Noticeable Quantities of Functional Compounds and Antioxidant Activities Remain after Cooking of Colored Fleshed Potatoes Native from Southern Chile

The effect of cooking on the concentrations of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activities in 33 colored-fleshed potatoes genotypes was evaluated. The phenolic profiles, concentrations, and antioxidant activity were evaluated with a liquid chromatography diode array detector coupled to a mass spectrometer with an electrospray ionization interface (HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS/MS). Eleven anthocyanins were detected; in the case of red-fleshed genotypes, these were mainly acyl-glycosides derivatives of pelargonidin, whereas, in purple-fleshed genotypes, acyl-glycosides derivatives of petunidin were the most important. In the case of the purple-fleshed genotypes, the most important compound was petunidin-3-coumaroylrutinoside-5-glucoside. Concentrations of total anthocyanins varied between 1.21 g kg⁻¹ in fresh and 1.05 g kg⁻¹ in cooked potato and the decreases due to cooking ranged between 3% and 59%. The genotypes that showed the highest levels of total phenols also presented the highest levels of antioxidant activity. These results are of relevance because they suggest anthocyanins are important contributors to the antioxidant activity of these potato genotypes, which is significant even after the drastic process of cooking.     

Wetting of TiC by Al-Cu alloys and interfacial characterization

The wetting behavior and the interfacial reactions that occurred between molten Al-Cu alloys (1, 4, 8, 20, 33, and 100 wt% Cu) and solid TiC substrates were studied by the sessile drop technique in the temperature range of 800-1130 degrees C. The effect of wetting behavior on the interfacial reaction layer was studied. All the Al-Cu alloys react with TiC at the interface forming an extensive reaction layer. The interface thickness varied with the samples, and depends on the temperature, chemical composition of the alloy and the time of the test. Wetting increases with increasing concentration of copper in the Al-Cu alloy at 800 and 900 degrees C. In contrast, at higher temperature such as 1000 degrees C wetting decreases with increasing copper content. The spreading kinetics and the work of adhesion were evaluated. The high values of activation energies indicated that spreading is not a simple viscosity controlled phenomenon but is a chemical reaction process. The spreading of the aluminum drop is observed to occur according to the formation of Al4C3, CuAl2O4, CuAl2, TiCux mainly, leading to a decreases in the contact angle. As the contact angle decreases the work of adhesion increases with increasing temperature. Al-Cu/TiC assemblies showed cohesive fracture corresponding to a strong interface. However, using pure Cu the adhesion work is poor, and the percentage of cohesion work is also too low (27-34%).     

Partial molar volume of anionic polyelectrolytes in aqueous solution

In this work the partial molar volumes (V) of different anionic polyelectrolytes and hydrophobically modified polyelectrolytes (PHM) were measured. Polymers like polymaleic acid-co-styrene, polymaleic acid-co-1-olefin, polymaleic acid-co-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone, and polyacrylic acid (abbreviated as MAS-n, PA-n-K2, AMVP, and PAA, respectively) were employed. These materials were investigated by density measurements in highly dilute aqueous solutions. The molar volume results allow us to discuss the effect of the carboxylic groups and the contributions from the comonomeric principal chain. The PAA presents the smaller V, while the largest V value was for AMVP. The V of PHM shows a linear relationship with the number of methylene groups in the lateral chain. It is found that the magnitude of the contribution per methylene group decreases as the hydrophobic character of the environment increases.     

Planar tetracoordinate carbon versus planar tetracoordinate boron: the case of CB4 and its cation

In this study, we analyzed CB(4) and its cation, CB(4)(+). Using CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVQZ//CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ quantum-chemical calculations, we found that the neutral molecule is in accord with the results of Boldyrev and Wang, having a C(s) global minimum with a planar tricoordinate carbon structure, contradicting previous studies. In contrast, CB(4)(+), which was reported by an early mass spectroscopic study, has a planar tetracoordinate carbon (ptC) atom, demonstrating that a modification of the charge can promote the stabilization of a ptC structure.     

19F chemical shifts, coupling constants and conformational preferences in monosubstituted perfluoroparacyclophanes

In the process of studying the chemistry of perfluoro[2.2]paracyclophanes (PFPCs), a novel class of compounds, it became necessary to identify some disubstituted products. To achieve this goal, we characterize in this work some monosubstituted PFPCs, identifying their (19)F-(19) F coupling patterns, and establishing a methodology for the assignment of their (19)F chemical shifts. The pattern of coupling constants indicates a skewed geometry in which the upper deck moves towards or away from the substituent, depending on the substituent electron-donor character and size. Quantum chemical calculations, performed at the HF/6-311 + G(d,p)//B3LYP/EPR-III level of theory, confirmed the conformations inferred from coupling constants and reproduced well the values of the couplings. Transmission mechanisms for the FC term of four- and five-bond (19)F-(19) F couplings are discussed in detail. Understanding the conformational preferences of PFPCs and how they are reflected by the coupling constants facilitates the assignment of (19)F chemical shifts in monosubstituted PFPCs and the identification of the disubstituted products.     

Triphenyl lead, tin and germanium coordination compounds derived from 9H-3-thia-1,4a,9-triaza-fluorene-2,4-dithione

Reactions of potassium 4-thioxo-3-thia-1,4a,9-triaza-fluorene-2-thiolate with Ph₃PbCl, Ph₃SnCl and Ph₃GeCl provided the corresponding metal pentacoordinated compounds 2-4. Addition of THF afforded their hexacoordinated derivatives (5-7). Adducts of 2 and 3 with DMSO (8, 10), pyridine (9, 11), Ph₃PO (12, 14) CH₃OH (13, 15), respectively were synthesized. Compound 2 afforded the H₂O adduct (16). In all cases the metal atom is chelated by the ligand through a covalent bond with S2 and a coordination bond with N1 forming four membered rings. Compounds were identified by ¹H, ¹³C, ¹⁵N, ¹¹⁹Sn and ²⁰⁷Pb. X-ray diffraction structures of 2, 3, 8, 9, 11, 14 and 16 were obtained.     

NMR spin-spin couplings involving nuclei in the neighborhood of a carbonyl group. 3JCH couplings in alpha-substituted acetamides

In this work 3JCH spin-spin coupling constants (SSCCs) for the cis- and trans-conformers for alpha-X-acetamides (X = F, Cl, Br and CN) (1-4) were studied in detail since they were found to be notably different for both conformers. These differences are rationalized as originating in the changes of the strong negative hyperconjugative interactions that take place within the carbonyl group. Such changes are found to depend not only on conformation, but also on solvent. For the cis-conformers there is a close proximity between the X-substituent and the in-plane oxygen lone pair of pure p character, which affects notably their respective negative hyperconjugative interactions. Both the efficiency for transmitting the Fermi contact (FC) term through the coupling pathway of 3JCH SSCCs and its potential as a probe to study the stereochemical properties of the XH2C group are discussed.     

Semigroups of Composition Operators in BMOA and the Extension of a Theorem of Sarason

In this paper we deal with the maximal subspace in BMOA where a general semigroup of analytic functions on the unit disk generates a strongly continuous semigroup of composition operators. Particular cases of this question are related to a well-known theorem of Sarason about VMOA. Our results describe analytically that maximal subspace and provide a condition which is sufficient for the maximal subspace to be exactly VMOA. A related necessary condition is also proved in the case when the semigroup has an inner Denjoy-Wolff point. As a byproduct we provide a generalization of the theorem of Sarason. This research has been partially supported by the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia projects n. MTM2006-14449-C02-01 and MTM2005-08350-C03-03 and by La Consejería de Educación y Ciencia de la Junta de Andalucía.