Homogeneous hydrogenation of ketones to alcohols with ruthenium complex catalysts

A number of ruthenium triphenylphosphine complexes catalyse the reduction of ketones to their corresponding alcohols in the presence of water. The most convenient catalyst precursors are carbonyl containing complexes which do not promote decarbonylation of the substrate. The hydrogenation of acetone with hydridochlorocarbonyltris(triphenylphosphine)ruthenium is first order with respect to the substrate concentration, the catalyst concentration, the hydrogen pressure and the water concentration. Turnover numbers up to 15,000 have been achieved with this catalyst. Other ketones are also reduced by RuHCl(CO)(PPh₃)₃ and the rate of the reaction is dependent on the nature of the substrate.     

Kinetic Aspects of Dimethylamine Hydroxyethylation in the Presence of Water

The kinetics of dimethylamine hydroxyethylation at an ethylene oxide : dimethylamine : water molar ratio of 1 : 3 : (0.1–0.5) was studied in the temperature range 20–50°C. A kinetic model of the reaction, which adequately describes the experimental data, was suggested.__________Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Khimii, Vol. 78, No. 4, 2005, pp. 687–689.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Danov, Kolesnikov, Efremov, Mezhenin.     

Rapid and sensitive silver-lipopolysaccharide staining using PhastSystem in fast horizontal polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis

A rapid and sensitive silver-lipopolysaccharide staining method has been developed by using PhastSystem. The total time of the procedure (including time of Phastgel electrophoresis) is within 2 h. It is at least 10 times faster than the previous reported methods and the sensitivity is also increased.     

Thermodynamic properties of solutions of water-soluble mixed cellulose esters

The thermodynamics of the mixing of water-soluble mixed cellulose esters with water has been studied. A dependence of the affinity of a water-soluble cellulose acetate for water on the nature of a new radical introduced into the macromolecule and the competing interaction of molecules of the same and different types has been shown. Thermodynamic analysis has demonstrated the dominating role of solvation among the various factors determining the interaction of cellulose acetomaleate and acetophthalate with a solvent. A fall in affinity in the cellulose aminoacetate-water system is due to the contribution of entropy effects, leading to an increase in the Flory-Huggins parameter.Tashkent Institute of Chemical Technology. Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 97–101, January–February, 1997.     

Spectroscopic, thermal and electrochemical studies on some nickel(II) thiosemicarbazone complexes

Several complexes of thiosemicarbazone derivatives with Ni(II) have been prepared. Structural investigation of the ligands and their complexes has been made based on elemental analysis, magnetic moment, spectral (UV-Vis, i.r., (1)H NMR, ms), and thermal studies. The i.r. spectra suggest the bidentate mononegative and tridentate (neutral, mono-, and binegative) behavior of the ligands. Different stereochemistries were suggested for the isolated complexes. The thermogravimetry (TG) and derivative thermogravimetry (DTG) have been used to study the thermal decomposition and kinetic parameters of some ligands and complexes using the Coats-Redfern and Horowitz-Metzger equations. The redox properties and stability of the complexes toward oxidation waves explored by cyclic voltammetry are related to the electron withdrawing or releasing ability of the substituent of thiosemicarbazone moiety. The samples displayed Ni(II)/Ni(I) couples irreversible waves associated with Ni(III)/Ni(II) process.     

Energetics of the Preyssler anion's molecular orbitals: quantifying the effect of the encapsulated-cation's charge

The ground state electronic properties of metal-exchanged Preyssler heteropolyoxoanions [M(n+)P(5)W(30)O(110)](n-15), in which the encapsulated M(n+) ions are the spherical, diamagnetic ions Na(+), Ca(2+), Sr(2+), Y(3+), La(3+) and Th(4+), are studied using a combination of electrochemical, optical, and NMR experiments. We have designed experiments that focus on the influence of the charge (n) of the encapsulated cations, which themselves have no redox response, and its effect upon the W-O framework MOs. As n increases, the cluster anions accept electrons into their LUMOs with increasing ease, and their lowest-energy LMCT bands reveal a corresponding blue shift, which is indicative of an increase of the LUMO-HOMO energy splitting with increasing n. (183)W NMR spectra are used to identify the atomic origin of the LUMO states, which are shown to be composed primarily of orbitals from the ring of 5 W atoms near M(n+). The cation charge correlates directly and linearly with the half-wave potentials of the first redox couples, the LMCT band energies, and the W chemical shifts. We have combined this suite of experimental results to construct an energy level diagram of the frontier MOs for the Preyssler cluster anions. In so doing, we provide a fundamental perspective that is not otherwise available on the cation's role with specific regard to the electronic behavior of the W-O orbitals. These results are expected to provide benchmarking information as theorists begin to study these large POM systems.     

