Enzymatic resolution of bicyclic 1-heteroarylamines using Candida antarctica lipase B

Candida antarctica lipase B has been used to kinetically resolve a structurally diverse series of bicyclic 1-heteroaryl primary amines by enantioselective acetylation. High yields of either enantiomer could be obtained with excellent enantioselectivity (90-99% ee), while the undesired enantiomer could, in some cases, be recycled by thermal racemization. The absolute stereochemistry of the products was confirmed by an X-ray crystal structure.     

Conformal and semi-conformal biharmonic maps

We show that a conformal mapping between Riemannian manifolds of the same dimension n ≥ 3 is biharmonic if and only if the gradient of its dilation satisfies a certain second-order elliptic partial differential equation. On an Einstein manifold solutions can be generated from isoparametric functions. We characterise those semi-conformal submersions that are biharmonic in terms of their dilation and the fibre mean curvature vector field.      

A biomimetic approach to the synthesis of a mycolic acid motif

A new method for the stereoselective synthesis of the (R,R)-β-hydroxy-α-alkyl fatty acid fragment of mycolic acids, via an asymmetric anti-aldol reaction is reported. The ‘mycolic acid motif’ fragment was prepared in three steps and >98% ee.     

Synthesis of 1-Bromosubstituted Analogs of cis-Deltamethrinic and cis-Permethrinic Acids

In the synthesis of 1-bromosubstituted analogs of cis-deltamethrinic and cis-permethrinic acids, main components of pyrethroids, the key stage is an intramolecular 1,4-O,C-acyl transfer in reactions of 1-acyloxymethyl-2,2-dibromocyclopropanes with methyllithium.     

Investigation of techniques for minimizing resistivity of thin metallic films at submillimeter wavelengths

Experimental investigations of the substrate deposition temperature and annealing temperature influence on aluminum films deposited on diamond substrates were conducted. Tests were performed at direct current and at 101.55 GHz. Minimum resistivity levels, near theoretical predictions, occurred for deposition temperatures in the range of 50–160°C and for peak annealing temperatures of 100–120°C. Both colder and hotter substrate temperatures resulted in larger resistivity levels.     

The role of transient rheology in polymeric sintering

The initial theory of Frenkel and Eshelby for the coalescence of drops in air (or sintering) of Newtonian fluids, which equated the work of surface tension to the work done by viscous stresses while assuming biaxial extensional flow kinematics, was extended to the case of time-dependent material functions using the Upper Convected Maxwell (UCM) model. A numerical scheme was developed to solve the ordinary differential equations (ODE) for the stresses, which are embedded in the ODE based on the mechanical energy balance. Initial conditions required to solve the set of non-linear ODEs were obtained from visualization experiments of the coalescing drops as the theory for elastic contact gave unrealistically high values of the initial neck radius. The transient model predicted that coalescence was accelerated by increasing the relaxation time, the opposite relationship of what was predicted by the steady-state UCM formulation, and was capable of quantitatively predicting the experimental coalescence rates at times when viscoelasticity was important.     

Primary normal-stress difference for two liquid crystalline copolyesters

The primary normal-stress difference,N ₁, was determined in both steady and transient shear flow experiments for thermotropic copolyesters of 60 and 80 mole% p-hydroxybenzoic acid (PHB) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).N ₁ was observed to be negative for the 80 mole% system at low shear rates and temperatures below 332 °C (a tensile stress, e.g. σ₁₁ is taken here to be positive). At higher shear rates and for temperatures above 332 °C,N ₁ was found to be positive. Values ofN ₁ for the 60 mole% pHBA/PET system were always positive over the same range of shear rates. Although it is not certain as to the origin of the negative values, a probable cause is small density changes upon the inception of flow as well as the existence of a solid phase or some texture development in the melt. However, it is shown that it is thermodynamically admissible for liquid crystalline fluids to exhibit negative values ofN ₁.     

Highly aminated mesoporous silica nanoparticles with cubic pore structure

Mesoporous silica with cubic symmetry has attracted interest from researchers for some time. Here, we present the room temperature synthesis of mesoporous silica nanoparticles possessing cubic Pm3?n symmetry with very high molar ratios (>50%) of 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane. The synthesis is robust allowing, for example, co-condensation of organic dyes without loss of structure. By means of pore expander molecules, the pore size can be enlarged from 2.7 to 5 nm, while particle size decreases. Adding pore expander and co-condensing fluorescent dyes in the same synthesis reduces average particle size further down to 100 nm. After PEGylation, such fluorescent aminated mesoporous silica nanoparticles are spontaneously taken up by cells as demonstrated by fluorescence microscopy.