Pd(II)-catalyzed C–H functionalization of nondirected arenes has been realized using an inexpensive and easily accessible type of bidentate S,O-ligand. The catalytic system shows high efficiency in the C–H olefination reaction of electron-rich and electron-poor arenes. This methodology is operationally simple, scalable, and can be used in late-stage functionalization of complex molecules. The broad applicability of this catalyst has been showcased in other transformations such as Pd(II)-catalyzed C–H acetoxylation and allylation reactions.

The polymerization of methyl methacrylate photoinitiated by 2-chlorothioxanthone in the presence of amines of different structures has been investigated. The photoinitiation efficiency of these systems is highly dependent on the structure of the amine. The polymerization rate increases with the amine concentration, reaching a constant value in an amine concentration range of 10 -30 mM. At these amine concentrations, aliphatic hydroxyalkyl amines are more efficient photoinitiators than the corresponding alkyl-substituted compounds. Dimethylanilines with electron-acceptor substituents in the 4-position give higher polymerization rates than electron-donorsubstituted anilines. The photophysics of these photoinitiation systems has been studied in the polymerization medium. These data show that the singlet and triplet excited states of thioxanthones are efficiently deactivated by the amine. Rate constants are well correlated to the oxidation potential of the amine. These studies have allowed us to simulate the dependence of the photoinitiation efficiency with the amine concentration and indicate that the active radicals are produced from the interaction of the ketone triplet with the amine. Also, photochemical studies have allowed us to establish that the dependence of the polymerization rate on structural features of amines is mainly due to differences in the fraction of produced active radicals that add to the monomer.

The synthesis, structure, theoretical and experimental in vitro antioxidant properties using the DPPH, ORAC, and benzoic acid, as well as preliminary in vitro pharmacological activities of (Z)-α-aryl and heteroaryl N-alkyl-nitrones 6-15, 18, 19, 21, and 23, is reported. In the in vitro antioxidant activity, for the DPPH radical test, only nitrones bearing free phenol groups gave the best RSA (%) values, nitrones 13 and 14 showing the highest values in this assay. In the ORAC analysis, the most potent radical scavenger was nitrone indole 21, followed by the N-benzyl benzene-type nitrones 10 and 15. Interestingly enough, the archetypal nitrone 7 (PBN) gave a low RSA value (1.4%) in the DPPH test, or was inactive in the ORAC assay. Concerning the ability to scavenge the hydroxyl radical, all the nitrones studied proved active in this experiment, showing high values in the 94-97% range, the most potent being nitrone 14. The theoretical calculations for the prediction of the antioxidant power, and the potential of ionization confirm that nitrones 9 and 10 are among the best compounds in electron transfer processes, a result that is also in good agreement with the experimental values in the DPPH assay. The calculated energy values for the reaction of ROS (hydroxyl, peroxyl) with the nitrones predict that the most favourable adduct-spin will take place between nitrones 9, 10, and 21, a fact that would be in agreement with their experimentally observed scavenger ability. The in vitro pharmacological analysis showed that the neuroprotective profile of the target molecules was in general low, with values ranging from 0% to 18.7%, in human neuroblastoma cells stressed with a mixture of rotenone/oligomycin-A, being nitrones 18, and 6-8 the most potent, as they show values in the range 24-18.4%.

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