Lanthanide bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amides, synthesis, characterization and catalytic activity

The synthesis of lanthanum, neodymium and ytterbium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amides, named triflimidates, from acetates, carbonates and oxides is investigated. When the synthesis is performed in water, all the salts contain one molecule of water and the lanthanum and neodymium salts synthesized from the acetates also contain one molecule of acetic acid. After removal of the water and acetic acid in refluxing ethanol, the salts are obtained anhydrous but associated for lanthanum and neodymium, whereas the ytterbium salt is monomeric and volatile. When the synthesis is performed directly in ethanol, the neodymium salt contains two molecules of coordinated ethanol.In non-hazardous solvents, these triflimidates are better catalysts than the analogous triflates toward either Friedel-Crafts acylations, or Fries transpositions or Baeyer-Villiger oxidations. Unexpectedly, the cerium(IV) triflimidate catalyzes the oxidation of aromatic ketones to give the corresponding acids.     

5′-Epimeric 3′-deoxy-3′,4′-didehydronucleoside-5′-C-phosphonates: synthesis and structural assignment by NMR and X-ray analyses

Epimeric 5′-(RS) dialkyl 3′-deoxy-3′,4′-didehydro-5′-C-phosphonates were prepared by nucleophilic addition of various dialkyl phosphites to 3′-deoxy-3′,4′-didehydronucleoside-5′-aldehydes. Whereas direct NMR configuration assignment for the C5′ atom bearing the phosphoryl and hydroxy groups using the J (P,H4′) and J (H5′,H4′) coupling constants is impossible due to the absence of the H4′ atom, successful separation, crystallisation and X-ray crystallographic analysis of a pair of epimeric 5′-C-phosphonates, followed by correlation with a series of NMR parameters, led to efficacious configuration assignment of individual epimers in the mixtures.     

A sufficient and necessary criterion for separability of bipartite quantum states

A sufficient and necessary criterion for separability of bipartite quantum states is presented. We construct a class of mixed states in 2 ? k quantum systems and in 3 ? k quantum systems, respectively and show that these states are separable if and only if they are positive partial transpositions.