Reaction of an ammonium eneselenolate derived from a selenothioacetic acid S-ester with electron-deficient alkenes and alkynes

Ammonium eneselenolate 2 derived from selenothioic acid S-ester 1 was reacted with electron-deficient alkenes 4 and alkynes 9 . Ammonium eneselenolate 2 underwent Michael addition with 4 to give two types of Michael adducts, 5 and 6 . Products 6 incorporated two molecules of 4 . In contrast, the reaction of 2 with 9 took place at the selenium atom to give γ-oxo divinyl selenides 10 with high Z-stereoselectivity. During the further elaboration of the reactivity of the products derived from 2 and carbonyl compounds, unexpected reaction was found in the addition of vinylmagnesium bromide to Se-vinyl ester 3 . The spectroscopic data supported the formation of the enol form 12 of β-oxo selenothioic acid S-ester 13 . © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heteroatom Chem 15:187–192, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/hc.20003     

Effects of Early Physical Therapist-supervised Walking on Clinical Outcomes after Liver Resection: Propensity Score Matching Analysis

Objective: The study aimed to demonstrate the significance of early postoperative physical therapy interventions on clinical outcomes by determining the influence of the distance walked under the supervision of a physical therapist in the early postoperative period after liver cancer. Methods: All consecutive patients who underwent surgery for liver cancer between April 2018 and March 2020 were eligible for enrollment in the study. The total walking distance during physical therapy till the third postoperative day was examined. The clinical outcomes comprised duration of postoperative hospital stay, time to independent walking, and occurrence of postoperative complications. For data analysis, the patients were divided into two groups: those who walked more than the median total distance (the long-distance group) and those who walked less than the median distance (the short-distance group). We used propensity score matching to match the background characteristics between the groups. Results: Of the 65 patients who were eligible, 14 patients were included in the two groups each, after matching. The long-distance walking group had a significantly shorter hospital stay (9.0 days vs. 11.0 days, p=0.008) and a shorter time to independent walking (3.5 days vs. 7.5 days, p=0.019) than the short-distance walking group. There were no significant differences in postoperative complications between the two groups (7.1% vs. 42.8%, p=0.08). Conclusion: In the early postoperative period after liver cancer surgery, increasing the walking distance under the supervision of a physical therapist is important for improving clinical outcomes. Further prospective studies are needed to confirm the findings of this study.     

Imidazolium‐based poly(ionic liquid)s with poly(ethylene oxide) main chains: Effects of spacer and tail structures on ionic conductivity

Ten types of cationic glycidyl triazole polymers (GTPs) are prepared from combinations of five alkyl‐imidazolium units (methyl‐, ethyl‐, n‐propyl‐, iso‐propyl‐, and n‐butyl‐imidazoliums) and two spacers [di‐ and tri(ethylene glycol)s]. Since these poly(ionic liquid)s are prepared from the same sample of glycidyl azide polymer by postfunctionalization method, they have the same degree of polymerization. Therefore, the structure–property relationship can be discussed without influence of molecular weight difference. The samples are characterized by NMR, differential scanning calorimetry, and thermogravimetric analysis. The ionic conductivity data are obtained by impedance measurements. The GTPs with the tri(ethylene glycol) spacer and ethyl‐ and n‐butyl‐imidazolium units afford the highest anhydrous conductivity of 1.5 × 10^?5 S cm^?1 at 30 °C. Based on electrode polarization (EP) analysis, we calculate the conducting ion (carrier) concentration and mobility. We discuss the effect of the spacer and N‐alkyl tail structures on the ionic conductivity using the data obtained by EP analysis and X‐ray diffraction. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2016 , 54, 2896–2906     

Minimaxity and nonminimaxity of a preliminary test estimator for the multivariate normal mean

Summary The problem is to estimate the mean of ap-dimensional normal distribution in the situation where there is vague information that the mean vector might be equal to zero vector. Minimax property of the preliminary test estimator obtained by the use of AIC (Akaike's Information Criterion) procedure is discussed under a loss function which is based on Kullback-Leibler information measure and evaluates both an error of model selection and that of estimation. Whenp is even, the minimaxity is shown to hold for small values ofp but not for large values.     

