carbon fiber: thermal and electrochemical treatments

Composite electrodes of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNT) were synthesized on carbon fiber (CF) substrate by pyrolysis of camphor/ferrocene using a SiO₂ interlayer as a barrier against metal diffusion into the substrate. Two treatments were used to remove iron from CF/VACNT structure: thermal annealing at high temperature under inert atmosphere and electrochemical oxidation in H₂SO₄ solution. The composites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and Raman scattering spectroscopy. Besides, the electrochemical behavior of CF/VACNT was analyzed by cyclic voltammetry and charge/discharge tests. CF/VACNT composite submitted to the electrochemical oxidation showed the best electrochemical performance, with high specific capacitance, which makes it very attractive as electrode for supercapacitors.     

Analysis of polar peptides using a silica hydride column and high aqueous content mobile phases

The retention behavior of a set of polar peptides separated on a silica hydride stationary phase was examined with a capillary HPLC system coupled to ESI‐MS detection. The mobile phases consisted of formic acid or acetic acid/acetonitrile/water mixtures with the acetonitrile content ranging from 5 to 80% v/v. The effects on peptide retention of these two acidic buffer additives and their concentrations in the mobile phase were systematically investigated. Strong retention of the peptides on the silica hydride phase was observed with relatively high‐organic low‐aqueous mobile phases (i.e. under aqueous normal‐phase conditions). However, when low concentrations of acetic acid were employed as the buffer additive, strong retention of the peptides was also observed even when high aqueous content mobile phases were employed. This unique feature of the stationary phase therefore provides an opportunity for chromatographic analysis of polar peptides with water‐rich eluents, a feature usually not feasible with traditional RP sorbents, and thus under conditions more compatible with analytical green chemistry criteria. In addition, both isocratic and gradient elution procedures can be employed to optimize peptide separations with excellent reproducibility and resolution under these high aqueous mobile phase conditions with this silica hydride stationary phase.     

Simultaneous separation of hydrophobic and polar bases using a silica hydride stationary phase

In this study, the retention behavior of selected hydrophobic and polar bases on a minimally modified silica hydride phase was investigated. From these results and the associated retention plots, significant differences in the chromatographic dependencies of these two classes of basic compounds were evident. The polar bases exhibited strong retention with mobile phases of high organic solvent content, but displayed weak retention with mobile phases of high water content. In contrast, the hydrophobic bases showed “U‐shape” retention dependencies, indicative of the interplay of both RP and normal‐phase retention characteristics. These studies have demonstrated that hydrophobic and polar bases can be simultaneously separated on the same column either under typical RP‐like or aqueous normal‐phase‐like conditions, respectively, with distinctive selectivity. Finally, the effects of temperature on the RP and aqueous normal phase modality of separations with these analytes were investigated, where discrete changes in retention behavior were also observed.