It was shown that N-(4-methoxybenzyl) group on 2,5-piperazinediones can be oxidatively removed with cerium(IV) diammonium nitrate under mild conditions, and the oxidative removal was performed in some model compounds which have several functional groups.

N-(p-Methoxybenzyl) groups in some diketopiperazine derivatives were proved to be readily and efficiently removed with ceric ammonium nitrate in acetonitrile-water under mild conditions, where N-benzyl , methoxyl in the aminal structure, and isolated vinyl groups remained unchanged.

The Fe-based III-V diluted magnetic semiconductor (III-V-DMS), (Ga, Fe)As, has been grown successfully on GaAs(001) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy at a substrate temperature T s ranging from 260–350°C. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy analysis has exhibited that the film composition can be expressed by Ga1-x Fe x As. X-ray diffraction data have indicated that the lattice constant of Ga1-x Fe x As decreases with increasing Fe composition. Magnetization data have exhibited that epilayers are predominantly paramagnetic, however, their detailed behavior differs from that of Mn-based DMS systems. The work has demonstrated that the physical properties of III-V-DMS can be changed significantly by the choice of transition metals.

[reaction: see text] A diastereomeric mixture of the alpha-amino nitrile prepared by the Strecker reaction of benzaldehyde, (1S,2R)-1-aminoindan-2-ol, and cyanotrimethylsilane thermally epimerizes in the solid state to give a single diastereomer with an (S)-configuration at the alpha position to the nitrile moiety. This shows a sharp contrast to the reaction conducted in DMSO at room temperature, which gives a 1:1 mixture of (S)- and (R)-isomers. Several other alpha-amino nitriles also epimerize in the solid-state toward single diastereomers.