The Photochemical Synthesis of Fine Chemicals with Sunlight

The light of the sun can be used directly for changing chemical structures photochemically. Any industrial application must conform to the limitations imposed by the spectral distribution of the photons from the sun, the interruptions to the radiation due to the day/night rhythm, and the weather. In this review, we describe the photochemical potential of the sun, give a fundamental treatment of the concept of photoreactors driven by sunlight (abbreviated to solar photoreactors), and give an account of the realization of this concept in the first pilot plant on the “Plataforma Solar de Almeria” in southern Spain and in other activities in this field. Based on experimental data from photochemical investigations on the pilot plant scale, possibilities, limitations, and the potential growth of solar photochemistry are described. Solar photochemistry, in our opinion, is a technique which could make a contribution to the chemistry of the future because of its photochemical synthesis potential, the avoidance of waste products, and the direct utilization of the sun, not only as a primary energy source, but also as a reaction partner.     

Geometric separation and exact solutions for the parameterized independent set problem on disk graphs

We consider the parameterized problem, whether for a given set  of n disks (of bounded radius ratio) in the Euclidean plane there exists a set of k non-intersecting disks. For this problem, we expose an algorithm running in time that is—to our knowledge—the first algorithm with running time bounded by an exponential with a sublinear exponent. For λ-precision disk graphs of bounded radius ratio, we show that the problem is fixed parameter tractable with a running time  . The results are based on problem kernelization and a new “geometric ( -separator) theorem” which holds for all disk graphs of bounded radius ratio. The presented algorithm then performs, in a first step, a “geometric problem kernelization” and, in a second step, uses divide-and-conquer based on our new “geometric separator theorem.”     

Substituenteneffekte auf die C–C-Bindungsstärke, 8. Standardbildungsenthalpien und Spannungsenthalpien von 1,1,2,2-Tetraethylethylenglykol-dimethylether und D,L-1,2-Dimethyl-1,2-diphenylethylenglykol-dimethylether

Effects of Substituents on the Strength of C - C Bonds, 8¹. - Heats of Formation and Strain of 1,1,2,2-Tetraethylethylene Glycol Dimethyl Ether and D,L .-1,2-Dimethyl-l,2-diphenylethylene Glycol Dimethyl Ether The heats of combustion of the title compounds 1 and 2 were measured calorimetrically with the result (kcal mol ^-1, s. d. in parentheses) ΔH°_c = − 1880.1 (± 0.6) and − 2373.3 (± 1.4). The heat of vaporisation of 1 ΔH^v = 14.3 (± 0.3) and the heat of sublimation of 2 ΔH^sub = 27.2 (± 0.5) were derived from their temperature dependance of the vapor pressure. The latter were determined between 30 and 80°C using a flow method. The resulting standard heats of formation ΔH°_t(g) = −122.4 (± 0.7) and −43.8 (±1.5) for 1 and 2 correspond to a strain enthalpy (_s) of 15.9 and 8.0 kcal mol^-1, respectively. The steric strain of the dimethoxyethanes 1 and 2 is about one fourth lower than the strain of the corresponding dimethylethanes 3 and 4 bearing the same substituents. Thus, a methoxy group causes less steric stress than a methyl group.     

Prerequisites for peptidomic analysis of blood samples: II. Analysis of human plasma after oral glucose challenge -- a proof of concept

Mass spectrometric plasma analysis for biomarker discovery has become an exploratory focus in proteomic research: the challenges of analyzing plasma samples by mass spectrometry have become apparent not only since the human proteome organization (HUPO) has put much emphasis on the human plasma proteome. This work demonstrates fundamental proteomic research to reveal sensitivity and quantification capabilities of our Peptidomics technologies by detecting distinct changes in plasma peptide composition in samples after challenging healthy volunteers with orally administered glucose. Differential Peptide Display (DPD) is a technique for peptidomics studies to compare peptides from distinct biological samples. Mass spectrometry (MS) is used as a qualitative and quantitative analysis tool without previous trypsin digestion or labeling of the samples. Circulating peptides (< 15 kDa) were extracted from 1.3 mL plasma samples and the extracts separated by liquid chromatography into 96 fractions. Each fraction was subjected to MALDI MS, and mass spectra of all fractions were combined resulting in a 2D-display of > 2,000 peptides from each sample. Endogenous peptides that responded to oral glucose challenge were detected by DPD of pre-and post-challenge plasma samples from 16 healthy volunteers and subsequently identified by nESI-qTOF MS. Two of the 15 MS peaks that were significantly modulated by glucose challenge were subsequently identified as insulin and C-peptide. These results were validated by using immunoassays for insulin and C-peptide. This paper serves as a proof of principle for proteomic biomarker discovery down to the pM concentration range by using small amounts of human plasma.     

