Toluene known as toluol, is an aromatic hydrocarbon. It is a water-insoluble liquid with the smell associated with paint thinners, it is a mono-substituted benzene derivative. As such, its IUPAC systematic name is methylbenzene. Toluene is predominantly used as a solvent; as the solvent in some types of paint thinner, permanent markers, contact cement and certain types of glue, toluene is sometimes used as a recreational inhalant and has the potential of causing severe neurological harm. The compound was first isolated in 1837 through a distillation of pine oil by the Polish chemist Filip Walter, who named it rétinnaphte. In 1841, French chemist Henri Étienne Sainte-Claire Deville isolated a hydrocarbon from balsam of Tolu, which Deville recognized as similar to Walter's rétinnaphte and to benzene. In 1843, Jöns Jacob Berzelius recommended the name toluin. In 1850, French chemist Auguste Cahours isolated from a distillate of wood a hydrocarbon which he recognized as similar to Deville's benzoène and which Cahours named toluène.

Toluene reacts as a normal aromatic hydrocarbon in electrophilic aromatic substitution. Because the methyl group has greater electron-releasing properties than a hydrogen atom in the same position, toluene is more reactive than benzene toward electrophiles, it undergoes sulfonation to give p-toluenesulfonic acid, chlorination by Cl2 in the presence of FeCl3 to give ortho and para isomers of chlorotoluene. The methyl side chain in toluene is susceptible to oxidation. Toluene reacts with Potassium permanganate to yield benzoic acid, with chromyl chloride to yield benzaldehyde; the methyl group undergoes halogenation under free radical conditions. For example, N-bromosuccinimide heated with toluene in the presence of AIBN leads to benzyl bromide; the same conversion can be effected with elemental bromine in the presence of UV light or sunlight. Toluene may be brominated by treating it with HBr and H2O2 in the presence of light. C6H5CH3 + Br2 → C6H5CH2Br + HBr C6H5CH2Br + Br2 → C6H5CHBr2 + HBrThe methyl group in toluene undergoes deprotonation only with strong bases, its pKa is estimated to be 41.

Hydrogenation of toluene gives methylcyclohexane. The methylcyclohexane turns to ice as it dissolves. Toluene occurs at low levels in crude oil and is a byproduct in the production of gasoline by a catalytic reformer or ethylene cracker, it is a byproduct of the production of coke from coal. Final separation and purification is done by any of the distillation or solvent extraction processes used for BTX aromatics. Toluene is inexpensively produced industrially. In principle it could be prepared by a variety of methods. For example, although only of didactical interest, benzene reacts with methyl chloride in presence of a Lewis acid such as aluminium chloride to give toluene: C6H5H + CH3Cl → C6H5CH3 + HClSuch reactions are complicated by polymethylation because toluene is more susceptible to alkylation than is benzene. Toluene is used as a precursor to benzene via hydrodealkylation: C6H5CH3 + H2 → C6H6 + CH4The second ranked application involves its disproportionation to a mixture of benzene and xylene.

Nitration of toluene give mono-, di-, trinitrotoluene, all of which are used. Dinitrotoluene is the precursor to toluene diisocyanate, which used in the manufacture of polyurethane foam. Trinitrotoluene is the explosive abbreviated TNT. Benzoic acid and benzaldehyde are produced commercially by partial oxidation of toluene with oxygen. Typical catalysts include manganese naphthenates. Toluene is a common solvent, e.g. for paints, paint thinners, silicone sealants, many chemical reactants, printing ink, lacquers, leather tanners, disinfectants. Toluene can be used as an octane booster in gasoline fuels for internal combustion engines as well as jet fuel. Toluene at 86% by volume fuelled all the turbocharged engines in Formula One during the 1980s, first pioneered by the Honda team; the remaining 14% was a "filler" of n-heptane, to reduce the octane to meet Formula One fuel restrictions. Toluene at 100 % can be used as a fuel for both four-stroke engines. Honda solved this problem in their Formula One cars by routing the fuel lines through a heat exchanger, drawing energy from the water in the cooling system to heat the fuel.

