A Convenient Procedure for the Formylation of Amines and Alcohols Using Cyanomethyl Formate

A simple method for the direct formylation of amines using cyanomethyl formate is described. The formylation succeeds in moderate to high yields under mild and neutral conditions. Thus, formamides 2a-f, 2i-m are obtained at room temperature. A chemoselective N-formylation is achieved in the case of ethanolamine. The formylation of nitroanilines and the O-formylation of alcohols only succeeds in the presence of a catalytic amount of imidazole leading to 2g,h and 3a-e, respectively.     

Direct measurement of the 7Be solar neutrino flux with 192 days of borexino data

We report the direct measurement of the 7Be solar neutrino signal rate performed with the Borexino detector at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso. The interaction rate of the 0.862 MeV 7Be neutrinos is 49+/-3stat+/-4syst counts/(day.100 ton). The hypothesis of no oscillation for 7Be solar neutrinos is inconsistent with our measurement at the 4sigma C.L. Our result is the first direct measurement of the survival probability for solar nu(e) in the transition region between matter-enhanced and vacuum-driven oscillations. The measurement improves the experimental determination of the flux of 7Be, pp, and CNO solar nu(e), and the limit on the effective neutrino magnetic moment using solar neutrinos.     

X-ray scattering studies of fatty acid films on water and on Cdcl2 solutions

X-ray diffraction methods for Langmuir films on the surface of water are briefly presented, together with recent results for docosanoic acid monolayers on pure water and for eicosanoic acid monolayers on an ionic subphase.