A New Diterpenoid Alkaloid from the Roots of a White‐Flowering Aconitum orientale Sample

From the roots of a white‐flowering Aconitum orientale Miller sample, collected in Artvin‐?av?at, Turkey, a new diterpenoid alkaloid named aconitorientaline ( 1 ) was isolated, along with the known diterpenoid alkaloids septentiriodine, lappaconitine, finaconitine, ranaconitine, puberanidine and delstaphinine (Fig.). The structure of 1 was established on the basis of ¹H‐ and ¹³C‐NMR, DEPT, ¹H,¹H‐COSY, NOESY, HSQC, and HMBC studies. All the known compounds were identified by comparison of their ¹H‐ and ¹³C‐NMR data and co‐TLC behavior with those of authentic samples.     

Gold nanoparticles in an ionic liquid phase supported in a biopolymeric matrix applied in the development of a rosmarinic acid biosensor

Gold nanoparticles dispersed in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ionic liquid (Au-BMI·PF(6)) were supported in chitin (CTN) chemically crosslinked with glyoxal and epichlorohydrin to obtain a new supported ionic liquid phase (SILP) catalyst with high catalytic activity, and providing an excellent environment for enzyme immobilization. This modified biopolymer matrix (Au-BMI·PF(6)-CTN) was used as a support for the immobilization of the enzyme peroxidase (PER) from pea (Pisum sativum), and employed to develop a new biosensor for rosmarinic acid (RA) determination in pharmaceutical samples by square-wave voltammetry. In the presence of hydrogen peroxide, the PER catalyzes the oxidation of RA to the corresponding o-quinone, which is electrochemically reduced at a potential of +0.14 V vs. Ag/AgCl. Under optimized conditions, the resulting peak current increased linearly for the RA concentration range of 0.50 to 23.70 μM with a detection limit of 70.09 nM. The biosensor demonstrated high sensitivity, good repeatability and reproducibility, and long-term stability (15% decrease in response over 120 days). The method was successfully applied to the determination of RA content in pharmaceutical samples, with recovery values being in the range of 98.3 to 106.2%. The efficient analytical performance of the proposed biosensor can be attributed to the effective immobilization of the PER enzyme in the modified CTN matrix, the significant contribution of the high conductivity of the ionic liquid, the facilitation of electron transfer promoted by gold nanoparticles, and the inherent catalytic ability of these materials.     

Dose uncertainties for large solar particle events: input spectra variability and human geometry approximations.

The true uncertainties in estimates of body organ absorbed dose and dose equivalent, from exposures of interplanetary astronauts to large solar particle events (SPEs), are essentially unknown. Variations in models used to parameterize SPE proton spectra for input into space radiation transport and shielding computer codes can result in uncertainty about the reliability of dose predictions for these events. Also, different radiation transport codes and their input databases can yield significant differences in dose predictions, even for the same input spectra. Different results may also be obtained for the same input spectra and transport codes if different spacecraft and body self-shielding distributions are assumed. Heretofore there have been no systematic investigations of the variations in dose and dose equivalent resulting from these assumptions and models. In this work we present a study of the variability in predictions of organ dose and dose equivalent arising from the use of different parameters to represent the same incident SPE proton data and from the use of equivalent sphere approximations to represent human body geometry. The study uses the BRYNTRN space radiation transport code to calculate dose and dose equivalent for the skin, ocular lens and bone marrow using the October 1989 SPE as a model event. Comparisons of organ dose and dose equivalent, obtained with a realistic human geometry model and with the oft-used equivalent sphere approximation, are also made. It is demonstrated that variations of 30-40% in organ dose and dose equivalent are obtained for slight variations in spectral fitting parameters obtained when various data points are included or excluded from the fitting procedure. It is further demonstrated that extrapolating spectra from low energy (< or = 30 MeV) proton fluence measurements, rather than using fluence data extending out to 100 MeV results in dose and dose equivalent predictions that are underestimated by factors as large as 2-3. Finally, it is also demonstrated that the use of equivalent sphere approximations to represent body organ self-shielding distributions results in organ doses and dose equivalent predictions that are 2-3 times larger than values obtained with anthropomorphic shielding configurations.     

