An easy route to pentacyclic terpenylquinones

Cyclisation of terpenylnaphthohydroquinone derivatives or terpenylquinone cycloadducts, obtained from methyl myrcecommunate, was performed in the presence of HI, I₂ or BF₃·OEt₂ and provides efficient synthetic strategies for the preparation of pentacyclic terpenylquinones.     

Assessment of DFT functionals with fluorine–fluorine coupling constants†

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spin–spin coupling constants (SSCCs) provide an important contribution for understanding experimentally observed values. It is known that calculated SSCCs using DFT methods correlate well with those experimentally measured. Unlike most of SSCCs, in fluorine compounds, fluorine–fluorine SSCC J_FF shows that the Fermi contact (FC) term is not dominant, particularly for J_FF in polyfluorinated organic molecules. In order to devise a DFT approach that would correctly reproduce the variation of SSCCs within a series of fluorine compounds, we test several DFT-based approaches, using different exchange and correlation functionals. Isotropic contributions to NMR fluorine–fluorine coupling constants (FC, spin-dipolar, SD, paramagnetic spin-orbit, PSO, and diamagnetic spin-orbit, DSO) have been calculated. Results show that DFT methods give appropriate values for ⁿJ_FF (n = 4 to 7), while for geminal and vicinal J_FF present large deviations from experimental values. For the latter SSCCs (²J_FF and ³J_FF), the four contributions (FC, SD, PSO and DSO) are analysed as a function of the local and nonlocal exchange in 1,1- and 1,2-difluoroethylene. Although FC term is not dominant for these SSCCs, the variation of this contribution with exchange is remarkable. On the other hand, SD and PSO contributions can be suitably computed without and with exact exchange, respectively.     

Radical Copolymerization of Acrylic Monomers. II Effect of Solvent on Radical Copolymerization of Methyl Methacrylate and Styrene

The influence of various solvents on the copolymerization behavior of methyl methacrylate with styrene has been investigated. In these systems there is a significant solvent effect on both r_S and r_M which may be attributed to changes in the dielectric constant of the solvents used. The calculated relative reactivity of the polystyryl radical towards the methyl methacrylate monomer increases with increasing solvent polarity, whereas the reactivity of poly(methyl methacrylate) radical towards styrene monomer decreases. The results obtained are discussed taking into account the behavior of both monomers in homopolymerization with the same experimental conditions as in copolymerization.     

Magnetic separation of heavy metal ions and evaluation based on surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy: Copper(II) ions as a case study

A new approach was developed for the magnetic separation of copper(II) ions with easy operation and high efficiency. p‐Mercaptobenzoic acid served as the modified tag of Fe₂O₃@Au nanoparticles both for the chelation ligand and Raman reporter. Through the chelation between the copper(II) ions and carboxyl groups on the gold shell, the Fe₂O₃@Au nanoparticles aggregated to form networks that were enriched and separated from the solution by a magnet. A significant decrease in the concentration of copper(II) ions in the supernatant solution was observed. An extremely sensitive method based on surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy was employed to detect free copper(II) ions that remained after the magnetic separation, and thus to evaluate the separation efficiency. The results indicated the intensities of the surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy bands from p‐mercaptobenzoic acid were dependent on the concentration of copper(II) ions, and the concentration was decreased by several orders of magnitude after the magnetic separation. The present protocol effectively decreased the total amount of heavy metal ions in the solution. This approach opens a potential application in the magnetic separation and highly sensitive detection of heavy metal ions.     

Effect of Concentration on the Photophysics of Dyes in Light‐Scattering Materials.

Photoactive materials based on dye molecules incorporated into thin films or bulk solids are useful for applications as photosensitization, photocatalysis, solar cell sensitization and fluorescent labeling, among others. In most cases, high concentrations of dyes are desirable to maximize light absorption. Under these circumstances, the proximity of dye molecules leads to the formation of aggregates and statistical traps, which dissipate the excitation energy and lower the population of excited states. The search for enhancement of light collection, avoiding energy wasting requires accounting the photophysical parameters quantitatively, including the determination of quantum yields, complicated by the presence of light scattering when particulate materials are considered. In this work we summarize recent advances on the photophysics of dyes in light‐scattering materials, with particular focus on the effect of dye concentration. We show how experimental reflectance, fluorescence and laser‐induced optoacoustic spectroscopy data can be used together with theoretical models for the quantitative evaluation of inner filter effects, fluorescence and triplet formation quantum yields and energy transfer efficiencies.     

