# Communications:

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# New Products:

No Announcement.

# Articles:

Platinum catalyzed hydrolytic amidation of unactivated nitriles, Tetrahedron Lett., 41 (2000) pp. 2467- 2470. "The platinum (II) complex, [(Me₂PO..H..OPMe₂)PtH(PMe₂OH)], efficiently catalyses the direct conversion of unactivated nitriles to N-substitueted amides with both primary and secondary amines. Isolated yields vary from 51-89%."

"Copper recovery from copper (II) sulfate solution by reduction with carbohydrate" Hydrometallurgy, 64 (2002) pp.131 - 146. "Reduction of Cu (II) ions originating from waste stream of  the mining and galvanic industries with carbohydrate present in the waste stream from paper and wood industries was studied. The process appears to be economically very attractive. Under proper process conditions, almost all the Cu (II) ions present in solution are reduced to copper metal of high purity (purity >99%)"

New food antioxidant additive based on hydrolysis products of lactose, Green Chem., 5 (2003) pp. 47- 51. "L-Ascorbic acid is now a large volume chemical product with applications in vitamin preparations and as an antioxidant in food. The current industrial manufacturing process is multi-step and the high cost of the product limits the scope of its applications. Here it is shown that the equimolar mixture of D-glucose and D-galactose derived stereoisomers of L-ascorbic acid is a promising alternative antioxidant where vitamin C is not required. The substitute mixture is cheaper and can be prepared directly by the hydrolysis of lactose. Thus a useful environmentally benign product can be prepared by an efficient simple route in a way that enables its more widespread application". JHC, Green Chem.