A study of the scope of metal-catalyzed allylic amination of olefins and an approach towards solid phase synthesis of unsymmetrical tertiary phosphines.

A general route for the synthesis of N-alkoxy-N-alkylamidine hydrochlorides by reaction of organic nitriles with (N-alkyl-N-alkoxyammine)dimethylaluminum chloride (chapter 4, 26) is described.In order to obtain primary and secondary allyllic amines via Fe(II, III)-chloride catalyzed reactions, alternative aminating agents were sought. 2,4-dinitrophenylhydroxylamine (chapter 3, 6) reacted with olefins to produce the 2,4-DNP-allylamines (chapter 3, 10) in good yields and high selectivities. Attempts to deprotect the secondary 2,4-DNP-allylamines (chapter 3, 10) were not successful. Methylation and benzylation of these allylamines yielded the corresponding products (chapter 3, 14a, b, c and d) in high yields. Cleavage of the 2,4-DNP ring from the tertiary N-methyl-N-(2,4-DNP)-allylamine (chapter 3, 14b and c) with excess aqueous methylamine yielded the corresponding secondary N-methyl-allylamines (chapter 3, 15b and c) in moderate yields.Part I. The earlier work done in our lab on allylic amination of olefins catalyzed by Fe(II, III)-chlorides demonstrated that the formation of free PhNO is not involved and the structure of the active catalyst was determined (chapter 1, 27). Attempts were made to develop a catalyst-based enantioselective version of the reaction. The Fe(II)-salen complexes (chapter 2, 9) showed modest catalytic activity in the reactions of olefins with PbNHOH and involved the formation of free PhNO as the active aminating agent. The diamine oxide (chapter 2, 24) and the diphosphine oxide (chapter 2, 26) ligands displaced the azobenzenedioxide ligands from the active complex (chapter 1, 27). However, the new metal species (chapter 2, 37) formed did not undergo any further reaction.Part II. A general route for the solution phase synthesis of unsymmetrical tertiary phosphines, which can be adapted for their solid phase synthesis, was developed. This route involves selective, sequential nucleophilic substitutions on trivalent phosphorus using easily accessible reagents under mild conditions. The starting materials for this methodology, N-methyl-N-phenylaminochloroalkylphosphines (chapter 6, 12, 13), were prepared in high yields. The unsymmetrical tertiary phosphines (chapter 6, 18) were obtained by highly selective displacement of the chloride from the aminochlorophosphines by Grignard reagents to yield eminophosphines (chapter 6, 17), followed by displacement of the N-methyl-anilide by organolithium reagents

Health status and health needs of the orphan children in Kathmandu, Nepal

This paper reports on a cross-sectional study of orphanages in Kathmandu Valley Nepal. The study formed part of the PhD research of the first author

Referrals revisited: a clinical audit

Background: Pregnancy and childbirth are physiological processes; however, severe maternal morbidity can complicate certain pregnancies, deliveries and puerperium. To prevent maternal/ neonatal morbidity and mortality, the high-risk category needs timely identification and intervention and if required, prompt referral to higher centres where HDU/ICU level of care is provided. The present study was a clinical audit of obstetric referrals.Methods: A clinical audit of all obstetrics referrals done at BJRM (secondary level facility) from 1st May to 31st October 2016. The cases were analysed with respect to demographics, indications for referral and barrier to services.Results: Referral rate of our hospital was 6.52%. Mean age of women referred was 24.16 years. The associated risk factors were PIH in 36.17%, anaemia in 34.04%, followed by thrombocytopenia and diabetes in pregnancy. Majority of referrals were done in women during labour 93.94% while only 3.03% referrals during post-partum period. Most common indication was MSL with foetal distress 20.96%, followed by hypertensive disorders in pregnancy 16.93%. Other indications were APH, malpresentation, 2nd stage arrest and cord prolapse. The main barriers to providing services at our institute were unavailability of 24 hours OT services, blood bank and ICU care.Conclusions: Standard referral protocol and well-defined linkages need to be established so as to have better co-ordination between the referral units and tertiary centres

