A Facile and Expeditious Microwave‐Assisted Synthesis of Furo[3,4‐b]indeno[2,1‐f]quinolin‐1‐one Derivatives via Multicomponent Reaction

A series of furo[3,4‐b]indeno[2,1‐f]quinolin‐1‐one derivatives were synthesized by the condensation of an aromatic aldehyde with tetronic acid and 9H‐fluoren‐2‐amine in solvent of glacial acetic acid under microwave irradiation. This procedure offers several advantages including operational simplicity, clean reaction, and increased safety for small‐scale high‐speed synthesis.     

Stress test for a technology credit guarantee fund based on survival analysis

A technology credit guarantee policy has been established to provide financial support to technology-based SMEs with a limited asset base. For an effective technology credit guarantee policy, risk management is essential. In this paper, we investigate a survival model that predicts start-up SMEs’ loan default probability at a given time based on technology attributes along with the economic environment and the firm’s characteristics at the time of the technology credit guarantee fund application. This, in turn, is used for the estimation of the technology fund risk along with a stress test. Our work is expected to contribute to reducing the risks associated with technology financing.     

Cyclo[2]carbazole[2]pyrrole: a preorganized calix[4]pyrrole analogue

A cyclo[2]carbazole[2]pyrrole (2) consisting of two carbazoles and two pyrroles has been synthesized by directly linking the carbazole 1- and 8-carbon atoms to the pyrrole α-carbon atoms. Macrocycle 2 is an extensively conjugated 16-membered macrocyclic ring that is fixed in a pseudo-1,3-alternate conformation. This provides a preorganized anion binding site consisting of two pyrrole subunits. ¹H NMR spectroscopic analysis revealed that only the two diagonally opposed pyrrole NH protons, as opposed to the carbazole protons, take part in anion binding. Nevertheless, cyclo[2]carbazole[2]pyrrole 2 binds representative anions with higher affinity in CD₂Cl₂ than calix[4]pyrrole (1), a well-studied non-conjugated tetrapyrrole macrocycle that binds anions via four pyrrolic NH hydrogen bond interactions. On the basis of computational studies, the higher chloride anion affinity of receptor 2 relative to 1 is rationalized in terms of a larger binding energy and a lower host strain energy associated with anion complexation. In the presence of excess fluoride or bicarbonate anions, compound 2 loses two pyrrolic NH protons to produce a stable dianionic macrocycle [2–2H]²⁻ displaying a quenched fluorescence.

Less is more: two NH hydrogen bond donors in a preorganized receptor provide greater anion affinity than the four NH moieties present in the classic anion receptor, calix[4]pyrrole.     

DFT study on cooperativity in the interactions of hydrazoic acid clusters

Density functional theory at the B3LYP level with the 6‐311G** basis set is performed to calculate the systems consisting of up to four hydrazoic acid molecules. The dimers are found to exhibit cyclic and chain structures with N … H contacts at ca. 2.1–2.7 Å. However, there are only cyclic structures with N … H contacts at ca. 2.0–2.3 Å and 2.0–2.1 Å in the trimer and tetramer, respectively. Hydrogen bond distances in the trimer and tetramer are shorter than those in the cyclic dimer as a result of the stronger interaction between molecules. The contribution of cooperative effect to the interaction energy is significant. After the correction of the basis set superposition error and zero‐point energy, the binding energies are ?10.69, ?29.34, and ?54.26 kJ·mol^?1 for the most stable dimer, trimer, and tetramer, respectively. The calculated IR shifts for N? H stretching mode increase with the size of the cluster growths, reaching more than 200 cm^?1 in the tetramer. For the most stable clusters, the transition from the monomer to dimer, dimer to trimer, and trimer to tetramer involve changes of ?14.40, ?25.68, and ?31.88 kJ·mol^?1 for the enthalpies at 298.15 K and 1atm, respectively. We also perform Mulliken populations analysis and find the Mulliken populations on intermolecular N … H increasing in the sequence of the dimer, trimer, and tetramer. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem 94: 279–286, 2003     

Visible light-responsive micelles formed from dialkoxyanthracene-containing block copolymers

A class of dialkoxyanthracene-containing diblock copolymers is synthesized which possesses visible light-responsivity. These copolymers can self-assemble into a micellar structure in water. Green visible light (540 nm) is able to scissor these anthracene species and cleave the diblock copolymer into two fragments, inducing disassembly of the self-assembled micelles.     

Structure and Bonding in CE5− (E=Al–Tl) Clusters: Planar Tetracoordinate Carbon versus Pentacoordinate Carbon

The structure, bonding, and stability of clusters with the empirical formula CE₅^? (E=Al–Tl) have been analyzed by means of high‐level computations. The results indicate that, whereas aluminum and gallium clusters have C_2v structures with a planar tetracoordinate carbon (ptC), their heavier homologues prefer three‐dimensional C_4v forms with a pentacoordinate carbon center over the ptC one. The reason for such a preference is a delicate balance between the interaction energy of the fifth E atom with CE₄ and the distortion energy. Moreover, bonding analysis shows that the ptC systems can be better described as CE₄^?, with 17‐valence electrons interacting with E. The ptC core in these systems exhibits double aromatic (both σ and π) behavior, but the σ contribution is dominating.     

Mutation analysis of p31comet gene, a negative regulator of Mad2, in human hepatocellular carcinoma

Failure of mitotic checkpoint machinery leads to the chromosomal missegregation and nuclear endoreduplication, thereby driving the emergence of aneuploidy and tetraploidy population. Although abnormal nuclear ploidy and the resulting impairment of mitotic checkpoint function are typical physiological event leading to human hepatocellular carcinoma, any mutational change of mitotic checkpoint regulators has not yet been discovered. Therefore, we investigated the mutation of p31(comet), a recently identified mitotic checkpoint regulator, in human hepatocellular carcinoma. Of 51 human hepatocellular carcinoma tissue and 6 cell lines tested, five samples exhibited nucleotide sequence variations dispersed on four sites within the entire coding sequence. Among these sites with sequence substitutions, three were found to be missense mutation accompanied with amino acid change but one was a silent mutation. Of these sequence substitutions, two were present in both tumor and non-tumor liver tissues, suggesting the possibility of polymorphism. The present findings indicate that p31(comet) does not have an impact on the formation of aneuploidy and tetraploidy found in human hepatocellular carcinoma.     

Synthesis of Snake-cage Resins and Study of Their Separation Ability

IntroductionSnake-cageresin,alsoca1ledsnake-cagepolyelectrolyte['],isaspecialkindofamphotericresin.ItwasfirstinvestigatedbyHatchM.J.etal.in1957[z].Thetypicalandusefulsnake-cageresinisRetardation11A-8(l1A-8inthecon-text)manufacturedbyDowChemicalCoI,TD.Itissynthesizedbypolymerizingacrylicacidinsidethenetworkofastrongbasicanionexchangeresinwith8%crosslinking.Thus,theresinconsistsofacrosslinkedpolymermatrix,cage,andalinearpolymer,socalledsnake,whichisphysicallytrappedinsidethecage.Thecagepol…