Two series of membranes have been prepared by postcrosslinking highly syndiotactic and isotactic poly (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate), P(HEMA). The crosslinker used was hexamethylene diisocyante (HMDIC). The distribution coefficients (K$_{D2}$) of the model solutes such as urea (and thiourea), their derivatives, homologous alcohol series and amide sreies in water-swollen tactic P(HEMA) membranes at $25^{\circ}C$ were mesaured. In addition, the concentration effects of acetamide and butyramid were also measured. On the basis of hydrophobic interaction and the structural factors of tactic P(HEMA) membranes, the hydrophobic adsorption of the solutes in the polymer matrix were discussed. The results showed that the more hydrphobic the solute is, the higher the $K_{D2}$ value is. And the polymer conformation also affects the distribution of solvents.

MINDO/3 theoretical studies were carried out on sigmatropic hydrogen rearrangements in systems with central nitrogen atom; three systems studied being (1) N-methylformaldimine, (2) nitrous acid, and (3) formaldoxime-nitrosomethane systems. It was found that in system (1), 1,3-H shift is preferred whereas in systems (2) and (3), 1,2-H shifts are favored. The relative order of reactivity for the three systems was found to be (2) < (3) < (1), which is exactly the opposite to that found for the corresponding systems with central carbon atom.

The polarographic and conductometric studies of methyl viologen $(MV^{++})$ solutions with varying concentration of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) showed strong association of $MV^{++}$ and its cationic radical, $MV^+$., with SDS below the critical micelle concentration. The stoichiometries of these associations were found to be their electric charge ratios. Both electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions were found to contribute to the associations. The formation constant of$MV^+.DS^-$ in 0.1 M NaCl was $7{\times}10^3M$. The $MV^{++}$-SDS association was observed to be cooperative leading to formation of large aggregates. In the presence of $MV^{++}$, the micellization of SDS was formation of SDS homo-micelle without direct involvement of $MV^{++}$.

Reaction of acid chlorides with primary alcohols, secondary alcohols, and aryl alcohols in the presence of a catalytic amount of zinc chloride gave the corresponding esters in high yields, whereas the reaction with tertiary alcohols failed to give the esters due to the fast solvolytic reactions of tertiary alcohols with hydrogen chloride generated from the reaction. The use of molecular sieves as a scavenger for hydrogen chloride was found to be moderately effective in the reaction of mesitoyl chloride with tertiary alcohols. Reaction of acid chlorides with thiols in the presence of zinc chloride in acetonitrile proceeded cleanly, yielding the corresponding thiol esters in high yields.

6, 6-Diiodopenicillanic acid was prepared from 6-aminopenicillanic acid using iodine-sodium iodide systems in good yield (60%). Enolates derived from 6-chloro-6-iodo-, 6,6-diiodo-penicillanate have been generated in situ by a metal-halogen exchange process at -$78^{\circ}C$ using methylmangnesium iodide and reacted with acetaldehyde to yield aldols. As the size of remaining halogen atom increases, the proportion of ${\beta}$-face attack was increased. In the case of 6,6-diiodopenicillanate, only ${\beta}$-face attack was observed yielding a single isomer (6S, 8R).

The UV action spectra and quantum yields for photodestruction of tryptophan (Trp) in peptide such as N-acetylphenylalanyl-L-tryptophan (NAPT) and 3-methyl indole (scatole) were determined in aerated aqueous and organic solvents. The photodestruction of aqueous NAPT was shown to be initiated by photoionization without requirement of threshold energy, as demonstrated by the similarity of fluence effect curves obtained for the action at various wavelengths and the wavelength dependence of quantum yield comparable to that reported for the photoionization of L-Trp. N-formylkynurenine (NFK)-type photoproduct, which is a photodynamic sensitizer, was not found to be involved in the photodestruction of Trp in NAPT in aqueous solution. In contrast, the action spectra of NAPT and scatole in organic solvents have revealed evidences for the significant role of internal photosensitization by NFK-type photoproduct in photolysis of Trp in peptide.

It has been found that $Rh(ClO_4)(CO)(P(C_6H_5)_3)_2$ catalyzes the hydrogenation and isomerization of soybean oil at room temperature under the atmospheric pressure of hydrogen. The hydrogenation occurs at the olefinic groups to produce saturated groups leaving the ester groups intact, and the isomerization converts $-CH = CH- CH_2-CH = CH-$ units to conjugated dienes and the dienes separated by more than two $-CH_2-$ groups. The rate of the hydrogenation is faster than that of the isomerization.

The tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (Tris)-catalyzed hydrolysis of p-nitrotrifluoroacetanilide was kinetically studied. On the contrary to the previously reported results (R. M. Pollack and T. C.Dumsha, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1973, 95, 4463), the dependence of the rate on [Tris] consists of an initial curve portion and a subsequent linear increase. This indicates that erroneous conclusions were made in the reported work due to the insufficient amount of data. The initial portions of the rate[Tris] profiles are attributed to the catalyzed breakdown of the tetrahedral intermediate, and the linear portions to the general base-catalyzed water attack at the substrate.