Pseudochelin A,a siderophore of Pseudoalteromonas piscicida S2040

A new siderophore containing a 4,5-dihydroimidazole moiety was isolated from Pseudoalteromonas piscicida S2040 together with myxochelins A and B, alteramide A and its cycloaddition product, and bromo- and dibromoalterochromides. The structure of pseudochelin A was established by spectroscopic techniques including 2D NMR and MS/MS fragmentation data. In bioassays selected fractions of the crude extract of S2040 inhibited the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Pseudochelin A displayed siderophore activity in the chrome azurol S assay at concentrations higher than 50 μM, and showed weak activity against the fungus Aspergillus fumigatus, but did not display antibacterial, anti-inflammatory or anticonvulsant activity.     

Melt spinning of propylene carbonate‐plasticized poly(acrylonitrile)‐co‐poly(methyl acrylate)

The primary use of poly(acrylonitrile) (PAN) fibers, commonly referred to as acrylic fibers, is in textile applications like clothing, furniture, carpets, and awnings. All commercially available PAN fibers are processed by solution spinning; however, alternative, more cost‐effective processes like melt spinning are still highly desired. Here, the melt spinning of PAN‐co‐poly(methyl acrylate) (PMA) plasticized with propylene carbonate (PC) at 175°C is reported. The use of methyl acrylate (MA) as comonomer and PC as an external plasticizer renders the approach a combination of internal and external plasticization. Various mixtures of PAN and PC used in this work were examined by rheology, subjected to melt spinning, followed by discontinuous and continuous washing, respectively. The best fibers were derived from a PAN‐co‐PMA copolymer containing 8.1 mol‐% of MA having a number‐average molecular weight M _n of 34 000 g/mol, spun in the presence of 22.5 wt.‐% of PC. The resulting fibers were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy and wide‐angle X‐ray scattering (WAXS), and were subjected to mechanical testing.     

Boosting Conjugate Addition to Nitroolefins Using Lithium Tetraorganozincates: Synthetic Strategies and Structural Insights

We report the first transition metal catalyst- and ligand-free conjugate addition of lithium tetraorganozincates (R₄ZnLi₂) to nitroolefins. Displaying enhanced nucleophilicity combined with unique chemoselectivity and functional group tolerance, homoleptic aliphatic and aromatic R₄ZnLi₂ provide access to valuable nitroalkanes in up to 98 % yield under mild conditions (0 °C) and short reaction time (30 min). This is particularly remarkable when employing β-nitroacrylates and β-nitroenones, where despite the presence of other electrophilic groups, selective 1,4 addition to the C=C is preferred. Structural and spectroscopic studies confirmed the formation of tetraorganozincate species in solution, the nature of which has been a long debated issue, and allowed to unveil the key role played by donor additives on the aggregation and structure of these reagents. Thus, while chelating N,N,N’,N’-tetramethylethylenediamine (TMEDA) and (R,R)-N,N,N’,N’-tetramethyl-1,2-diaminocyclohexane (TMCDA) favour the formation of contacted-ion pair zincates, macrocyclic Lewis donor 12-crown-4 triggers an immediate disproportionation process of Et₄ZnLi₂ into equimolar amounts of solvent-separated Et₃ZnLi and EtLi.     

Replacing Synthetic with Microbial Surfactants as Collectors in the Treatment of Aqueous Effluent Produced by Acid Mine Drainage,Using the Dissolved Air Flotation Technique

Dissolved air flotation (DAF) is a well-established separation process employing micro bubbles as a carrier phase. The application of this technique in the treatment of acid mine drainage, using three yeast biosurfactants as alternative collectors, is hereby analyzed. Batch studies were carried out in a 50-cm high acrylic column with an external diameter of 2.5 cm. High percentages (above 94%) of heavy metals Fe(III) and Mn(II) were removed by the biosurfactants isolated from Candida lipolytica and Candida sphaerica and the values were found to be similar to those obtained with the use of the synthetic sodium oleate surfactant. The DAF operation with both surfactant and biosurfactants, achieved acceptable turbidity values, in accordance with Brazilian standard limits. The best ones were obtained by the biosurfactant from C. lipolytica, which reached 4.8 NTU. The results obtained with a laboratory synthetic effluent were also satisfactory. The biosurfactants removed almost the same percentages of iron, while the removal percentages of manganese were slightly higher compared with those obtained in the acid mine drainage effluent. They showed that the use of low-cost biosurfactants as collectors in the DAF process is a promising technology for the mining industries.     

Assessing Alkali-Metal Effects in the Structures and Reactivity of Mixed-Ligand Alkyl/Alkoxide Alkali-Metal Magnesiates

