A chemoselective deprotection of trimethylsilyl acetylenes catalyzed by silver salts

Trimethylsilyl acetylenes can be selectively deprotected in the presence of a catalytic amount of silver salts. AgNO₃ and AgOTf proved to be the most effective catalyst in a mixture of methanol, water and dichloromethane. Other functional groups, and especially silyl ethers, are not affected in these conditions.     

Contribution à l'étude du comportement de la catéchine en milieu alcalin

Contribution to the study of the behaviour of catechin in alkaline medium When catechin ( 1 ) is warmed with aqueous alkali it first undergoes rapid epimerisation. After some time a novel bridged carbocyclic enol, catechinic acid ( 3 ) separates out and may be isolated in excellent yield. Eventually catechinic acid isomerises to 2-(3′,4′-dihydroxyphenyl)-3,9-epoxy-6-oxo-bicyclo[3,3,1]-non-7-en-8,9-diol ( 4 ) via an open chain anion ( 5 ) which is also involved in the epimerisation of catechin. Assignments of structure are given and the equilibria observed are discussed.     

Highlights on the Binding of Cobalta-Bis-(Dicarbollide) with Glucose Units

Metalla-bis-dicarbollides, such as the cobalta-bis-dicarbollide (COSAN) anion [Co(C₂B₉H₁₁)₂]⁻, have attracted much attention in biology but a deep understanding of their interactions with cell components is still missing. For this purpose, we studied the interactions of COSAN with the glucose moiety, which is ubiquitous at biological interfaces. Octyl-glucopyranoside surfactant (C8G1) was chosen as a model as it self-assembles in water and creates a hydrated glucose-covered interface. At low COSAN content and below the critical micellar concentration (CMC) of C8G1, COSAN binds to C8G1 monomers through the hydrophobic effect. Above the CMC of C8G1, COSAN adsorbs onto C8G1 micelles through the superchaotropic effect. At high COSAN concentrations, COSAN disrupts C8G1 micelles and the assemblies become similar to COSAN micelles but with a small amount of solubilized C8G1. Therefore, COSAN binds in a versatile way to C8G1 through either the hydrophobic or superchaotropic effect depending on their relative concentrations.     

Directionality of dog vocalizations

The directionality patterns of sound emission in domestic dogs were measured in an anechoic environment using a microphone array. Mainly long-distance signals from four dogs were investigated. The radiation pattern of the signals differed clearly from an omnidirectional one with average differences in sound-pressure level between the frontal and rear position of 3-7 dB depending from the individual. Frequency dependence of directionality was shown for the range from 250 to 3200 Hz. The results indicate that when studying acoustic communication in mammals, more attention should be paid to the directionality pattern of sound emission.     

High efficiency white luminescence of alumina doped ZnO

The application of alumina-doped ZnO (AZO) films as luminescent material for large area lighting sources has been evaluated. Thin films were grown on quartz using magnetron sputtering and subsequently annealed under argon atmosphere in a rapid thermal annealing experiment. Below 550 °C, red-shift of the optical band gap and increase of the visible emission are observed in agreement with Al diffusion and formation of interstitial oxygen atoms. At temperatures higher than 800 °C, diffusion is activated and Ostwald ripening leads to the formation of larger grains and an increase of the crystalline phase. The photoluminescence (PL) intensity is enhanced, specifically in the UV range. As a result the emission spectrum of AZO thin films can be adjusted by the annealing conditions, with equal contributions from the UV and orange parts of the PL spectrum resulting in an efficient white emission as quantified using the color space map of the Commission Internationale de l'Éclairage.     

