The tetrametallic ruthenium-oxo-hydroxo-hydride complex {[(PCy(3))(CO)RuH](4)(mu(4)-O)(mu(3)-OH)(mu(2)-OH)} (1) was synthesized in two steps from the monomeric complex (PCy(3))(CO)RuHCl (2). The tetrameric complex 1 was found to be a highly effective catalyst for the transfer dehydrogenation of alcohols. Complex 1 showed a different catalytic activity pattern towards primary and secondary benzy...

An environmentally benign process was developed for the transesterification of Jatropha curcas L. seed oil with methanol using artificial zeolites loaded with potassium acetate as a heterogeneous catalyst. After calcination for 5 h at 823 K, the catalyst loaded with 47 wt.% CH3COOK exhibited the highest efficiency and best catalytic activity. The easily prepared catalysts were characterized by ...

Using a contrast matching procedure, we measured the perceived contrast of vertical test gratings after adapting to other gratings of either vertical or horizontal orientation. The results show that both parallel and orthogonal adapting gratings reduce perceived contrast and do so proportionally more at low test contrasts than at high. The results are consistent with a single mechanism model pr...

ZSM-5 zeolites were prepared at neutral pH by fluoride-mediated synthesis. The degree of crystallinity, the specific surface area and the crystal size are higher than those of the zeolites prepared under alkaline conditions. Moreover, by varying the F/Si ratio from 0.3 to 1.6, the H–[F]–ZSM-5 zeolites with crystal size ranging from 10 to 75 lm and the specific surface areas from 60 up to 350 m/...

The rates of zinc chloride (Lewis acid) catalysed oxidation of thioanisole and several para-substituted thioanisoles by permanganate have been studied in anhydrous acetone solutions. The kinetic rate law obtained indicates that a complex between permanganate and the Lewis acid (ZnCl2) is formed before oxidation of the sulfur-containing compounds occurs. The function of the zinc chloride is to e...

The rates and mechanism of zinc chloride (Lewis acid) catalysed oxidation of several organic sulfoxides by permanganate have been studied in anhydrous acetone solutions. The kinetic rate law obtained indicates that a complex between permanganate and the Lewis acid (ZnCl2) is formed before oxidation of the sulfoxides occurs. The function of the zinc chloride is to enhance the reactivity of perma...

A 1H NMR study of urocanic acid dissolved in water/dimethyl sulfoxide mixtures together with potentiometric determinations of its two successive acidities in the same solutions reveal that a proton is transferred from the imidazolium ring to the carboxylate group when the amount of dimethyl sulfoxide is increased. An analysis of the potentiometric data by means of the classical Hammett linear r...

We present an application of the recently introduced Localized Pair Model (LPM) [Z. A. Zielinksi and J. K. Pearson, Comput. Theor. Chem., 2013, 1003, 7990] to characterize and quantify properties of the chemical bond in a series of substituted benzoic acid molecules. By computing interelectronic distribution functions for doubly-occupied Edmiston-Ruedenberg localized molecular orbitals (LMOs), ...

This paper describes the synthesis of a series of Pd(IV) complexes of general structure (N~C)(2)Pd(IV)(O(2)CR)(2) (N~C = a rigid cyclometalated ligand; O(2)CR = carboxylate) by reaction of (N~C)(2)Pd(II) with PhI(O(2)CR)(2). The majority of these complexes undergo clean C-O bond-forming reductive elimination, and the mechanism of this process has been investigated. A variety of experiments, inc...