Influence of Polarity and Activation Energy in Microwave–Assisted Organic Synthesis (MAOS)

The aim of this work was to determine the parameters that have decisive roles in microwave-assisted reactions and to develop a model, using computational chemistry, to predict a priori the type of reactions that can be improved under microwaves. For this purpose, a computational study was carried out on a variety of reactions, which have been reported to be improved under microwave irradiation. This comprises six types of reactions. The outcomes obtained in this study indicate that the most influential parameters are activation energy, enthalpy, and the polarity of all the species that participate. In addition to this, in most cases, slower reacting systems observe a much greater improvement under microwave irradiation. Furthermore, for these reactions, the presence of a polar component in the reaction (solvent, reagent, susceptor, etc.) is necessary for strong coupling with the electromagnetic radiation. We also quantified that an activation energy of 20–30 kcal mol⁻¹ and a polarity (μ) between 7–20 D of the species involved in the process is required to obtain significant improvements under microwave irradiation.     

Selectivity changes towards steroids in packed column supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) induced by temperature and pressure variation

Summary Pressure/temperature variation in SFC was shown to influence selectivity towards steroids. Major changes were observed for polar column packings compared to non-polar packings and variation of the amount of modifier showed that this is valid over the whole investigated range. The effect is underlined by a fall in resolution in the low density range (low pressure/high temperature) for polar stationary phases and appears to be significantly larger than for non-polar phases. Major selectivity shifts induced by variation of the physical properties of the mobile phase are considered to be due to the greater effect of polar modifiers on the nature of polar stationary phases than on non-polar phases.     

Solution of large‐scale weighted least‐squares problems

A sequence of least‐squares problems of the form min_y∥G^1/2(A^T y?h)∥₂, where G is an n×n positive‐definite diagonal weight matrix, and A an m×n (m?n) sparse matrix with some dense columns; has many applications in linear programming, electrical networks, elliptic boundary value problems, and structural analysis. We suggest low‐rank correction preconditioners for such problems, and a mixed solver (a combination of a direct solver and an iterative solver). The numerical results show that our technique for selecting the low‐rank correction matrix is very effective. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Writhing instabilities of twisted rods: from infinite to finite length

We use three different approaches to describe the static spatial configurations of a twisted rod as well as its stability during rigid loading experiments. The first approach considers the rod as infinite in length and predicts an instability causing a jump to self-contact at a certain point of the experiment. Semi-finite corrections, taken into account as a second approach, reveal some possible experiments in which the configuration of a very long rod will be stable through out. Finally, in a third approach, we consider a rod of real finite length and we show that another type of instability may occur, leading to possible hysteresis behavior. As we go from infinite to finite length, we compare the different information given by the three approaches on the possible equilibrium configurations of the rod and their stability. These finite size effects studied here in a 1D elasticity problem could help us guess what are the stability features of other more complicated (2D elastic shells for example) problems for which only the infinite length approach is understood.     

Signal averaging in gas chromatography

Ensemble or signal averaging, and the use of the technique for the solution of some unique problems with minimum sample handling, have previously been reported. The capability of the technique has been evaluated with microbore gas chromatography for the fast handling of a large number of analyses: ca 20–30 replicate injections are easily attainable in a reasonable analysis time. The implementation of the signal averaging technique with other concentration techniques for improving detection limits is also demonstrated.     

Flaked capillary columns with crown ether complexes for gas-liquid chromatography

Flaked capillary columns with an OV-101/CE-Na{in3}PO{in4} hydrophobic-hydrophilic sorbent have been suggested. This sorbent provides for the analysis of polar and nonpolar substances, including amines and aminoalcohols, in aqueous and organic solvents. The efficiency of new columns was demonstrated for the analysis of 25 organic substances of various classes.Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 12, pp. 2169–2173, December, 1994.The work was financially supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, Project No. 93-03-4969.     

19F NMR study of relative polarities and reactivities of N-H,N-Hg,and N-Au bonds in 2-(4-fluorophenyl)benzimidazole and its PhHg and Ph3PAu derivatives in intermolecular exchange

It has been shown by the¹⁹F NMR method that the relative polarities of nitrogenelement bonds in 2-(4-fluorophenyl)benzimidazole and its PhHg and PPh₃Au derivatives increase in the order N-H19F NMR. It has been found that these reactions occur by a bimolecular associative mechanism and that the N-H bond is substantially less reactive than the N-Hg and N-Au bonds, which have identical reactivities within the limits of sensitivity of the method used.Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 8, pp. 1574–1580, August, 1995.This work was carried out with financial support from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Project No. 93-03-5528).     

Native ethylene glycol in wine: Application of a dead volume free,very fast “deans heart-cut” system on-line with multi-chromatography

Data about the existence of native HO? CH₂? CH₂? OH (MEG) in natural wines and champagne has led to delicate questions because of legal decisions already made to declare wine or champagne illegal for sale if the MEG concentrations found are above 10 mg/liter. Action has been taken because of the DEG (diethylene glycol) disaster in European wines of 1985…86. An incorrect legal decision was made due to the belief that MEG cannot be produced biochemically by grape vines. A further reason may be lack of correct data on native MEG trace concentrations, as a result of the special behavior of this diol. As first member of a homologous series whose higher members (C₄) are normally found in all wines at quite high concentration levels, MEG shows extremely adsorptive behavior. The solution of the chromatographic problems is summarized in this paper. MEG concentrations in Riesling as example are in the range of 2 to 6 mg/liter and can easily be increased by biotechnological steps to a level of around 10 to 60 mg/liter. This is again due to the specific adsorptive behavior of MEG, which can be enriched on filter surfaces and displaced when the wine acidity changes with changing types. In order to control and guarantee the qualitative and quantitative results of MEG analyses we used a combination of Deans heart cutting on-line with Multi-Chromatography. It was easy to produce false data by many otherwise useful single column or two-dimensional separation processes, etc.