Chemoenzymatic asymmetric synthesis of fluoxetine,atomoxetine, nisoxetine,and duloxetine

The asymmetric synthesis of two well-known anti-depressant drugs, fluoxetine and duloxetine has been accomplished in a chemoenzymatic manner. The main highlight of the synthesis is the enantioselective cyanohydrin formation by a plant (R)-HNL (hydroxynitrile lyase). The enantiopure cyanohydrins are then synthetically manipulated into the above two drug molecules and two of their structural analogues, atomoxetine and nisoxetine.     

Antioxidant properties of chitosan-(poly)nitroxides under induced oxidative stress

Russian Chemical Bulletin - The cytotoxicity and antioxidant properties of water-soluble (at physiological pH) chitosan- (poly)nitroxides (CPNs) containing pyrroline-based nitroxide and having...     

Initial steps in methanol steam reforming on PdZn and ZnO surfaces: Density functional theory studies

Recent experiments suggested that PdZn alloy on ZnO support is a very active and selective catalyst for methanol steam reforming (MSR). To gain insight into MSR mechanism on this catalyst, plane-wave density functional theory calculations were carried out on the initial steps of MSR on both PdZn and ZnO surfaces. Our calculations indicate that the dissociation of both methanol and water is highly activated on flat surfaces of PdZn such as (111) and (100), while the dissociation barriers can be lowered significantly by surface defects, represented here by the (221), (110), and (321) faces of PdZn. The corresponding processes on the polar Zn-terminated ZnO(0001) surfaces are found to have low or null barriers. Implications of these results for both MSR and low temperature mechanisms are discussed.     

A Series of High‐nuclear 3d‐4f (FeIII8LnIII2) Complexes: Syntheses,Structures, and Magnetic Properties

Six novel decanuclear clusters with formula of {[Fe₈Ln₂(O)₄(OH)₄(EtO)₂(dhbp)₄(dhbpH)₂(piv)₆]·4EtOH} (Ln = Y ( 1 ), Gd ( 2 ), Tb ( 3 ), Dy ( 4 ), Ho ( 5 ), Er ( 6 ), dhbpH₂ = 6,6′‐dihydroxyl‐2,2′‐bipyridine, Hpiv = pivalic acid, EtOH = ethanol) have been synthesized and characterized. Single‐crystal and powder X‐ray diffraction analyses reveal that complexes 1 – 6 are isostructural and show a sandwich‐like Fe^III₈Ln^III₂ structure, in which the [Ln₂] unit is sandwiched by two planar [Fe₄] units. Magnetic properties of complexes 1 – 6 have been investigated and display dominant antiferromagnetic interactions, thereinto, complexes 4 and 6 display weak ferromagnetic behaviors associated with Ln^III ions, while others are antiferromagnetic‐like features. Furthermore, complex 4 (Fe^III₈Dy^III₂) shows temperature/frequency‐dependent ac signals with an energy barrier of 4.1 K, indicating that complex 4 should be a single‐molecule magnet (SMM)