Is there any sense to investigate volumetric and acoustic properties of more binary mixtures containing Ionic Liquids?

The excess speed of sound, excess molar volume and excess molar isentropic compressibility of 52 binary mixtures containing Ionic Liquids at T = 298.15 K were calculated using selected literature speed of sound and density data. The second components were alcohols: methanol, or ethanol, or 1-propanol, or 2-propanol, or 1-butanol or other solvents: acetone, acetonitrile, tetrahydrofuran, dichloromethane and dimethylsulfoxide. The Balankina’s relative excesses, X_bal, i.e. the ratios between excess and ideal quantities X^E/X^id were also determined to reduce the structural impact of pure components to absolute excesses. Analysis of quantities determined shows some patterns for concentration dependences of large groups of mixtures; thus, the scheme for influence of anion or cation of Ionic Liquids and solvent on Balankina’s relative excesses was proposed. It seems that presented analysis provide the knowledge about absolute and relative excess quantities for other mixtures without doing the experimental work. It is also visible that analysis of excess molar quantities and X_bal parameters can support the interpretation of interactions which occur between Ionic Liquids and solvent.     

A novel approach for LC-MS/MS-based chiral metabolomics fingerprinting and chiral metabolomics extraction using a pair of enantiomers of chiral derivatization reagents

Chiral metabolites are found in a wide variety of living organisms and some of them are understood to be physiologically active compounds and biomarkers. However, the overall analysis of chiral metabolomics is quite difficult due to the high number of metabolites, the significant diversity in their physicochemical properties, and concentration range from metabolite-to-metabolite. To solve this difficulty, we developed a novel approach for chiral metabolomics fingerprinting and chiral metabolomics extraction, which is based on the labeling of a pair of enantiomers of chiral derivatization reagents (i.e., DMT-(S,R)-Pro-OSu and DMT-3(S,R)-Apy) and precursor ion scan chromatography of the derivatives. The multivariate statistics is also required for this strategy. The proposed procedures were evaluated by the detection of a diagnostic marker (i.e., d-lactic acid) using the saliva of diabetic patients. This method was used for the determination of biomarker candidates of chiral amines and carboxyls in Alzheimer's disease (AD) brain homogenates. As the results, l-phenylalanine (L-Phe) and l-lactic acid (L-LA) were identified as the decreased and increased biomarker candidates in the AD brain, respectively. Therefore, the proposed approach seems to be helpful for the determination of non-target chiral metabolomics possessing amines and carboxyls.     

The Synthesis of New Organoselenium Heterocyclic Compounds: 2‐aryl‐4‐phenyl‐5,6,7,8‐tetrahydro‐4H‐selenochromenes

We have explored the reactions of 2‐(3‐oxo‐1‐aryl‐3‐phenylpropyl)cyclohexanone ( 1–3 ) with hydrogen selenide in situ in conditions of acid catalysis, and synthesized new 2‐aryl‐4‐phenyl‐5,6,7,8‐tetrahydro‐4H‐selenochromenes ( 4–6 ).     

Application of Löwdin's canonical orthogonalization method to the Slater‐type orbital configuration‐interaction basis set

We apply Löwdin's canonical orthogonalization method to investigate the linearly dependent problem arising from the variational calculation of atomic systems using Slater‐type orbital configuration‐interaction (STO‐CI) basis functions. With a specific arithmetic precision used in numerical computations, the nonorthogonal STO‐CI basis is easily linearly dependent when the number of basis functions is sufficiently large. We show that Löwdin's canonical orthogonalization method can successfully overcome such problem and simultaneously reduce the dimension of basis set. This is illustrated first through an S‐wave model He atom, and then the real two‐electron atoms in both the ground and excited states. In all of these calculations, the variational bound state energies of the two‐electron systems are obtained in reasonably high accuracy using over‐redundant STO‐CI bases, however, without using extended high‐precision technique. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Structure and Absolute Configuration of Aspergilumamide A,a Novel Lumazine Peptide from the Mangrove‐Derived Fungus Aspergillus sp.

A novel lumazine peptide, aspergilumamide A ( 1 ), as well as a known analog penilumamide ( 2 ), were isolated from the mycelia of a marine‐derived fungus Aspergillus sp. (33241), obtained from the mangrove Bruguiera sexangula var. rhynchopetala collected from the South China Sea. The structure of 1 was identified by comprehensive spectroscopic analysis, including 1D‐ and 2D‐NMR, ESI‐MS, and MS/MS experiments. The absolute configuration of 1 was determined by Marfey's method.     