Synthesis of a nitrogen analogue of sphingomyelin as a sphingomyelinase inhibitor

[structure: see text] Sphingomyelin nitrogen analogue 1 was designed and synthesized as a sphingomyelinase inhibitor. The synthesis was established by continuous Hofmann rearrangement and Crutius rearrangement as key steps in constructing the 3-hydroxy-1,2-diamine structure in the backbone of 1. This analogue showed moderate inhibitory activity toward SMase isolated from B. cereus.     

Design of chiral tin(IV) aryloxide as a mild Lewis acid catalyst for enantioselective Diels-Alder reaction

A novel Sn(IV) aryloxide Lewis acid has been designed and prepared from SnCl₄ and (S)-3,3′-bis(3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)-1,1′-bi-2-naphthol. The chiral Sn(IV) Lewis acid has been successfully applied to the enantioselective Diels-Alder reaction.     

Regiocontrolled benzannulation of diaryl(gem-dichlorocyclopropyl)methanols for the synthesis of unsymmetrically substituted alpha-arylnaphthalenes: application to total synthesis of natural lignan lactones

[reaction: see text] An efficient synthesis of highly substituted alpha-arylnaphthalene analogues has been developed utilizing Lewis acid-promoted regiocontrolled benzannulation of aryl(aryl')-2,2-dichlorocyclopropylmethanols (aryl not equal aryl'; abbreviated as AACMs). Both AACM diastereomers were easily prepared via highly stereoselective addition (>95/5) of ArLi to gem-dichlorocyclopropropyl aryl' ketones. The choice of Lewis acids determined the cyclization regioselectivity of the present benzannulation. TiCl4 and SnCl4 used the chelation pathway, whereas silyl triflates used a nonchelation pathway to give unsymmetrically substituted regioisomeric alpha-arylnaphthalenes in 40-91% yields with moderate to excellent regioselectivity (TiCl4 or SnCl4; >99/1-3/1, TBDMSOTf; >1/99-1/4). Thus, the alpha-aryl or alpha-aryl' moiety (accessory aryl group) was alternatively introduced to alpha-arylnaphthalenes by choosing either the order of the reaction sequences or the appropriate catalyst. Application of the present method to the total synthesis for unsymmetrically substituted natural lignan lactones, justicidin B, retrojusticidin B, dehydrodesoxypodophyllotoxin, and a related analogue, 5'-methoxyretrochinensin, was demonstrated. Lignan retrolactones (retrojusticidin B and 5'-methoxyretrochinensin) were synthesized by the conventional lactonization of the diol precursor, whereas a novel Bu2SnO-mediated monoacylation method was applied to the synthesis of normal lignan lactones (justicidin B and dehydrodesoxypodophyllotoxin).     

Synthesis of sphingomyelin carbon analogues as sphingomyelinase inhibitors

The highly efficient and stereocontrolled syntheses of sphingomyelin carbon analogues 1 and 2 were achieved by effectively utilizing Hofmann rearrangement of enantiomerically pure beta-hydroxyamide 7, which was prepared by an asymmetric hydrogenation of alpha-acyl-gamma-butyrolactone 9 and ring opening with NH(3). Intermediary isocyanate 6 was selectively trapped with the vicinal hydroxy group in an intramolecular fashion to produce an oxazolidinone derivative, 5. In the synthesis of a quite polar compound such as 1, a convenient one-pot procedure of the introduction of a benzyloxycarbonyl group into the hydroxy group resulting from the oxazolidinone ring opening is another key point, because, in addition to the efficiency, this protecting group was easily removable by a simple procedure and workup at the final step. Both synthesized compounds 1 and 2 showed moderate inhibitory activity toward sphingomyelinase from B. cereus.     

Asymmetric carbon-carbon coupling of phenols or anilines with aryllead triacetates

The asymmetric coupling of various phenol or aniline derivatives with bulky aryllead triacetates was thoroughly investigated using optically active amines, including strychnine and brucine. We found that conformationally restricted tertiary amines, as well as lithium aryloxides and molecular sieves, are essential for accelerating the rate of phenol coupling. Consequently, the reaction can be carried out at a low temperature (-40 to -20 degrees C) and gives a high degree of diastereo- and enantioselectivity. In contrast to the effectiveness of lithiation in phenol coupling, magnesation of anilines was a critical technique for aniline coupling with aryllead triacetates. Using these coupling methods, a diverse set of di-, tri, and polyaryl compounds with axial chirality can be easily obtained, and these should be useful for the construction of a variety of aryl-aryl frameworks involved in metal ligands, natural products, and artificial helical polymers.