Intermolecular complexes of singly linked bisporphyrins with trinitrobenzene

Several covalently linked bisporphyrin systems, free-base (H2P---H2P), hybrid bisporphyrins (Zn---H2P) and Zn(II) dimers (ZnP---ZnP) and their 1:1 molecular complexes with sym 1,3,5-trinitrobenzene have been investigated by optical absorption and emission, and magnetic resonance spectroscopic methods. In these systems, two porphyrin units are linked singly through one of the meso aryl groups via ether linkages of variable length. The bisporphyrins cooperatively bind a molecule of a ?-acceptor; 1,3,5-trinitrobenzene (TNB). The binding constant values vary with interchromophore separation. Maximum binding is observed in the bisporphyrin bearing a two-ether covalent linkage. It is found that TNB quenches the fluorescence of the two porphyrine units in a selective manner. It is suggested that a critical distance between the two porphyrin units is necessary for the observance of maximum cooperative intermolecular binding with an acceptor.

On the isotope effect in some cuprate superconductors

The combined mechanism involving phonon and lochon (local charged boson) induced pairing of fermions developed earlier for cuprate superconductors is used to study the variation of the oxygen isotope effect (alpha(0)) in these systems. The recently observed results for some cuprates are in agreement with the calculated trend in which (alpha(0)) tends to larger value when the critical temperature (T-c) is reduced by appropriate doping. These results support the combined phononic and electronic (lochonic) mechanism for cuprates with the latter dominating in the higher T-c regions.

Synthesis and esterolytic chemistry of some (dialkylamino) pyridine-functionalized micellar aggregates. Evidence of catalytic turnover

Four new (dialkylamino)pyridine-functionalized surfactants have been synthesized. Micelles were generated either from the surfactant alone in aqueous buffer (pH 8.5 or 9.0) or by comicellization in 1 x 10(-3)-1 x 10(-4) M aqueous micellar cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTABr) solution at pH 8.5 or 9.0. Such aggregates were used to cleave p-nitrophenyl alkanoates or p-nitrophenyl diphenylphosphate. The nucleophilic reagents and the second-order ''catalytic'' rate constants toward esterolysis of the substrate p-nitrophenyl octanoate (at 25 degrees C, pH 9.0) were [cat.] = 1 x 10(-4) M, [CTABr] = 1 x 10(-3) M, and k(cat.) = 440.13 M(-1) s(-1) for 1b, [cat.] = 5 x 10(-4) M, [CTABr] = 5 x 10(-4) M, and k(cat.) = 30.8 M(-1) s(-1) for 1c, [cat.] = 5 x 10(-4) M, [CTABr] = 5 x 10(-3) M, and k(cat.) = 183.64 M(-1) s(-1) for 2a, and [cat.] = 3 x 10(-4) M and k(cat.) = 54.1 M(-1) s(-1) for 2b. The catalytic systems, especially 1b/CTABr and 2a/CTABr, also conferred significantly greater reactivity toward the esters derived from alkanoic acids of moderate chain length (C-6-C-10) during hydrolytic cleavages relative to their shorter and longer counterparts. Importantly, the catalytic systems comprising the coaggregates of either neutral 1b and CTABr (1:10) or anionic 2a and CTABr (1:10) conformed to the Michaelis-Menten kinetic scheme and demonstrated turnover behavior in the presence of excess substrate.

Synthesis, Thermotropic Behavior, and Permeability Properties of Vesicular Membranes Composed of Cationic Mixed-Chain Surfactants

In order to elucidate the role of the linkage region that connects polar headgroups with hydrophobic segments in a lipid monomer, cationic mixed-chain amphiphiles containing acyl and alkyl hydrophobic segments connected at the level of Me(2)N(+) headgroups 2a-d were synthesized. Related dialkyldimethyl-ammonium ion surfactants 1a-e and diacyl systems 3a-c were also synthesized. Despite mismatch in the connector region, amphiphiles 2a-d form bilayer vesicles like their dialkyl and diacyl counterparts, as revealed by electron microscopy. Introduction of an ester connector function between the polar and hydrophobic parts raises the phase transition temperature (T-m), transition enthalpies, and resistance to ion permeation. Consideration of energy minimized conformations points toward the importance of differences in the depth of chain penetration into the putative bilayer.

Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy of the hydrogen bonded heterodimer H2Scdots, three dots, centeredHCl

The HeI photoelectron spectrum of the hydrogen bonded hetero-dimer H2Scdots, three dots, centeredHCl shows two vertical ionization energies at 10.91 and 12.16 eV. Ab initio MO calculations reveal that these features are due to the sulphur and chlorine lone pair ionizations respectively. Results show that while the ground ionic state is repulsive the first excited ionic state is strongly bound. The photoelectron spectrum of the diethyl sulphidecdots, three dots, centeredHCl complex is similar to that of H2Scdots, three dots, centeredHCl.

Weak molecular complexes as studied by NMR spectroscopy of oriented molecules

Weak molecular interactions such as those in pyridine-iodine, benzene-iodine and benzene-chloroform systems oriented in thermotropic liquid crystals have been studied from the changes of the order parameters as a result of complex formation. The results indicate the formation of at least two types of charge transfer complexes in pyridine-iodine solutions. The pi-complexes in benzene-chloroform and benzene-iodine mixtures have also been detected. No detectable changes in the inter-proton distances in these systems were observed.

