Direct determination of adsorption heats

Energy changes occurring during adsorption in gas-solid and solution-solid systems are considered in connection with measurement of the adsorption enthalpies. Some experimental apparatuses allowing determination both of heat evolved and adsorbed amounts are described, with special regard to those using heat-flow microcalorimeters. Calibration techniques and experimental data reliability are also discussed.     

Crystalline free energies of micelles of diblock copolymer solutions

We report a characterization of the relative stability and structural behavior of various micellar crystals of an athermal model of AB-diblock copolymers in solution. We adopt a previously developed coarse-graining representation of the chains which maps each copolymer on a soft dumbbell. Thanks to this strong reduction of degrees of freedom, we are able to investigate large aggregated systems and for a specific length ratio of the blocks f = M(A)∕(M(A) + M(B)) = 0.6, to locate the order-disorder transition of the system of micelles. Above the transition, mechanical and thermal properties are found to depend on the number of particles per lattice site in the simulation box, and the application of a recent methodology for multiple occupancy crystals [B. M. Mladek et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 235702 (2007)] is necessary to correctly define the equilibrium state. Within this scheme we have performed free energy calculations at two reduced density ρ∕ρ? = 4, 5 and for several cubic structures such as fcc, bcc, and A15. At both densities, the bcc symmetry is found to correspond to the minimum of the unconstrained free energy, that is to the stable symmetry among the few considered, while the A15 structure is almost degenerate, indicating that the present system prefers to crystallize in less packed structures. At ρ∕ρ? = 4 close to melting, the Lindemann ratio is fairly high (～0.29) and the concentration of vacancies is roughly 6%. At ρ∕ρ? = 5 the mechanical stability of the stable bcc structure increases and the concentration of vacancies accordingly decreases. The ratio of the corona layer thickness to the core radius is found to be in good agreement with experimental data for poly(styrene-b-isoprene)(22-12) in isoprene selective solvent which is also reported to crystallize in the bcc structure.     

Synthesis and Structural Characterization of the Trimeric Furoxan (= Furazan 2-Oxide) System,a New Potent Vasodilating Moiety

The synthesis, structural characterization, and NO donor properties of a series of terfuroxan (= terfurazan trioxide) derivatives 1a–h and 2a–j are reported (Schemes 1 and 2). Structural assignments were confirmed principally by mass and ¹³C- and ¹H-NMR spectroscopy. The extent and the initial rate of NO release in the presence of thiol cofactor was evaluated for each derivative. Vasodilator effects of all the terfuroxan derivatives were evaluated on endothelium-denuded strips of rat aorta precontracted with noradrenaline. Concentration-response curves were also evaluated in the presence of 10 m?M oxyhemoglobin (HbO₂), a well known NO scavenger. The whole series displays high vasodilating potency; the most active terfuroxans ( 1a, b, g and 2i ) are 5–10 times as potent as glyceryl trinitrate taken as reference (see Table 3). The potency decrease observed in the presence of HbO₂ agrees with the involvement of NO in the vasorelaxing action. The 4,3′:4′,4″ connection (series 1 ; furoxan numbering) gives rise to the most potent compounds. The conformational factors seem to play important roles in the activity. No clear relationship between physico-chemical properties of the substituents and potencies of derivative emerges.     

Synthesis and crystal structures of 4,4′-bipyridinium and 2,2′-bipyridinium pentachloro complexes containing the polynuclear anions [Bi2Cl10]4− and [Bi4Cl20]8−

The compounds 4,4-bipyridinium(2+) pentachloro-bismuthate(III) (1), [4,4-(C₁₀H₈N₂)BiCl₅] and 2,2-bipyridinium(2+) pentachloro-bismuthate(III) (2), [2,2-(C₁₀H₈N₂)Bi₂Cl₁₀] have been obtained by reacting bismuthate oxide and 4,4-bipyridine or 2,2-bipyridine in HCl acid medium. They have been characterized by single crystal X-ray analysis. (1) crystallizes in the triclinic space group with a = 9.776(2), b = 11.009(3),c = 8.346(1) Å, = 101.58(2), = 98.63(2), and = 112.86(2)°. (2) crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P2₁/c with a = 14.239(2), b = 14.226(2), c = 16.275(3) Å, and = 110.15(2)°. The crystal structure of (1) consists of 4,4-bipyridinium(2+) cations interacting through hydrogen bonding with [Bi₂Cl₁₀]^2– dimers giving rise to endless double chains, while that of (2) is formed by 2,2-bipyridinium(2+) cations and [Bi₄Cl₂₀]^8– tetramers extensively interacting through hydrogen bonding. The different polynuclearity of the anions seems related to the different directions along which each cation can form hydrogen bond interactions.     

