Asymmetric synthesis of (3S) 3-benzoyloxymethylisobenzofuranone and its 3R enantiomer as analogues of α,β-butenolides

Both enantiomers of 3-benzoyloxymethylisobenzofuranone have been obtained in good yield in six steps from phthalaldehyde using a d-xylose derivative as a chiral protecting group. The two chiral heterocycles are γ-hydroxymethyl-α,β-butenolide analogues having a benzene ring in positions 2 and 3. The key step was the dihydroxylation using both OsO₄ and AD-mix developed by Sharpless. The asymmetric dihydroxylation using AD-mix required a double diastereoselectivity and gave excellent diastereoisomeric excess.     

New pyrazolic compounds as cytotoxic agents

The evaluation of the in vitro cytotoxic properties of two pyrazole compounds: 1-(4-nitrophényl)-3,5-diméthylpyrazole (1) and 1,1'-di(4-nitrophényl)-5,5'-diisopropyl-3,3'-bipyrazole (2) was investigated against Hep cell line (Human laryngeal carcinoma). These two compounds showed an important cytotoxic activity on the Hep cell line, with IC(50): 8.25 microg mL(-1) for the compound 1; IC(50): 10.20 microg mL(-1) for the compound 2 while the IC(50) for adriamycine used as positive control was 3.62 microg mL(-1).     

Measurement experimental set-up for thermal characterization of low thickness polymers

The characterization of the thermal properties of polymers represents a fundamental step in improving materials for energy harvesting processes. Thermal conductivity, for example, is measured by measuring heat flux and temperature difference. This study seeks to design and fabricate an experimental set-up to measure the thermal conductivity of low-thickness polymers at room temperature. It is unique in that it is an affordable and lightweight instrument developed using electrical resistance as a heater and a limited number of components. Error analysis and reproducibility analysis were carried out for the thermal conductivity. The instrument was found to be reliable in making thermal conductivity measurements with an average of ±7%.     

Optimisation-based simulation of a pressure swing adsorption process

In this paper, an optimisation-based approach is developed for the determination of the cyclic steady-sate (CSS) of a pressure swing adsorption process (PSA). It consists in treating the simulation problem as a single dynamic optimisation problem where the performance index is the CSS condition, the decision variables are the state variables at the start of the cycle and the constraints are given by the process model equations with associated initial conditions. The resulting optimisation problem is solved using a gradient-based non linear programming (NLP) method, e.g. SQP method, where the gradients are computed by means of four different methods: finite differences, numerical and analytical sensitivities and adjoint system methods.     

TGA and magnetization measurements for determination of composition and polymer conversion of magnetic hybrid particles

Magnetic hybrid colloidal particles can be characterized using various techniques and numerous tools leading generally to particles size, size distribution, and electrokinetic properties. However, the chemical composition of these hybrid particles can be estimated using thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). More interestingly, the combination of this quantitative technique with the magnetization measurement leads not only to chemical composition but also to the overall polymerization conversion and more precisely to the polymerization conversion on the seed particles. In fact, the TGA performed on dried magnetic particles leads to exact organic/inorganic chemical composition. Regarding the magnetization, the amount of magnetic material can be deduced, and consequently, the amount of non‐magnetic material can be also estimated. Thus, TGA and magnetization measurements are considered as complementary techniques for characterization of magnetic hybrid colloidal particles. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An analysis of the destabilizing curvature effects on the turbulent flow over a rotating cylinder

An analysis based on the available experimental data and second-order closures is made for a turbulent shear flow over a rotating cylinder in a quiescent fluid. The near-wall behaviour of the non-linear model for the pressure-strain correlation proposed by Speziale, Sarkar and Gatski [J. Fluid Mech. 245, 227 (1991)] is enlarged; and the methodology proposed by Lai and So [J. Fluid Mech. 221, 641 (1990)] is adopted to take into account the wall-effects. The radial profile of the curvature parameter, R_s, is examined in connection with the logarithmic law. It is shown that the log-layer is associated to the region where the mean velocity profile, V, is related to the power of the radial distance as Computations reveal that this region corresponds to the state with the most destabilizing curvature effects; which can be chararacterized by the minimum value of the parameter B _c =2R _s (1+2R _s ), and not that one of the parameter B=2R _s (1+2R _s )/(1+R _s )² firstly introduced by Bradshaw [J. Fluid Mech. 36, 171 (1969)] and extensively used to characterize the turbulence structure in curved flows. Received 9 December 1997