The first examples of anthracene capped chiral carbohydrate derived dendrimers: synthesis, fluorescence and chiroptical properties

The first examples of anthracene capped chiral dendrimers derived from a 1,3,5-trisubstituted aromatic core and carbohydrate units in the interior and periphery are described. Excimer formation was evident from the fluorescence spectrum, and both fluorescence and chiroptical properties indicated that the dendrimer does not undergo aggregation in the ground state.     

Intramolecular 1,3-dipolar nitrone and nitrile oxide cycloaddition of 2- and 4-O-allyl and propargyl glucose derivatives: a versatile approach to chiral cyclic ether fused isoxazolidines, isoxazolines and isoxazoles

2-O- and 4-O-Allyl and -propargyl glucose and the corresponding oxime derivatives were prepared from readily available glucose dithioacetals. Intramolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of the N-benzyl and N-methyl nitrones of the above acyclic 2-O-allyl glucose derivatives led to the diastereoselective formation of chiral isoxazolidines incorporating the tetrahydrofuran ring. The EI mass spectra revealed a characteristic cleavage of the C-alkyl group adjacent to the furan oxygen atom. An enantiopure trisubstituted tetrahydrofuran was obtained by the reductive cleavage of the isoxazolidine ring of one of the cycloadducts. In contrast, the nitrile oxide cycloaddition of the 2-O-allyl derivatives afforded diastereomeric mixtures of the corresponding dihydroisoxazolines, the stereochemistry of which was tentatively assigned on the basis of the principle of optical superposition. The exclusive formation of a tetrahydrofuran ring from pentaallyl nitrone or nitrile oxide demonstrated the preferred formation of a five-membered ring to that of six or seven-membered rings. The nitrile oxide generated from a 3,4,5,6,7-pentaallyloxy-1-nitroheptane derivative obtained from pentaallylglucose underwent diastereoselective cycloaddition to give an isoxazoline fused to a pyran ring. Enantiopure isoxazoles containing tetrahydrofuran and oxepane rings were also prepared in good yields by the nitrile oxide cycloaddition of the 2-O- and 4-O-propargyl derivatives.     

Perchloric Acid–Silica (HClO4⋅SiO2)‐Catalyzed Synthesis of 14‐Alkyl‐ or 14‐Aryl‐14H‐dibenzo[a,j]xanthenes and N‐[(2‐Hydroxynaphthalen‐1‐yl)methyl]amides

The synthesis of 14‐aryl‐ or 14‐alkyl‐14H‐dibenzo[a,j]xanthenes 3 involving the treatment of naphthalen‐2‐ol ( 1 ) with arenecarboxaldehydes or alkanals 2 in the presence of HClO₄?SiO₂ as a heterogeneous catalyst was achieved (Table 1), and this reaction was extended to the preparation of N‐[(2‐hydroxynaphthalen‐1‐yl)methyl]amides 5 by a three‐component reaction with urea ( 4a ) or an amide 4b – d as a third reactant (Table 2).     

Evaluation of PTMSP membranes in achieving enhanced ethanol removal from fermentations by pervaporation

The use of membrane processes for the recovery of fermentation products has been gaining increased acceptance in recent years. Pervaporation has been studied in the past as a process for simultaneous fermentation and recovery of volatile products such as ethanol and butanol. However, membrane fouling and low permeate fluxes have imposed limitations on the effectiveness of the process. In this study, we characterize the performance of a substituted polyacetylene membrane, poly[(l-trimethylsilyl)-l-propyne] (PTMSP), in the recovery of ethanol from aqueous mixtures and fermentation broths. Pervaporation using PTMSP membranes shows a distinct advantage over conventional poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) membranes in ethanol removal. The flux with PTMSP is about threefold higher and the concentration factor is about twofold higher than the corresponding performance achieved with PDMS under similar conditions. The performance of PTMSP with fermentation broths shows a reduction in both flux and concentration factor relative to ethanol-water mixtures. However, the PTMSP membranes indicate initial promise of increased fouling resistance in operation with cell-containing fermentation broths.     

