Borane-dimethyl sulfide complex has proven to be an efficient and selective reducing agent in the presence of catalytic sodium tetrahydroborate for α-hydroxy esters as exemplified in the reduction of dimethyl (S)-(−)-malate, providing the versatile chiral building block of four-carbon backbone.

Hydrophilic and macroporous polymer resins composed of glycerylmethacrylate, styrene, and divinylbenzene were quite easily modified with isothiocyanate groups using a Friedel-Crafts reaction with 3-chloropropionyl chloride and subsequent nucleophilic reaction with KSCN. Alkaline phosphatase and trypsin could be covalently bound to the isothiocyanate-carrying polymer resins, and the immobilized enzymes obtained were sufficiently active and stable due to a covalent bonding via a spacer group between the carrier resins and the enzymes and also due to a hydrophilic environment around the enzymes. A heterogeneity of the immobilized enzyme was taken into account to interpret the thermal denaturation process of the enzyme immobilized onto the resins.

UV-irradiation (365 nm) on a spreaded mixture of 2-[tetra-O-(cyanoethyl)glucopyranosyloxy]ethyl acrylate and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate onto a copper plate gave a cross-linked copolymer which exhibited extremely stable and high dielectric permittivity (ε′) of 23 to 30 (−100 to −10 °C) and as high as 49 even at 20 °C.

(S)‐Äpfelsäuredimethylester (I) läßt sich in Gegenwart katalytischer Mengen Natriumborhydrid durch den Boran‐Dimethylsul‐ ?d‐Komplex selektiv zu dem Dihydroxybuttersäureester (II) reduzieren.