η-π allylzirconocene derivatives: preparation of steroidal side chains

(E,E) η³-π allylzirconocene derivative 7 was generated in situ under thermodynamically equilibrated conditions and subsequently reacted with acetone to give natural andlor unnatural steroidal side chains.     

Studies on the sesquiterpenoids of hypolepis punctata mett.—II : The total synthesis of hypacrone

Hypacrone (1), a new seco-illudoid, was synthesized by several steps, including a cross aldol condensation of two major moieties, a diketone (2) and a cyclopentenone derivative (11).     

Spin wave and vortex excitations of superfluid 3He-A in parallel-plate geometry

Quantized vortices with half-integer circulation, which are forbidden from existing in a conventional superfluid because of the single valueness of the wave function, are theoretically predicted to exist in superfluid 3He-A if the order parameters l over and d over form l over perpendicular d over texture. To form the l over perpendicular d over texture, we confined the superfluid between parallel plates with a 12.5 microm gap and applied a magnetic field of H=26.7 mT perpendicular to the plates to take NMR and orient d over perpendicular to l over. NMR spectra exhibit a negative-shift peak which probes that the uniform l over perpendicular d over texture is realized in our cell and show a new satellite signal under rotation. The rotation dependence of the satellite signal is interpreted that a Fréedericksz transition of l over texture is induced by rotation above 1.0 rad/s and vortices start to appear above 1.8 rad/s.     

A catalytic one-step process for the chemo- and regioselective acylation of monosaccharides

An organocatalytic method for the chemo- and regioselective acylation of monosaccharides has been developed. Treatment of octyl beta-D-glucopyranoside with isobutyric anhydride in the presence of 10 mol % of a C2-symmetric chiral 4-pyrrolidinopyridine catalyst (1) at -50 degrees C gave the 4-O-isobutyryl derivative as the sole product in 98% yield. Thus, chemoselective acylation, favoring a secondary hydroxyl group in the presence of a free primary hydroxyl group, and regioselective acylation, favoring one of three secondary hydroxyl groups, took place with perfect selectivity. A competitive acylation between octyl beta-D-glucopyranoside and a primary alcohol (2-phenylethanol) with 1.1 equiv of isobutyric anhydride in the presence of 1 gave the 4-O-isobutyrate of octyl beta-D-glucopyranoside with 99% regioselectivity in 98% yield, which indicates that acylation of the secondary hydroxyl group at C(4) of the carbohydrate proceeds in an accelerative manner. A possible mechanism, involving multiple hydrogen-bonding between 1 and the monosaccharide, is proposed for the chemo- and regioselective acylation.     

Unexpected reactivity of the burgess reagent with thiols: synthesis of symmetrical disulfides

Reaction of the Burgess reagent with a series of aliphatic and aromatic thiols led to the corresponding symmetrical disulfides in high yields. No olefins were detected in the reactions of aliphatic thiols.     

Multiaperture telecentric lens for 3D reconstruction

We present a telecentric lens that is able to gain 3D information. The proposed lens system has multiple aperture stops, which enable it to capture multidirectional parallel light rays, while a conventional telecentric lens has only one aperture stop and can capture only light rays that are perpendicular to the lens. We explain the geometry of the multiaperture telecentric system and show that correspondences fall on a line like those in a conventional stereo. As it is a single-lens sensor, we also introduce the principles of 3D reconstruction. Unlike a conventional stereo camera, the disparity of a scene point measured by the proposed lens system is linearly proportional to the depth of a scene point.     

A reduction approach to the repeated assignment problem

We consider the repeated assignment problem (RAP), which is a K-fold repetition of the n × n linear assignment problem (LAP), with the additional requirement that no assignment can be repeated more than once. In actual applications K is typically much smaller than n. First, we derive upper and lower bounds respectively by a heuristic together with local search, and an efficient method solving the continuous relaxation. The latter also solves a Lagrangian relaxation, such that the related pegging test, to fix variables at zero or one, decomposes into K independent pegging tests to LAPs. These can be solved exactly by transforming them into all-pairs shortest path problems. Together with these procedures, we also employ a virtual pegging test and reduce RAP in size. Numerical experiments show that the reduced instances, with K ? n, can be solved exactly using standard MIP solvers.