Synthetic Access to New Pyridone Derivatives through the Alkylation Reactions of Hydroxypyridines with Epoxides

General methods for the preparation of a variety of pyridone and oxypyridine derivatives are described. 2‐,3‐,4‐Hydroxy pyridine and 2‐pyridinemethanol were alkylated with ethylene‐, propylene‐, and stryrene‐oxide and epichlorohydrin in the presence of different Lewis acids as a catalyst. The best yield of 3a was achieved in the presence of CdI₂/BF₃ · OEt₂. The corresponding pyridone derivatives (3a–d, 7a–d) were obtained from the reaction of 2‐and 4‐hydroxypyridine with oxiranes in good yields, whereas oxypyridine derivatives (5a–d, 9a,b) were obtained from reactions of 3‐hydroxypyridine and 2‐pyridinemethanol with oxiranes. Chlorohydrines (3d, 5d, 7d) were easily converted to corresponding epoxy derivatives (10, 11, 12) in basic medium; then amino alcohols (13–17) were obtained from the reaction of these epoxy derivatives with amines.     

Tuning the physical properties of a nematic liquid crystal elastomer actuator

In this report we demonstrate the ability to tune the physical properties of a liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) by varying the amount and type of crosslinking within the elastomer network. LCE films composed of a single mesogenic compound were capable of uniaxial contraction when thermally actuated through the nematic to isotropic phase of the material. We probed the physical properties of the LCE films while varying the amount and concentration of two crosslinking agents and measured actuation strains of 10–35%, elastic moduli of 3–14 MPa, and transition temperatures ranging between 75 and 60°C. The viscous losses of the elastomers and the estimated work capable of being produced by the films were also evaluated. The ability to tune the physical properties of the LCE films allows for a wide range of applications including robotics, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), shape‐changing membranes, and/or microfluidics.     

A triphenylamine based multi-analyte chemosensor for Hg and Cu ions in MeCN/H2O

A novel triphenylamine based oxidative chemosensor TOC was synthesized. The chromogenic and fluorogenic behaviors of TOC towards Hg²⁺ and Cu²⁺ ions in a binary mixture of MeCN/H₂O (9/1) were dramatically different. TOC displays colorimetric ‘naked eye’ recognition of Hg²⁺ and fluorogenic ‘turn on’ response towards Cu²⁺ via a unique cyclization reaction using two different detection modes. Moreover, TOCAZOL obtained from the oxidative cyclization reaction of TOC with Cu(ClO₄)₂ can be used as a selective fluorescent sensor toward Hg²⁺ ion.     

Novel Amphiphilic Block Copolymers for the Formation of Stimuli-Responsive Non-Lamellar Lipid Nanoparticles

Non-lamellar lyotropic liquid crystalline (LLC) lipid nanoparticles contain internal multidimensional nanostructures such as the inverse bicontinuous cubic and the inverse hexagonal mesophases, which can respond to external stimuli and have the potential of controlling drug release. To date, the internal LLC mesophase responsiveness of these lipid nanoparticles is largely achieved by adding ionizable small molecules to the parent lipid such as monoolein (MO), the mixture of which is then dispersed into nanoparticle suspensions by commercially available poly(ethylene oxide)–poly(propylene oxide) block copolymers. In this study, the Reversible Addition-Fragmentation chain Transfer (RAFT) technique was used to synthesize a series of novel amphiphilic block copolymers (ABCs) containing a hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) block, a hydrophobic block and one or two responsive blocks, i.e., poly(4-(4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaborolan-2-yl)benzyl acrylate) (PTBA) and/or poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate) (PDMAEMA). High throughput small angle X-ray scattering studies demonstrated that the synthesized ABCs could simultaneously stabilize a range of LLC MO nanoparticles (vesicles, cubosomes, hexosomes, inverse micelles) and provide internal particle nanostructure responsiveness to changes of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) concentrations, pH and temperature. It was found that the novel functional ABCs can substitute for the commercial polymer stabilizer and the ionizable additive in the formation of next generation non-lamellar lipid nanoparticles. These novel formulations have the potential to control drug release in the tumor microenvironment with endogenous H₂O₂ and acidic pH conditions.