A new luciferase reporter gene assay for the detection of androgenic and antiandrogenic effects based on a human prostate specific antigen promoter and PC3/AR human prostate cancer cells.

We developed a new mammalian cell-based luciferase reporter gene assay for androgenic and antiandrogenic activities of chemicals and environmental samples. Environmental samples usually have a complex matrix that may contain the constituents acting as androgen receptor (AR) agonists, AR antagonists or aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) agonists. AhR agonists are known to elicit the antiandrogenic effect through cross-talk between AR and AhR signal transduction pathways. In this study, PC3/AR human prostate carcinoma cells were transiently transfected with a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) promoter-driven luciferase expression plasmid. The cells were treated with a test compound or an environmental sample for 24 h at 37 degrees C and then measured for luciferase activity. The luciferase activity was induced by dihydrotestosterone (DHT) in a concentration-dependent manner in a concentration range from 10 fM to 1 nM. R1881, a synthetic androgen receptor agonist, induced luciferase activity and its inductive effects was additive to that of DHT. The luciferase activity was not induced by cortisol, a glucocorticoid, progesterone, a progestin, and 17beta-estradiol, an estrogen in a concentration range of up to 1 microM. DHT-induced luciferase activity was reduced by bicalutamide and cyproterone acetate, AR antagonists, and also by benzo[a]pyrene, an aryl hydrocarbon receptor agonist, through AhR-mediated pathways. All of these findings indicate that the present assay system correctly responds to AR agonists, AR antagonists and AhR agonist and, therefore, it is a powerful tool for the sensitive and selective screening of chemicals and environmental samples for their androgenic and antiandrogenic activities. We developed the first assay system, in which the expression of luciferase was driven by the promoter of a prostate-specific antigen gene, a typical human androgen-regulated gene.     

Experimental Study on Time-Spread/Wavelength-Hop Optical Code Division Multiplexing with Dispersion-Compensating En/Decoder

10Gbit/s time-spread/wavelength-hop optical code generation and decoding are performed by dispersion-compensating fiber Bragg grating (FBG) en/decoder pair. Error-free 10km single mode fiber (SMF) transmission of 10Gbit/s optical code division multiplexing (OCDM) has been experimentally demonstrated.     

‘Me2CuLi·TMSCl in CH2Cl2’. The most powerful methylating agent for sterically congested α,β-enoates

The reaction of Me₂CuLi with sterically congested α,β-unsaturated esters in the presence of TMSCl in CH₂Cl₂ proceeded very smoothly to produce the conjugate addition products in high yields.     

Crystalline‐Sponge‐Based Structural Analysis of Crude Natural Product Extracts

Characterization of complex natural product mixtures to the absolute structural level of their components often requires significant amounts of starting materials and lengthy purification process, followed by arduous structure elucidation efforts. The crystalline sponge (CS) method has demonstrated utility in the absolute structure elucidation of isolated organic compounds at miniscule quantities compared to conventional methods. In this work, we developed a new CS‐based workflow that greatly expedites the in‐depth structural analysis of crude natural product extracts. Using a crude extract of the red alga Laurencia pacifica, we showed that CS affinity screening prior to compound isolation enables prioritization of analytes present in the extract, and we subsequently resolved the molecular structures of six sesquiterpenes with stereochemical clarity from around 10 mg crude extract. This study demonstrates a new chemotyping workflow that can greatly accelerate natural product discovery from complex samples.     

Iridium‐Catalyzed Sequential Silylation and Borylation of Heteroarenes Based on Regioselective C−H Bond Activation

An iridium‐catalyzed regioselective sequential silylation and borylation of heteroarenes was developed, which represents a rare example of unsymmetrical intermolecular C?H bond difunctionalization through the introduction of two different functionalities during a one‐pot transformation. Although the substrate scope for the dehydrogenative silylation of heteroarenes has been limited mainly to electron‐rich five‐membered rings, the current reaction proceeds with both electron‐rich and electron‐deficient heteroarenes with the aid of heteroatom‐directing C?H bond activation. The regioselectivity of the second borylation was controlled by both steric factors and the electronic effect of the silyl group installed in the first step. In combination with the classic cross‐coupling reaction, this method provides rapid access to multisubstituted heteroarenes.     

Direct Participation of a Peripheral Side Chain of a Corrin Ring in Coenzyme B12 Catalysis

The crystal structures of the B₁₂‐dependent isomerases (eliminating) diol dehydratase and ethanolamine ammonia‐lyase complexed with adenosylcobalamin were solved with and without substrates. The structures revealed that the peripheral a‐acetamide side chain of the corrin ring directly interacts with the adenosyl group to maintain the group in the catalytic position, and that this side chain swings between the original and catalytic positions in a synchronized manner with the radical shuttling between the coenzyme and substrate/product. Mutations involving key residues that cooperatively participate in the positioning of the adenosyl group, directly or indirectly through the interaction with the a‐side chain, decreased the turnover rate and increased the relative rate of irreversible inactivation caused by undesirable side reactions. These findings guide the engineering of enzymes for improved catalysis and producing useful chemicals by utilizing the high reactivity of radical species.     

Reductive coupling of hydantoins with benzophenones by low-valent titanium: Synthesis of 4-substituted 1H-imidazol-2(3H)-ones and unusual two-to-two coupled products

The reductive coupling of 1,3-dimethyhydantoin with benzophenones by TiCl₄-Zn in THF gave 4-diarylmethyl-1H-imidazol-2(3H)-ones as four-electron reduced one-to-one coupled products and their dimers as two-to-two coupled products predominantly by controlling the reaction conditions. The reductive coupling of 5-alkyl-1,3-dimethyhydantoins with benzophenones produced 5-alkyl-4-diarylmethyl-1H-imidazol-2(3H)-ones as the sole products irrespective to the reaction conditions. On the other hand, the reductive coupling of 1,3-dimethyhydantoin with cyclic benzophenones selectively 4-arylhydroxymethyl-1H-imidazol-2(3H)-ones as two-electron reduced one-to-one coupled products and they were further reduced to 4-diarylmethyl-1H-imidazol-2(3H)-ones.     

5,12‐Diacetyl‐5,12‐dihydroquinoxalino[2,3‐b]quinoxalines: Solid‐State Fluorescence,AIE Properties,and Orbital Switching by Substituent Effect

The compound 5,12‐diacetyl‐5,12‐dihydroquinoxalino[2,3‐b]quinoxaline 1 a and its derivatives were prepared, and their solid‐ and solution‐state spectroscopic properties were studied; 1 a shows stronger fluorescence in solution than in the solid state due to aggregation caused by self‐quenching. Phenyl‐ or alkoxy‐substituted derivatives 1 b – d show solid‐state fluorescence with moderate quantum yields of about Φ=0.12–0.15, although the corresponding values are 0.01–0.07 in solution. The spectroscopic properties of alkoxy‐substituted derivatives were hardly changed compared to 1 a and 1 b , although 1 a and 1 b have similar absorption and fluorescence maxima in solution and in the solid state. DFT calculations indicate that orbital switching occurs between HOMO and HOMO‐1 and HOMO‐2 due to orbital interactions with introduced substituents. Crystal structure analysis revealed that the molecules have bent structures around tertiary nitrogen atoms and form a characteristic dimeric structure.