Hydrogenation of Quinoline by Rhodium Catalysts Modified with the Tripodal Polyphosphine Ligand MeC(CH2PPh2)3

As part of our modelling studies of the hydrodenitrogenation of N‐heterocycles contained in raw oil materials, we investigated the selective hydrogenation of quinoline to 1,2,3,4‐tetrahydroquinoline by rhodium catalysts modified with the tripodal polyphosphane ligand MeC(CH₂PPh₂)₃. Experiments in standard autoclaves and in high‐pressure sapphire NMR tubes, kinetic and isotope labelling studies, and independent reactions with isolated compounds have contributed to the elucidation of the catalytic mechanism as well as identification of the electronic requisites of the metal catalyst for selective and efficient hydrogenation.     

C2C12 myoblast sensitivity to different apoptotic chemical triggers

Apoptosis is a form of cell death crucial for normal development and tissue homeostasis. Its typical features include chromatin changes, nuclear breakdown, plasma membrane blebbing and splitting of cellular content into apoptotic bodies, that progressively undergo phagocytosis.Apoptosis is considered essential for skeletal muscle development, where defective cells are deleted during differentiation. In addition, it plays a relevant role in several muscle myopathies, as well as in denervation and disuse.The aim of this study was to evaluate muscle cell sensitivity to different apoptotic triggers, acting through different mechanisms of action. Chemical agents, active against distinct intracellular targets, such as mitochondrial respiratory chain and DNA, have been chosen to better highlight cell death mechanisms. To induce apoptosis, C2C12 myoblasts have been exposed to H₂O₂, staurosporine, cisplatin and etoposide, at different doses and incubation times, and they have been analysed by flow cytometry, scanning and transmission electron microscopy.Flow cytometry analysis revealed a certain subdiploid peak after all treatments. The best apoptotic effect was observable, as confirmed at reverted microscope, at minimum doses and after the major exposure time.At ultrastructural level programmed cell death has been observed. Characteristic chromatin condensation and margination, as well as apoptotic bodies, frequently appeared, even if in the presence of secondary necrosis; surface blebs were also observed during scanning microscopic observation.In particular, exposure to H₂O₂ or staurosporine showed the largest number of myoblasts in late apoptotic stages and in secondary necrosis. Cisplatin treatments revealed few early apoptotic cells. The analysis of etoposide-induced apoptosis was in agreement with data obtained from flow cytometry, indicating a significant increase of apoptotic cell number.These results suggest that all conditions are able to induce apoptosis in C2C12 myoblasts, which occurs, considering trigger mechanisms of action, mostly following the mitochondrial pathway, if not excluding that due to DNA damage. Therefore, mitochondria permeability alteration is an important step in skeletal muscle programmed cell death. This last conclusion seems to have a significant relevance in understanding the mechanisms involved in muscle disorders, denervation and chronic muscle disuse, conditions frequently characterized by a decline in mitochondrial content and by an increase of mitochondrial apoptosis susceptibility.     

The palladium-phenanthroline catalyzed carbonylation of nitroarenes to diarylureas: Effect of chloride and diphenylphosphinic acid

The application of the palladium-phenanthroline catalytic system to the carbonylation of nitrobenzene in the presence of aniline to afford diphenylurea has been investigated. The reaction is best performed with equimolar amounts of the two reagents. Use of higher concentrations of either aniline or nitrobenzene or an increase in temperature in the range 120-170 °C leads to the formation of higher amounts of azo- and azoxybenzene. The latter were found to contain exclusively the aryl moiety deriving from nitrobenzene, with no inclusion of that derived from aniline. The addition of a small amount of diphenylphosphinic acid doubles the conversion and improves the selectivity in diphenylurea, but the effect is attenuated for larger amounts of acid. Small amounts of chloride, of the order of 10-30 mol% with respect to palladium, improve both rate and selectivity, but only inhibiting effects are detected when chloride is added to the reaction mixture for the carbonylation of 2,4-dinitrotoluene to dimethyl 2,4-toluenedicarbamate. The data obtained and that previously reported in the literature has been analyzed in the context of a unifying mechanism and an explanation for some apparent contradictions has been given.     

A Simple Product Formula for Certain Kazhdan-Lusztig R-Polynomials

We give a new characterization of the analytic spread of ideals in local rings with infinite residue fields. This new characterization answers a question of Huneke and can simplify Huneke's constructions in [1]     

Heegner divisors in the moduli space of genus three curves

S. Kondo used periods of surfaces to prove that the moduli space of genus three curves is birational to an arithmetic quotient of a complex 6-ball. In this paper we study Heegner divisors in the ball quotient, given by arithmetically defined hyperplane sections of the ball. We show that the corresponding loci of genus three curves are given by hyperelliptic curves, singular plane quartics and plane quartics admitting certain rational ``splitting curves'.

     

Graphic Calculators and Micro-Straightness: Analysis of a Didactic Engineering

This paper concerns the analysis of a didactic engineering, the aim of which is to introduce Calculus, at secondary-school level, through the relationship between global and local points of view. It was designed for a graphic–symbolic calculator environment and structured in accordance with a learning trajectory from identifying the graphical phenomenon of local linearity to its mathematical formulation. This learning trajectory involves the reconstruction of the relationship with the tangent line to a curve at a chosen point. The analysis shows the use of different semiotic systems in order to grasp this phenomenon and construct its mathematical meaning.

Deposition and characterization of a CoHCF nanorod array in a templated ormosil film on an electrode and application to electrocatalysis

Cobalt hexacyanoferrate (CoHCF) was electrodeposited into an organically modified silica (ormosil) film with a nanoarray of parallel, cylindrical channels, which were obtained using 20-nm poly(styrene sulfonate), PSS, beads as a templating agent. The PSS was bound to the electrode surface with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, APTES. Methoxytrimethylsilane was the ormosil precursor. Electrochemically assisted processing at a positive potential where the hydrogen ion catalyst was generated was used to deposit the ormosil film. Subsequently, the PSS and APTES were removed to provide the pores. The CoHCF was deposited in the 20-nm channels by cyclic voltammetry of a freshly prepared K₃Fe(CN)₆, CoCl₂ mixture with 1.0 mol dm^?3 KCl as the supporting electrolyte. Limiting the number of electrodeposition cycles to 10–20 resulted in CoHCF nanorods in the pores, whereas with 50 cycles bulk-form CoHCF spilled over the outer ormosil surface. Electrocatalytic oxidation of cysteine was successfully performed on these nanorod arrays, which showed greater catalytic activity than bulk-form CoHCF.