Synthesis of 2-butanone from ethylene and methyl formate catalysed by rhodium-iodide complexes

Oxidative decarboxylation of levulinic acid by cupric oxides

In this paper, cupric oxides was found to effectively oxidize levulinic acid (LA) and lead to the decarboxylation of levulinic acid to 2-butanone. The effects of cupric oxide dosage, reaction time and initial pH value were investigated in batch experiments and a plausible mechanism was proposed. The results showed that LA decarboxylation over cupric oxides at around 300 °C under acidic conditions produced the highest yield of butanone (67.5%). In order to elucidate the catalytic activity of cupric oxides, XRD, AFM, XPS and H(2)-TPR techniques was applied to examine their molecular surfaces and their effects on the reaction process.

New azaphilones, seco-chaetomugilins A and D, produced by a marine-fish-derived Chaetomium globosum

Seco-chaetomugilins A and D were isolated from a strain of Chaetomium globosum that was originally isolated from the marine fish Mugil cephalus, and their absolute stereostructures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analyses, including 1D and 2D NMR techniques, along with the chemical transformation from known chaetomugilins A and D. Seco-chaetomugilin D exhibited growth inhibitory activity against cultured P388, HL-60, L1210, and KB cells.