User friendly and flexible Kiliani reaction on ketoses using microreaction technology

The Kiliani reaction, i.e. the elongation of the carbon chain by means of cyanide addition to the carbonyl group of carbohydrate derivatives, is studied on lower C3-, C4- and C6-ketoses under continuous flow conditions. Depending on the process parameters, the corresponding cyanohydrins or alpha-hydroxycarboxylic acids are obtained. A simple on-line purification of the effluent is studied using cation exchange resins. Reactions provide high yields and selectivity within short residence times, emphasizing the assets of the continuous flow process versus the batch process

Reductive amination of carbohydrate derivatives as a simple route to building blocks for biologically active compounds

5-(Hydroxymethyl)furfural (HMF) has recently attracted a significant amount of revived attention. It is produced from hexoses via acid-catalyzed dehydratation and as a renewable building block used for the conversion to a wide range of useful derivatives. The most remarkable examples are 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid and 2,5-di(hydroxymethyl)furan, used in the production of polymers, and 2,5-dimethylfuran, a potential fuel additive with very promising features. Another group of molecules that can easily be produced from HMF are 2-alkyl- and 2-arylaminomethylfurans. These structures are often found in various types of molecules with pharmacological activity, such as antihistaminics, glutamate modulators, glycine antagonists, muscarinic agonists, renin inhibitors, antifungal agents, kinase inhibitors, etc. In most of the patents covering production of these structures, furfural is used as a starting material. However, these procedures include long reaction times and rather drastic temperature and pressure conditions. On the contrary, the here presented reactions of a two-step reductive amination of HMF were conducted in a very straightforward fashion: water and simple alcohols were used as reaction media, no catalyst was used and very mild conditions were employed. Starting from HMF and several aliphatic and aromatic amines, a small library of novel simple-structured derivatives was produced, in high yields and requiring only minimal purification. Conventional and microwave heating were successfully used as a means of enhancing reaction rates. This route therefore presents a novel way for the production of furan-based renewable building blocks

Massachusetts Institute of Technology integrated microelectronics device experimentation and simulation iLab

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (p. 57-58).We developed the MIT Integrated Microelectronics Device Experimentation and Simulation iLab, a new online laboratory that combines and significantly upgrades the capabilities of two existing online microelectronics labs: WebLab, a device characterization lab, and WebLabSim, a device simulation lab. The new integrated tool allows users to simultaneously run experiments on actual devices and simulations on the virtual ones, as well as to compare the results of the two. In order to achieve this, we considerably extended the capabilities of the original clients. We added the ability to graph the results of multiple experiments and simulations simultaneously, on top of each other, which allows for much easier comparison. We also added the ability to load, view and graph the results of experiments and simulations that were ran at any point in the past, even when the corresponding lab configurations are no longer available. Our hope is that this new integrated iLab will enrich microelectronics teaching and learning by allowing students to compare real life device behavior with theoretical expectations.by Boris Cukalovic.M.Eng