Voltammetric Behavior of the Alizarin Red S Interaction with DNA and Damage to DNA

The electrochemical behavior and the interaction of alizarin red S (ARS) with calf thymus DNA was investigated on a bare glassy carbon electrode (GCE) and DNA modified GCE (DNA/GCE), respectively. ARS showed a pair of redox peaks at ?0.445 V and ?0.414 V on a bare GCE. On addition of DNA into the ARS solution, the peak current of ARS decreased and the peak potential positively shifted, but without new redox peaks appeared. The ARS reduction peak current increased with immersion time on a DNA/GCE. The results showed that ARS could interact with DNA molecules by intercalative binding mode. The equilibrium constant, binding number and the ratio of binding constant for oxidized and reduced ARS forms were obtained. The DNA damage was directly detected by appearance of guanosine and adenosine bases oxidation signal. The influence of experimental conditions on DNA damage extent was discussed in detail.     

Analysis of Petroleum Distillates from Fire Debris Using Supercritical Fluid Extraction with a Two‐Level Orthogonal Array Experimental Design

A supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) method was developed in the present study as an effective sample pretreatment technique of petroleum distillates from fire debris. Three petroleum distillates were used as target analytes, including 95 unleaded gasoline, kerosene, and premium diesel. An orthogonal array (L16) experimental design was adopted to separately evaluate primary SFE experimental factors. The SFE efficiencies of petroleum distillates at various extraction conditions were examined and the optimized SFE conditions were identified. Experimental results demonstrated that the optimized SFE method not only provided an effective extraction method for the spiked sample, but also successfully recovered residues of petroleum distillates from fire debris.     

Mechanism of coupling reactions of polystyryllithium with dihalomethanes

We report here an in‐depth analysis of the reaction mechanisms involved in the formation of polymer dimers formed by the coupling of polystyryllithium (PSLi) with dichloromethane (DCM), dibromomethane (DBM), and diiodomethane (DIM) in tetrahydrofuran at ?78 °C. The DBM‐mediated reactions give a high degree of coupling but generate 1,2‐diphenyl linkages in addition to the expected 1,3‐diphenyl linkages and small amounts of β‐substituted styrenic end groups that are detectable by fluorescence measurements. This is consistent with the formation of bromobenzyl end groups by lithium–bromine exchange and PSLi‐mediated elimination. The formation of α‐substituted styrenic end groups by conventional displacement and elimination is also possible. Although reactions of PSLi with DCM show no coupling at all, DIM is a much better coupling agent than DBM, significantly suppressing side reactions. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 40: 1081–1091, 2002     

d‐Secoestrone derivatives. VI. 17β‐Benzyl‐17α‐hydroxy‐3‐methoxyestra‐1,3,5(10)‐trien‐16‐one

The title mol­ecule, C₂₆H₃₀O₃, shows a novel chemical rearrangement of the substituents at position 17, i.e. an α‐­orientation of the hydroxy group and a β‐orientation of the bulky benzyl moiety. The packing arrangement consists of coils formed by O2?O3 hydrogen bonds along the c axis. The compound shows complete loss of oestrogenic activity, and neither does it exhibit an antagonistic effect.     

Global optimization of ionic Mg(n)F(2n) (n=1-30) clusters

The global optimization basin-hopping (BH) method has been used to locate the global minima (GM) of Mg(n)F(2n) (n=1-30) clusters using a Born-Mayer-type potential. Some of the GM were particularly difficult to find, requiring more than 1.5 x 10(4) BH steps. We have found that both the binding energy per MgF2 unit and the effective volume of the GM isomers increase almost linearly with n, and that cluster symmetry decreases with cluster size. The data derived from the BH runs reveal a growing density of local minima just above the GM as n increases. Despite this, the attraction basin around each GM is relatively large, since after all their atomic coordinates are randomly displaced by values as high as 2.0 bohrs, the perturbed structures, upon reoptimization, relax back to the GM in more than 50% of the cases (except for n=10 and 11). The relative stabilities derived from energy second differences suggest that n=8,10,13,15, and 20 are probably the magic numbers for these systems. Mass spectrum experiments would be very useful to clarify this issue.     

Ruthenium‐catalyzed formal alkyl group transfer: Synthesis of quinolines from nitroarenes and alkylammonium halides

Nitroarenes are reductively cyclized with an array of tetraalkylammonium halides and trialkylarnmonium chlorides in the presence of a catalytic amount of a ruthenium catalyst along with tin(II) chloride dihydrate at 180° to afford the corresponding quinolines in moderate to good yields. The addition of tin(II) chloride dihydrate is necessary for the effective formation of quinolines and toluene is the solvent of choice. A reaction pathway involving initial reduction of nitroarenes to anilines and conversion of alkylammonium halides to alkylamines, alkyl group transfer from alkylamines to anilines to form an imine, dimerization of imine, and heteroannulation is proposed for this catalytic process.