Etudes par spectroscopie dans l'ultra-violet et le visible, du fullerène C60 en solution dans le n-hexane ou adsorbé sur des solides diélectriques

Ultraviolet and visible spectroscopy studies of the fullerene C₆₀ melted in n-hexane or adsorbed on dielectric solids. Experiments of spectroscopy have been carried out, between the far ultraviolet and the near infrared, with pure C₆₀ or containing endohedral complexes rare gas atom-C₆₀, melted in n-hexane, and also pure C₆₀ adsorbed on surfaces of solids.Several phenomena have been observed: 1. a charge transfer due to the influence of interactions between the molecules of C₆₀ and surfaces of solids, yielding new transitions observed in the far ultraviolet ; and interpreted as super excited states of Rydberg type; 1.1. red and blue shifts for some transitions of adsorbed C₆₀, interpreted on the basis of attractive, or turned repulsive, dispersion forces; 1.1.1. emission processes for several transitions of adsorbed C₆₀, explained on the basis of a resonant coupling between these transitions and modes of the surface plasmon induced by the collective excitations of the C₆₀ molecule; this kind of process might be drawn to the Faraday instability in acoustics.     

Supported nanometric titanium oxide sols as a new efficient photocatalyst

We report on the first study of the photocatalytic performance of immobilized smallest titanium oxide oxoparticles of the size 2R = 5.0 nm on a glass support. The nanometric particles are prepared in the sol-gel reactor with rapid reagent mixing and temperature, atmosphere, and particle size control. The surface coverage is achieved by inserting the support into the reactor solution during the induction period, where chemically active nanoparticles are relatively stable. We show that this immobilized amorphous oxo phase of titanium oxide exhibits considerable activity toward photocatalytic degradation of trichloroethylene in the gas phase. Moreover, one of the important factors appears to be the catalyst surface preparation, which has to be free of the adsorbed alcohol molecules. UV-assisted exchange between propoxy and hydroxy groups is suggested as the surface activation mechanism. The film thickness is expected to strongly affect the material photocatalytic efficiency because of the internal traps population.     

Facile asymmetric synthesis of the core nuclei of xanthanolides,guaianolides, and eudesmanolides

[reaction: see text] Bicyclic and tricyclic gamma-butyrolactones with 5,7-, 5,6,5-, 5,6,6-, or 5,7,5-fused ring systems, being found in xanthanolides, eudesmanolides, and guaianolides, were readily synthesized from methyl furan-2-carboxylic acid. Key steps were a copper(I)-catalyzed asymmetric cyclopropanation, Sakurai allylations, intramolecular ene reactions, and ring-closing metathesis reactions.     

Enantioselective synthesis of paraconic acids

The development of a new method for the enantioselective synthesis of disubstituted gamma-butyrolactones is reported. Based on this strategy, the total synthesis of three paraconic acids, that is (-)-roccellaric acid, (-)-nephrosteranic acid and (-)-protopraesorediosic acid, and the formal total synthesis of (-)-methylenolactocin and (-)-protolichesterinic acid is described, which are important because of their antibiotic and antitumor properties. Key steps of the synthesis are copper(I)-catalyzed asymmetric cyclopropanations of furans, highly diastereoselective Sakurai allylations, Lewis acid or Lewis base catalyzed retroaldol/lactonization cascades, and ruthenium(II)-catalyzed, intermolecular cross metathesis reactions.