Recent syntheses and reactions of cyclic imidic esters

Δ²-Oxazolines and 4H-5,6-dihydrooxazines are readily obtainable from carboxylic acids and 2- or 3-amino alcohols by gas-phase dehydration, and 4H-dihydrooxazines can also be obtained by condensation of N-(hydroxymethyl) carboxamides with olefins. These cyclic imidic esters undergo reactions in which the ring is cleaved; these reactions include a new type of polymerization. The behavior of alkyl groups in position 2 and the cyclodditions in the 2,3-position also have been studied. Reactions in side chains on position 2 and addition experiments on the sulfur analogues of the cyclic imidic esters are also reported. A table shows the principal infrared bands of substituted Δ²-oxazolines.     

Energy partition in nuclear fission

A scission point model (two spheroid model TSM) including semi-empirical, temperature-dependent shell correction energies for deformed fragments at scission is presented. It has been used to describe the mass-asymmetry-dependent partition of the total energy release on both fragments from spontaneous and induced fission. Characteristic trends of experimental fragment energy and neutron multiplicity data as function of incidence energy in the Th — Cf region of fissioning nuclei are well reproduced. Based on model applications, information on the energy dissipated during the descent from second saddle of fission barrier to scission point have been deduced.     

Reactions of nitroheteroarenes with carbanions: bridging aromatic, heteroaromatic, and vinylic electrophilicity

The relative rate constants for the vicarious nucleophilic substitution (VNS) of the anion of chloromethyl phenyl sulfone (1-) with a variety of nitroheteroarenes, for example, nitropyridines, nitropyrroles, nitroimidazoles, 2-nitrothiophene, and 4-nitropyrazole, have been determined by competition experiments. It was shown that nitropyridines are approximately four orders of magnitude more reactive than nitrobenzene. Among the five-membered heterocycles 2-nitrothiophene is the most active followed by nitroimidazoles and 4-nitropyrazole. Nitropyrroles are the least electrophilic nitroheteroarenes with reactivities comparable to nitrobenzene. Quantum chemically calculated methyl anion affinities (B3LYP/6-311G(d,p)//B3LYP/6-31G(d)) of the nitroarenes correlated only moderately with the partial relative rate constants. The correlation of these activities with the LUMO energies of nitroarenes is even worse. By measuring the second-order rate constants of the addition of 1- to nitroarenes and to diethyl arylidenemalonates 10, it was possible to link the electrophilic reactivities of nitroheteroarenes with the comprehensive electrophilicity scale based on the linear-free-energy-relationship log k(20 degrees C)=s(N+E).