General and practical catalytic enantioselective Strecker reaction of ketoimines: significant improvement through catalyst tuning by protic additives

Significant improvement in enantioselectivity and catalyst activity was achieved for the catalytic enantioselective Strecker reaction. Using a catalyst (1-2.5 mol %) prepared from Gd(OⁱPr)₃ and d-glucose derived ligand 1, and in the presence of 2,6-dimethylphenol as an additive, high enantioselectivity was obtained from a wide range of ketoimines, including heteroaromatic and cyclic ketoimines. The new method was applied to an efficient catalytic asymmetric synthesis of sorbinil, a therapeutic agent for diabetic complications.     

Photophysical properties of oligo(2,3-thienyleneethynylene)s

Photophysical properties of oligo(2,3-thienyleneethynylene)s (nTE, n denotes the number of thiophene rings, n = 2, 3) in benzene were investigated using steady-state, time-resolved fluorescence, and transient absorption spectroscopies. For 2TE, generation of the radiative S2 and nonradiative S1 states was confirmed. Upon excitation, the S2 state was initially generated and deactivated to the S1 state within 10 ps. The S1 state exhibited the transient absorption band at 470 nm, of which the lifetime was estimated to be 5.3 ns. In the case of 3TE, on the other hand, it was revealed that the radiative S1 state with a transient absorption peak at 650 nm was generated upon excitation. The T1 states of nTE were generated from the S1 states. The quantum yields were estimated to be 0.52 and 0.54 for 2TE and 3TE, respectively. Extremely fast reactions in the higher triplet excited state were indicated for both 2TE and 3TE.     

Bromination by means of sodium monobromoisocyanurate (SMBI)

A variety of aromatic compounds with both activating and deactivating substituents were brominated with sodium monobromoisocyanurate (SMBI) 1, diethyl ether, diethyl ether-methanesulfonic acid, trifluoroacetic acid, or sulfuric acid were employed as solvents. Thus nitrobenzene was conveniently brominated in sulfuric acid, benzene was readily monobrominated in diethyl ether-methanesulfonic acid, and phenol was selectively brominated at the ortho position under mild conditions in refluxing diethyl ether. With substituents that are easily protonated, trifluoroacetic acid may be employed as solvent in the reaction with 1, in contrast NBS was ineffective in trifluoroacetic acid. This renders 1 a superior reagent relative to NBS. In addition to aromatics, alkenes, ketones and esters were also brominated with 1. Diethyl malonate was brominated with 1 and then subjected to a Bingel reaction with NaH to afford the desired methanofullerene in reasonable yield.     

Silica sol-gel/organic hybrid material for protein encapsulated column of capillary electrochromatography

A new-type of sol-gel/organic hybrid composite material using gelatin or chitosan with tetramethoxysilane was developed for the bovine serum albumin (BSA)-encapsulated monolithic column for capillary electrochromatography (CEC). The composite monolith was used to immobilize BSA in a fused-silica capillary. The addition of gelatin and chitosan to the alkoxysilane enabled the enantioseparation of Trp. A very small amount of these polymers were effective for the enantioseparation. Especially, the monolithic column prepared from chitosan with tetramethoxysilane showed a high enantioselectivity for Trp enantiomers and the value (alpha' = t2/t1, t1: fast eluted enantiomer, t2: second eluted enantiomer) reached 1.15 on CEC mode. Furthermore, the composite materials exhibited a higher stability compared to the silica sol-gel column. These results showed that the sol-gel/organic hybrid composite was useful as a monolithic matrix for the BSA-encapsulated column for CEC.     

An MO-theoretical calculation of solvent effect upon the NH3 + HF = NH4F reaction

An ab initia molecular orbital calculation was done as to a reacting system, NH₃+HF=NH₄F, with the inclusion of the solvent effect as the origin of dipolar field. The reactants were assumed to stay in dimers, (NH₃)₂ and (HF)₂, in advance to the reaction, and the respective partners of two reactants were regarded as point dipoles. The system was stabilized to some extent by two dipoles adopted. A study of configuration analysis on this system was made with and without the dipoles. Their effect was found to be favorable for proceeding of the reaction.     

Highly sensitive assay for tyrosine hydroxylase activity by high-performance liquid chromatography.

