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Ferrocene-substituted conducting polymer namely poly(trans-1-(4-methyl-3 0 -thienyl)-2-(ferrocenyl)ethene-co-3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) [P(MTFE-co-EDOT)] was synthesized and its electrochromic properties were studied. Monomer, MTFE, was obtained using 2-(ferrocenyl)ethene and 3-methyl-4-bromothiophene. The structure of monomer was determined via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), 1 H-NMR, and 13 C-NMR techniques. The copolymer was synthesized using this monomer and EDOT. The resulting copolymer P(MTFE-co-EDOT) was characterized by cyclic voltammetry, FTIR, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and UV-vis spectroscopy. The conductivity measurements of copolymer and PEDOT were accomplished by the four-probe technique. Although poly(trans-1-(4-methyl-3 0 -thienyl)-2-(ferrocenyl)ethene) [P(MTFE)] reveals no electrochromic activity, its copolymer with EDOT has two different colors (violet and gray). Band gap (E g ) and k max of P(MTFE-co-EDOT) were determined. V C 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 126: 808-814, 2012

Thermal intramolecular Diels-Alder (IMDA) reaction of furan cored compounds has been further investigated; a series of key precursors to the IMDA reaction of furan diene (9a-c) have been prepared via facile alkylation and protection. While the cycloaddition process for (10a-c) was afforded in hot toluene, a commercial microwave (2450 MHz) was used for the synthesis of (12a-b). Treatment of fused oxy-and thio-heterotricycles (12a-b) with borontrifluoride-etherate in dichloromethane at -78°C cleaved epoxy bridge and concomitant aromatisation gave the isobenzo-furan and thiophene (13a-b) in 72-76% yields respectively.

In order to investigate the effect of human Fallopian tube epithelial cell co-culture on fertilization and cleavage rates in tubal, male and unexplained infertility, oocytes collected from 91 patients were randomized to wells containing Fallopian tube epithelial cell monolayers or conventional culture medium, and inseminated with spermatozoa. Fertilization and cleavage were assessed at 18 and 52 h, respectively. Co-culture significantly increased the fertilization rates over the control values in male infertility (41.67 versus 23.43%, P = 0.00005), but not in tubal infertility (69.33 versus 67.93%) or unexplained infertility (65.93 versus 54.36%). Cleavage rates were not different in co-culture and conventional in-vitro fertilization systems in any of the infertility subgroups. The number of blastomeres was significantly higher in the co-culture group on the day of embryo transfer (3.63 +/- 1.12 versus 3.04 +/- 1.26, P < 0.001). Pregnancy rates were similar in all infertility subgroups. There was no significant association between the number of co-cultured embryos transferred and the pregnancy, abortion and multiple pregnancy rates. It was concluded that human Fallopian tube epithelial cell co-culture clearly improves fertilization rates in male infertility but not in tubal or unexplained infertility. Improved fertilization rates in co-culture may be due to positive effect of co-culture on impaired sperm function.

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The intramolecular addition of alkenyl radicals to furans has been further investigated. The reaction can lead to Diels-Alder like adducts or products derived from a radical cyclisation / fragmentation / electrocyclisation cascade.

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Geometric parameters and FT-IR spectrum of 6-bromo-8-thia-1,4-epoxybicyclo[4.3.0]non-2-ene were computed by the HF, B3LYP, B3PW91 and mPW1PW91 methods in conjunction with the 6-31G(d,p) basis set. The calculated IR spectra are in a good agreement with the observed FT-IR spectrum. A general better performance of B3LYP, B3PW91 and mPW1PW91 versus HF was quantitatively characterized by using PAVF 1.0 program. Optimal uniform scaling factors calculated for the title compound are 0.8952, 0.9552, 0.9520 and 0.9456 for HF, B3LYP, B3PW91 and MPW1PW91 methods, respectively.