Fractional Brownian dynamics in proteins

Correlation functions describing relaxation processes in proteins and other complex molecular systems are known to exhibit a nonexponential decay. The simulation study presented here shows that fractional Brownian dynamics is a good model for the internal dynamics of a lysozyme molecule in solution. We show that both the dynamic structure factor and the associated memory function fit well the corresponding analytical functions calculated from the model. The numerical analysis is based on autoregressive modeling of time series.     

Na*(3p)-Formation under grazing scattering of Na+-ions at an Al(111) surface

Excited Na*(3p)-atoms are observed in grazing surface-collision experiments with Na⁺-beams. Such atoms can be formed beyond a certain threshold velocity via resonant electron transfer between atomic and metallic conduction band levels due to motion of the atom relative to the surface of the metal (“kinematic resonance”). This mechanism is studied here theoretically employing two different techniques: the nonperturbative “Coupled Angular Mode” (CAM) method and the approximate “Transfer Hamiltonian” (TH) method. The calculated Na*(3p)-populations agree well with recent experimental results. Moreover, the complete density matrix of the Na*(3p)-subspace has been computed with the TH-method for ion-energies between 10 and 300 keV.     

Bayesian analysis and inference from QSAR predictive model results

QSAR models have been under development for decades but acceptance and utilization of model results have been slow, in part, because there is no widely accepted metric for assessing their reliability. We reapply a method commonly used in quantitative epidemiology and medical decision-making for evaluating the results of screening tests to assess reliability of a QSAR model. It quantifies the accuracy (expressed as sensitivity and specificity) of QSAR models as conditional probabilities of correct and incorrect classification of chemical characteristic, given a true characteristic. Using Bayes formula, these conditional probabilities are combined with prior information to generate a posterior distribution to determine the probability a specific chemical has a particular characteristic, given a model prediction. As an example, we apply this approach to evaluate the predictive reliability of a CATABOL model and base on it a "ready" and "not ready" biodegradability classification. Finally, we show how predictive capability of the model can be improved by sequential use of two models, the first one with high sensitivity and the second with high specificity.     

Evaluation of an Economical Sunlamp that Emits a Near Solar UV Power Spectrum for Conducting Photoimmunological and Sunscreen Immune Protection Studies

Expense and inconvenience have restricted the use of the filtered xenon are lamp (solar simulator) as a UV source for conducting large-scale animal studies. Because sunscreen immunoprotective levels are significantly affected by the UV power spectrum of the source it is imperative that a solar simulating source be used for accurate measurements of sunscreen protection levels that are relevant to human UV exposures from sunlight. However, relatively inexpensive sunlamps, e. g. the UVA-340, that emit a UV power spectrum similar to that of a solar simulator are available. Unlike FS-type UVB sunlamps, which have a significant amount of effective immunosuppressive nonsolar UV energy at wavelengths below 295 nm, the immunosuppression effectiveness spectrum of UVA-340 sunlamps was nearly identical to that of a solar simulator. The purpose of this study was to evaluate this sunlamp for conducting photoimmunological and sunscreen immune protection studies. Groups of C3H mice were exposed to a range of UVA-340 sunlamp doses (0.25 KJ/m² to 20.0 KJ/m²) to establish a dose-response curve and determine the minimum immune suppression dose (MISD) for induction of local-type suppression of contact hypersensitivity (CH). The MISD, defined as the lowest UV dose given to produce ～50% suppression of the CH response in mice, was determined to be 1.0 kJ/m² for UVA-340 sunlamps. Immune protection tests on four marketed sunscreen lotions (sun protection factors [SPF] 4, 8, 15 and 30) were then conducted with UVA-340 sunlamps using MISD as the endpoint. The immune protection factors for these sunscreens were equivalent to the level of protection predicated by their labeled SPF. These results are similar to those we have previously obtained using a solar simulator. We conclude from these data that the immunosuppressive effects of UVA-340 sunlamps are similar to those of a solar simulator; however, further studies are needed to determine if UVA-340, or similar, sunlamps are a viable alternative to the solar simulator for conducting large-scale animal experiments that require a relevant UV solar spectrum.