DMSO/N2H4.H2O/I2/H2O/CH3CN: a new system for selective oxidation of alcohols in hydrated media

A new alternative system for the oxidation of secondary alcohols to ketones with DMSO/N2H4.H2O/I2/H2O/CH3CN in hydrated media has been developed. The system also selectively oxidizes the secondary alcoholic groups to the corresponding ketones in the presence of primary alcoholic groups present within the same molecule in moderate to very good yields at reflux temperature.     

A facile microwave assisted synthesis of spiro-1,3-oxazines from N-(2-(cyclohex-1-en-1-yl)ethyl)amides

A mild and efficient methodology has been developed for the synthesis of spiro-1,3-oxazine derivatives by the microwave assisted cyclization of N-2-(1′-cyclohexenyl)ethyl-acetamides/benzamides. The reaction was catalyzed by in situ generated trimethylsilyl iodide and featured by its very short reaction time. The starting materials were easily obtained by the condensation of substituted acetic/benzoic acids with 2-(1′-cyclohexenyl)ethyl amine.     

Efficient and Green Method for the Synthesis of 1,5‐Benzodiazepine and Quinoxaline Derivatives in Water

Various 1,5‐benzodiazepine and quinoxaline derivatives have been synthesized in water with excellent yields using a catalytic amount of indium chloride at room temperature. This synthetic protocol is nontoxic, safe, and environmentally benign.     

Rhodium(I) carbonyl complexes of ether‐phosphine ligands and their reactivity

The reactions of dimeric complex [Rh(CO)₂Cl]₂ with hemilabile ether‐phosphine ligands Ph₂P(CH₂) _nOR [n = 1, R = CH₃ (a); n = 2, R = C₂H₅ (b)] yield cis‐[Rh(CO)₂Cl(P ～ O)] (1) [P ～ O = η ¹‐(P) coordinated]. Halide abstraction reactions of 1 with AgClO₄ produce cis‐[Rh(CO)₂(P ∩ O)]ClO₄ (2) [P ∩ O = η ²‐(P,O)chelated]. Oxidative addition reactions of 1 with CH₃I and I₂ give rhodium(III) complexes [Rh(CO)(COCH₃)ClI(P ∩ O)] (3) and [Rh(CO)ClI₂(P ∩ O)] (4) respectively. The complexes have been characterized by elemental analyses, IR, ¹H, ¹³C and ³¹P NMR spectroscopy. The catalytic activity of 1 for carbonylation of methanol is higher than that of the well‐known [Rh(CO)₂I₂]^? species. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An off-lattice, self-learning kinetic Monte Carlo method using local environments

We present a method called local environment kinetic Monte Carlo (LE-KMC) method for efficiently performing off-lattice, self-learning kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations of activated processes in material systems. Like other off-lattice KMC schemes, new atomic processes can be found on-the-fly in LE-KMC. However, a unique feature of LE-KMC is that as long as the assumption that all processes and rates depend only on the local environment is satisfied, LE-KMC provides a general algorithm for (i) unambiguously describing a process in terms of its local atomic environments, (ii) storing new processes and environments in a catalog for later use with standard KMC, and (iii) updating the system based on the local information once a process has been selected for a KMC move. Search, classification, storage and retrieval steps needed while employing local environments and processes in the LE-KMC method are discussed. The advantages and computational cost of LE-KMC are discussed. We assess the performance of the LE-KMC algorithm by considering test systems involving diffusion in a submonolayer Ag and Ag-Cu alloy films on Ag(001) surface.     

Design and synthesis of fluorescent symmetric bis-triazolylated-1,4-dihydropyridines as potent antibreast cancer agents

Herein, we report the synthesis of fluorescent 1,4-dihydropyridine-linked bis-triazoles (2a–2n) through Hantzsch synthesis by the condensation of o/m-chloro-substituted benzaldehyde, ethyl 3-oxo-4(prop-2-yn-1-yloxy)butanoate, and ammonium acetate in the presence of Ba(NO₃)₂ as a catalyst followed by the click reaction of resultant Hantzsch product (1) with various aromatic as well as aliphatic azides. All the synthesized compounds were well characterized by ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR, FTIR, and HRMS spectral techniques. Antibreast cancer evaluation of all the synthesized derivatives revealed that the compounds 2f (IC₅₀?=?7?±?0.02?µM) and 2g (IC₅₀?=?5?±?0.03?µM) showed better anticancer activity (lower IC₅₀) than the standard drug tamoxifen (IC₅₀?=?11.2?±?0.01?µM) against breast carcinoma (MDA-MB-231) cell line. The synthesized compounds were also screened against normal human embryonic kidney (HEK-293) cell line and found to be nontoxic. The fluorescent nature and cytotoxicity assay of these newly synthesized hybrids recommend their utility in tumor cell imaging.     