A palladium iodide-catalyzed carbonylative approach to functionalized pyrrole derivatives

A novel and convenient approach to functionalized pyrroles is presented, based on Pd-catalyzed oxidative heterocyclization-alkoxycarbonylation of readily available N-Boc-1-amino-3-yn-2-ols. Reactions were carried out in alcoholic solvents at 80-100 °C and under 20 atm (at 25 °C) of a 4:1 mixture of CO-air, in the presence of the PdI(2)-KI catalytic system (2-5 mol % of PdI(2), KI/PdI(2) molar ratio = 10). In the case of N-Boc-1-amino-3-yn-2-ols 3, bearing alkyl or aryl substituents, the carbonylation reaction led to a mixture of Boc-protected and N-unsubstituted pyrrole-3-carboxylic esters 4 and 5, respectively. This mixture could be conveniently and quantitatively converted into deprotected pyrrole-3-carboxylic esters 5 by a simple basic treatment. In the case of diastereomeric (3RS,4RS)- and (3RS,4SR)-N-Boc-3-amino-2-methyldec-5-yn-4-ol (syn-3f and anti-3f, respectively, whose relative configuration was determined by X-ray crystallographic analysis), no particular difference was observed in the reactivity of the two diastereomers between them and with respect to the diastereomeric mixture (3S,4S) + (3S,4R). Interestingly, N-Boc-2-alkynyl-1-amino-3-yn-2-ols 6, bearing an additional alkynyl substituent α to the hydroxyl group, spontaneously underwent N-deprotection under the reaction conditions and regioselective water addition to the alkynyl group at C-3 of the corresponding pyrrole-3-carboxylic ester derivative, thus directly affording highly functionalized pyrrole derivatives 7 in one step. In a similar manner, a novel functionalized dihydropyrrolizine derivative 9 was directly synthesized starting from (S)-7-(pyrrolidin-2-yl)trideca-5,8-diyn-7-ol 8.     

Strong convergence theorems for variational inequality, equilibrium and fixed point problems with applications

In this paper, we introduce a new iterative scheme for finding a common element of the set of common solutions of a finite family of equilibrium problems with relaxed monotone mappings, of the set of common solutions of a finite family of variational inequalities and of the set of common fixed points of an infinite family of nonexpansive mappings in a Hilbert space. Strong convergence for the proposed iterative scheme is proved. As an application, we solve a multi-objective optimization problem using the result of this paper. Our results improve and extend the corresponding ones announced by others.     

Wijsman topology on function spaces

LetC(X,Y) be the space of continuous functions from a metric space (X,d) to a metric space (Y, e).C(X, Y) can be thought as subset of the hyperspaceCL(X×Y) of closed and nonempty subsets ofX×Y by identifying each element ofC(X,Y) with its graph. We considerC(X,Y) with the topology inherited from the Wijsman topology induced onCL(X×Y) by the box metric ofd ande. We study the relationships between the Wijsman topology and the compact-open topology onC(X,Y) and also conditions under which the Wijsman topology coincide with the Fell topology. Sufficient conditions under which the compactopen topology onC(X,Y) is weaker than the Wijsman topology are given (IfY is totally bounded, then for every metric spaceX the compactopen topology onC(X,Y) is weaker than the Wijsman topology and the same is true forX locally connected andY rim-totally bounded). We prove that a metric spaceX is boundedly compact iff the Wijsman topology onC(X, ℝ) is weaker than the compact-open topology. We show that ifX is a σ-compact complete metric space andY a compact metric space, then the Wijsman topology onC(X,Y) is Polish.     

Folic acid-mediated targeting of cowpea mosaic virus particles to tumor cells

Cowpea mosaic virus (CPMV) is a well-characterized nanoparticle that has been used for a variety of nanobiotechnology applications. CPMV interacts with several mammalian cell lines and tissues in vivo. To overcome natural CPMV targeting and redirect CPMV particles to cells of interest, we attached a folic acid-PEG conjugate by using the copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition reaction. PEGylation of CPMV completely eliminated background binding of the virus to tumor cells. The PEG-folate moiety allowed CPMV-specific recognition of tumor cells bearing the folate receptor. In addition, by testing CPMV formulations with different amounts of the PEG-FA moiety displayed on the surface, we show that higher-density loading of targeting ligands on CPMV may not be necessary for efficient targeting to tumor cells. These studies help to define the requirements for efficiently targeting nanoparticles and protein cages to tumors.     

Biheteroaromatic diphosphine oxides-catalyzed stereoselective direct aldol reactions

A highly stereoselective direct aldol condensation of ketones to aromatic aldehydes was realized; the trichlorosilyl enolether generated in situ in the presence of tetrachlorosilane is activated by catalytic amounts of an enantiomerically pure biheteroaromatic phosphine oxide to react with aldehydes, coordinated as well as activated by the chiral cationic hypervalent silicon species. This Lewis acid-mediated Lewis base-catalyzed transformation allowed, starting from two carbonyl compounds, to directly synthesize β-hydroxy ketones generally with high anti stereoselectivity and up to 93% ee for the anti isomer.     

Simultaneous determination of water-soluble vitamins in selected food matrices by liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

A rapid, simple and sensitive method based on liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) with an electrospray ionization (ESI) source for the simultaneous analysis of fourteen water-soluble vitamins (B1, B2, two B3 vitamers, B5, five B6 vitamers, B8, B9, B12 and C) in various food matrices, i.e. maize flour, green and golden kiwi and tomato pulp, is presented here. Analytes were separated by ion-suppression reversed-phase liquid chromatography in less than 10 min and detected in positive ion mode. Sensitivity and specificity of this method allowed two important results to be achieved: (i) limits of detection of the analytes at ng g(-1) levels (except for vitamin C); (ii) development of a rapid sample treatment that minimizes analyte exposition to light, air and heat, eliminating any step of extract concentration. Analyte recovery depended on the type of matrix. In particular, recovery of the analytes in maize flour was > or =70%, with the exception of vitamin C, pyridoxal-5'-phosphate and vitamin B9 (ca 40%); with tomato pulp, recovery was > or =64%, except for vitamin C (41%); with kiwi, recovery was > or =73%, except for nicotinamide (ca. 30%).