Use of summer habitat by caribou on the north slope of a mountain near the Macmillan Pass, N.W.T.

Habitat use by woodland caribou was investigated by counting pellet-groups, sampling phytomass, and evaluating topography in nine habitat-types on the north slope of an unnamed mountain near Macmillan Pass, N.W.T. Caribou pellets were most abundant in high elevation habitat-types, and pellet density was greatest in an alpine Lichen-Grass habitat-type with a slope of <1°. The high density of pellets in alpine areas may have resulted from of the use of cool, windy, alpine habitats by caribou seeking relief from insect harassment. There were no apparent relationships between pellet abundance, and phytomass of mosses, lichens, or graminoids, possibly as a result of caribou feeding and defecating in different habitats. The occurrence of pellets with a coalesced morphology in the barren Lichen-Grass habitat-type provided indirect evidence in support of a feeding cycle, whereby caribou visit lush habitats to feed, and return to open, alpine habitats to rest and ruminate

Studies in host-guest chemistry

Previous work in our group has been directed towards the synthesis of crown-ethers for use in the selective complexation of metal ions and as chiral ligands for use in asymmetric catalysis. The development of a modular approach to macrocycle assembly has enabled the synthesis of a library of pyridine-based macrocycles possessing multiple donor sites where chirality was readily introduced from simple amino acids.The nucleophilic ring opening of aziridines 181, 193 or 194, allowed the highly selective synthesis of thioether-based spacers and macrocycles. Extension of this basic approach to the synthesis of seleno-crown ethers was also investigated. The use of chiral-pool starting materials derived from D- or L-alanine, provided access to optically pure macrocycles. The use of the Sharpless-Huisgen 'click' reactions allowed the attachment of a carbohydrate residue directly to a macrocycle via a triazole unit. We hope to attach a macrocycle, carbohydrate residue and azo dye together, to be able to examine further diseases such as Alzheimer's. We have so far succeeded in attaching a macrocycle and sugar to a central scaffold by performing a one-pot double 'click' reaction. The distance between the points of attachment of the chromophore to the macrocycle metal binding site is probably, in this first generation sensor, too great to enable a metal-macrocycle binding event to be reported.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Atom transfer radical cyclisation reactions in organic synthesis

A new method for the synthesis of naphthalenes has been recently discovered. The Atom Transfer Radical Cyclisation (ATRC) of diverse 2-allylphenyl2',2',2'-trichloroacetates in the presence of a Cu complex afford schloronaphthalenes in good yields using either microwave or thermolytic methods of activation. A mechanism for the benzannulation reaction is proposed and experiments presented in order to validate this hypothesis. The use of 1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazolium copper(I) chloride [(IPr)CuCl)] along with other metal carbenes is compared to the already reported CuCl/ligand system. Since the scope and synthetic utility of this new benzannulation reaction is restricted due to the use of the MW reactor, a solvent in which the thermal reaction can take place is reported, proving its efficiency in the synthesis of a range of substituted naphthalenes. The potential and versatility of the benzannulation reaction has been investigated. Studies towards the synthesis of gilvocarcin M which contains a tetracyclicaromatic core are presented. Gilvocarcins have potential use as anti-cancer agents and represent a member of the C-aryl glycosides found in natural products. Gilvocarcin M is a challenging target because there are a sparse number of total syntheses reported in the literature. The ATRC reaction of (vinyl)phenyl trichloroacetate has also been investigated, affording the synthesis of functionalised coumarins. The mechanism of this reaction has also been investigated, establishing that, in some cases, aretro-Kharasch reaction is observed.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceDystarGBUnited Kingdo

Solvent effects in gold-catalysed A3-coupling reactions

AbstractGold-catalysed A3-reactions proceed efficiently when conducted in 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol as solvent. The rates of these reactions are accelerated considerably when conducted in a microwave reactor

An efficient reusable perylene hydrogel for removing some toxic dyes from contaminated water

From Wiley via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: received 2020-11-24, rev-recd 2021-01-05, accepted 2021-01-11, pub-electronic 2021-02-03, pub-print 2021-09Article version: VoRPublication status: PublishedAbstract: The synthesis of adsorbents that meet the need for large‐scale production at relatively low cost and are capable of removing anionic and cationic toxic dyes from aqueous solutions, with high sorption capacity and reusability, is urgently needed from an environmental and industrial viewpoint. In this context the identification of hydrogels that remove dyes efficiently under ambient conditions and at near‐neutral pH without the necessity of pre‐treatment is an imperative. In this study we report the preparation of two hydrogels using the redox polymerisation of acrylamide, hydroxyethylmethacrylate (HEMA) and N‐isopropylacrylamide (H1) and acrylamide, HEMA, N‐isopropylacrylamide and perylene‐5‐ylpent‐3‐yne‐2‐methylprop‐2‐enoate‐co‐2‐methyl‐2‐(prop‐2‐enoylamino)propane‐1‐sulfonic acid (PePnUMA‐co‐AMPS) (H2). These hydrogels proved to be effective for the removal of methylene blue (MB), fuchsin acid (FA) and Congo Red (CR) from aqueous solution at near‐neutral pH where their adsorption behaviour was in keeping with the Langmuir model having qmax values of 769.2 mg g−1 (MB), 1666.7 mg g−1 (FA) and 2358.2 mg g−1 (CR). The adsorption of MB and FA by these hydrogels follows pseudo‐first‐order kinetics, whilst the adsorption of CR follows pseudo‐second‐order kinetics. Detailed thermodynamic analysis indicated that the dye–adsorbent interaction is primarily one of physisorption in nature. Finally, desorption studies carried out in 1.0 mol L–1 NaClO4 indicated that these adsorbents could be recycled at least four times using a variety of dyes while maintaining their mechanical properties. © 2021 The Authors. Polymer International published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry