RORγ plays a critical role in controlling a pro-inflammatory gene expression program in several lymphocyte lineages including T cells, γδ T cells, and innate lymphoid cells. RORγ-mediated inflammation has been linked to susceptibility to Crohn’s disease, arthritis, and psoriasis. Thus inverse agonists of RORγ have the potential of modulating inflammation. Our goal was to optimize two RORγ inverse agonists: T0901317 from literature and 1 that we obtained from internal screening. We used information from internal X-ray structures to design two libraries that led to a new biaryl series.
Detection of adulteration in the petroleum fuels (gasoline and diesel) is challenging because the adulterants usually include those compounds which are already present in these fuels. Measurements of various physico-chemical properties are employed in addition to chromatography and spectroscopy for determining the compositional variations of these fuels. It is required to ensure their compliance with the regulatory specifications. The inclusion of statistical design and data treatments certainly provide enough sensitivity to discriminate adulterated and unadulterated samples in the case of gasoline. On the contrary, discrimination of diesel from its adulterants is difficult which demands rigorous analytical strategies and unequivocal data interpretation. Through this review, we have attempted to organize the literature information on this subject with an emphasis to identify and optimize methods suitable for monitoring adulteration. Detailed discussions on the role of physico-chemical, chromatographic and spectroscopic methods in gasoline and diesel characterization have been presented.
Unified Fracture Design (UFD) bridges the gap between practices and theory in the hydraulic fracturing industry. It represents a technique to design hydraulic fracturing treatment with a particular amount of proppant. This design could provide the maximum fold-of-increase (FOI) in productivity-index (PI) after hydraulic fracturing treatment. The UFD optimization tool is very effective, but it has assumptions like any other model. One assumption of UFD optimization technique; is a single-layer assumption. This assumption does not align with the limited entry fracturing design concept. In limited entry fracturing, the frictional pressure is employed to offset the stress differences between multi-layers reservoirs to attain fluid injection through these layers, intended to deliver an optimal fracture conductivity in all layers. The drawback of this assumption is the underestimation of the actual value of FOI in PI. This paper aims to recast the original unified fracture design approach to extend the optimal UFD to a multilayer reservoir to predict the FOI in PI after limited entry fracturing treatment. The recasting tool for this problem to find the optimum solution is Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). The architected ANN model is based on actual historical data of limited entry fracturing treatments. A statistical comparison between the proposed ANN model and classical UFD technique demonstrates that ANN model solution has a more reliable estimation of FOI in PI with the actual historical data.
An investigation has been made of the influence of catalytic hydrodeparaffinization on the group-structural composition and physicochemical properties of medium-distillate fractions of vacuum gas oil. It has been shown that catalytic hydrodeparaffinization of medium-distillate fractions of vacuum gas oil on zeolite-containing catalysts of the pentasil type makes it possible to obtain diesel fractions with improved low-temperature properties.
Before the experiment, reactive pure-grade toluene was dried and distilled at atmospheric pressure. 4-Methoxytoluene, 2-, 3-, and 4-phenoxytoluenes and 4-phenyltoluene were synthesized by procedures described in the literature [4, 5]. According to gas-liquid chromatography data, purity >95%. Experiments were carded out in a reactor with a 1200 x 20 mm contact tube of 1Khl8N9T stainless steel. Reaction products were collected in acetone-sprayed and water-cooled scrubbers. The design of the laboratory unit was described in more detail in [6]. Oxide catalysts (a sintered vanadium-titanium catalyst, a vanadium-antimony catalyst, an alumina-supported and cosupported vanadium-titanium-antimony-chromium catalyst) were prepared by known procedures [7-9]. The main products of oxidative ammonolysis of toluene, 4-methoxytoluene, 2-, 3and 4phenoxytoluenes and 4-phenyltoluene were benzonitrile and respectively 4-methoxy-, 2-, 3and 4-phenoxyand 4-phenylbenzonitriles, and also carbon oxides and hydrogen cyanide. All the aromatic nitriles were isolated from the catalysts in pure form. Their physicochemical properties were in agreement with published characteristics. Quantitative analysis of unreacted initial substances and the nitriles corresponding to them was carried out by means of gasliquid chromatography on a Khrom-3 instrument. The 1000 x 3 mm separating column of molybdenum glass was filled with a phase prepared from DS-550 silicone elastomer applied to N-AW-DMCS Chromaton (0.20-0.35 mm) in a quantity of 5% of the mass of stationary phase. Carbon oxides were determined by gas chromatography on an LKhM-8MD instrument.
