A microcapillary system for simultaneous, parallel microwave-assisted synthesis

A continuous flow, microwave-assisted, parallel-capillary microreactor has been developed. Libraries of drug candidates were prepared on the milligram scale with this reactor by injecting plugs of reagents from separate syringes into common reaction capillaries, thereby producing discrete compounds in excellent yield and purity. Microwave irradiation provides the necessary energy that existing room-temperature microreactor technology lacks for higher activation barrier transformations, producing the required amounts of desired compounds in minutes or less.     

George Gamow: Scientific Amateur and Polymath

George Gamow (1904-1968) was among the first of the many brilliant scientists who forsook Europe for the United States in the early 1930s. Although most were fleeing the fascist imperium of Hitler and Mussolini, Gamow was one of a few who managed to escape the burgeoning despotism of Stalin in the Soviet Union. His early application of quantum mechanics to the atomic nucleus and his subsequent insight into the role played by the physics of the atom and its nucleus in stars, galaxies, and the universe identifies him as a scientist of unusual genius. Gamow displayed a boisterous, infectious - almost Rutherfordian - interest in all aspects of pure science. His interests were broad and his industry prodigious. His scientific output covered areas as diverse as nuclear physics, astrophysics, cosmology, biological genetics, and the fascinating question of the relationship of the large-scale structure and development of the universe to the properties of elementary particles and fields. He also was an immensely imaginative and prolific author of popular expositions on scientific subjects. One who is as well-known for his authorship of the Mr. Tompkins series of science popularizations as for his contributions to the development of the physical consequences of the big-bang theory of the expanding universe and the prediction of the cosmic background radiation must be unique in the scientific pantheon.     

Application of MELC and MEEKC for the Analysis of Paracetamol and Related Impurities in Suppositories

Rapid MELC and MEEKC methods were developed for paracetamol suppository assay. MELC methods for paracetamol analysis and for separation of paracetamol and its impurities were previously reported. In this study, further development of MEEKC methods and a MELC method using anionic and cationic microemulsions gave excellent validation results for paracetamol content in suppositories. SDS Microemulsion instability resulted in poor reproducibility for impurity separations using gradient elution. A novel isocratic CTAB MELC method achieved reproducible separation of paracetamol and its impurities at 0.1% levels. MEEKC methods using SDS and CTAB microemulsions resolved all of the impurities however detection at 0.1% levels was not possible. These methods gave significant benefits in terms of reduced sample pre-treatment requirements. CTAB microemulsions had greater solubilising power than their SDS equivalent and were more stable due to their longer alkyl chain length.     

Organic synthesis in water: 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions at ambient temperature with aqueous suspensions of solid reactants

Huisgen cycloaddition reactions of the insoluble yellow solid, phthalazinium dicyanomethanide occurred readily for vigorously stirred aqueous suspensions when the solid dipolarophile had solubility >ca. 10⁻³ mol L⁻¹. For a solubility of ca. 10⁻⁴ mol L⁻¹, liquefaction of the dipolarophile was necessary in order to achieve reactions.     

N-Vinylformamide – Building Block for Novel Polymer Structures

Abstract

N-Vinylformamide (NVF, N-ethenylformamide) is a precursor to amide and amine functional polymers and to other monomers, oligomers, and functional polymers. NVF shows attractive physical and toxicological properties and high reactivity, both in polymerization and in subsequent hydrolysis to cationic and reactive amine functional polymers or oligomers. NVF radical polymerization readily yields water soluble homopolymers with molecular weights from 10⁴ to >10⁶. Copolymerizability is similar to other vinyl amides. Unexpectedly, NVF will also undergo cationic oligomerization. Hydrolysis of polymers and copolymers with base or acid is facile, although reactions with neighboring groups (e.g., with coacrylate ester groups to give lactams) complicate copolymer hydrolysis.

Reaction of NVF at the unusually acidic NH group allows reaction with isocyanates to give vinylacylureas or Michael addition to acrylates to give a family of new N-vinylformamidopropionate esters. These esters in turn react with functional amines to generate new families of divinyl, vinyl/alcohol functional, or vinyl/amino functional comonomers. Applications for NVF and its derived monomers and polymers appear numerous, in particular in radiation cure coatings, based on their good physical and toxicological properties.     

