Characterization of reaction products formed during thin-layer chromatographic detection of thiocarbamate herbicides

The reaction between thiocarbamate herbicides and 2,6-dichlorobenzoquinone-N-chloroimine or 2,6-dibromobenzoquinone-N-chloroimine is suitable for the detection of these herbicides on thin-layer plates with high sensitivity. The reactions were followed by infrared, nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometry. We have established the formation of 2,6-dichlorobenzoquinone-S-alkyl sulphenylimines. In the case of the bromo-derivative, halogen exchange and substitution on the quinone ring took place simultaneously leading to the formation of mixed halogenated 2,6-dihalo- and, in addition, 2,3,6-trihalobenzoquinone-S-alkyl sulphenylimines. The final product of the detection reaction, i.e. 2,6-dichlorobenzoquinone-S-alkyl sulphenylimine was reacted with 2,6-dibromobenzoquinone-N-chloroimine where 2,6-dichloro-3-bromobenzoquinone-S-alkyl sulphenylimine formed as a consequence of the looser bromine-carbon linkage on the 2 and 6 positions of the quinone ring.     

Maximum number of colors: C-coloring and related problems

We discuss problems and results on the maximum number of colors in combinatorial structures under the assumption that no totally multicolored sets of a specified type occur.     

Uniform Mixed Hypergraphs: The Possible Numbers of Colors

For a mixed hypergraph , where and are set systems over the vertex set X, a coloring is a partition of X into ‘color classes’ such that every meets some class in more than one vertex, and every has a nonempty intersection with at least two classes. The feasible set of , denoted , is the set of integers k such that admits a coloring with precisely k nonempty color classes. It was proved by Jiang et al. [Graphs and Combinatorics 18 (2002), 309–318] that a set S of natural numbers is the feasible set of some mixed hypergraph if and only if either or S is an ‘interval’ for some integer k ≥ 1. In this note we consider r-uniform mixed hypergraphs, i.e. those with |C| = |D| = r for all and all , r ≥ 3. We prove that S is the feasible set of some r-uniform mixed hypergraph with at least one edge if and only if either for some natural number k ≥ r − 1, or S is of the form where S′′ is any (possibly empty) subset of and S′ is either the empty set or {r − 1} or an ‘interval’ {k, k + 1, ..., r − 1} for some k, 2 ≤ k ≤ r − 2. We also prove that all these feasible sets can be obtained under the restriction , i.e. within the class of ‘bi-hypergraphs’. Research supported in part by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund, OTKA grant T-049613.     

Reduction of phytotoxicity of nonionic tensides by cyclodextrins

The effect of nonionic tenside nonylphenylnonylglycolate and its -, -, -cyclodextrin, 2,6-di-O-methyl--cyclodextrin (DIMEB) and 2,3,6-tri-O-methyl--cyclodextrin (TRIMEB) complexes was tested on the potassium influx of wheat seedling roots. Tenside alone inhibited strongly the potassium influx. This noxious effect was alleviated by cyclodextrins. The alleviating effect increased with increasing cyclodextrin: tenside molar ratio, in the order: DIMEB>CD>CD>CDTRIMEB.Presented at the Fourth Internatinal Symposium on Inclusion Phenomena and the Third International Symposium on Cyclodextrins, Lancaster, U.K., 20–25 July 1986.     

C‐perfect hypergraphs

Let ${\mathcal{H}}=({{X}},{\mathcal{E}})Let ${\mathcal{H}}=({{X}},{\mathcal{E}})$ be a hypergraph with vertex set X and edge set ${\mathcal{E}}$. A C‐coloring of ${\mathcal{H}}$ is a mapping ?:X→? such that |?(E)|<|E| holds for all edges ${{E}}\in{\mathcal{E}}$ (i.e. no edge is multicolored). We denote by $\bar{\chi}({\mathcal{H}})$ the maximum number |?(X)| of colors in a C‐coloring. Let further $\alpha({\mathcal{H}})$ denote the largest cardinality of a vertex set S?X that contains no ${{E}}\in{\mathcal{E}}$, and $\tau({\mathcal{H}})=|{{X}}|-\alpha({\mathcal{H}})$ the minimum cardinality of a vertex set meeting all $E \in {\mathcal{E}}$. The hypergraph ${\mathcal{H}}$ is called C‐perfect if $\bar{\chi}({\mathcal{H}}\prime)=\alpha({\mathcal{H}}\prime)$ holds for every induced subhypergraph ${\mathcal{H}}\prime\subseteq{\mathcal{H}}$. If ${\mathcal{H}}$ is not C‐perfect but all of its proper induced subhypergraphs are, then we say that it is minimally C‐imperfect. We prove that for all r, k∈? there exists a finite upper bound h(r, k) on the number of minimally C‐imperfect hypergraphs ${\mathcal{H}}$ with $\tau({\mathcal{H}})\le {{k}}$ and without edges of more than r vertices. We give a characterization of minimally C‐imperfect hypergraphs that have τ=2, which also characterizes implicitly the C‐perfect ones with τ=2. From this result we derive an infinite family of new constructions that are minimally C‐imperfect. A characterization of minimally C‐imperfect circular hypergraphs is presented, too. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 64: 132–149, 2010     

Smallest Set-Transversals of k-Partitions

We asymptotically solve an open problem raised independently by Sterboul (Colloq Math Soc J Bolyai 3:1387–1404, 1973), Arocha et al. (J Graph Theory 16:319–326, 1992) and Voloshin (Australas J Combin 11:25–45, 1995). For integers n ≥ k ≥ 2, let f(n, k) denote the minimum cardinality of a family ${\mathcal H}$ of k-element sets over an n-element underlying set X such that every partition ${X_1\cup\cdots\cup X_k=X}$ into k nonempty classes completely partitions some ${H\in\mathcal H}$ ;  that is, ${|H\cap X_i|=1}$ holds for all 1 ≤ i ≤ k. This very natural function—whose defining property for k = 2 just means that ${\mathcal H}$ is a connected graph—turns out to be related to several extensively studied areas in combinatorics and graph theory. We prove general estimates from which ${ f(n,k) = (1+o(1))\, \tfrac{2}{n}\,{n\choose k}}$ follows for every fixed k, and also for all k = o(n ^1/3), as n → ∞. Further, we disprove a conjecture of Arocha et al. (1992). The exact determination of f(n,k) for all n and k appears to be far beyond reach to our present knowledge, since e.g. the equality ${f(n,n-2)={n-2\choose 2}-{\rm ex}(n,\{C_3,C_4\})}$ holds, where the last term is the Turán number for graphs of girth 5.