Spiropentanes undergo carbonylation under an atmosphere of carbon monoxide in the presence of a rhodium(I)−phosphine catalyst, giving 3-methylcyclopent-2-enones. The catalytic cycle involves two mechanistically different carbon−carbon cleavage processes. The spiropentane carbonylation was successfully applied to a short synthesis of (±)-β-cuparenone.

The magnetic properties of layered double hydroxides (LDH) containing transition metal ions can still develop, compared with layered metal hydroxide salts which exhibit structure-dependent magnetism. In this article, we report the preparation of a hybrid magnet composed of Co-Ni LDH and n-alkylsulfonate anions (Co-Ni-CnSO3 LDH). As Co-Ni LDH is anion-exchangeable, we can systematically control the interlayer spacing by intercalating n-alkylsulfonates with different carbon numbers. The magnetic properties were examined with temperature- and field-dependent magnetization measurements. As a result, we have revealed that the coercive field depends on the basal spacing. It is suggested that increasing the basal spacing varies the competition between the in-plane superexchange interactions and long-range out-of-plane dipolar interactions. Moreover, a jump in the coercive field at around 20 Å of the basal spacing is assumed to be the modification of the magnetic ordering in Co-Ni-CnSO3 LDH.

Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) composites with different ratios of zinc phenylphosphonate (ZPP) were prepared by mixing in a kneader. The crystallization behavior of the composites from the melt was investigated by polarized optical microscopy (POM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD). The POM observations directly showed that nucleation of the PVDF crystal was promoted by adding ZPP. The data obtained from DSC measurements also indicated that the crystallization temperature of the composites became higher than that of pure PVDF. These results suggested that ZPP acted as a good nucleating agent for PVDF. Nonisothermal crystallization behavior was analyzed by Avrami equation adopted by Jeziorny. The results of the analysis were found to be consistent with the POM observations for the composites. WAXD analysis suggested that the PVDF crystal structure was influenced by ZPP addition. These results proved that as a nucleating agent, ZPP increased the crystallization rate and temperature of PVDF. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 53:843-848, 2013.

370ChemInform Abstract Addition of the Grignard reagent (II) to carbonyl compounds gives alcohols which have a 1,3-butadienyl group. When copper complexes, prepared from (II) and CuI are used, conjugate addition products are obtained. In all cases the initial E/Z-ratio of the chloride (I) is found to be retained with little change in the products. The methodology can be extended to the synthesis of the pheromone (IV).