Substituent Effects on the C-C Bond Strength, 15[1] Geminal Substituent Effects, 7[2]. Thermochemistry and Thermal Decomposition of Alkyl-substituted Tricyanomethyl Compounds

The thermolysis reactions of the tricyanomethyl compounds 10a-c were studied in solution. 2,2-Dicyano-3-methyl-3-phenylbutyronitrile ( 10a ) and 2,2-dicyano-3-methyl-3-(4-nitrophenyl)butyronitrile ( 10b ) decomposed heterolytically into carbenium ions and (CN)₃C⁻ anions, while 9-methyl-9-(tricyanomethyl)fluorene ( 10c ) underwent about 11% homolytic C-C bond cleavage into 9-methyl-9-fluorenyl- and tricyanomethyl radicals. The rates of the homolysis were determined by a radical scavenger procedure under conditions of pseudozero order kinetics. From the temperature effect on the rate constants the activation parameters were determined [ΔH ( 10c ) = 155· 2 kJ mol⁻¹, ΔS ( 10c ) = 58· 5 J mol⁻¹ K⁻¹]. Standard enthalpies of formation ΔH (g) were determined for 2,2-dicyanopropionitrile ( 2 ) (422.45 kJ mol⁻¹), 2,2-dicyanohexanenitrile ( 3 ) (349.74 kJ mol⁻¹), 2,2-dicyano-3-phenylpropionitrile ( 4 ) (540.75 kJ mol⁻¹), 2-butyl-2-methylhexanentrile ( 5 ) (-133.20 kJ mol⁻¹), 2,2-dimethylpentanenitrile ( 6 ) (-45.78 kJ mol⁻¹), and 2-methylbutyronitrile ( 7 ) (2.44 kJ mol⁻¹) from the enthalpies of combustion and enthalpies of sublimation/vaporization. From these data and known Δ (g) values for alkanenitriles and -dinitriles, thermochemical increments for ΔH (g) were derived for alkyl groups with one, two, or three cyano groups attached. The comparison of these increments with those of alkanes reveals a strong geminal destabilization, which is interpreted by dipolar repulsions between the cyano groups. - From ΔH (g) of 10c and ΔH of its homolytic decomposition the radical stabilization enthalpy for the tricyanomethyl radical 1 RSE ( 1 ) = -18 kJ mol⁻¹ was determined. Thus, 1 is destabilized, in comparison with the RSEs of tertiary α-cyanalkyl (23 kJ mol⁻¹) and α,α-dicyanoalkyl (27 kJ mol⁻¹) radicals, which were recalculated from bond homolysis measurements^[4] and the new thermochemical data. This change of RSE on increasing the number of α-cyano groups is discussed as the result of the additive contributions by resonance stabilization and increasing destabilization by dipolar repulsion. The amount of the dipolar energies was estimated by molecular mechanics (MM2).     

Thermochemical study of aliphatic and phenyl-substituted geminal diacetates

The standard enthalpies of combustion _c H ^o of aliphatic diacetates1 and aromatic diacetates2 were measured calorimetrically. The enthalpies of vaporization _vap H ^o or sublimation _sub H ^o of1 and2 were obtained from the temperature function of the vapor pressure measured in a flow system. From _f H ^o(g) of1 and2 new values of group increments for the estimation of standard enthalpies of formation of these classes of compounds were derived. The geminal interaction energy between the geminal acyloxy groups shows no anomeric stabilization.Geminal Substituent Effects, Part 12, for part 11 see Ref. 7.     

Perturbed unstable variational inequalities with unbounded operators on approximately given sets

The stability and convergence of the solutions of perturbed and regularized variational inequality to the solutions of the primary (unstable a priori) variational inequality with proper monotone operator are investigated. All the objects of inequality: the operatorA, the right-hand partf and the set of constrains are to be perturbed. At the same time no assumptions of boundedness and smoothness of the operatorA are used. The connection between the parameters of perturbations, which guarantees strong convergence of approximate solutions, is established. It is proved that the existence of the solution to the unperturbed variational inequality is necessary and sufficient condition for convergence of the regularized perturbed inequality solutions.This research was supported in part by the Ministry of Science Grant 3481-1-91 and by the Ministry of Absorption Center for Absorption in Science.