Advancing the understanding of using alkali-metal alkoxides as additives to organomagnesium reagents in Mg−Br exchange reactions, a homologous series of mixed-ligand alkyl/alkoxide alkali-metal magnesiates [MMg(CH₂SiMe₃)₂(dmem)]₂ [dmem=2-{[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl]methylamino} ethoxide; M=Li, 1 ; Na, 2 ; (THF)K, 3 ] has been prepared. Structural and spectroscopic studies have established the constitutions of these heteroleptic/heterometallic species, which are retained in arene solution. Evaluation of their reactivity towards 2-bromoanisole has uncovered a marked alkali-metal effect with potassium magnesiate 3 being the most efficient of the three ate reagents. Studies probing the constitution of the exchange product from this reaction suggest that the putative [KMgAr₂(dmem)]₂ (Ar=o-OMe−C₆H₄) intermediate undergoes redistribution into its single metal components [KAr]_n and [MgAr(dmem)]₂ ( 5 ). This process can be circumvented by using a different potassium alkoxide containing an aliphatic chain such as KOR’ (R’=2-ethylhexyl) which undergoes co-complexation with Mg(CH₂SiMe₃) to give [KMg(CH₂SiMe₃)₂(OR’)]₂ ( 7 ). This ate, in turn, reacts quantitatively with 2-bromoanisole furnishing [KMgAr₂(OR’)]₂ ( 9 ) which is stable in solution as a bimetallic compound. Collectively this work highlights the complexity of these alkali-metal mediated Mg−Br exchange reactions, where each reaction component can have a profound effect not only on the success of the reaction; but also the stability of the final metalated intermediates prior to their electrophilic interception.     

Production of a Bioemulsifier with Potential Application in the Food Industry

Biosurfactants are of considerable interest due to their biodegradability, low degree of toxicity, and diverse applications. However, the high production costs involved in the acquisition of biosurfactants underscore the need for optimization of the production process to enable viable application on an industrial scale. The aims of the present study were to select a species of Candida that produces a biosurfactant with the greatest emulsifying potential and to investigate the influence of components of the production medium and cultivation conditions. Candida utilis achieved the lowest surface tension (35.53 mN/m), best emulsification index (73 %), and highest yield (12.52 g/l) in a medium containing waste canola frying oil as the carbon source and ammonium nitrate as the nitrogen source. The best combination of medium components and cultivation conditions was 6 % (w/v) glucose, 6 % (w/v) waste canola frying oil, 0.2 % (w/v) ammonium nitrate, 0.3 % (w/v) yeast extract, 150 rpm, 1 % inoculum (w/v), and 88 h of fermentation. The greatest biosurfactant production and the lowest surface tension were achieved in the first 24 h of production, and the maximum biomass production was recorded at 72 h. The biosurfactant produced from C. utilis under the conditions investigated in the present study has a potential to be a bioemulsifier for application in the food industry.     

Hyperbranched polymers as scaffolds for multifunctional reversible addition–fragmentation chain‐transfer agents: A route to polystyrene‐core‐polyesters and polystyrene‐block‐poly(butyl acrylate)‐core‐polyesters

Polydisperse hyperbranched polyesters were modified for use as novel multifunctional reversible addition–fragmentation chain‐transfer (RAFT) agents. The polyester‐core‐based RAFT agents were subsequently employed to synthesize star polymers of n‐butyl acrylate and styrene with low polydispersity (polydispersity index < 1.3) in a living free‐radical process. Although the polyester‐core‐based RAFT agent mediated polymerization of n‐butyl acrylate displayed a linear evolution of the number‐average molecular weight (M_n) up to high monomer conversions (>70%) and molecular weights [M_n > 140,000 g mol^?1, linear poly(methyl methacrylate) equivalents)], the corresponding styrene‐based system reached a maximum molecular weight at low conversions (≈30%, M_n = 45,500 g mol^?1, linear polystyrene equivalents). The resulting star polymers were subsequently used as platforms for the preparation of star block copolymers of styrene and n‐butyl acrylate with a polyester core with low polydispersities (polydispersity index < 1.25). The generated polystyrene‐based star polymers were successfully cast into highly regular honeycomb‐structured microarrays. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 3847–3861, 2003     

QCD sum rules for heavy quark systems

In this paper we present in a detailed and coherent fashion our work on QCD sum rules for equal mass heavy quark meson states. We discuss the technical procedures used to calculate the perturbative and non-perturbative contributions to the vacuum polarization, which have been calculated for all currents up to and including spin 2⁺⁺. Using dispersion relations, sum rules are derived. Extensive applications are made to the lowest lying states of the charmonium and upsilon systems. The masses of the S- and P-wave charmonium levels are reproduced to a high degree of accuracy, and the mass of the ¹P₁ level is predicted at 3.51 GeV. For the upsilon system it only appears to be possible to predict the γ-η_b splitting which gives 60 MeV. Very accurate values are given for the current quark masses at p² = ?m_q²: m_c = 1.28 GeV and m_b = 4.25 GeV.     

Far-infrared investigation of the phase transition at 217 K in layer-structured TiCl3

Far-infrared measurements reveal a distortion in layer-structured TiCl₃ below 217 K. This is explained by the formation of pairs of covalently bonded Ti³⁺ ions below this temperature. The electronic contribution to the entropy increase above 217 K is attributed to the degree of freedom of the spin of the d electron localized on the Ti³⁺ ion.     

Threshold concepts in finance: conceptualizing the curriculum

Graduates with well-developed capabilities in finance are invaluable to our society and in increasing demand. Universities face the challenge of designing finance programmes to develop these capabilities and the essential knowledge that underpins them. Our research responds to this challenge by identifying threshold concepts that are central to the mastery of finance and by exploring their potential for informing curriculum design and pedagogical practices to improve student outcomes. In this paper, we report the results of an online survey of finance academics at multiple institutions in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom. The outcomes of our research are recommendations for threshold concepts in finance endorsed by quantitative evidence, as well as a model of the finance curriculum incorporating finance, modelling and statistics threshold concepts. In addition, we draw conclusions about the application of threshold concept theory supported by both quantitative and qualitative evidence. Our methodology and findings have general relevance to the application of threshold concept theory as a means to investigate and inform curriculum design and delivery in higher education.