In Australia in 2003, toluene was found to have been illegally combined with petrol in fuel outlets for sale as standard vehicular fuel. Toluene incurs no fuel excise tax, while other fuels are taxed at more than 40%, providing a greater profit margin for fuel suppliers; the extent of toluene substitution has not been determined. In the laboratory, toluene is used as a solvent for carbon nanomaterials, including nanotubes and fullerenes, it can be used as a fullerene indicator; the color of the toluene solution of C60 is bright purple. Toluene is used as a cement for fine polystyrene kits as it can be applied precisely by brush and contains none of the bulk of an adhesive. Toluene can be used to break open red blood cells in order to extract hemoglobin in biochemistry experiments. Toluene has been used as a coolant for its good heat transfer capabilities in sodium cold traps used in nuclear reactor system loops. Toluene had been used in the process of removing the cocaine from coca leaves i

Blackpool Grand Theatre is a theatre in Blackpool, England. Since 2006, it has been known as the National Theatre of Variety, it is a Grade II* Listed Building. The Grand was designed by Victorian theatre architect Frank Matcham and was opened in 1894 after a construction period of seven months, at a cost of £20,000 between December 1893 and July 1894; the project was conceived and financed by local theatre manager Thomas Sergenson, using the site of the Grand for several years to stage a circus. He had transformed the fortunes of other local theatres. Matcham's brief was to build Sergenson the "prettiest theatre in the land"; the Grand was Matcham's first theatre to use an innovative'cantilever' design to support the tiers, thereby reducing the need for the usual pillars and so allowing clear views of the stage from all parts of the auditorium. Sergenson's successful directorship of the theatre ended in 1909 when he sold the operation to the Blackpool Tower Company for a considerable profit; the success of the Grand continued on until the 1930s.

The theatre now faced stiff competition from the newly introduced talking pictures and the building was operated as a cinema outside the summer tourist season. This practice continued until 1938; the Grand was able to stay open during World War II but the post-war rise in the popularity of television was the cause of the theatre's dwindling popularity toward the 1960s. The theatre's programme archives show. Plans were filed for the demolition of the historic site in 1972 but the Grand had become a Grade II* listed building earlier in the year, thanks to the initiative Jeffrey Finestone, a member of the Victorian Society; this enabled a group of theatre friends to oppose any redevelopment. The theatre was unused for three years before an agreement was reached with the Grand's owners, EMI, that a refurbishment of the unused building would take place if it could be used as a bingo hall. After three years of bingo use, the group of friends, now called the Friends of the Grand, with the support of Blackpool Borough Council negotiated to lease and buy the theatre back from EMI over a period of a few years.

The purchase was complete by 1 October 1980 and a refurbishment, achieved through voluntary effort, was begun. On 23 March 1981 the Grand re-opened as a theatre once again to stage an Old Vic performance of William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice featuring Timothy West and Prunella Scales; the theatre's return was further confirmed in May of the same year when a Royal Variety Performance was staged in the presence of Charles, Prince of Wales. The theatre saw its centenary in 1994 and a restoration project was begun in the 1990s, completed in 2007 after fifteen years of work and about £3million of investment. In 2006, the Grand was named the United Kingdom's National Theatre of Variety; the title was awarded nationally by Equity who staged an all-star gala performance to celebrate the theatre's new accolade. Since reopening in 1981, the board of directors of Blackpool Grand Theatre Trust Limited, theatre proprietors, has been led by chairmen John Hodgson, W Geoffrey Thompson OBE, Samuel G Lee, David Coupe and Anthony P Stone.

The Friends of the Grand supports its programme of events. Formed in 1973 to save the building from demolition, the first Friends were literally'hands-on', they painted the dressing rooms, repaired holes to the ceiling and helped to get the theatre into shape. Funds were raised including Midnight Matinées. Early Friends included Violet Carson, Alistair Cooke, Ken Dodd, Leslie Crowther, Timothy West, Prunella Scales, Billy Pearce and Johnnie Casson; the role of the Friends of the Grand has changed over the years. They now raise funds from subscriptions and social events to finance projects within the theatre aimed at enhancing the comfort of the patrons; the Friends have contributed in excess of £750,800 towards projects including the provision of new carpets and technical equipment. By Autumn 2008, the Friends had contributed £250,000 to the Sam Lee Appeal to improve the amenities and to renovate the theatre interior; the Friends are the founding angel of the National Theatre of Variety. Band, Barry.

