Spirituality as a Predictor of Well-Being, Mental Distress or Both:A Four-Week Follow-Up Study in a Sample of Dutch and Belgian Adults

In general, studies of spirituality show positive associations with measures of well-being, but less is known about the possible role of mental distress in this association. Following the twocontinua model of mental health, the current quantitative four-week follow-up study examines how spirituality is associated with well-being and mental distress. Spirituality is measured using the Spirituality Attitude and Interest List questionnaire (SAIL), well-being by the Dutch Mental HealthContinuum-Short Form (MHCSF-SF), and mental distress by the Symptom Questionnaire (SQ-48).At baseline, 874 adults from the Netherlands and Belgium completed the online questionnaire; four weeks later, 560 participants completed follow-up questionnaire. Multiple regression analyses showed that spirituality at baseline, and in particular the subscale on ‘meaning in life,’ predicted higher well-being scores at follow-up after adjustment for baseline well-being scores. Spirituality also predicted changes in mental distress scores, in particular on the subscales of trust and transcendent experience. However, these associations were in opposite directions. Trust was associated with a small decrease in mental distress over time and transcendent experience was associated with a small increase in mental distress over time. The results confirm the importance of meaning in life, trust,and transcendent experience as elements of mental health

Copper(I) thiolate catalysts in asymmetric conjugate addition reactions

Full conversion and enantioselectivities up to 83% have been obtained in the conjugate addition reactions of diethyl zinc to Michael acceptors catalyzed by well-defined (chiral) copper(I) aminoarenethiolates. Interesting differences between organozinc or Grignard reagents have been found: for cyclic enones R(2)Zn reagents afford better results, whereas earlier work showed that RMgX reagents react more selectively with acyclic enones

Directed <i>ortho</i>-Lithiation: Observation of an Unexpected 1‑Lithio to 3‑Lithio Conversion of 1‑Lithio-naphthyllithium Compounds with an <i>ortho</i>-Directing 2‑(Dimethylamino)methyl Group

Regioselectivity is an important aspect in the design of organic protocols involving Directed <i>ortho</i>-Lithiation (DoL) of arenes, in particular with those arenes containing heteroatom substituents as directing groups. The DoL of 2-[(dimethylamino)­methyl]­naphthalene (dman) that proceeds with low regioselectivity was revisited by varying both the nature of the lithiating reagent (either <i>n</i>-BuLi or <i>t</i>-BuLi) and/or the solvent (pentane or diethyl ether); the 3-deuterated substrate, 3-Ddman, was also investigated as a substrate to compare to that of dman. The 3-lithio regioisomer exists as tetranuclear [2-(Me₂NCH₂)­C₁₀H₆Li-3]₄, <b>1</b>, both in the solid state (X-ray) and in solution (NMR). The 1-lithio regioisomer, <b>2a</b>, is insoluble; in the presence of additional coordinating solvents (Et₂O) or ligands (dman), it exists as dinuclear [2-(Me₂NCH₂)­C₁₀H₆Li-1]₂·L (coordinated L = Et₂O: <b>2b</b>, dman: <b>2c</b>) in apolar solvents. Heating solutions of <b>2c</b> in toluene-<i>d</i>₈ (to 90 °C) induced a surprisingly clean and quantitative 1-lithio to 3-lithio conversion of the 1-lithio-naphthalene isomer. This type of reaction is rare in organolithium chemistry and has obvious significant implications for the design of regioselective DoL protocols; this thus represents the synthetically useful protocol for the DoL of dman in a one-pot/two-step process in toluene solution. The results of the use of 3-Ddman in these reactions gives strong credence to a mechanism involving formation of the heteroleptic species [(2-(Me₂NCH₂)­C₁₀H₆-1)­(2-(Me₂NCH₂)­C₁₀H₆-3)­Li₂]·[dman], <b>A</b>, as the key intermediate. Intramolecular <i>trans</i>-lithiation takes place with <b>A</b>; dman becomes selectively lithiated at its 3-position, while the formerly 1-lithio-naphthalene fragment, acting as a highly unusual <i>ortho</i>-lithiating reagent, is converted into the N-coordinated amine, dman. In this intramolecular DoL process, free dman can be considered to act as a <i>catalyst</i>

Directed <i>ortho</i>-Lithiation: Observation of an Unexpected 1‑Lithio to 3‑Lithio Conversion of 1‑Lithio-naphthyllithium Compounds with an <i>ortho</i>-Directing 2‑(Dimethylamino)methyl Group

Regioselectivity is an important aspect in the design of organic protocols involving Directed <i>ortho</i>-Lithiation (DoL) of arenes, in particular with those arenes containing heteroatom substituents as directing groups. The DoL of 2-[(dimethylamino)­methyl]­naphthalene (dman) that proceeds with low regioselectivity was revisited by varying both the nature of the lithiating reagent (either <i>n</i>-BuLi or <i>t</i>-BuLi) and/or the solvent (pentane or diethyl ether); the 3-deuterated substrate, 3-Ddman, was also investigated as a substrate to compare to that of dman. The 3-lithio regioisomer exists as tetranuclear [2-(Me₂NCH₂)­C₁₀H₆Li-3]₄, <b>1</b>, both in the solid state (X-ray) and in solution (NMR). The 1-lithio regioisomer, <b>2a</b>, is insoluble; in the presence of additional coordinating solvents (Et₂O) or ligands (dman), it exists as dinuclear [2-(Me₂NCH₂)­C₁₀H₆Li-1]₂·L (coordinated L = Et₂O: <b>2b</b>, dman: <b>2c</b>) in apolar solvents. Heating solutions of <b>2c</b> in toluene-<i>d</i>₈ (to 90 °C) induced a surprisingly clean and quantitative 1-lithio to 3-lithio conversion of the 1-lithio-naphthalene isomer. This type of reaction is rare in organolithium chemistry and has obvious significant implications for the design of regioselective DoL protocols; this thus represents the synthetically useful protocol for the DoL of dman in a one-pot/two-step process in toluene solution. The results of the use of 3-Ddman in these reactions gives strong credence to a mechanism involving formation of the heteroleptic species [(2-(Me₂NCH₂)­C₁₀H₆-1)­(2-(Me₂NCH₂)­C₁₀H₆-3)­Li₂]·[dman], <b>A</b>, as the key intermediate. Intramolecular <i>trans</i>-lithiation takes place with <b>A</b>; dman becomes selectively lithiated at its 3-position, while the formerly 1-lithio-naphthalene fragment, acting as a highly unusual <i>ortho</i>-lithiating reagent, is converted into the N-coordinated amine, dman. In this intramolecular DoL process, free dman can be considered to act as a <i>catalyst</i>