Mechanistic investigation and DFT calculation of the new reaction between S-methylisothiosemicarbazide and methyl acetoacetate

A study on the synthesis and mechanistical aspects of formation of 3-methyl-5-oxo-3-pyrazolin-1-carboxamide (MOPC) starting from S-methylisothiosemicarbazide hydrogen iodide and methyl acetoacetate was performed. In the alkaline aqueous solution, the intermediate methyl acetoacetate S-methylisothiosemicarbazone undergoes substitution of CH₃S^? anion by hydroxide anion, cyclization, carbanion formation, and elimination of methanol, thus yielding corresponding Na-enolate salt of pyrazol-5-one derivative. The structure of the compound obtained after protonation of the formed enolate salt was determined by means of spectroscopic techniques and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The mechanism of conversion of methyl acetoacetate S-methylisothiosemicarbazone into MOPC was investigated by means of the B3LYP functional, and it was found that the reaction is thermodynamically controlled.     

Pyridoxylidene aminoguanidine and its copper(II) complexes – Syntheses,structure, and DFT calculations

Two nitrate salts of the well-known, and due to its significant biological activity very important, compound pyridoxylidene aminoguanidine (PLAG) were obtained in the form of single crystals. Thus this ligand is structurally characterized for the first time. In addition, the first data on the structure of a Schiff base of aminoguanidine with the active form of vitamin B₆, i.e. pyridoxal-phosphate, of the formula PLPAG·HCl·2H₂O, are presented. Two new square-pyramidal Cu(II) complexes of PLAG were synthesized and their physicochemical and structural properties analyzed. In these complexes, PLAG is coordinated as a zwitter-ion, in a tridentate ONN manner, via the oxygen atom of the deprotonated phenolic OH-group and nitrogen atoms of the azomethine and imino group of the aminoguanidine moiety. For the first time it was possible to make a comparative analysis of the structural properties of ligand salts and the coordinated ligand, so the effects of coordination could be unequivocally pointed out. Common fragments encountered in ligand structures were compared by half-normal probability plots. Density functional theory calculations have been conducted in order to gain insight into reactive properties of the investigated molecules. Molecular electrostatic potential, average local ionization energy surfaces, and Fukui functions have been calculated in order to obtain further information on the reactive properties.     

Experiments on the flow past long circular cylinders in a shear flow

This paper describes an experimental investigation of the flow past circular cylinders, with the mean flow perpendicular to the cylinder axis, at conditions that yield a strong three-dimensional behaviour. The experiments were carried out in the subcritical regime. Long cylinders with end plates were subjected to shear flow with a linear velocity profile in the spanwise direction generated by means of a curved gauze. It was concluded that spanwise cellular structures of vortex shedding emerged in the wake, more clearly for some boundary conditions than others. These structures are characterised by a portion of spanwise length, a cell, having constant shedding frequency over a time average, which implies that there were no vortex dislocations inside that cell during that time. These features were studied using flow visualisation and hot-film anemometry. Spectra of the local shedding frequency are shown, revealing the effect of the shear parameter (=0.02 and 0.04) and aspect ratio L/D (=20.6 and 8) on the stability and geometry of the cells at several Reynolds numbers in the range of 3.13×10³Re_m1.25×10⁴.     

Spin Label Studies of the Hemoglobin–Membrane Interaction During Sickle Hemoglobin Polymerization

An enhanced hemoglobin–membrane association has been previously documented in sickle cell anemia. However, it is not known how this interaction is modified during the hemoglobin S polymerization process. In this work, we use a model of reconstituted erythrocytes from ghost membranes whose cytoskeleton proteins had been previously labeled with the 4-maleimido Tempo spin label, and that were subsequently resealed with hemoglobin S or A solutions. Using electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, we studied the time dependence of the spectral W/S parameter, indicative of the conformational state of cytoskeleton proteins (mainly spectrin) under spontaneous deoxygenation, with the aim of detecting the eventual effects due to hemoglobin S polymerization. The differences observed in the temporal behavior of W/S in erythrocytes reconstituted with both hemoglobins were considered as experimental evidence of an increment in hemoglobin S–membrane interaction as a result of the polymerization process of hemoglobin S under spontaneous deoxygenation.