Starting from 2,2'-dihydroxybiphenyl and an allenic ester, the title dibenzo-condensed dioxepine derivative was synthesized using a one-pot procedure.

The title compound, C40H16O4 or [C10H4O]4, is a planar tetrameric cyclooligomer which crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P21/n. The compound is located on an inversion center with the asymmetric unit consisting of half of the molecule. The compound displays an interesting packing structure, where the cyclooligomer displays both layered packing with respect to nearest neighbors and a rotation of adjacent planar rings that results in additional interactions. The geometric parameters of the compound agree well with those of comparable cyclooligomers, while the packing reveals some similarities and differences.

This essay deals with the possibility of using disembodied narrative voice and focalization in literary texts. I start with an overview of narratological approaches to the question, and I bring in newer cognitive aspects, such as the theories of the mind and post-human theories. I then proceed to a close reading of three literary works which are arguably interesting cases of disembodied voice and disembodied focalization. The three works are: P. C. Jersild's novel A Living Soul from 1980, C. F. Ramuz's short story "Scene dans la foret" from 1947, and his novel Terror in the Mountain from 1927. My analyses show that it is hard to achieve a complete disembodiment. Jersild's novel highlights, for instance, the need for a voice in a material sense and a focalization of a human type even in the case when a naked brain is supposed to be the narrator. In Ramuz's texts, the human component seems to be discarded in some cases at the enunciation level, especially when nature takes over the function of the narrator. But even then, the way in which nature functions as narrator is humanlike, since language, focalization, and a communicative context are employed. What is undisputed is that the ways in which the classical conventions of human narrative voice and focalization are subverted can lead to innovative works which test readers' imaginations and narrative competencies.

This study investigated the antioxidant and tyrosinase inhibition activities of Breynia vitis-idaea (Burm. f.) C. E. C. Fischer leaves extracts using in vitro assays; and isolated bioactive compounds from the fractioned extract which showed the best properties by column chromatography. All extracts showed significant radical scavenging and tyrosinase inhibition activities. Ethyl acetate extracts and their isolated compounds showed the highest free biocapacities. In addition, from ethyl acetate extracts, two pure compounds were elucidated as 6-O-benzoylarbutin (1) and Breynioside B (2); another compound, 6-O-benzoyl-alpha-D-glucose (3) was also isolated and elucidated from n-butanol extracts.