OCR Using Python and Its Application

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) of papers has tremendous practical value given the prevalence of handwritten documents in human exchanges. A discipline known as optical character recognition makes it possible to convert many kinds of texts or photos into editable, searchable, and analysable data. In the past ten years, academics have developed systems that automatically evaluate printed and handwritten documents to convert them to electronic format. In the modern era, as demand for computer systems arose, the demand to convert paper text and computer vision also erose. To interact the computer with capability to read text from images, videos and images have been arose rapidly and many software companies came in role to fulfil this need. One of the active and difficult study areas in the world of pattern recognition and image processing has been handwriting recognition. Among its many uses are bank checks, reading assistance for the blind, and the conversion of any handwritten document into structural text. The main aim of this paper is to create a searchable pdf from the image and bring the application to easy use and deployable on premises and cloud. &nbsp

Research & Reviews: Journal of Pure and Applied Physics Arc Plasma using a Liquid Metal Current-Limiting Device

ABSTRACT Current limiters are used to limit the maximum amplitude of a short circuit current in order to reduce the thermal and mechanical stress produced by the current. The liquid metal current limiters comprise of four principal elements: a liquid metal (GaInSn), an enclosure, an insulating wall, and two metal electrodes. The cavity of the enclosure is filled with galinstan. Liquid metal current limiters based on plasma technology are becoming popular due to their small volume, self healing properties, simple design, and lack of moving parts. Liquid metal current-limiting device involving arc plasma is based on pinch effect. In such a device the arc ignites due to selfpinch effect and start from free surface liquid metal which develops in the form of gas cavities. After arc ignition, it is concluded that the arc plasma should be a mixture of metal vapor & air. This article aims to describe the effect of metal vapor arc on electrode erosion

Trichoderma: A part of possible answer towards crop residue disposal

India is one of the leading countries in agricultural production and generate large volume of crop residue. Increasing demand for food grains due to growing population leads to generation of crop residues. Due to lack of proper disposal mechanism of crop residue, farmers burn the residue which release greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere, and poses great threat to environment as well as human health. The residue burning causes greater carbon emission and nutrient losses which otherwise incorporated into the soil system may substantially improve the soil biodiversity. Besides several practices of crop residue management, the most feasible method for farmers is incorporation of residue into the soil with the inoculation of microbes. In soil system the ability of microbial community in degrading organic substances is well known. In the early stages of residue decomposition simple substrates like carbohydrates are degraded by bacteria, but in later stages degradation of complex constituents viz., cellulose, lignin needs microbes which are capable of secreting enzymes like cellulase, acting on complex organic substrates. In this context, cellulolytic micro organisms like Trichoderma have the potential and emerging as an important microbial inoculants to enhance the rate of decomposition as well as alleviate the effect of residue burning

A comparative study of circulating plasma lipid components and superoxide dismutase activity in pre and postmenopausal women

Background: Menopause is associated with increased oxidative stress and decreased antioxidative activity in females which leads to increased risk of cardiovascular and many other diseases. The objective was to compare the lipid profiles and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity of pre and postmenopausal women in an attempt to establish the fact that menopause is associated with increased oxidative stress.Methods: A hospital based cross-sectional study was done at the department of obstetrics and gynaecology and biochemistry, Shri Mahant Indiresh Hospital, Dehradun, India. Out of total of 120 women, 60 women were in premenopausal group aged between 30-45 years and 60 women of 55-70 years of age group in post menopause status. Assessment of lipid profile was done by an automated chemistry analyzer (Vitors 5, I FS) and SOD activity was measured by colorimetric activity kit. Statistical analysis was done by Standard Microsoft Excel software.Results: Mean serum SOD level in premenopausal women was 4.80±1.73 U/ml and in postmenopausal was 1.35±0.58 U/ml. This variation was found to be extremely significant (p <0.0001). Changes in lipid components in pre and postmenopausal women showed that total cholesterol and triglycerides levels were higher in postmenopausal than premenopausal participants. These variations were also significant (p = 0.0003). Levels of HDL-C were lower in postmenopausal women than pre-menopausal group with a mean±SD of 51.5±12.20 mg/dl and 54.05±14.03mg/dl respectively.Conclusions: Findings of this study corroborate the hypothesis that gradual loss of ovarian function is associated with a decrease in antioxidant status. Menopause also leads to changes in lipid components, which can predispose women to cardiovascular diseases