Gelation of poly(n-butylisocyanate) in benzene

Poly (n-butylisocyanate)-benzene solutions prepared by solubilization at 45°C, followed by aging at room temperature were found to be metastable for months, although, eventually, they separated into a birefringent polymer-rich phase and an isotropic solution. These metastable solutions, as well as isothermally phase-separated biphasic samples, flowed and exhibited dynamic moduli indicative of low polymer connectivity. By contrast samples prepared by a freeze-thaw cycle were uniformly and highly birefringent and showed network (gel) behavior at room temperature. The mechanism of gel formation is most likely the exclusion of the polymer from the benzene crystal during crystallization, forcing the polymer to align and exist at grain boundaries. Films formed from solutions have different moduli than those formed from gels, and are consistent with the proposed mechanism.     

Application of the stabilization method to interacting resonances

The stabilization method is applied to the case of interacting resonances in the photo-dissociation of van der Waals clusters composed by a rare gas atom bound to a dihalogen molecule. The study of an illustrative two-dimensional model consisting in a T-shaped NeI₂ molecule shows the adequacy of the method whenever the projection of the stabilization wave functions on the assumed prepared initial state is accounted for. The agreement of the fragmentation cross-sections with some previous results using the effective resolvent method and accurate close-coupling calculations is excellent. The method reveals its utility as a complementary tool since allows, through the analysis of the stabilization wave function in terms of zero-order levels, a precise characterization of the resonant states involved. Received 5 April 2002 / Received in final form 24 May 2002 Published online 19 July 2002     

Synthesis and reactions of 4-isopropylidene-1-aryl-3-methyl-2-pyrazolin-5-ones

The reactions of 4-isopropylidene-1-aryl-3-methyl-2-pyrazolin-5-ones 4a-d were investigated under a variety of conditions. In the presence of thiols or piperidine, 4a-d failed to yield conjugate addition products, presumably due to the steric bulk provided by the two methyl substituents of the isopropylidene side chain. Reaction of 4a-d with hydrazine derivatives gave the 1-aryl-3-methyl-2-pyrazolin-5-ones 3a-d and isopropyl-hydrazones. Treatment of 4a with potassium cyanide yielded a stable conjugate addition product which exists as a mixture of tautomers in different solvents. Also, oxidation of 4a with hydrogen peroxide gave a spiroepoxide 22 , while m-chloroperbenzoic acid oxidation afforded both the spiroepoxide 22 , and a small quantity of a hydroxyspiroepoxide 23.     

Spectrophotometr1c determination of cadmium with 2-(5-chloro-2-pyridylazo)-5-dimethylaminophenol

The reaction between cadmium and 2-(5-chloro-2-pyridylazo)-5-dimethylaminophenol (5-Cl DMPAP) in aqueous alcohol media at pH 8.8-10.7 results in an intense violet colour which is stable for at least 8 hr. The composition is 2:1 reagent:metal and the formation constant (5.29 +/- 0.01) x 10(18). Beer's law is obeyed up to 1.34 ppm of cadmium at 550 nm. The optimal concentration range (Ringbom) is between 0.16 and 0.72 ppm. The apparent molar absorptivity at 550 nm is (1.20 +/- 0.01) x 10(5) l.mole(-1). cm(-1), making the sensitivity one of the highest known. The interference due to copper(III), iron(III), cobalt(II), nickel(II), gold(III), zinc(II) and manganese(II) can be suppressed.     

The open-shell interaction of He with the B 3Piu(0+) state of Br2: an ab initio study and its comparison with a diatomics-in-molecule perturbation model

The interaction of He with Br2 in electronically excited B 3Piu state is investigated using spin-unrestricted single and double coupled-cluster approach with noniterative perturbative treatment of triple excitations. Internal electrons of the Br atom are described by effective core pseudopotentials. The validity of this approach is analyzed by comparing the lowest 2Sigma+ and 2Pi electronic states of the HeBr molecule with those obtained in all electron calculations [J. Chem. Phys. 115, 10438 (2001)]. In this context, we examine the performance of different basis sets and saturation with bond functions. The comparison of theoretical blue-shifts with the experiment provides confidence about the present ab initio calculations. In addition, He-Br results of ab initio calculations at the same level are used to obtain approximate He-Br2 (3Piu) interactions in the framework of the diatomics-in-molecule first order perturbation theory (IDIM-PT1) [J. Chem. Phys. 104, 9913 (1996)]. Overall, the IDIM-PT1 model results show a good agreement with the ab initio ones, being the main difference the sensitivity to the elongation of the Br-Br bond.     