Recent advances in the development and application of microemulsion EKC

Microemulsion EKC (MEEKC) is an electrodriven separation technique. Separations are typically achieved using oil-in-water microemulsions, which are composed of nanometre-sized oil droplets suspended in an aqueous buffer. The droplets are stabilised by a surfactant and a cosurfactant. The novel use of water-in-oil microemulsions has also been investigated. This review summarises the advances in the development of MEEKC separations and also the different areas of application including determination of log P values, pharmaceutical applications, chiral analysis, natural products and bioanalytical separations and the use of new methods such as multiplexed MEEKC and high speed MEEKC. Recent applications (2004-2006) are tabulated for each area with microemulsion composition details.     

Negligible absorption of radiofrequency radiation by colloidal gold nanoparticles

We report quantitative measurement of heat generation in Au-nanoparticle colloidal solutions induced by radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic waves (13.56 MHz; 25 W). The possible role of Au nanoparticles in RF heating was systematically investigated by separating the metal nanoparticles away from the colloidal solutions by centrifugation. Contrary to the previously made assumption in this field, it is found that Au nanoparticles do not contribute to RF energy absorption. The electrical conductivity measurement of the solutions with and without Au nanoparticles reveals that the Joule heating via ionic conduction in the electrolyte solutions is the dominant mechanism of RF-radiation-to-thermal conversion.     

Energetic polymers as binders in composite propellants and explosives

The principles behind the use of polymeric binders in composite propellants and explosives are described with emphasis on the properties which they should possess in order to satisfy the requirements for inclusion in a composition. The desirability of using energetic polymers as binders in terms of both performance and safety, and the problems associated with their preparation and properties, are discussed. The contributions of chemical synthesis within DRA to overcome these problems will be shown. Preparation of energetic polymers both by polymer modification and by polymerization of an energetic monomer is described. We have developed three energetic polymers: poly-3-nitratomethyl-3-methyloxetane (polyNIMMO), polyglycidyl nitrate (polyG-LYN) and nitrated hydroxy-terminated polybutadiene (NHTPB). Two of these (polyNIMMO and polyGLYN) have shown excellent properties in propellant and explosive formulations and proved that low-vulnerability, high-performance compositions are possible. The properties of the products from our work are compared with those of other groups and a glimpse of the future in this area is given to show the potential for new energetic polymers.     

An aldol-based build/couple/pair strategy for the synthesis of medium- and large-sized rings: discovery of macrocyclic histone deacetylase inhibitors

An aldol-based build/couple/pair (B/C/P) strategy was applied to generate a collection of stereochemically and skeletally diverse small molecules. In the build phase, a series of asymmetric syn- and anti-aldol reactions were performed to produce four stereoisomers of a Boc-protected γ-amino acid. In addition, both stereoisomers of O-PMB-protected alaninol were generated to provide a chiral amine coupling partner. In the couple step, eight stereoisomeric amides were synthesized by coupling the chiral acid and amine building blocks. The amides were subsequently reduced to generate the corresponding secondary amines. In the pair phase, three different reactions were employed to enable intramolecular ring-forming processes: nucleophilic aromatic substitution (S(N)Ar), Huisgen [3+2] cycloaddition, and ring-closing metathesis (RCM). Despite some stereochemical dependencies, the ring-forming reactions were optimized to proceed with good to excellent yields, providing a variety of skeletons ranging in size from 8- to 14-membered rings. Scaffolds resulting from the RCM pairing reaction were diversified on the solid phase to yield a 14?400-membered library of macrolactams. Screening of this library led to the discovery of a novel class of histone deacetylase inhibitors, which display mixed enzyme inhibition, and led to increased levels of acetylation in a primary mouse neuron culture. The development of stereo-structure/activity relationships was made possible by screening all 16 stereoisomers of the macrolactams produced through the aldol-based B/C/P strategy.