Petroleum acids possess many valuable properties and are widely used in a number of fields of the Soviet economy [1]. The study of petroleum acids is of great interest from the viewpoint of petroleum geochemistry. The formation of the composition of petroleum acids in natural conditions is a complex, little studied process. It is assumed that here both the nature of the initial oil-yielding matter and the conditions of generation and occurrence of the crude oil and processes of secondary transformation of crude oils in formations have a part to play. In the very few known papers devoted to formation of the composition of petroleum acids, the variation in their composition has been studied mainly as a function of the degree of biodegradation of the crude oils [2,3]. The influence of other factors, including such an important factor as the depth of occurrence, has not previously been investigated. It is obvious that the influence of the depth of occurrence on the composition of acids can be traced on crude oils of a single genetic type and not subjected to biodegradation. A number of crude oils of Timan-Pechora Province meet these requirements (acids in crude oils of this region have hardly been studied). In the present paper a study has been made of the composition of acids in crude oils of the Pashnya (well 57.2637-2646 m), Dzh'yer (well 118.1552-1573 m), and Nibel' (well 95.911-926 m) fields. These crude oils differ considerably in depth of occurrence, are nonbiodegraded (are of type A l according to Petrov), and lie within one formation (Pashiisk level, formations la + lb). This fact, and also the almost completely identical nature of their hydrocarbon composition (according to GLC data) make it possible to classify these crude oils as a single genetic type. Furthermore, an investigation was made of the composition of the acids in Khar'yaginsk crude oil (same region, well 48.2516--2578 m). Acids were isolated from the crude oils by extraction with a 2% KOH solution in 70% aqueous ethanol by the procedure given in [4]. The acids were separated from other components of the extracts by means of liquid chromatography on L 40/100 silica gel impregnated with 10% KOH [5]. Final purification of the acids was carried out by means of liquid chromatography on L 40/100 silica gel in a 1:4 diethyl ether-hexane system [6]. As a result, 11.5 mg (Pashnya), 14.7 mg (Dzh'yer), 21.5 mg (Niber) and 319 mg (Khar'yaginsk) of acids were isolated from 200 g of each crude oil, amounting to 0-006, 0.007, 0.011 and 0.15% of the crude oil respectively. Before GLC analysis, the acids were converted into more volatile methyl esters by treatment with an ether solution of diazomethane by the procedure given in [7]. GLC analysis
Processes of dearomatization of reforming benzine, kerosine fraction and liquid paraffins on a composite ZrNiHx (40%)-talum catalyst have been investigated. The influence of process conditions (pressure, temperature and volume feedrate of feedstock) on the degree of dearomatization has been shown. Investigation of the physicochemical properties of the catalyst before and after experiments has made it possible to conclude that the catalyst is deactivated by organic sulphur compounds contained in kerosine fraction owing to the formation of surface nickel sulphides. The strength of the catalyst did not change during tests and amounted to ∼-35 kg/cm2. It was shown that the catalyst exhibits high activity in the dearomatization of liquid paraffins, and there the time of stable operation is at least 45 hr.
Rock samples from a sedimentary sequence of Late Cretaceous age were analysed for ethylalkanes using GCMS techniques. In the less mature samples, 3- and 5-ethylalkanes were in higher abundance relative to the other isomers at odd carbon numbers from C17 to C23. In the more mature samples, this odd preference was no longer apparent. Several other low maturity samples were analysed and found to have a similar ethylalkane distribution to the shallow sample from the sedimentary sequence. A mature crude oil which was also analysed exhibited a distribution similar to the deeper sample from the sedimentary sequence. It is suggested that the initial odd preference is the result of defunctionalisation of specific natural product precursors, and that with increasing maturity this preference is diluted by input of ethylalkanes without preference. A mechanism involving acid-catalysed rearrangement of n-alkenes to form T-branched alkanes is proposed to account for the change in relative ethylalkane abundances.
It is known that, in solutions of liquid superacids, neopentane (2,2-dimethylpropane) is transformed into cracking and isomerization products, depending on the reaction conditions, with the cleavage of C-C and C-H bonds respectively [1]. At the same time, in the presence of Y and ZSM zeolites, only C-C bonds of neopentane enter the reaction, while C-H bonds at the primary carbon atoms are extremely stable, on account of which there are virtually no isoand n-pentanes in the reaction products [2, 3]. In the present work, the results of cracking neohexane (2,2-dimethylbutane), which differs from neopentane in the presence of a secondary carbon atom and corresponding C-H bonds, on high-silica faujasites (HSF) having greater acidity than initial Y-type zeolites [4] are discussed.
Liquid catalyzate containing thiophene has been obtained from the gas formed in semicoking of kukersite shale by means of heterocyclization over an alumina-chromium-lanthanum lanthanum oxide catalyst. The thiophene concentration in the catalyzate is 1.5–2 times higher than in industrial byproduct coking thiophene concentrate. At the same a reduction in the hydrogen sulphide content of the semicoking gas from 9–12% to 0·5 vol.% or less has been obtained.