Rapid Organocatalytic Formation of Carbon Monoxide: Application towards Carbonylative Cross Couplings

Herein, the first organocatalytic method for the transformation of non-derivatized formic acid into carbon monoxide (CO) is introduced. Formylpyrrolidine (FPyr) and trichlorotriazine (TCT), which is a cost-efficient commodity chemical, enable this decarbonylation. Utilization of dimethylformamide (DMF) as solvent and catalyst even allows for a rapid CO generation at room temperature. Application towards four different carbonylative cross coupling protocols demonstrates the high synthetic utility and versatility of the new approach. Remarkably, this also comprehends a carbonylative Sonogashira reaction at room temperature employing intrinsically difficult electron-deficient aryl iodides. Commercial ¹³C-enriched formic acid facilitates the production of radiolabeled compounds as exemplified by the pharmaceutical Moclobemide. Finally, comparative experiments verified that the present method is highly superior to other protocols for the activation of carboxylic acids.     

Self‐Assembly of Aminocyclopropenium Salts: En Route to Deltic Ionic Liquid Crystals

Aminocyclopropenium ions have raised much attention as organocatalysts and redox active polymers. However, the self‐assembly of amphiphilic aminocyclopropenium ions remains challenging. The first deltic ionic liquid crystals based on aminocyclopropenium ions have been developed. Differential scanning calorimetry, polarizing optical microscopy and X‐ray diffraction provided insight into the unique self‐assembly and nanosegregation of these liquid crystals. While the combination of small headgroups with linear p‐alkoxyphenyl units led to bilayer‐type smectic mesophases, wedge‐shaped units resulted in columnar mesophases. Upon increasing the size and polyphilicity of the aminocyclopropenium headgroup, a lamellar phase was formed.     

Adaptive optimal control of Signorini’s problem

In this article, we present a-posteriori error estimations in context of optimal control of contact problems; in particular of Signorini’s problem. Due to the contact side-condition, the solution operator of the underlying variational inequality is not differentiable, yet we want to apply Newton’s method. Therefore, the non-smooth problem is regularized by penalization and afterwards discretized by finite elements. We derive optimality systems for the regularized formulation in the continuous as well as in the discrete case. This is done explicitly for Signorini’s contact problem, which covers linear elasticity and linearized surface contact conditions. The latter creates the need for treating trace-operations carefully, especially in contrast to obstacle contact conditions, which exert in the domain. Based on the dual weighted residual method and these optimality systems, we deduce error representations for the regularization, discretization and numerical errors. Those representations are further developed into error estimators. The resulting error estimator for regularization error is defined only in the contact area. Therefore its computational cost is especially low for Signorini’s contact problem. Finally, we utilize the estimators in an adaptive refinement strategy balancing regularization and discretization errors. Numerical results substantiate the theoretical findings. We present different examples concerning Signorini’s problem in two and three dimensions.     

Flammenphotometrische Bestimmung geringer Mengen Barium in bariumsulfathaltigem Material

Zusammenfassung Verfasser haben ein Verfahren zum Aufschluß des Bariumsulfats ausgearbeitet. Der Aufschluß wird mit Hilfe von Kieselfluorwasserstoffsäure durchgeführt und die entstehende Schwefelsäure mit Jodwasserstoff reduziert, sodann das Barium nach Beendigung des Aufschlußprozesses in Gegenwart von Oxalsäure in Bariumcarbonat verwandelt. Nach der Lösung des Bariumcarbonats mit Salzsäure wurde das Barium flammen-photometrisch gemessen.

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Summary The authors have worked out a procedure for decomposing barium sulfate. The decomposition is accomplished with the aid of hydrofluosilicic acid and the resulting sulfuric acid is reduced with hydrogen iodide. After the completion of the disintegration process, the barium is converted to barium carbonate in the presence of oxalic acid. The latter is dissolved in hydrochloric acid and the barium then determined by the flame photometer.

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Résumé Les auteurs ont mis au point une technique d'attaque du sulfate de baryum. Cette attaque est effectuée à l'aide d'acide fluosilicique; l'acide sulfurique libéré est réduit par l'acide iodhydrique; après l'attaque le baryum est fixé sous forme de carbonate en présence d'acide oxalique. Le carbonate de baryum est dissout dans l'acide chlorhydrique, et dosé par photométrie de flamme.