Unbridged bidentate aluminum complexes supported by diaroylhydrazone ligands: Synthesis,structure and catalysis in polymerization of ε-caprolactone and lactides

A series of novel diaroylhydrazone aluminum complexes have been synthesized and well-defined structurally, and their catalytic performance in the polymerization of ε-caprolactone and lactides have also been evaluated. Complexes [(L^1–4)₂AlMe] ( 1 – 4 ) {[L¹ = (3,5-^tBu₂–2-OMe-C₆H₂)CH=NNCOC₆H₅], [L² = (3,5-^tBu₂–2-OMe-C₆H₂)CH=NNCO(C₆H₄–4-OCH₃)], [L³ = (3,5-^tBu₂–2-OMe-C₆H₂)CH=NNCO(C₆H₄–4-Br)] and [L⁴ = (2-OMe-C₆H₄)CH=NNCO(C₆H₄–4-^tBu)]} were prepared through treatment of AlMe₃ with the corresponding proligands L^1–4H in molar ratios of 1: 1 or 1: 2. Chemical structures of all the complexes were well-defined by elemental analysis, NMR spectra as well as single-crystal X-ray study. Complexes [(L^1–4)₂AlMe] ( 1 – 4 ) in this work represent the first examples of aluminum complexes of aroylhydrazone ligands with crystallographic characterization. Specifically, they are all in monomeric form with a penta-coordinated aluminum center, including two approximately co-planar five-membered metallacycles with aluminum. Introduced bulky tert-butyl substituents in aroylhydrazone ligands could affect the geometry around the central metal which is a distorted square-based pyramid in complexes 1 – 3 while being a trigonal bipyramidal in complex 4 , thus affecting their catalytic behaviors. The complexes can successfully catalyze the ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone and _L-lactide under mild conditions without any activator. In addition, complexes 1 – 4 could also polymerize rac-lactide, affording atactic polylactides with high conversions and good controllability in relatively short reaction time.     

A bias-compensated fractional order normalized least mean square algorithm with noisy inputs

Numerical Algorithms - This paper comes up with a stable bias-compensated fractional order normalized least mean square (BC-FONLMS) algorithm with noisy inputs. This kind of bias-compensated...     

Exploring the Condensation Reaction between Aromatic Nitriles and Amino Thiols To Optimize In Situ Nanoparticle Formation for the Imaging of Proteases and Glycosidases in Cells

The condensation reaction between 6-hydroxy-2-cyanobenzothiazole (CBT) and cysteine has been shown for various applications such as site-specific protein labelling and in vivo cancer imaging. This report further expands the substrate scope of this reaction by varying the substituents on aromatic nitriles and amino thiols and testing their reactivity and ability to form nanoparticles for cell imaging. The structure–activity relationship study leads to the identification of the minimum structural requirement for the macrocyclization and assembly process in forming nanoparticles. One of the scaffolds made of 2-pyrimidinecarbonitrile and cysteine joined by a benzyl linker was applied to design fluorescent probes for imaging caspase-3/7 and β-galactosidase activity in live cells. These results demonstrate the generality of this system for imaging hydrolytic enzymes.     

Comparative in vivo constituents and pharmacokinetic study in rats after oral administration of ultrafine granular powder and traditional decoction slices of Chinese Salvia

Salvia miltiorrhiza, one of the most well‐known herbal medicines, is commonly used for the treatment of coronary heart diseases in China. Besides traditional decoction slices (TDS), another relatively new product of S. miltiorrhiza, ultrafine granular powder (UGP; D90 < 45 μm), is also increasingly being used. In this paper, a UHPLC‐LTQ‐Orbitrap MS technique was developed for a metabolite profile study after oral administration of UGP and TDS of S. miltiorrhiza. The results showed that the number of in vivo absorbed compounds from UGP was much greater than that from TDS, and different types of products from S. miltiorrhiza will have different metabolic processes in vivo. Furthermore, a UHPLC‐Q‐Trap MS/MS method for simultaneously determining four tanshinones (tanshinone IIA, dihydrotanshinone I, tanshinone I and cryptotanshinone) was established and applied to assess the pharmacokinetics of the two types of products. All of the analytes displayed significant higher area under the concentration–time curve and peak concentration after oral administration of UGP than after TDS, indicating that ultrafine powder product could improve the bioavailability and absorption of cryptotanshinon,tanshinone II A,dihydrotanshinonE I and tanshinone I in vivo. The present study provides scientific information for further exploration of the pharmacology of these two types of S. miltiorrhiza and offers a reference for clinical administration of S. miltiorrhiza.     

Synthesis and characterization of degradable hyperbranched poly(2‐ethyl‐2‐oxazoline)

Hyperbranched poly(2‐ethyl‐2‐oxazoline) was synthesized by a combination of cationic ring‐opening polymerization and the oxidation of thiol to disulfide groups. A three‐arm star poly(2‐ethyl‐2‐oxazoline) (PEtOx) was first synthesized using 1,3,5‐tris(bromomethyl) benzene as an initiator. The star PEtOx was end‐capped with potassium ethyl xanthate. Similarly, a linear PEtOx was synthesized and end‐capped with potassium ethyl xanthate using benzyl bromide as an initiator. Hyperbranched PEtOx was then obtained by in situ cleaving and subsequent oxidation of the star PEtOx and linear PEtOx mixture with n‐butylamine as both a cleaving agent and a base in tetrahydrofuran. The linear PEtOx was used to prevent the formation of gel. The hyperbranched PEtOx can be cleaved with dithiothreitol to trithiol and monothiol polymer. The hyperbranched PEtOx shows no remaining thiols using Ellman's assay. The resulting hyperbranched PEtOx was hydrolyzed to a novel hyperbranched polyethyleneimine with degradable disulfide linkages. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019, 57, 2030–2037     

Convergence of the Best Linear Predictor of a Weakly Stationary Random Field

Journal of Fourier Analysis and Applications - Suppose that $$\{X_{m,n}\}_{(m,n)\in \mathbb {Z}^2}$$ is a centered, weakly stationary random field with spectral density function W. Let $$X'$$...     

Gold-surface binding of molecular switches studied by M?ssbauer spectroscopy

The nonanuclear coordination compound [Mo^IV{(CN)Fe^III(3-methyl-saldptn)}₈]Cl₄ exhibits multiple spin transitions (3-methyl-saldptn = N,N′-bis(3′′-methyl-2′′-hydroxy-benzyliden)-1,7-diamino-4-azaheptane). This spin crossover cluster is bound via a self-assembled monolayer onto a two dimensional array gold surface. M?ssbauer spectroscopy indicates that the thermally and optically induced spin crossover of the compound is maintained. Thereby, the foundation for its potential practical application (e.g. in the field of information storage) was laid.