Blackpool Grand Theatre, the Early Years. Barry Band. Band, Barry. Blackpool Grand Theatre, 1894-1930. Barry Band. ISBN 1-898413-00-2. Band, Barry. Blackpool Grand Theatre, 1930–1994. Barry Band. ISBN 1-898413-01-0. Official website Friends of the Grand website History of the Grand Theatre at pastscape.org Interview with Paul Iles, past-Manager of the Grand, at The Laughing Audience

Joseph Pierre LaSalle was an American mathematician specialising in dynamical systems and responsible for important contributions to stability theory, such as LaSalle's invariance principle which bears his name. Joseph LaSalle defended his Ph. D. thesis on ″Pseudo-Normed Linear Sets over Valued Rings″ at the California Institute of Technology in 1941. In 1946 he joined the Mathematics Department at the University of Notre Dame as an assistant professor and remained there until 1958, becoming a full professor in 1956. During a visit to Princeton in 1947-1948, LaSalle developed a deep interest in differential equations through his interaction with Solomon Lefschetz and Richard Bellman, with whom he developed a close friendship. From 1958 until 1964 LaSalle was based at the Research Institute for Advanced Studies in Baltimore, where he worked with Lefschetz and in 1960 published his extension of Lyapunov stability theory, known today as LaSalle's invariance principle. In 1962-1963 he was President of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics and was a member of its board of trustees in 1964-1967.

In 1964 LaSalle founded the Journal of Differential Equations and served as its Editor-in-Chief until 1980. In 1964 he became the first director of the Center for Dynamical Systems at Brown University, where he was the chairman of the Division of Applied Mathematics in 1968-1973. Together with J. K. Hale, LaSalle was the recipient of the 1965 Chauvenet Prize for their article, ″Differential Equations: Linearity vs. Nonlinearity″, published in the SIAM Review. In 1975 he was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship for applied mathematics. BooksLaSalle, Joseph P.. Stability by Liapunov's Direct Method with Applications. Mathematics in science and engineering. 4. Academic Press. LaSalle, Joseph P.. The Stability of Dynamical Systems. CBMS-NSF Regional Conference Series in Applied Mathematics. SIAM. doi:10.1137/1.9781611970432. ISBN 978-0-89871-022-9. LaSalle, Joseph P.. The stability and control of discrete processes. Applied Mathematical Sciences. 62. Springer. ISBN 978-0387964119. Hermes, Henry. Functional Analysis and Time Optimal Control.

Mathematics in Science and Engineering. 56. Academic Press. ISBN 978-0123426505. ArticlesJ. LaSalle. "Uniqueness theorems and successive approximations". Annals of Mathematics. 50: 722–730. Doi:10.2307/1969559. JSTOR 1969559. LaSalle, J. P.. "Some extensions of Liapunov's second method". IRE Transactions on Circuit Theory. IEEE. 7: 520–527. Doi:10.1109/TCT.1960.1086720. Retrieved 2016-07-04. LaSalle, Joseph P.. "Differential Equations: Linearity vs. Nonlinearity". SIAM Review. SIAM. 5: 249–272. Doi:10.1137/1005068. Retrieved 2016-07-04. Bellman, R. E. LaSalle, J. P. On Non-Zero-Sum Games and Stochastic Processes, Project RAND Research Memorandum, RM-212, 19 August 1949. Bellman, R. E. Blackwell, D. LaSalle, J. P. Application of Theory of Games to Identification of Friend and Foe, Project RAND Research Memorandum, RM-197, 28 July 1949. LaSalle, J. P. Stability theory for ordinary differential equations, Journal of Differential Equations, volume 4, issue 1, pp. 57–65, 1968. LaSalle, J. P. An Invariance Principle in the Theory of Stability, Brown University, Center for Dynamical Systems, Technical Report 66-1, 1966.

LaSalle, J. P. Stability and Control, SIAM Journal of Control, 1962. LaSalle, J. P. Recent Advances in Liapunov Stability Theory, SIAM Review, vol. 6, no. 1, January 1964. LaSalle, J. P; the Second International Congress of IFAC on Automatic Control, SIAM Review, vol 6. No. 3, July 1964