Cobalt(II) complexes of new biomimetic polydentate amide ligands. A spectroscopic,thermal and potentiometric study

Complexes of Co^II with N,N-bis-(3-carboxy-1-oxopropanyl)-1,2-ethylenediamine(L₁), N,N-bis-(3-carboxy-1-oxopropanyl)-1,2-phenylenediamine(L₂), N,N-bis-(2-carboxy-1-oxophenelenyl)-1,2-phenylenediamine(L₃) and N,N-bis-(3-carboxy-1-oxoprop-2-enyl)-1,2-phenylenediamine(L₄) have been prepared and characterized by elemental analysis, vibrational spectra, magnetic susceptibility measurements, electronic spectra and thermal studies. Stability constants of the complexes have been evaluated potentiometrically. Vibrational spectra indicate coordination of amide and carboxylate oxygens of the ligands along with two water molecules giving a MO₆ weak field octahedral chromophore. Electronic spectra support octahedral geometry around Co^II. The [Co(L₁)-(H₂O)₂] · 2H₂O complex has the maximum activation energy and [Co(L₃)(H₂O)₂] complex has the minimum activation energy. The order of stability constants of the Co^II complexes with various ligands is due to their -donor abilities.     

“Dial-In” Emission from a Unique Flexible Material with Polarization Tuneable Spectral Intensity

The development of organic photoluminescent materials, which show promising roles as catalysts, sensors, organic light-emitting diodes, logic gates, etc., is a major demand and challenge for the global scientific community. In this context, a photoclick polymerization method is adopted for the growth of a unique photoluminescent three-dimensional (3D) polymer film, E, as a model system that shows emission tunability over the range 350–650 nm against the excitation range 295–425 nm. The DFT analysis of energy calculations and π-stacking supports the spectroscopic observations for the material exhibiting a broad range of emission owing to newly formed chromophoric units within the film. Full polarization spectroscopic Mueller matrix studies were employed to extract and quantify the molecular orientational order of both the ground (excitation) and excited (emission) state anisotropies through a set of newly defined parameters, namely the fluorescence diattenuation and fluorescence polarizance. The information contained in the recorded fluorescence Mueller matrix of the organic polymer material provided a useful way to control the spectral intensity of emission by using pre- and post-selection of polarization states. The observation was based on the assumption that the longer lifetime of the excited dipolar orientation is attributed to the compactness of the film.     

Nanoparticle directed domain orientation in thin films of asymmetric block copolymers

We investigated the thin film morphology of two different asymmetric block copolymers (BCP), polystyrene-block-poly(4-vinylpyridine) (PS-b-P4VP) and poly(n-pentyl methacrylate)-block-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PPMA-b-PMMA), loaded with pre-synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles (NP). The chemical composition of the BCP constituents determines the strength of the interaction between polymer chains and nanoparticles. In the case of NP/PS-b-P4VP system, the nanoparticles interact preferentially with the P4VP block and hence localize selectively in the P4VP cylindrical microdomains. However, for the NP/PPMA-b-PMMA system, the nanoparticles have no significant preference for the copolymer blocks and segregate at the polymer/substrate interface. Interestingly, this changes the effective substrate surface energy and hence leads to a remarkable change in domain orientation from parallel to perpendicular with respect to the substrate. These results clearly demonstrate the importance of both enthalpic and entropic factors which determine spatial distribution of NP in BCP films and influence domain orientation.     

Estimation of a smooth quantile function under the proportional hazards model

The problem of estimating a smooth quantile function, Q(·), at a fixed point p, 0 < p < 1, is treated under a nonparametric smoothness condition on Q. The asymptotic relative deficiency of the sample quantile based on the maximum likelihood estimate of the survival function under the proportional hazards model with respect to kernel type estimators of the quantile is evaluated. The comparison is based on the mean square errors of the estimators. It is shown that the relative deficiency tends to infinity as the sample size, n, tends to infinity.     

Temporal contrast improvement in chirped pulse amplification systems by a four-grating compressor and by spectral modifications

The quest for higher peak focused intensities and better temporal contrast drives one to improve the design of all possible stages of the chirped pulse amplification (CPA) system. In this paper, we have analyzed the role of dispersion and spectral profile on the temporal shape and contrast ratio of the output pulse of a CPA system. The simulations indicate that an initial sech² or a Gaussian pulse in the CPA system is best for a good contrast ratio. Incorporating a four-grating based pulse compressor in the CPA system improves the contrast as well as provides the flexibility to compensate the dispersion upto the fourth order. The simulations also detail the effect of spectral profile tailoring on the contrast ratio and peak power.