An unusual new reaction of α-olefins with magnesiumn-alkyl derivatives catalyzed by Cp2ZrCl2

The reaction of organomagnesium compounds (OMC) containing alkyl radicals of normal structure with -olefins, resulting in the formation of alkenylorganomagnesium compounds and accompanied by hydride transfer was discovered and systematically investigated. A scheme providing for the formation of zirconacyclopentane complexes was proposed for the mechanism of the reaction.Institute of Organic Chemistry, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 450054 Ufa. Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 5, pp. 1187–1196, May, 1992.     

Structural changes by sulfoxidation of phenothiazine drugs

Summary The side-chain conformations of psychoactive phenothiazine drugs in crystals are different from those of biologically inactive ring sulfoxide metabolites. This study examines the potential energies, molecular conformations and electrostatic potentials in chlorpromazine, levomepromazine (methotrimeprazine), their sulfoxide metabolites and methoxypromazine. The purpose of the study was to examine the significance of the different crystal conformations of active and inactive phenothiazine derivatives, and to determine why phenothiazine drugs lose most of their biological activity by sulfoxidation. Quantum mechanics and molecular mechanics calculations demonstrated that conformations with the side chain folded over the ring structure had lowest potential energy in vacuo, both in the drugs and in the sulfoxide metabolites. In the sulfoxides, side chain conformations corresponding to the crystal structure of chlorpromazine sulfoxide were characterized by stronger negative electrostatic potentials around the ring system than in the parent drugs. This may weaken the electrostatic interaction of sulfoxide metabolites with negatively charged domains in dopamine receptors, and cause the sulfoxides to be virtually inactive in dopamine receptor binding and related pharmacological tests.     

Many-cluster-systems: models of inhomogeneous matter

First, some general remarks concerning macroscopic “cluster matter” are given. In the second part, three recent, mainly optically and electron-microscopically performed investigations are discussed which deal with special properties of noble metal cluster systems forming the building units of this kind of matter:(1) dressed Au-55 clusters,(2) electromagnetic coupling effects among coagulated clusters,(3) the transition towards compact inhomogeneous matter caused by coalescence of clusters.     

Identification of low molecular vaporizable components in silicone resins using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry

An experimental set-up for the detection of elemental chlorine in chlorinated hydrocarbons (CHCs) is described based on a miniaturized system, which could be used for on-line monitoring of chlorinated compounds. With an optimized time-resolved detection chlorine from CHCs like CCl₄ can be determined by Laser-Induced-Breakdown-Spectroscopy (LIBS) with g/g-detection limits in the gas phase. The application of a miniaturized Nd : YAG laser resulted only in a minor loss in performance, hence it could be used for designing a rugged and small on-line sensor. In addition, preliminary results for the detection of chlorine via the formation of CuCl in the plasma formed by focussing the laser on a copper surface are reported. Utilizing the luminescence of the CuCl D-system at 440 nm, a tenfold improvement in the detection limits was obtained. It appears that the formation of ad hoc selected, small molecules in a laser plasma could be a promising alternative for the selective and sensitive analysis of gaseous chlorinated and other species.     

Solvent effects on the redox properties of tris-(1,10-phenanthroline)iron(II/III) complexes

The redox properties of the system Fe(tmphen)₃(II/III) (tmphen=3,4,7,8-tetramethyl-1,10-phenanthroline) have been studied in the solvents nitromethane, acetonitrile, propanediol-1,2-carbonate, dimethylformamide, dimethylacetamide, dimethylsulfoxide and of the systems Fe(phen)₃(II/III) (phen=1,10-phenanthroline) and Fe(niphen)₃(II/III) (niphen=5-nitro-1,10-phenanthroline) in the solvents nitromethane, acetonitrile, propanediol-1,2-carbonate and acetone. The redox potentials of Fe(tmphen)₃(II/III) are nearly independent of the solvent suggesting that the system might be used as a reference redox couple similar to the systems ferrocene/ferricinium or bisbiphenylchromium(0/I). In contrast the redox potentials of Fe(niphen)₃(II/III) show a significant decrease with increasing donor number of the solvent which can be explained by nucleophilic attack of solvent molecules at the iron. It is shown that such a mechanism is consistent with the known solvent and salt effects on the kinetics of dissociation of ferroin and ferriin type complexes.     

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The preparation and homogeneity study of synthetic multi-element standards (SMELS) for QC/QA of k0-NAA

Three new synthetic multi-element standards (SMELS) were developed for testing the performance of the k ₀-standardization neutron activation analysis (k ₀-NAA) method when implemented in a laboratory. SMELS consist of a phenol-formaldehyde polymer matrix spiked with different groups of elements according to the half-lives of the formed radionuclides. They are classified as Type I for short-, Type II for medium- and Type III for long-lived radionuclides. This article presents the preparation of SMELS including different aspects such as choice of the matrix and spiking elements, chemical compounds, target concentrations, purity of the matrix and spiking procedure and the homogeneity study for all the spiked elements in order to demonstrate the quality of the produced materials.     

Supercritical fluid chromatography of industrial paraffins and waxes

Summary The application of capillary SFC for SIMDIST investigations of paraffins and waxes is reported. Pressure, density and temperature of the mobile phase are optimized to obtain high chromatographic resolution of complex mixtures of industrial products. Isothermal linear pressure programming and asymptotic pressure and density programming are used in the range from 15 to 35 MPa in the isothermic mode above 100°C. SFC chromatograms of natural and synthetic paraffins, microcrystalline wax and candle wax are compared. The retention behaviour of paraffin mixtures and waxes has been investigated on methyl/phenyl and biphenyl capillary columns. The polarity of the stationary phases influences the absolute retention time more than it influences the chromatographic resolution.     

Levels of natural and artifical radioactivity in sediments in the Eastern Black Sea of Turkey

Sediment samples collected from the Eastern Black Sea in 1993 from 15 sampling stations of different depths have been analyzed. Natural and artifical radionuclide activity levels in offshore sediment samples from the Eastern Black Sea in Turkey are reported about seven years after the Chernobyl accident. The purpose of this paper is to follow up the earlier study and present results for the distributions of radionuclides in sediments of the Black Sea.