Synthesis of tetrasubstituted 4,4'-biimidazoles

Highly substituted 4,4'-biimidazoles were synthesized, in good to excellent yields, through a multicomponent imidazole ring synthesis by using imidazol-4-yl-ethane-1,2-diones as starting materials. The obtained compounds were preliminarily tested as chromogenic and fluorescent sensors for heavy metals.     

An Efficient Solid-Phase Microextraction–Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry Method for the Analysis of Methyl Farnesoate Released in Growth Medium by Daphnia pulex

Methyl farnesoate (MF), a juvenile hormone, can influence phenotypic traits and stimulates male production in daphnids. MF is produced endogenously in response to stressful conditions, but it is not known whether this hormone can also be released into the environment to mediate stress signaling. In the present study, for the first time, a reliable solid-phase microextraction–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-MS) method was developed and validated for the ultra-trace analysis of MF released in growth medium by Daphnia pulex maintained in presence of crowding w/o MK801, a putative upstream inhibitor of MF endogenous production. Two different clonal lineages, I and S clones, which differ in the sensitivity to the stimuli leading to male production, were also compared. A detection limit of 1.3 ng/L was achieved, along with good precision and trueness, thus enabling the quantitation of MF at ultra-trace level. The achieved results demonstrated the release of MF by both clones at the 20 ng/L level in control conditions, whereas a significant decrease in the presence of crowding was assessed. As expected, a further reduction was obtained in the presence of MK801. These findings strengthen the link between environmental stimuli and the MF signaling pathway. Daphnia pulex, by releasing the juvenile hormone MF in the medium, could regulate population dynamics by means of an autoregulatory feedback loop that controls the intra- and extra-individual-level release of MF produced by endogenous biosynthesis.     

Palladium-catalyzed Heck reaction on 1-alkoxy-1,3-dienes: a regioselective gamma-arylation of alpha,beta-unsaturated carbonyl compounds

[reaction: see text] alpha,beta-Unsaturated acetals afford, in the presence of the LIC-KOR superbase, 1-alkoxybuta-1,3-dienes. These substrates cross couple with aryl derivatives in the presence of Pd catalyst (Heck conditions) in a regio- and stereoselective mode. With dialkyl acetals, the reaction affords arylated dienes; on the other hand, in the case of 1,3-dioxane derivatives, the final outcome of the process formally corresponds to the direct gamma-arylation reaction of the starting alpha,beta-unsaturated material.     

Detection of nitroaromatic and cyclic nitramine compounds by cyclodextrin assisted capillary electrophoresis quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometry

An Agilent 3DCE capillary electrophoresis system using sulfobutylether-beta-cyclodextrin (SB-beta-CD)-ammonium acetate separation buffer pH 6.9 was coupled to a Bruker Esquire 3000+ quadrupole ion trap mass detector via a commercially available electrospray ionization interface with acetonitrile sheath flow. The CE-MS system was applied in negative ionization mode for the resolution and detection of nitroaromatic and polar cyclic or caged nitramine energetic materials including TNT [2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, formula mass (FW) 227.13], TNB (1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, FW 213.12), RDX (hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine, FW 222.26) HMX (octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine, FW 296.16), and CL-20 (2,4,6,8,10,12-hexanitro-2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaazaisowurtzitane, FW 438.19). The CE-MS system conformed to the high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet absorbance detection (HPLC-UV) and HPLC-MS reference methods for the identification of energetic contaminants and their degradation products in soil and marine sediment samples.     

UNUSUAL CRYSTALLIZATION AND MELTING PROCESSES OF AN OPTICALLY ACTIVE POLYOLEFIN： ISOTACTIC POLY（（S）-4-METHYL-HEXENE-1）

Polyolefins that bear a chiral side chain (typically an isobutyl group) experience a so-called macromolecular amplification of chirality: the chiral side-chain induces a slight preference for either tg or tg- main chain conformation. This slight conformational bias is amplified cooperatively along the chain, and results in preferred chirality of the main chain helical conformations. As a result, these polymers display a liquid-crystal (LC) phase both in solution and, in the melt as a transient phase on the way to crystallization. The existence of two processes (melt-LC and LC-crystal transitions) results in unconventional behaviors that were first analyzed by Pino and collaborators back in 1975. These polymers also offer a means to test the structural consequences of recently introduced crystallization schemes. These schemes postulate the formation of a transient liquid-crystal phase as a general scheme for polymer crystallization.     

Existence and uniqueness for p-Laplace equations involving singular nonlinearities

We consider quasilinear elliptic equations involving the p-Laplacian and singular nonlinearities. We prove comparison principles and we deduce some uniqueness results.     

N-metalated imines by reaction of 1,1-diethoxybut-2-ene with aromatic nitriles, as useful intermediates for the synthesis of substituted pyrimidines and cyclopentenones

A new approach to the synthesis of pyrimidines and cyclopentenones is described. The method exploits the reactivity of alpha,beta-unsaturated acetals with aromatic nitriles in the presence of the Schlosser's superbase LIC-KOR.     

Stochastic weighted variational inequalities in non-pivot Hilbert spaces with applications to a transportation model

A class of stochastic weighted variational inequalities in non-pivot Hilbert spaces is proposed. Existence and continuity results are proved. These theoretical results play a prominent role in order to introduce a new weighted transportation model with uncertainty. Moreover, they allow to establish the equivalence between the random weighted equilibrium principle and a suitable stochastic weighted variational inequality. At the end, a numerical model is discussed.