Thermal properties of N-substituted 4-vinylpyridinium ions and their polymers

4-Vinylpyridinium trifluoromethanesulfonate monomers substituted at nitrogen with H, O, CH₃, C₂H₅, C₆H₁₃, and C₁₂H₂₅ were synthesized and characterized spectroscopically. Thermal analyses (DSC and TGA) were carried out on all the compounds. The solid monomers (N? H, N? CH₃, N? C₆H₁₃, and N? C₁₂H₂₅) exhibited endothermic melting followed by exothermic polymerization and exothermic decomposition (>400°C). Liquid N? C₂H₅ monomer revealed only exothermic polymerization and decomposition. The N? O polymer underwent thermal decomposition below 300°C. The N–C₁₂H₂₅ homopolymer, prepared from monomer in the DSC or in bulk, displayed an unusual thermal transition at 250°C, which has been attributed to a polymer backbone reorientation leading to side-chain ordering of the dodecyl groups.     

Polymerizable surfactant design for transmission electron microscopy

Polymerized liposomes and vesicles are under close scrutiny as long-lived, stable substitutes for their natural and synthetic unpolymerized counterparts. The monomer surfactant, which contains one or more polymerizable groups, is dispersed in water at the proper temperature and concentration to form the lyotropic liquid crystalline phase of interest and polymerized while in the liquid crystalline state. In addition to their applications to slow-release and site-specific drug delivery, membrane-mediated chemistry, artificial photosynthesis, etc., polymerized surfactant liposomes and vesicles hold great promise as model systems for TEM investigations of lamellar liquid crystal structure. One such model polymerizable surfactant is DBPAl, or N,N-dimethyl-N,N-bis(1,3-pentadecadienyl-carbonyloxyethyl) ammonium iodide. Polarized light microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) confirm that DBPAI forms lamellar liquid crystalline liposomes in water. The DBPAI liposomes were polymerized while in the liquid crystalline state by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. The DBPAI liposomes were shown to be identical in structure before and after polymerization by a combination of X-ray diffraction and freeze-fracture TEM. However, turbidity measurements showed that the polymerized DBPAI liposomes were much more stable in acetone and ethanol than the monomer DBPAI liposomes, demonstrating that the chemical nature of the surfactant in the liposome had changed. The combination of structural preservation and enhanced chemical stability makes DBPAI a natural choice for TEM thin-sections. A method of preparing DBPAI liposomes for thin-section TEM is outlined and bilayer resolution images of the DBPAI liposomes are presented. Polymerized bilayers in thin-section TEM promise the enhanced resolution required to answer many important structural questions left unresolved by freeze-fracture TEM.     

Anti-Inflammatory,Antidiabetic Properties and In Silico Modeling of Cucurbitane-Type Triterpene Glycosides from Fruits of an Indian Cultivar of Momordica charantia L.

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease and one of the fastest-growing health challenges of the last decades. Studies have shown that chronic low-grade inflammation and activation of the innate immune system are intimately involved in type 2 diabetes pathogenesis. Momordica charantia L. fruits are used in traditional medicine to manage diabetes. Herein, we report the purification of a new 23-O-β-d-allopyranosyl-5β,19-epoxycucurbitane-6,24-diene triterpene (charantoside XV, 6) along with 25ξ-isopropenylchole-5(6)-ene-3-O-β-d-glucopyranoside (1), karaviloside VI (2), karaviloside VIII (3), momordicoside L (4), momordicoside A (5) and kuguaglycoside C (7) from an Indian cultivar of Momordica charantia. At 50 µM compounds, 2–6 differentially affected the expression of pro-inflammatory markers IL-6, TNF-α, and iNOS, and mitochondrial marker COX-2. Compounds tested for the inhibition of α-amylase and α-glucosidase enzymes at 0.87 mM and 1.33 mM, respectively. Compounds showed similar α-amylase inhibitory activity than acarbose (0.13 mM) of control (68.0–76.6%). Karaviloside VIII (56.5%) was the most active compound in the α-glucosidase assay, followed by karaviloside VI (40.3%), while momordicoside L (23.7%), A (33.5%), and charantoside XV (23.9%) were the least active compounds. To better understand the mode of binding of cucurbitane-triterpenes to these enzymes, in silico docking of the isolated compounds was evaluated with α-amylase and α-glucosidase.     

Solving second-order differential equations with variable coefficients

A method is developed in which an analytical solution is obtained for certain classes of second-order differential equations with variable coefficients. By the use of transformations and by repeated iterated integration, a desired solution is obtained. This alternative method represents a different way to acquire a solution from classic power series techniques and other approaches. It is, at times, more involved than traditional methods.