A convenient laboratory-scale synthesis of methylallene from 1, 3-butadiene

A four step synthesis of methylallene, a chain transfer agent, from 1, 3-butadiene is described. Effects of experimental variables on the yields of the products in the various steps have been studied. The products obtained are characterised primarily with the use of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy.     

Acrylonitrile copolymers using cobalt acetylacetonate-triethylaluminum initiator system

Summary The reactivity ratios of styrene and acrylonitrile were computed from the ¹³C-NMR spectra of copolymers prepared using cobalt acetylacetonate-triethylaluminum initiator system and compared with a free radical initiator such as AIBN. The results indicate that polymerization using the former has pronounced free radical characteristics.     

Tetrahydrocurcumin, a major metabolite of curcumin, induced autophagic cell death through coordinative modulation of PI3K/Akt-mTOR and MAPK signaling pathways in human leukemia HL-60 cells

Scope: Autophagy (type II programmed cell death) is crucial for maintaining cellular homeostasis. Several autophagy‐deficient or knockout studies indicate that autophagy is a tumor suppressor. Tetrahydrocurcumin (THC), a major metabolite of curcumin, has been demonstrated with anti‐colon carcinogenesis and antioxidation in vivo. Methods and results: In the present study, we found that treatment with THC induced autophagic cell death in human HL‐60 promyelocytic leukemia cells by increasing autophage marker acidic vascular organelle (AVO) formation. Flow cytometry also confirmed that THC treatment did not increase sub‐G1 cell population whereas curcumin did with strong apoptosis‐inducing activity. At the molecular levels, the results from Western blot analysis showed that THC significantly down‐regulated phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase/protein kinase B and mitogen‐activated protein kinase signalings including decreasing the phosphorylation of mammalian target of rapamycin, glycogen synthase kinase 3β and p70 ribosomal protein S6 kinase. Further molecular analysis exhibited that the pretreatment of 3‐methyladenine (an autophagy inhibitor) also significantly reduced acidic vascular organelle production in THC‐treated cells. Conclusion: Taken together, these results demonstrated the anticancer efficacy of THC by inducing autophagy as well as provided a potential application for the prevention of human leukemia.     

Analysis of the SEAFP Reactor Fuel Cycle

The safety aspects of a fusion reactor fuel cycle, which handles substantial quantities of tritium, have been assessed in the framework of the European Programme on Safety and Environmental Assessment of Fusion Power Long Term (SEAL). This study focused on the assessment of the tritium inventory that could be released from interlinked systems in accidental scenarios. A systematic review of the fuel cycle systems was performed by focusing attention on the main interfaces and to the possible propagation of accident sequences through these interfaces. For the bounding accident sequences identified, deterministic analyses were carried out to determine the accident consequences. Both process source terms (PST) and environmental source terms (EST) were estimated. Simultaneous failure of the primary and secondary containment was considered to be beyond the design basis, nevertheless a preliminary analysis has been carried out; a bounding accident sequence related to a double failure, involving a hydrogen fire, has led to a tritium environmental release of 5.3 g and the wall mechanical load deriving from the maximum hypoth-esizable hydrogen detonation has been defined. Tritium releases into the secondary containment are treated by the appropriate detritiation and by the vent detritiation system. The related EST has been estimated based on an overall tritium cleanup efficiency of 99%, deliberately chosen low to cause the EST to be overestimated. The maximum tritium environmental release is less than 11 g and corresponds to an in-vessel LOCA. For accidents initiating in the fuel cycle only, the maximum tritium release is at most 3.1 g.