Hyperon production in pp collisions

We report on a study of the proton induced hyperon production reactions. We discuss the theoretical efforts made towards understanding the existing data and the uncertainties involved in the calculations. Our recent calculations of the missing mass spectra for the pp → K ⁺ Λp reaction which involve a proper coupled channel treatment of the final state Λp interaction are presented. Significant differences in the results using different models of the hyperon-nucleon interaction are found.     

Microbial surfactant-enhanced mineral oil recovery under laboratory conditions

Microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) is potentially useful to recover incremental oil from a reservoir being beyond primary and secondary recovery operations. Effort has been made to isolate and characterize natural biosurfactant produced by bacterial isolates collected from various oil fields of ONGC in Assam. Production of biosurfactant has been considered to be an effective major index for the purpose of enhanced oil recovery. On the basis of the index, four promising bacterial isolates: Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MTCC7815), P. aeruginosa (MTCC7814), P. aeruginosa (MTCC7812) and P. aeruginosa (MTCC8165) were selected for subsequent testing. Biosurfactant produced by the promising bacterial isolates have been found to be effective in the recovery of crude oil from saturated column under laboratory conditions. Two bacterial strains: P. aeruginosa (MTCC7815) and P. aeruginosa (MTCC7812) have been found to be the highest producer of biosurfactant. Tensiometer studies revealed that biosurfactants produced by these bacterial strains could reduce the surface tension (sigma) of the growth medium from 68 to 30 mN m(-1) after 96 h of growth. The bacterial biosurfactants were found to be functionally stable at varying pH (2.5-11) conditions and temperature of 100 degrees C. The treatment of biosurfactant containing, cell free culture broth in crude oil saturated sand pack column could release about 15% more crude oil at 90 degrees C than at room temperature and 10% more than at 70 degrees C under laboratory condition.     

Synthesis of some novel 7-substituted [1,3,4]thiadiazolo[3,2-c][1,3,5]thiadiazine-6,6-dioxides with antifungal evaluation against rice pathogens

Synthesis of a new series of novel [1,3,4]thiadiazolo[3,2-c][1,3,5]thiadiazine-6,6-dioxide by [4 + 2] cycloaddition reaction of 3-benzylidineamino[1,3,4]thiadiazole with sulfene generated in situ from methanesulfonyl chloride in the presence of triethylamine is described. The novel compounds thus synthesized were screened for their antifungal activity against two fungal species, namely Rhizoctonia solani and Dreschslera oryzae. Carbendazim was the standard used for the evaluation of antifungal activity.     

Production and Physico-chemical Characterization of a Biosurfactant Produced by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pseudomonas aeruginosa</Emphasis> OBP1 Isolated from Petroleum Sludge

Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain OBP1, isolated from petroleum sludge, was used to produce biosurfactant from a modified mineral salt medium with 2% n-hexadecane as sole source of carbon. The crude biosurfactant was fractionated using TLC and HPLC. Using FTIR spectroscopy, ¹H NMR, and LC-MS analyses, the chemical structure of the purified fraction of crude biosurfactant was identified as rhamnolipid species. The LC-MS spectra show that monorhamnolipid (l-rhamnopyranosyl-β-hydroxydecanoyl-β- hydroxydecanoate, Rha-C₁₀-C₁₀) was produced in abundance with the predominant congener [M–H]⁻ ions for l-rhamnopyranosyl-l-rhamnopyranosyl-3-hydroxydecanoyl-3-hydroxydecanoate (Rha-Rha-C₁₀-C₁₀). Seven different carbon substrates and five nitrogen sources were examined for their effect on rhamnolipid production. Using n-hexadecane (20 g/l) as carbon substrate and urea along with (NH₄)₂SO₄ (2 g/l each) as nitrogen source was found to be the best, with a maximum yield of 4.8 g/l. The biosurfactant reduced the surface tension of water to 31.1 mNm⁻¹ with a critical micelle concentration of 45 mg/l. The biosurfactant showed a better emulsifying activity against a variety of hydrocarbon and achieved a maximum emulsion index of 82% for diesel. The purified biosurfactant showed a significant antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus at a minimum inhibitory concentration of 8 μg/ml.