Mesoionic dimethyl derivatives of some 1,2,4-triazinones. The course of the reaction of 3,5-dimethoxy, 3-methoxy-5-methylthio, 5-methoxy-3- methylthio and 3,5-bis(methylthio)-1,2,4-triazine with methyl iodide

Treatment of 3,5-dimethoxy-1,2,4-triazine ( 1a ) with methyl iodide was found to give depending on the reaction time triazinium iodide 2a , triaziniumolates 4a and 6a as well as methoxytriazinones 7a and 8a . Thermolysis of 2a gave triaziniumolates 4a and 6a . Reaction of 2a , 4a or methoxytriazinone 9a with methyl iodide in acetonitrile yielded as the sole product 6a . Reaction of 3-methoxy-5-methylthio-1,2,4-tri-azine (1b ) with methyl iodide gave triazinium iodide 2b and methylthio triazinone 7b . Hydrolysis of 2a,b afforded 4a . Reaction of 5-methoxy-3-methylthio-1,2,4-triazine ( 1c ) with methyl iodide gave triazinium iodide 2c , triaziniumolate 4b , triazinium iodide 5b and triazinone 8b . Hydrolysis of 2c yielded 4b and its thermolysis gave a mixture of 4b and 5b . Reaction of 2c , 4b and triazinone 9b with methyl iodide afforded 5b . Treatment of 3,5-bis(methylthio)-1,2,4-triazine ( 1d ) with methyl iodide was found to give a mixture of N1 and N2 methiodides 2d and 3d which gave on hydrolysis 4b and 8b , respectively. Methylation of 6-methyl derivatives 1c-g gave analogous results, however the proportions of N1 methylated products were lower and the reaction rates higher in comparison to their respective lower homologues 1a,c,d . The structures of the mesoionic dimethyl derivatives were assigned from uv, ir, ¹H nmr and electron impact mass spectra. The structural assignments were eventually confirmed by quantum chemical calculations of net charge distributions, bond lengths and ipso angles of the C5?O bonds.     

NMR determination of pKa values of indoloquinoline alkaloids

Malaria is one of the most serious global health problems. Isolating new therapeutic agents with potential antimalarial activity from natural sources or preparing such agents either semisynthetically or synthetically is one strategy for solving the problem of resistance constantly evolving to the drugs currently in use. For alkaloids, the acid–base dissociation constant, pK_a, is an important characteristic, thought to be associated with biological activity. In this contribution, pK_a values for several indoloquinoline alkaloids were determined by using ¹H NMR spectroscopy in a mixture of solvents. The data were recalculated for water solutions using the correction factors reported previously. The structural dependence of the pK_a values for cryptolepine and its isomers neocryptolepine, isocryptolepine and isoneocryptolepine as well as some substituted neocryptolepine derivatives is discussed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Collagen-grafted ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene for biomedical applications

A novel material for hard tissue implants has been prepared. The ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) was grafted with collagen I, to improve its biocompatibility with soft tissue in case of its usage in bone engineering. Before collagen immobilization, commercial grade UHMWPE was treated with air plasma to introduce hydroperoxides onto the surface and subsequently grafted with carboxylic acid to functionalize the surface. Acrylic acid and itaconic acid were used for surface functionalization. After graft polymerization of carboxylic acids, collagen was immobilized covalently through the amide bonds between residual amino and carboxyl groups in the presence of water-soluble carbodiimide/hydroxysuccinimide cross-linking system. Each step of modification was characterized using spectroscopic (EPR, ATR-FTIR, and XPS), microscopic (SEM and CLSM), and contact angle measurement methods. The experimental results showed that plasma treatment led to a generation of free radicals on the UHMWPE surface resulting in the formation of unstable hydroperoxides. These reactive species were used to graft unsaturated carboxylic acids onto UHMWPE. Consequently, collagen was grafted via the-NH₂ and-COOH reaction. The obtained experimental data along with microscopic observations confirmed the success of graft poly-merization of itaconic as well as of acrylic acid and collagen immobilization onto the UHMWPE surface. Presented at the 1st Bratislava Young Polymer Scientists Workshop, Bratislava, 20–23 August, 2007.     

Detection system for electro-separation analytical methods

The paper provides information about the on-line monitoring of components analysed by capillary electrophoresis. For this purposes we developed a whole-capillary transverse scanning detection system, which helps to improve and control the separation processes. A picture from a colour line scanner was used as a source of basic information for autonomous control of the separation process by regulation of the high voltage source. The application and algorithms for machine vision were designed in the progressive graphic development system LabVIEW. Real-time control of the separation process was implemented in a compact control process logic controller. The performance of the detection system was evaluated and the function of the overall system was tested by performing isotachophoretic analysis of a model mixture.     

Supramolecular shuttle based on inclusion complex between cucurbit[6]uril and bispyridinium ethylene

Cucurbit[6]uril (CB6) and bispyridinium ethylene form a stable inclusion complex. A rotaxane derived from this complex was prepared in which a CB6 wheel shuttles along an axle in an NMR time-resolved regime.     

The role of syntax in complex networks: Local and global importance of verbs in a syntactic dependency network

Syntax of natural language has been the focus of linguistics for decades. The complex network theory, being one of new research tools, opens new perspectives on syntax properties of the language. Despite numerous partial achievements, some fundamental problems remain unsolved. Specifically, although statistical properties typical for complex networks can be observed in all syntactic networks, the impact of syntax itself on these properties is still unclear. The aim of the present study is to shed more light on the role of syntax in the syntactic network structure. In particular, we concentrate on the impact of the syntactic function of a verb in the sentence on the complex network structure. Verbs play the decisive role in the sentence structure (“local” importance). From this fact we hypothesize the importance of verbs in the complex network (“global” importance). The importance of verb in the complex network is assessed by the number of links which are directed from the node representing verb to other nodes in the network. Six languages (Catalan, Czech, Dutch, Hungarian, Italian, Portuguese) were used for testing the hypothesis.