"Why teach languages to pupils with SEND? They'll never need them!"

This session addressed the benefits of teaching language and culture to pupils with SEND and offered a mutually advantageous model of collaboration between a university and a special school, through the joint delivery of cross-curricular language days

Synthesis of an Isoindoline-Annulated, Tricyclic Sultam Library via Microwave-Assisted, Continuous-Flow Organic Synthesis (MACOS)

A microwave-assisted, continuous-flow organic synthesis (MACOS) protocol for the synthesis of an isoindoline-annulated, tricyclic sultam library, utilizing a Heck–aza-Michael (HaM) strategy, is reported. This sequence involves a Heck reaction on vinylsulfonamides with batch microwave heating followed by a one-pot, sequential intramolecular aza-Michael cyclization/Boc-deprotection using MACOS. Subsequent cyclization with either 1,1′-carbonyldiimidazole or chloromethyl pivalate using MACOS provided an array of tricyclic sultams. This efficient three-step protocol requires only a few hours to produce the target sultams starting from simple starting materials. Using this strategy, a 38-member library of isoindoline-annulated sultams was generated in good to excellent overall yields (53–87%)

Global latitudinal gradients did not drive body size diversity in dinosaurs or mammals

<p>Supplementary materials for Wilson et al. Global latitudinal gradients did not drive body size diversity in dinosaurs or mammals. </p&gt

Global latitudinal gradients and the evolution of body size in dinosaurs and mammals

Global climate patterns fundamentally shape the distribution of species and ecosystems. For example, Bergmann's rule predicts that homeothermic animals, including birds and mammals, inhabiting cooler climates are generally larger than close relatives from warmer climates. The modern world, however, lacks the comparative data needed to evaluate such macroecological rules rigorously. Here, we test for Bergmann's rule in Mesozoic dinosaurs and mammaliaforms that radiated within relatively temperate global climate regimes. We develop a phylogenetic model that accounts for biases in the fossil record and allows for variable evolutionary dispersal rates. Our analysis also includes new fossil data from the extreme high-latitude Late Cretaceous Arctic Prince Creek Formation. We find no evidence for Bergmann's rule in Mesozoic dinosaurs or mammaliaforms, the ancestors of extant homeothermic birds and mammals. When our model is applied to thousands of extant dinosaur (bird) and mammal species, we find that body size evolution remains independent of latitude. A modest temperature effect is found in extant, but not in Mesozoic, birds, suggesting that body size evolution in modern birds was influenced by Bergmann's rule during Cenozoic climatic change. Our study provides a general approach for studying macroecological rules, highlighting the fossil record's power to address longstanding ecological principles.</p

A concise synthesis of enantioenriched fluorinated carbocycles.

(Chemical Equation Presented) A "reverse" cycloaddition- fluorination strategy has been validated to access enantioenriched fluorinated compounds featuring up to five stereogenic centers, one of which is fluorinated. This highly convergent process features a mild and high-yielding fluorination, for which the sense and level of stereocontrol have been probed. © 2007 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA

Combustion chemistry and flame structure of furan group biofuels using molecular-beam mass spectrometry and gas chromatography – Part II: 2-Methylfuran

Tran L-S, Togbé C, Liu D, et al. Combustion chemistry and flame structure of furan group biofuels using molecular-beam mass spectrometry and gas chromatography - Part II: 2-Methylfuran. COMBUSTION AND FLAME. 2014;161(3):766-779