Efficient and selective transport of ω-amino acids across a bulk chloroform membrane by a macrocyclic dicopper(II) complex

The Cu(II) complex of a ditopic macrocyclic ligand efficiently transports ω-amino acids of different length across a bulk chloroform membrane with promising selectivity.     

Efficient sensitized photooxygenation in water by a porphyrin-cyclodextrin supramolecular complex

[reaction: see text] The 2:1 inclusion complex between (2,3,6-tri-O-methyl)-beta-cyclodextrin (TMbetaCD) and 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-sulfonatophenyl)-porphyrin (TPPS(4)) behaves as a supramolecular sensitizer in water providing photooxygenation with turnover numbers up to 30,000 with a very minor sensitizer bleaching (<10%). The protocol, which employs only 4 equiv of the cyclodextrin additive with respect to the porphyrin sensitizer (5 x 10(-7) M), leads to high yield oxidation of model biomolecules such as l-methionine methyl ester and uracil and is also effective for phenol degradation in aqueous solution.     

Synthesis of some substituted pyrido[1,2-a]pyrimidin-4-ones and 1,8-naphthyridines

The substituted 4H-pyrido[1, 2-a]pyrimidin-4-ones (I) were obtained by the condensation of substituted 2-aminopyridines with δ-ketocarboxylic esters in PPA. Some of the derivatives I were transformed into the corresponding 1, 8-naphthyridines II and III.     

β-Aluminas and water

TG, DSC and X-ray measurements were made to characterize the water absorption process by Li (50%) — Na (50%)β-alumina. The equilibrium water content, dehydration enthalpies and lattice parameter values have been determined and compared with those previously obtained for pure Li and Naβ-aluminas. The mixedβ-alumina is shown to be very similar to Liβ-alumina as concerns the dehydration enthalpy and the temperature range in which the dehydration occurs, while it seems to be very similar to Naβ-alumina with respect to the equilibrium water content andc-axis values.     

An approach to novel fused triazole or tetrazole derivatives starting from benzimidazo[1,2‐a]quinazoline‐5(7H)‐one and 5,7‐dihydro‐5‐oxopyrido[3′,2′:5,6]pyrimido[1,2‐a]benzimidazole

The synthetic potential of the title compounds benzimidazo[1,2‐a]quinazoline‐5(7H)‐one 2a and 5,7‐dihydro‐5‐oxopyrido[3′,2′:5,6]pyrimido[1,2‐a]benzimidazole 2b for the construction of novel polyhetero‐cyclic frameworks is reported. Compounds 2a,b , by conversion into their thio analogues 3a,b , were used for the synthesis of tetrazole ( 5a,b ) and triazole ( 7a,b ) derivatives, as well as for an unexpected synthesis of tri‐azoles 8a,b , isomers of 7a,b , resulting from the occurrence of a Dimroth rearrangement.     

Thermodynamics of water/β-cyclodextrin system

The thermodynamics of β-cyclodextrin dehydration is investigated, by parallel DSC/TG experiments, on both fully and partially hydrated samples. The apparent dehydration enthalpies per mole of water are impossibly high and this fact suggests that another phenomenon, in addition to the rupture of the β-cyclodextrin/H₂O hydrogen bonds, contributes to the peak area. All the experimental evidence agrees with an ‘interaction model’ which assumes that deydration is accompanied by a slow and reversible rearrangement of the β-cyclodextrin structure.     

Comparison of three spectrophotometric methods for the determination of gamma-oryzanol in rice bran oil

A comparison of the results obtained by applying three spectrophotometric methods (at fixed wavelength, second-derivative and multicomponent analysis) to the determination of gamma-oryzanol in rice bran oil is reported.At fixed wavelength the results are more accurate when using isopropyl alcohol, rather than n-heptane, to dilute the oil samples, because the absorption bands of gamma-oryzanol are red-shifted and the absorbance, measured at lambda(max)=327 nm, is less affected by the interference of the oil "matrix" (lambda(max)=314 nm in n-heptane).However, to obtain accurate results also in oils with a low content of gamma-oryzanol, it is necessary to perform the analysis using second-derivative ((2)D330.365) or multicomponent (lambda=310-360 nm) methods. The first one fully removes the interference of oil matrix whilst the second, which needs a specific computational program to process the spectrophotometric data, furnishes evidence the presence of some unexpected interference in the analysis and/or standards which are not representative of the analysed samples, from the square root of the sum of the squared differences at each point between the linear combination of the standards and the unknown spectra (RMS error).Finally, some aspects of the chemical, spectroscopic (UV, IR) and thermoanalytical (TG, DSC) behaviour of gamma-oryzanol and the values of the parameters which enable "computation" of its UV spectra are reported.     

Effect of the Magnetic Field on the Supramolecular Structure of Chiral Smectic C Phases: 2H NMR Studies

We present a theoretical and experimental ²H NMR study of the effect of external magnetic fields on the supramolecular organization of chiral smectic liquid‐crystalline mesophases, such as SmC* and re‐entrant SmC*. Three experimental cases in which the supramolecular helical structure of the smectic C* phase is unwound by a magnetic field (H), parallel to the helical axes of this phase, are discussed in detail. Unwinding of the helical structure is described by using a theoretical model based on the Landau‐de Gennes theory, which allows us to explain the transition temperatures among the SmA, SmC*, and uSmC* phases. The energy‐density behavior in the vicinity of the transitions and the value of the critical magnetic field H_C for unwinding the helical structure are discussed by applying this model to three ferroelectric smectogens ( MBHB , 11EB1M7 , ZLL7/* ), which are studied by ²H NMR spectroscopy at different magnetic fields (from 2.4 to 9.4 Tesla). Furthermore, the tilt angle of the three smectogens in the SmC* phase has been directly evaluated, for the first time, by comparing the quadrupolar splittings at different magnetic fields. In one case, ²H NMR angular measurements are used to obtain the tilt angle in the re‐entrant smectic C phase.     

Supervised pattern recognition to discriminate the geographical origin of rice bran oils: a first study

Supervised pattern recognition appears to be a useful tool to authenticate foodstuffs according to their geographical or varietal origin, when a set of samples whose classification is known a priori are available. In this work, linear discriminant analysis and artificial neural networks trained by the back-propagation algorithm have been used to discriminate rice bran oils manufactured in three different countries (Italy, Thailand and Switzerland) according to their geographical origin. The variables to be included in the mathematical models have been chosen by means of Fisher F-ratio value among the chemical indices routinely determined on vegetable oils (particularly fatty acids, triglycerides and sterol composition). The prediction ability of all the classifiers was 100% as evaluated by cross-validation.