Copper(II)‐Catalyzed Aerobic Oxidative Coupling between Chalcone and 2‐Aminopyridine via C?H Amination: An Expedient Synthesis of 3‐Aroylimidazo[1,2‐a]pyridines

A simple and efficient protocol has been developed for the synthesis of 3‐aroylimidazopyridines via copper(II) acetate‐catalyzed aerobic oxidative amination. A library of 3‐aroylimidazopyridines was synthesized from readily accessible chalcones and 2‐aminopyridines with high yields and regioselectivity. The reaction proceeds through a tandem Michael addition followed by an intramolecular oxidative amination. The successful application of this methodology for a gram‐scale reaction indicates its potential for bulk synthesis.

     

All-Printed Multilayers and Blends of Poly(dioxythiophene) Derivatives Patterned into Flexible Electrochromic Displays

Low-cost, flexible and thin display technology is becoming an interesting field of research as it can accompany the wide range of sensors being developed. Here, the synthesis of poly(dimethylpropylene-dioxythiophene) (PProDOT-Me₂) by combining vapor phase polymerization and screen printing is presented. A multilayer architecture using poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) and PProDOT-Me₂ to allow for electrochromic switching of PProDOT-Me₂, thereby eliminating the need for a supporting transparent conductive (metal oxide) layer is introduced. Furthermore, the technology is adapted to a blended architecture, which removes the additional processing steps and results in improved color contrast (∆E* > 25). This blend architecture is extended to other conductive polymers, such as PEDOT and polypyrrole (PPy), to highlight the ability of the technique to adjust the color of all-printed electrochromic displays. As a result, a green color is obtained when combining the blue and yellow states of PEDOT and PPy, respectively. This technology has the potential to pave the way for all-printed multicolored electrochromic displays for further utilization in printed electronic systems in various Internet of Things applications.     

Superconducting magnet for K-500 cyclotron at VECC, Kolkata

K-500 superconducting cyclotron is in the advanced stage of commissioning at VECC, Kolkata. Superconducting magnet is one of the major and critical component of the cyclotron. It has been successfully fabricated, installed, cooled down to 4.2 K by interfacing with LHe plant and energized to its rated current on 30th April, 2005 producing magnetic field of 4.8 T at median plane of cyclotron. The superconducting magnet (stored energy of 22MJ) consists of two coils (α and β), which were wound on a sophisticated coil winding machine set-up at VECC. The superconducting cable used for winding the coils is multi filamentary composite superconducting wire (1.29 mm diameter) having 500 filaments of 40 μm diameter Nb-Ti in copper matrix which is embedded in OFHC grade copper channel (2.794 mm × 4.978 mm) for cryogenic stability. The basic structure of coil consists of layer type helical winding on a SS bobbin of 1475 mm ID × 1930 mm OD × 1170 mm height. The bobbin was afterwards closed by SS sheet to form the LHe chamber. The total weight of the coil with bobbin was about 6 tonne and the total length of the superconducting cable wound was about 35 km. Winding was done at very high tension (2000 PSI) and close tolerance to restrict the movement of conductor and coil during energization. After coil winding, all four coils (two each on upper and lower half of median plane of cyclotron) were banded by aluminium strip (2.7 mm × 5 mm) at higher tension (20,000 PSI) to give more compressive force after cool down to 4.2 K for restricting the movement of coil while energizing and thereby eliminating the chances of quench during ramping of current.After completion of coil winding by October, 2003, cryostat assembly was taken up in house. The assembly of cryostat (13 tonne) with support links (9 Nos.) refrigeration port, instrumentation port, helium vapour cooled current loads, etc. was completed by June, 2004. Meanwhile assembly of magnet frame was taken up and the cryostat was positioned in the magnet frame with proper alignment by August, 2004. After installation of cryostat on magnet, the cryostat was connected to the helium refrigerator/liquefier, having refrigeration capacity of 200 W and 100 l/h in liquefier mode with LN2 pre-cooling. The cryogenic delivery system supplying the liquid helium and liquid nitrogen to the superconducting magnet was successfully commissioned in November, 2004. The cool down of the cryostat to 10 K took around 8 days following which the LHe was filled in the cryostat (300 l) on 15th January, 2005. Subsequently the superconducting coils (α and β) were energized by two DC current regulated power supplies (20 V, 1000 A, 10 ppm stability) with slow and fast dump resistors connected externally across the superconducting coils for protection of coils at the time of power failure and quench.The paper describes the intricacies involved in coil winding, winding set-up, assembly of cryostat, cooling down the superconducting coils, filling by LHe and energization to rated current. The paper also highlights the operating experience of superconducting magnet and related test results.     

The rat as an experimental model for sleep neurophysiology.

