4-Nitro-1,8-naphthalic anhydride (NNA) was used to distinguish cysteine from homocysteine and other potentially interfering thiols through a novel sequential substitution mechanism. The discrimination involves a blue-fluorescent thioether formation via nucleophilic aromatic substitution of the nitro group by thiol, followed by a second intramolecular nucleophilic aromatic substitution of alkylt...

protonation of the highly reactive 1:l intermediate produced in the reaction between triphenylphosphine and dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate by 2- hydroxyacetophenone leads to vinyltriphenylphosphonium salt, which undergoes aromatic electrophilic substitution reaction with the conjugate base to produce compounds 4,5, and 6 in 1 : 1.2:0.5 ratios

The structure of self-assembled monolayers presenting aromatic rings at a surface is studied by near edge x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (NEXAFS). Fluorine substitution at asymmetric positions in the aromatic rings is used to generate a layer of dipoles at the surface of the monolayer. We find that fluorine substituted aromatic rings are more ordered than unsubstituted aromatic ri...