Mechanism of homogeneously and heterogeneously catalysed Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley-Oppenauer reactions for the racemisation of secondary alcohols

The mechanism of hydrogen transfer from alcohols to ketones, catalysed by lanthanide(III) isopropoxides or zeolite Beta has been studied. For the lanthanide catalysed reactions, (S)-1-phenyl-(1-(2)H(1))ethanol and acetophenone were used as case studies to determine the reaction pathway for the hydrogen transfer. Upon complete racemisation all deuterium was present at the 1-position, indicating that the reaction exclusively takes place via a carbon-to-carbon hydrogen transfer. Zeolite Beta with different Si/Al ratios was applied in the racemisation of (S)-1-phenylethanol. In this case the racemisation does not proceed via an oxidation/reduction pathway but via elimination of the hydroxy group and its re-addition. This mechanism, however, is not characteristic for all racemisation reactions with zeolite Beta. When 4-tert-butyl cyclohexanone is reduced with this catalyst, a classical MPV reaction takes place exclusively. This demonstrates that zeolite Beta has a substrate dependent reaction pathway.     

Radius,perimeter, and density profile for percolation clusters and lattice animals

Monte Carlo simulation and series expansion shows the radius of gyration of large clusters withs sites each to vary ass with0.56 in two and0.47 in three dimensions at the percolation threshold, and with(d=2)0.65 and(d=3)0.53 for random lattice animals (zero concentration). Clusters up tos=100 were used. The perimeter of random animals approaches 2.8s for larges on the simple cubic lattice. Monte Carlo simulation of the Eden process (growing animals) up tos=5,000 indicates a systematic variation of about ±0.05 for the effective exponent=(s) and thus suggests that the true asymptotic exponents may be compatible with the predictions of hyper-scaling.     

Intermolecular Domino Reaction of Two Aryl Iodides Involving Two C?H Functionalizations

A palladium‐catalyzed intermolecular cross‐coupling of two aryl iodides is reported, giving polycyclic ring systems with a high level of convergence and efficiency.     

A new method for the automated selection of the number of components for deconvolving overlapping chromatographic peaks

Mathematical deconvolution methods can separate co-eluting peaks in samples for which (chromatographic) separation fail. However, these methods often heavily rely on manual user-input and interpretation. This is not only time-consuming but also error-prone and automation is needed if such methods are to be applied in a routine manner.     

Extending the hydrophobic cavity of β-cyclodextrin results in more negative heat capacity changes but reduced binding affinities

The formation of inclusion complexes of hydroxypropylated β-cyclodextrins (CDs) with three bile salts are investigated to shed light on the role played by the hydroxypropyl (HP) substituents. The HP-chains are situated at the rim of the CD and may thus extend the hydrophobic cavity of the CD. Calorimetric titrations in a broad temperature range and molecular dynamics simulations confirm previous speculations that the HP-chains cause an increase in dehydrated nonpolar surface area upon formation of the complexes. This additional burial of nonpolar surface area, 12–16 Å² per HP-chain according to the MD simulations, results in more negative values of ΔC _p °, which are in quantitative agreement with what is expected for hydrophobic dehydration. Although these observations support the picture of an extended hydrophobic cavity, HPβCD complexes were less stable than their unsubstituted counterparts. This indicates that increased hydrophobic contacts are not always accompanied by increased binding strength. The linear dependence of ΔC _p °, ΔH° and ΔS° on the number of HP-chains give rise to isoentropic and isoenthalpic temperatures at which ΔH° and ΔS° are independent of the number of HP-chains on the host CD (but depend on the type of bile salt). Interestingly, these convergence temperatures are close to what is observed for unfolding of proteins and may be a common feature of hydrophobic dehydration.     

Intermolecular Domino Reaction of Two Aryl Iodides Involving Two CH Functionalizations

A palladium‐catalyzed intermolecular cross‐coupling of two aryl iodides is reported, giving polycyclic ring systems with a high level of convergence and efficiency.     

PIN-photodiode with a large spot size input waveguide

Polarization insensitive optical coupling of a large spot size input waveguide to a small spot size photodiode is achieved by the introduction of a transition waveguide. The coupling efficiency to the photodetector and the related absorption efficiency of the photodiode depend mainly on the refractive indices of the different InGaAsP layers. Waveguide alignments, waveguide widths and the n-contact etch depth do not influence the absorption efficiency relative to a 1-dB tolerance.     

Asymmetric Carboxycyanation of Aldehydes by Cooperative AlF/Onium Salt Catalysts: from Cyanoformate to KCN as Cyanide Source

Asymmetric 1,2-additions of cyanide yield enantioenriched cyanohydrins as versatile chiral building blocks. Next to HCN, volatile organic cyanide sources are usually used. Among them, cyanoformates are more attractive on technical scale than TMSCN for cost reasons, but catalytic productivity is usually lower. Here, the development of a new strategy for cyanations is described, in which this activity disadvantage is overcome. A Lewis acidic Al center cooperates with an aprotic onium moiety within a remarkably robust bifunctional Al–F–salen complex. This allowed for unprecedented turnover numbers of up to 10⁴. DFT studies suggest an unexpected unique trimolecular pathway in which the ammonium bound cyanide attacks the aldehyde, which itself is activated by the carbonyl group of the cyanoformate binding to the Al center. In addition, a novel practical carboxycyanation method was developed that makes use of KCN as the sole cyanide source. The use of a pyrocarbonate as carboxylating reagent provided the best results.     

Degradation of a polyester‐urethane coating: Physical properties

In this article we studied the evolution of thermomechanical properties of a polyester‐urethane coating during degradation under different degradation conditions, i.e., aerobic and anaerobic conditions with and without dry/wet cycling during degradation. Dynamic mechanical and thermal analyses show that under aerobic conditions the coatings become stiffer and more brittle in the glassy state. This stiffening is probably due to the increase in the amount of hydrogen bonding and the formation of oxidized groups which increase the polarity of the material and enhance the interactions of the polymer segments. However, oxidation reactions result in a considerable decrease in cross‐link density and stiffness in the rubbery state. Both changes, in the glassy and rubbery states, give rise to development of internal stresses. These stresses increase as the degradation process proceeds. Nevertheless, for samples exposed to anaerobic conditions, the stiffness remains constant in the glassy state and the cross‐link density slightly increases as a result of degradation. This reconfirms the dominance of the effect of oxidation reactions on the mechanical failure of the coatings. Oxygen permeation measurements show a more‐or‐less time‐independent diffusion coefficient and a gradual decrease in solubility of oxygen as a function of exposure time. This results in a slight decrease in oxygen permeation (mainly in the early stage of the degradation) as degradation proceeds. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2016 , 54, 659–671