The aim of this study was to develop a sleep-wake recording system for rats that would yield results more comparable to those obtained from cats than those that are usually reported. For 18 male Sprague-Dawley rats, the authors combined measures of cortical and hippocampal electroencephalogram (EEG) and neck muscle electromyogram with the electrooculogram and pontine EEG, so that the behavioral states could be identified with greater confidence with the use of polygraphic criteria developed in the cat and so that the distinctive phasic events of REM sleep could be more easily studied in the rat. The results suggest that for many neurophysiological studies, the rat is a suitable alternative to the cat. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modeling Uncertainty Resulting from Multiple Downscaling Methods in Assessing Hydrological Impacts of Climate Change

Climate Change Impacts Assessment using Statistical Downscaling is observed to be characterized by uncertainties resulting from multiple downscaling methods, which may perform similar during training, but differs in projections when applied to GCM outputs of future scenarios. The common wisdom in statistical downscaling, for selection of downscaling algorithms, is to select the model with the best overall system performance measure for observed period (training and testing). However, this does not guarantee that such selection will work best for any rainfall states, viz., low rainfall, or extreme rainfall. In the present study, for Assam and Meghalaya meteorological subdivision, India, three downscaling methods, Linear Regression (LR), Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) are used for simulating rainfall with reanalysis data and similar training and testing performances are obtained for observed period. When the developed relationships are applied to GCM output for future (21st century), differences are observed in downscaled projections for extreme rainfalls. ANN shows decrease in extreme rainfall, SVM shows increase in extreme rainfall and LR shows first decrease and then increase in extreme rainfall. Such results motivate further investigation, which reveals that, although, the overall performances of training and testing for all the transfer functions are similar, there are significant differences, when the performance measures are computed separately for low, medium, and high rainfall states. To model such uncertainty resulting from multiple downscaling methods, different transfer functions (LR, ANN and SVM) are used for different rainfall states (viz., low, medium and high), where they perform best. The rainfall states are predicted from large scale climate variables using Classification and Regression Tree (CART). As muti-model averaging (with equal weights or performance based weights) is commonly used in climatic sciences, the resulting output are also compared with the average of multiple downscaling model output. Rainfall is projected for Assam and Meghalaya meteorological subdivision, using this logic, with multiple GCMs. GCM uncertainty, resulting from the use of multiple GCMs, is further modeled using reliability ensemble averaging. The resultant Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of projected rainfall shows an increasing trend of rainfall in Assam and Meghalaya meteorological subdivision.     

Iron(III)‐Catalyzed Cascade Reaction between Nitroolefins and 2‐Aminopyridines: Synthesis of Imidazo[1,2‐a]pyridines and Easy Access towards Zolimidine

The iron(III)‐catalyzed one‐pot cascade reaction between nitroolefins and 2‐aminopyridines has been demonstrated for the synthesis of imidazo[1,2‐a]pyridines by exploiting the bielectrophilic nature of nitroolefins. This methodology could be successfully applicable for the synthesis of zolimidine, a useful drug for the treatment of peptic ulcer. The reaction proceeds through Michael addition followed by intramolecular cyclization and in situ denitration.     

Regionalized Design Rainfall Estimation: an Appraisal of Inundation Mapping for Flood Management Under Data-Scarce Situations

Availability of regionalized design rainfall is crucial for flood modeling, particularly over the regions with sparse raingauge networks. This study proposes a new comprehensive framework for generating regionalized design rainfall time series for data-poor catchments involving non-linear and non-parametric optimization approaches. A large set of parametric and non-parametric families of distribution were considered for multivariate rainfall frequency analysis using at-site station data, while a unique design temporal pattern over the region was derived by quantifying the flood causing potential of design hyetographs. The regionalized design rainfall time series was used as one of the inputs to a two-dimensional (2D) flood model. The accuracy and performance of the derived regionalized design rainfall for flood inundation modeling were evaluated by comparing with those derived from different spatial interpolation methods. There was a high consensus of the former with those of widely used kriging and spline interpolation methods. A severely flood-prone and data-poor (no raingauge available within study area) large coastal catchment lying along the coast of the Bay of Bengal, India, was chosen for a demonstration of the proposed framework. The study showed that the framework can be used for extreme events arising due to floods, even under changing climatic scenarios. It further invokes the necessity for incorporating the proposed framework into various commercially and freely available flood models along with other existing interpolation techniques to support improved flood management.     

Electrical bistability in zinc oxide nanoparticle-polymer composites

The article reports observed electrical bistability in thin films of ZnO nanoparticles embedded in an insulating polymer matrix. From the current-voltage and impedance characteristics, they studied transport mechanisms involved in the two conducting-states. The electrical bistability in such films has been associated with a memory phenomenon. The bistability, which is reversible in nature, led to read-only and random-access memory applications in the devices based on such nanoparticles.     

Copper‐Catalyzed Synthesis of Imidazo[1,2‐a]pyridines through Tandem Imine Formation‐Oxidative Cyclization under Ambient Air: One‐Step Synthesis of Zolimidine on a Gram‐Scale

A new copper‐catalyzed oxidative cyclization via C H amination between 2‐aminopyridines and methyl aryl/heteroaryl ketones has been developed under ambient air. Imidazo[1,2‐a]pyridines containing a wide range of functional groups have been synthesized from basic and easily available starting materials. This simple, one‐pot reaction protocol is applicable for the direct preparation of zolimidine (a marketed antiulcer drug) on a large scale.