A formal total synthesis of (+/-)-enterolactone

A radical cyclization based methodology has been applied for the formal total synthesis of (+/-)-enterolactone (1), the first lignan isolated from human source. Bromoacetalization reaction of the cinnamyl alcohols 7 and 13 using ethyl vinyl ether and NBS, generated the bromoacetals 8 and 15. The 5-exo-trig radical cyclization reaction of the bromoacetals 8 and 15 with in situ generated catalytic tri-a-butyltin hydride and AIBN furnished a 3 : 2 diastereomeric mixture of the cyclic acetals 9 and 16. Sonochemically accelerated Jones oxidation of the cyclic acetals 9 and 16 yielded the gamma-butyrolactones 10 and 12 completing the formal total synthesis of (+/-)-enterolactone. Alternatively radical cyclization of the bromoacetate 17 furnished a 1 : 2 mixture of the lactone 10 and the reduced product 18.

Synthesis based on cyclohexadienes. Part-27. Synthesis of functionalized tricyclo[5.2.2.0(1,5)]undecanes

A new methodology for the construction of tricyclo[5.2.2.0(1,5)]undecanes is described from indane-4-carboxylic acids. Birch reduction of indane-4-carboxylic acids followed by conjugation and cycloaddition with alpha-chloroacrylonitrile and hydrolysis lead to the tricyclic compounds 36 and 48 which are intermediates in the eremolactone synthesis.

Pronounced hydrogel formation by the self-assembled aggregates of N-alkyl disaccharide amphiphiles

Six disaccharide amphiphiles were synthesized and their hydrogel-forming behavior was extensively studied. These amphiphiles were based on maltose and lactose. Since the gels formed from some of these systems showed the ability to "trap" water molecules upon gelation, these gels were described as "hydrogels". When these gels were heated to similar to 70 degrees C, the samples turned into clear, isotropic fluids, and upon gradual cooling, the hydrogels could be reproduced. Thus these systems were also "thermoreversible". The low molecular mass (MW 565) of the gelators compared to that of a typical polymeric gelator forming substance implies pronounced aggregation of the disaccharide amphiphiles into larger microstructures during gelation. To discern the aggregate textures and morphologies, the specimen hydrogel samples were examined by high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A possible reason for the exceptionally high water gelating capacities (>6000 molecules of water per gelator molecule) exhibited by these N-alkyl disaccharide amphiphiles is the presence of large interlamellar spaces into which the water molecules get entrapped due to surface tension. In contrast to their single-chain counterparts, the double-chain lactosyl and maltosylamine amphiphiles upon solubilization in EtOH-H2O afforded hydrogels with reduced mechanical strengths. Interestingly, the corresponding microstructures were found to be quite different from the corresponding hydrogels of their single-chain counterparts. Rheological studies provided further insights into the behavior of these hydrogels. Varying the chain length of the alcohol cosolvent could modulate the gelation capacities, melting temperatures, and the mechanical properties of these hydrogels. To explain the possible reasons of gelation, the results of molecular modeling and energy minimization studies were also included.

Spiroannulation of a cyclopentane ring. Synthesis of spiro[4.n](n+5)alk-2-en-1-ones

A methodology based on Claisen rearrangement-Wacker oxidation and intramolecular aldol condensation strategy starting from cyclic ketones leading to spiro[4.n](n+5)alk-2-en-1-ones has been developed. Thus one-pot Claisen rearrangement of the alkyl alcohols 6a-c furnished the aldehydes 8a-c, which on regiospecific oxidation using Wacker conditions generated the keto-aldehydes 9a-c. Finally, intramolecular aldol condensation transformed the keto-aldehydes 9a-c into spiroannulated products 10a-c.

Tatonnement Mechanisms for Combinatorial Exchanges

Combinatorial exchanges are double sided marketplaces with multiple sellers and multiple buyers trading with the help of combinatorial bids. The allocation and other associated problems in such exchanges are known to be among the hardest to solve among all economic mechanisms. It has been shown that the problems of surplus maximization or volume maximization in combinatorial exchanges are inapproximable even with free disposal. In this paper, the surplus maximization problem is formulated as an integer linear programming problem and we propose a Lagrangian relaxation based heuristic to find a near optimal solution. We develop computationally efficient tâtonnement mechanisms for clearing combinatorial exchanges where the Lagrangian multipliers can be interpreted as the prices of the items set by the exchange in each iteration. Our mechanisms satisfy Individual-rationality and Budget-nonnegativity properties. The computational experiments performed on representative data sets show that the proposed heuristic produces a feasible solution with negligible optimality gap.

REDEFINE: Architecture of a SoC Fabric for Runtime Composition of Computation Structures

In this paper we propose the architecture of a SoC fabric onto which applications described in a HLL are synthesized. The fabric is a homogeneous layout of computation, storage and communication resources on silicon. Through a process of composition of resources (as opposed to decomposition of applications), application specific computational structures are defined on the fabric at runtime to realize different modules of the applications in hardware. Applications synthesized on this fabric offers performance comparable to ASICs while retaining the programmability of processing cores. We outline the application synthesis methodology through examples, and compare our results with software implementations on traditional platforms with unbounded resources.