Intramolecular [2 + 2]cycloadditions of dialkylketenes with alkenes. Regiochemistry of intramolecular [2+2]cycloadditions of ketenes with alkenes

Unsaturated dialkylketenes 7a, 7b and 7c undergo intramolecular [2 + 2]cycloadditions to give 8a (45%), 9b (23%) and 9c (45%). Intramolecular cycloadditions of dialkylketenes give higher yields than intramolecular cycloadditions of monoalkylketenes, even though dialkylketenes are less reactive than monoalkylketenes. An intramolecular competition experiment with ketene 17 establishes that trans-alkenes are approximately 33 times more reactive than cis-alkenes in intramolecular cycloadditions. Ketene 36 furnishes 22% of the expected bicyclo[3.2.0]heptanone 37 and 28% of bicyclo[3.1.1]heptanone 38.     

A Highly Effective Ruthenium System for the Catalyzed Dehydrogenative Cyclization of Amine–Boranes to Cyclic Boranes under Mild Conditions

We recently disclosed a new ruthenium‐catalyzed dehydrogenative cyclization process (CDC) of diamine–monoboranes leading to cyclic diaminoboranes. In the present study, the CDC reaction has been successfully extended to a larger number of diamine–monoboranes ( 4 – 7 ) and to one amine–borane alcohol precursor ( 8 ). The corresponding NB(H)N‐ and NB(H)O‐containing cyclic diaminoboranes ( 12 – 15 ) and oxazaborolidine ( 16 ) were obtained in good to high yields. Multiple substitution patterns on the starting amine–borane substrates were evaluated and the reaction was also performed with chiral substrates. Efforts have been spent to understand the mechanism of the ruthenium CDC process. In addition to a computational approach, a strategy enabling the kinetic discrimination on successive events of the catalytic process leading to the formation of the NB(H)N linkage was performed on the six‐carbon chain diamine–monoborane 21 and completed with a ¹⁵N NMR study. The long‐life bis‐σ‐borane ruthenium intermediate 23 possessing a reactive NHMe ending was characterized in situ and proved to catalyze the dehydrogenative cyclization of 1 , ascertaining that bis σ‐borane ruthenium complexes are key intermediates in the CDC process.     

Grade Filtration of Linear Functional Systems

The grade (purity) filtration of a finitely generated left module M over an Auslander regular ring D is a built-in classification of the elements of M in terms of their grades (or their (co)dimensions if D is also a Cohen-Macaulay ring). In this paper, we show how grade filtration can be explicitly characterized by means of elementary methods of homological algebra. Our approach avoids using sophisticated methods such as bidualizing complexes, spectral sequences, associated cohomology, or Spencer cohomology used in the literature of algebraic analysis. Efficient implementations dedicated to the computation of grade filtration can then be easily developed in the standard computer algebra systems. Moreover, this characterization of grade filtration is shown to induce a new presentation of the left D-module M which is defined by a block-triangular matrix formed by equidimensional diagonal blocks. The linear functional system associated with the left D-module M can then be integrated in cascade by successively solving inhomogeneous linear functional systems defined by equidimensional homogeneous linear systems of increasing dimension. This equivalent linear system generally simplifies the computation of closed-form solutions of the original linear system. In particular, many classes of underdetermined/overdetermined linear systems of partial differential equations can be explicitly integrated by the Maple package PurityFiltration and the GAP package homalg, but not by the standard PDE solvers of computer algebra systems such as Maple.     

Magnesium‐Catalyzed Hydroboration of Terminal and Internal Alkynes

A magnesium‐catalyzed hydroboration of alkynes providing good yields and selectivities for a wide range of terminal and symmetrical and unsymmetrical internal alkynes has been developed. The compatibility with many functional groups makes this magnesium catalyzed procedure attractive for late stage functionalization. Experimental mechanistic investigations and DFT calculations reveal insights into the reaction mechanism of the magnesium catalyzed protocol.     

Iron-catalyzed alkylation of alkenyl Grignard reagents

The first iron-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction between alkenyl Grignard reagents and n- or s-alkyl bromides is described. The reaction is stereoselective and takes place in the presence of 5 mol % of [Fe(acac)3/TMEDA/HMTA] (1:2:1) under very mild conditions (THF, 0 degrees C, 45 min).