A highly sensitive assay for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) activity by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with amperometric detection was devised based on the rapid isolation of enzymatically formed DOPA by a double-column procedure, the columns fitted together sequentially (the top column of Amberlite CG-50 and the bottom column of aluminium oxide). DOPA was adsorbed on the second aluminium oxide column, then eluted with 0.5 M hydrochloric acid, and assayed by HPLC with amperometric detection. D-Tyrosine was used for the control. alpha-Methyldopa was added to the incubation mixture as an internal standard after incubation. This assay was more sensitive than radioassays and 5 pmol of DOPA formed enzymatically could be measured in the presence of saturating concentrations of tyrosine and 6-methyltetrahydropterin. The TH activity in 2 mg of human putamen could be easily measured, and this method was found to be particularly suitable for the assay of TH activity in a small number of nuclei from animal and human brain.     

Partial degradation and biological activities of an antitumor polysaccharide from rice bran.

A rice bran polysaccharide designated RON was subjected either to partial hydrolysis with formic acid or to partial degradation by ultrasonic irradiation. A significant change in the molecular size was also observed during simple chromatography of RON on a strongly acidic ion exchange resin, although the apparent molecular weight of RON had been assumed to be more than 1 x 10(6) daltons (Da). This fact indicates that RON exists as molecular aggregates, presumably mediated by metal cations. Degradation products with average molecular weights above ca. 1 x 10(4) Da which were obtained by any of the three methods still retained the following activities of RON: in vivo antitumor activity against Meth-A fibrosarcoma in mice by oral administration, and in vitro macrophage stimulatory effects to induce tumoricidal activity and interleukin 1 production. This molecular size was proven to be the minimum requisite for these activities because smaller fragments were scarcely active. The aggregation was characteristic of RON but not essential for its antitumor activity because definite, though slightly reduced, activity was exhibited even by the smaller fragments obtained after the ion exchange resin treatment.     

Effects of the intramolecular NH...S hydrogen bond in mononuclear platinum(II) and palladium(II) complexes with 2,2'-bipyridine and benzenethiol derivatives

A series of complexes, [M(bpy)(SAr)2] (M = platinum(II) or palladium(II), bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine, SAr = 2- or 4-(acylamino)benzenethiolate, or 2-(alkylcarbamoyl)benzenethiolate), were synthesized and characterized on the basis of 1H NMR, IR, and electrochemical properties. The structures of [Pt(bpy)(S-2-Ph3CCONHC6H4)2] (1) and [Pt(bpy)(S-2-t-BuNHCOC6H4)2] (3) were determined by X-ray analysis. The complexes have intramolecular NH...S hydrogen bonds between the amide NH group and the sulfur atom. A weak NH...S hydrogen bond in these complexes and [Pd(bpy)(S-2-Ph3CCONHC6H4)2] (4) is detected from the 1H NMR spectra and the IR spectra in chloroform and in the solid state. [Pt(bpy)(S-2-Ph3CCONHC6H4)2] (1) exhibits a remarkably high-energy-shifted lowest-energy band in UV-visible spectra and has a positively shifted oxidation potential. The blue-shift of 42 nm and the positive shift of +0.24 V, as compared to those of [Pt(bpy)(SC6H5)2), are due to the effect of the NH...S hydrogen bond.     

Simultaneous determination of tetrahydro-β-carbolines and β-carbolines

Summary Reversed-phase ion-pair HPLC with fluorimetric detectors connected in series was studied for the simultaneous determination of two tetrahydro--carbolines and two -carbolines. After additon of internal standards the samples were reacted with fluorescamine, and then subjected to serial extractions to remove their precursor (tryptamine) from the analytical system. This treatment not only suppressed the artefactual formation of tetrahydro--carbolines and -carbolines during analysis, but also effectively purified them. Under optimum conditions, using trifluoroacetic acid as counter ion, all analytes were separated within 14 min and without major interfering peaks. The quantitative ranges were 0.25–80.0 ng mL^–1 for both tetrahydro--carbolines and 0.1–30.0 ng mL^–1 for both -carbolines. Replicate spiking experiments showed that recovery from most of the samples tested was over 90% and the relative standard deviation ranged from 0.7 to 10.4% within and between assays. The proposed method was applicable to various materials such as soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, tabasco, beer, wine, sake, whisky, brandy, cows' milk, coffee, cocoa, cheese, cigarette smoke and urine.