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This paper introduces the concept of nothingness as used in classical Daoist philosophy, building upon contemporary scholarship by offering a uniquely phenomenological reading of the term. It will be argued that the Chinese word wu bears upon two planes of reality concurrently: as ontological nothingness and as ontic nonbeing. Presenting wu in this dyadic manner is essential if we wish to avoid equating it with Dao itself, as many have been wont to do; rather, wu is the mystery that perpetually veils Dao while serving as the root and counter-balance to being, and yet, Dao also imbues things with wu to the extant that their physical makeup and usefulness, or lack thereof, can be traced back to their source in Dao. This does not only mean that Daoist cosmogony and metaphysics are inherently informed by nothingness/nonbeing instead of being/beings but that it works to unground all moral and epistemological norms in play, a feat no other school of thought in ancient China could accomplish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intellectual disability affects about 3% of individuals globally, with∼50% idiopathic. We designed an exonic-resolution array targeting all known submicroscopic chromosomal intellectual disability syndrome loci, causative genes for intellectual disability, and potential candidate genes, all genes encoding glutamate receptors and epigenetic regulators. Using this platform, we performed chromosomal microarray analysis on 165 intellectual disability trios (affected child and both normal parents). We identified and independently validated 36 de novo copy-number changes in 32 trios. In all, 67% of the validated events were intragenic, involving only exon 1 (which includes the promoter sequence according to our design), exon 1 and adjacent exons, or one or more exons excluding exon 1. Seventeen of the 36 copy-number variants involve genes known to cause intellectual disability. Eleven of these, including seven intragenic variants, are clearly pathogenic (involving STXBP1, SHANK3 (3 patients), IL1RAPL1, UBE2A, NRXN1, MEF2C, CHD7, 15q24 and 9p24 microdeletion), two are likely pathogenic (PI4KA, DCX), two are unlikely to be pathogenic (GRIK2, FREM2), and two are unclear (ARID1B, 15q22 microdeletion). Twelve individuals with genomic imbalances identified by our array were tested with a clinical microarray, and six had a normal result. We identified de novo copy-number variants within genes not previously implicated in intellectual disability and uncovered pathogenic variation of known intellectual disability genes below the detection limit of standard clinical diagnostic chromosomal microarray analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe a unified synthetic strategy for efficient assembly of four new heterocyclic libraries. The synthesis began by creating a range of structurally diverse pyrrolidinones or piperidinones. Such compounds were obtained in a simple one-flask operation starting with readily available amines, ketoesters, and unsaturated anhydrides. The use of tetrahydropyran-containing ketoesters, which were rapidly assembled by our Prins cyclization protocol, enabled efficient fusion of pyran and piperidinone cores. A newly developed Au(I)-catalyzed cycloisomerization of alkyne-containing enamides further expanded heterocyclic diversity by providing rapid entry into a wide range of bicyclic and tricyclic dienamides. The final stage of the process entailed diversification of each of the initially produced carboxylic acids using a fully automated platform for amide synthesis, which delivered 1872 compounds in high diastereomeric and chemical purity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the meontology of early xuanxue, an intellectual movement in China, as espoused by Chinese philosophers, He Yan and Wang Bi. It says that Yan and Wang are considered initiators of metaphysics in China with their theory of wu (nothingness). It focuses on the meontology of Wang and Yan, and discusses how that Wang's conception of wu was not based on a theory of names, but was a form of existential phenomenology.

We describe the development of efficient benzannulations of siloxy alkynes with pyridinium and isoquinolinium salts. Such reactions are successfully promoted by a stoichiometric amount of silver(I) benzolate under mild reaction conditions. This process proceeds via a formal inverse-electron demand Diels-Alder reaction, followed by fragmentation of the initially produced bicyclic adducts to deliver a range of synthetically useful phenols and naphthols.

Mechanistic studies of a palladium-catalyzed regioselective aryl C-H functionalization of 2-pyrrole phenyl iodide with norbornene are presented. Kinetic and spectroscopic analyses together with crystallographic data provide evidence for intermediates in a proposed stepwise mechanism. On the basis of the mechanistic studies, the origin of the regioselectivity is due to a ligand exchange between I(-) and HO(-) on the norbornyl palladium complex. These mechanistic studies also implicate that either alkoxide or water is responsible for the formation of the palladacycle, but a reversible ring-opening-ring-closing process of the palladacycle with HX can retard the rate of reaction of a key intermediate. The significant aspects of the proposed mechanism are discussed in detail., (Copyright © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

β,β-Dibromoenamides show two different interesting reactivities based on the choice of R group under the reaction conditions. On the basis of mechanistic studies, both reactions proceed via an intermolecular Suzuki-Miyaura C-C coupling and an intramolecular C-O coupling.