First Stereoselective Synthesis of the Cytotoxic Polyketide (4R)‐1‐(3,5‐Dihydroxyphenyl)‐4‐hydroxypentan‐2‐one

The first stereoselective synthesis of the cytotoxic polyketide (4R)‐1‐(3,5‐dihydroxyphenyl)‐4‐hydroxypentan‐2‐one ( 1 ) was achieved from readily available propylene oxide and 3,5‐dimethoxybenzyl alcohol. The synthesis involves Jacobsen's hydrolytic kinetic resolution (HKR) and Grignard reaction as key steps.     

Hierarchically Structured Porous Poly(2‐oxazoline) Hydrogels

A new method for fabricating hydrogels with intricate control over hierarchical 3D porosity using microfiber porogens is presented. Melt electrospinning writing of poly(ε‐caprolactone) is used to create the sacrificial template leading to hierarchical structuring consisting of pores inside the denser poly(2‐oxazoline) hydrogel mesh. This versatile approach provides new opportunities to create well‐defined multilevel control over interconnected pores with diameters in the lower micrometer range inside hydrogels with potential applications as cell scaffolds with tunable diffusion and transport of, e.g., nutrients, growth factors or therapeutics.

     

Direct Functionalization of Poly(spirophosphazene)s via the Regioselective Lithiation of the Aromatic Rings Using a Cooperative Superbase

The direct chemical functionalization of poly(spirophosphazene) [NP(O₂C₁₂H₈)]_n ( 1 ) can be performed by the lithiation of the aromatic rings at low temperature using Schlosser's base (Li^t Bu/KO^t Bu or “superbase”), and the subsequent reaction with various electrophiles such as Cl SiMe₃, Cl PPh₂, or MeO B(O₂C₆H₁₂) (MeO Bpin). The functionalized polymers, isolated in very high yields (>90%) and without degradation of the polymeric chains, have an average degree of substitution per repeat unit ranging from 0.3 (random copolymers) to a maximum of 1.0, which corresponds to the homopolymers [NP(O₂C₁₂H₇ FG)]_n (FG (functional group) = SiMe₃,  PPh₂, and  Bpin). NMR studies, including bidimensional high temperature experiments on silylated and deuterated polymers, show that the substitution is regioselectively occurring at the C ₃ carbon of the aromatic rings due to the coordination of the lithium cations to the nitrogen of the polyphosphazene chain. The introduction of functional groups on the aromatic rings leads to significant changes in the solubility (silylated polymers), T _g, and electronic properties of the material, showing how the change of substituents in the aromatic rings can lead to polyphosphazenes with properties markedly different from those of the precursor polymer.

     

Ultrastiff Hydrogels Prepared by Schiff's Base Reaction of Bis(p‐Formylphenyl) Sebacate and Pillar[5]arene Appended with Multiple Hydrazides

Herein a facile method is reported to prepare polymer gels based on the formation of acylhydrazone bond under mild conditions. A pillar[5]arene derivative appended with ten hydrazide groups provides multiple sites for the reaction with the aldehyde groups of bis(p‐formylphenyl) sebacate in the presence of a small amount of HCl as the catalyst in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), producing transparent polymer organogels. The mechanical properties of gels can be easily tuned by the molar ratio of the reactant compounds. After solvent exchange from DMSO to water, translucent polymer hydrogels with dramatically enhanced strength and stiffness are obtained. The tensile breaking stress and Young's modulus of hydrogels are 20−60 and 1.2–2.7 MPa, respectively, 100 and 20 times those of the corresponding organogels. These robust hydrogels with ultrahigh stiffness should find applications such as in load‐bearing artificial organs. This work should merit designing functional materials using other macrocycles.

     

Solvent effect in polymer analysis by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry

Solvent effect is one of the important factors in sample preparation which may affect matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectra of synthetic polymers. MALDI imaging, a useful imaging tool for discovering biomarkers in tissues, is applied here for better comprehension of solvent effect in polymer analysis by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Nylon-6 was chosen as a model polymer for the study of solvent effect. Its MALDI mass spectra in different solvents were performed. MALDI imaging analysis was performed for studying the incorporation of analytes into matrix crystals in different solvent combinations. Specifically, the colocalization of matrix and analyte was obtained through Pearson’s correlation (PC) coefficient analysis of their MALDI images. The results demonstrated that satisfactory spectra were obtained in higher PC value conditions. PC decreased along with an increase in the ratio of poor solvent, which suggested that we should minimize the poor solvent ratio to obtain better MALDI spectra.