Polyfunctional pyridines from nitroacetamidine and β-diketones. A useful synthesis of substituted imidazo [4,5-b] pyridines and related compounds

Nitroacetamidine undergoes a useful cyclocondensation with β-diketones to produce substituted 2-amino-3-nitropyridines. Use of an acylpyruvate generates hitherto unreported 2-amino-3-nitropyridine-4-carboxylates. These may be converted easily to functionalized imidazo[4,5-b]pyridines and oxazolo-[5,4-b]pyridines.     

Photoconductivity of erbium-doped germanium

We have applied the technique of Photo Thermal Ionization Spectroscopy (PTIS) to the study of an erbium-doped p-Ge epitaxial layer, grown by MBE on an undoped n-type germanium substrate. The Er-doped Ge layer shows continuum photoconductivity response in the far-infrared region extending from 70 cm^–1 to 900 cm^–1. This type of epitaxial Er-doped Ge layers is a potentially attractive system for photoconductivity detectors of far-infrared radiation. Below 900 cm^–1 three acceptor-like charged states can be distinguished with ionization energies of 9, 26.6 and 50 meV. Additionally, a study of the photoconductive response of the same sample for radiation from 1000 cm^–1 to 10000 cm^–1, i.e., for radiation energies well inside the forbidden gap to energies above it, shows a wealth of levels, some of which have previously been associated with erbium.On leave from: Instituto de Física, Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, México     

Direct determination of lead in polluted sea water by carbon-furnace atomic absorption spectrometry

A simple and rapid method is described for the direct determination of lead in polluted sea water by carbon furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. Filtered sea water is diluted (1+1) with'deionised distilled water and ammonium nitrate is added to act as a matrix modifier. Aliquots of this mixture are injected into a tantalum-coated graphite tube in a HGA-2200 furnace atomiser operated under gas-stop conditions. With the standard addi- tion method, a detection limit (20) of 1 μg Pb 1^-1 is achieved. Good agreement between the proposed method and results obtained by anodic stripping voltammetry was achieved for samples taken from the Firth of Forth.     

The use of stable carbon isotope analysis to detect the abuse of testosterone in cattle.

The use of stable carbon isotope analysis to detect the administration of anabolic steroids to cattle was investigated. Samples were extracted by solid-phase extraction on C18 cartridges. Stable isotope ratios (13C:12C) were measured by gas chromatography-isotope ratio mass spectrometry (GC-IRMS) of the underivatised extracts. A programmed temperature vaporiser (PTV) injector was installed in the GC-IRMS system, which conferred a number of advantages. First, it allowed large volumes of sample to be injected whilst the injector liner was cool. The solvent was subsequently vented to the atmosphere prior to transfer of the sample to the GC column. Thus a significantly greater amount of sample could be presented for analysis, thereby increasing the sensitivity. Second, by this means virtually all the solvent could be removed prior to analysis. This eliminates solvent peak tailing, which can be a major problem in GC-IRMS. Finally, the PTV allowed the use of higher initial GC oven temperatures, which in turn facilitated the analysis of underivatised steroids by reducing the GC run time and improving the chromatographic peak shape. The carbon isotope composition of 5 beta-androstane-3 alpha,17 alpha-diol, the major metabolite of testosterone found in bovine bile, was measured in bile samples from untreated cattle and from cattle injected intramuscularly with testosterone or a mixture of testosterone esters. There was considerable inter-animal variation in the values obtained and there was no significant difference between samples from treated and untreated animals. However, when the isotopic composition of the metabolite was normalised with respect to that of an endogenous reference compound (cholesterol) in the same sample, the difference between treated and untreated animals become statistically significant.     

Variational approximations for renormalization group transformations

Approximate recursion relations which give upper and lower bounds on the free energy are described. Optimal calculations of the free energy can then be obtained by treating parameters within the renormalization equations variationally. As an example, a particularly simple lower bound approximation which preserves the symmetry of the Hamiltonian (the one-hypercube approximation) is described. The approximation is applied to both the Ising model and the Wilson-Fisher model. At the fixed point a parameter is set variationally and critical indices are calculated. For the Ising model the agreement with the exact results atd = 2 is surprisingly good, 0.1%, and is good atd=3 and evend=4. For the Wilson-Fisher model the recursion relation is reduced to a one-dimensional integral equation which can be solved numerically givingv=0.652 atd=3, or by expansion in agreement with the results of Wilson and Fisher to leading order in . The method is also used to calculate thermodynamic functions for thed = 2 Ising model; excellent agreement with the Onsager solution is found.Supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grants Nos. MPS73-04886A01 and GH-41512 and by the Brown University Materials Research Laboratory supported by the National Science Foundation. M.C.Y. was supported by a grant from the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey.     

Mass spectra of some 1,2,4-triazole derivatives

Fragmentation of various 1,2,4-triazole derivatives occurs by two predominant pathways involving the loss of RCN originating from both C₃ and C₅ positions. The resulting diazirinium radical cation was observed to lose a nitrogen atom to give a nitrilium ion whose substitution pattern was dependent upon the original substituents in the nucleus.     

Electrophilic substitution in phenanthroline coordinated to transition metal ions. Rates of nitration of some rhodium(III) and cobalt(III) complexes

Summary The rates of nitration in sulphuric acid of 1,10-phenanthroline coordinated to rhodium(III) and cobalt(Ill) in a number of complexes have been measured and found to be much greater in these complexes than in free phenanthroline under the same conditions. Relative rates are generally higher in those complexes which bear the smaller overall positive charges, but these charges may be modified by protonation of the other ligands in the complexes.Contrary to earlier reports, some other electrophilic substitutions do not occur in a variety of phenanthroline complexes.