Photochemistry of 2-Allyl-3-oxo-2,3-dihydro-1H-pyrrole-2-carboxyalates

On acetone-sensitized irradiation the title compounds 3a–c are converted to 2-allyl-3-hydroxy-1H-pyrrole-2-carboxylates 4 in reasonable yields.     

A remark on nilpotent Lie Algebras

Letf(n) denoted the number of essential parameters which are needed to classifyn-dimensional nilpotent Lie Algebras over the complex number field. Then $f(2n) \geqslant \tfrac{{n(n2 - 7)}}{6} - 2$ .     

Synthesis of 4-acetylisocoumarin: first total syntheses of AGI-7 and sescandelin

A practical synthetic route to 4-acetylisocoumarins and the first total synthesis of AGI-7 (5) and sescandelin (4) are described. The readily available homophthalate 8 was transformed to the vinylogous amide ester 13 in high overall yield. Upon treatment of 13 with refluxing aqueous formic acid, the desired 4-acetylisocoumarin (5) and its regioisomer 3-methyl-4-formylisocoumarin (17) were produced in a 3:1 ratio. After separation of the desired product (5) from the unwanted minor isomer, the enantioselective reduction of AGI-7 by borane in the presence of Corey's (S)-oxazaborolidine reagent afforded (+)-sescandelin (4) with a 93% ee.     

Synthesis of four diastereomeric 3,5-dialkoxy-2,4-dimethylalkanals by a simple extension of the non-aldol aldol process to bis(propionates)

[formula: see text] The synthesis of all four diastereomers of bis(propionates), 3,5-dialkoxy-2,4-dimethylalkanals, by non-aldol aldol chemistry is described. The epoxy alcohols (3, 4) were converted into the mesylates (9, 11) which were cleanly rearranged to the desired 3,5-bis(oxygenated)-2,4-dimethylalkanals (10, 12) in high yield. The epoxy mesylates (13, 16) gave the desired products (14, 17) in good yield on treatment with TMSOTf and a hindered base.     

Investigations on the location and construction of a low background gamma-spectrometer

The underground radiation conditions in the mining district of Freiberg and in a rock salt environment of the Werra district were investigated. In a salt mine a very low natural activity level can be found. For selection of proper shielding materials a low-level -spectrometer and an optimum sample geometry must be used. The photopeak differences between sample and blank are small in most cases. Considerable differences can be found in the continuous background below 0.7 MeV.