The highly enantioselective 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of alkyl glyoxylate-derived nitrones to E-crotonaldehyde catalyzed by hybrid diamines

1,3-Dipolar cycloaddition of alkyl glyoxylate-derived nitrones to E-crotonaldehyde can be catalyzed by hybrid diamines, obtained from (S)-BINAM and l-α-amino acids. The hybrid of (S)-BINAM and l-Phe was found to be the best organocatalyst. Products were obtained in good yield and diastereoselectivity as well as high enantioselectivity (82-91% ee). Subsequent transformations into functionalized pyrrolidinones have been demonstrated.     

Synthesis of new dendrimers—trimesic acid derivatives

The efficient synthesis of new dendrimeric polyesters up to generation 3 that consist of 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid building blocks with potential applications in drug delivery is described. The dendrimers possess hydroxy or allyl functional groups on the surface and were prepared through a divergent approach using readily available 2-(hydroxymethyl)-2-ethylpropan-1,3-diol and 1,3,5-benzenetrimethanol as central cores, with 3,5-bis[(allyloxy)methyl]benzoic acid being an essential unit of the dendrimer. The latter compound was synthesized, in high yield, from 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid, applying selective hydrolysis of the corresponding triester as the key step.     

Thermal and luminescence characterization of lanthanide 2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylates series

The lanthanide 2,6-naphthalenedicarboxylates series of the formulas Ln₂(ndc)₃·nH₂O, where Ln = lanthanides from La(III) to Lu(III); ndc - C₁₀H₆(COO)₂²⁻; n = 4, 4.5 or 5 have been prepared by the precipitation method. All obtained products were examined and characterized by elemental analysis, FTIR spectroscopy, simultaneous thermal analyses TG-DSC and TG-FTIR, X-Ray diffraction patterns as well as luminescence measurements. The crystalline compounds form three isostructural groups: Ce-Sm; La and Eu-Dy; Ho-Lu. In all complexes, the ndc²⁻ ligand appears in the deprotonated form. Heating of the complexes resulted in the multi-steps decomposition process. The dehydration process leads to the formation of stable crystalline Ln₂ndc₃ compounds which further decompose to the corresponding lanthanide oxides (air atmosphere). In argon atmosphere they decompose with releasing of water, carbon oxides and naphthalene molecules. The luminescence properties of Eu(III), Nd(III), Tb(III) and Er(III) complexes were investigated. The complexes of Eu(III) and Tb(III) emitted red and green light when excited by ultraviolet light whereas Nd(III) and Er(III) display emissions in the NIR region.     

Brownian dynamics simulations on CPU and GPU with BD_BOX

There has been growing interest in simulating biological processes under in vivo conditions due to recent advances in experimental techniques dedicated to study single particle behavior in crowded environments. We have developed a software package, BD_BOX, for multiscale Brownian dynamics simulations. BD_BOX can simulate either single molecules or multicomponent systems of diverse, interacting molecular species using flexible, coarse-grained bead models. BD_BOX is written in C and employs modern computer architectures and technologies; these include MPI for distributed-memory architectures, OpenMP for shared-memory platforms, NVIDIA CUDA framework for GPGPU, and SSE vectorization for CPU.     

Determination of platinum and palladium in road dust after their separation on immobilized fungus by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

A flow solid phase extraction procedure based on biosorption of Pt(IV) and Pd(II) on Aspergillus sp. immobilized on cellulose resin Cellex-T was proposed for the separation and preconcentration of Pt and Pd before their determination by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS). The analytical conditions including sample pH, eluent type, flow rates of sample and eluent solutions were examined. The analytes were selectively retained on the biosorbent in acidic medium (pH 1) and subsequently eluted from the column with 1 mL of thiourea solution (0.25 mol L^− 1 thiourea in 0.3 mol L^− 1 HCl). The reproducibility of the procedure was below 5%. The limit of detection of the method was 0.020 ng mL^− 1 for Pt and 0.012 ng mL^− 1 for Pd. The method validation was performed by analysis of certified reference materials BCR-723 (tunnel dust) and SARM-76 (platinum ore). The developed separation procedure was applied to the determination of Pt and Pd in road dust samples by ETAAS.The applied biosorbent is characterized by high sorption capacity: 0.47 mg g^− 1 for Pt and 1.24 mg g^− 1 for Pd.     

Vibrational spectra and reinvestigation of the crystal structure of a polymeric copper(II)-orotate complex, [Cu(μ-HOr)(H2O)2]n: The performance of new DFT methods, M06 and M05-2X, in theoretical studies

The crystal and molecular structure of a polymeric Cu(II)-orotate complex, [Cu(μ-HOr)(H₂O)₂]_n, has been reinvestigated by single crystal X-ray diffraction. It is shown that several synergistic interactions: two axial Cu-O interactions; intramolecular and intermolecular hydrogen bonds; and π-π stacking between the uracil rings contribute to the stability of the crystal structure. The Raman and FT-IR spectra of the title complex are reported for the first time. Comprehensive theoretical studies have been performed by using three unrestricted DFT methods: B3LYP; and the recently developed M06, and M05-2X density functionals. Clear-cut assignments of all the bands in the vibrational spectra have been made on the basis of the calculated potential energy distribution, PED. The very strong Raman band at 1219 cm⁻¹ is diagnostic for the N1-deprotonation of the uracil ring and formation of the copper-nitrogen bond, in this complex. The Cu-O (carboxylate) stretching vibration is observed at 287 cm⁻¹ in the IR spectrum, while the Cu-N (U ring) stretching vibration is assigned to the strong Raman band at 263 cm⁻¹. The molecular structure and vibrational spectra (frequencies and intensities) calculated by the M06 functional method are very similar to the results obtained by the B3LYP method, but M06 performs better than B3LYP in calculations of the geometrical parameters and vibrational frequencies of the interligand O-H?O hydrogen bonding. Unfortunately, the M05-2X method seriously overestimates the strength of interligand hydrogen bond.     

Dielectric studies of the paracetamol-lenticular tissue interactions

This paper reports on the effect of paracetamol on the dielectric behavior of the rabbit lens. Measurements were performed over the frequency range of 100 Hz-100 kHz in air and at the temperature of 35°C. The frequency dependencies of the relative permittivity and dielectric loss for the control and paracetamol-control lenses are described in terms of a power-low, Debye and Cole-Cole relations. The effect of paracetamol on the dielectric properties of the lens is visible in the lower values of the relative permittivity than those for the control sample at the same frequency. In addition, the relaxations around 18 and 46 kHz for the paracetamol-control lens are shifted to lower frequencies compared with the control lens. The results of this work indicate that the present method is useful in detection of the lens toxicity elicited by overdoses of paracetamol in animal.     

Tautomerism, structure and properties of 1,1′,1″-(2,4,6-trihydroxybenzene-1,3,5-triyl)triethanone

According to computational predictions 1,1′,1″-(2,4,6-trihydroxybenzene-1,3,5-triyl)triethanone (triacetylphloroglucinol) (TTT, form a) can exist in five tautomeric forms, among which 2,4,6-tris(1-hydroxyethylidene)-1,3,5-cyclohexanetrione (form e) exhibits thermodynamic stability comparable to that of form a. X-ray investigations reveal that the compound exists in form a in the crystalline solid phase. Analysis of the arrangement of atoms involved in the three intramolecular H-bonds, responsible for the stabilization of tautomer a by 55.4 kcal/mol, suggests that there could be fast H atom (proton) transfer within the hydrogen bonds, bringing about the transformation of a into e and vice versa. Such an effect could explain the unique behaviour and spectral properties of TTT in solutions.