Preparation of new 2,3-diphenylpropenoic acid esters - good yields even for the more hindered Z isomers

The potassium salt of E- and Z-2,3-diphenylpropenoic acids prepared in situ could be esterified efficiently in DMSO with the appropriate alkyl halides at room temperature. In this way 10 previously undescribed esters of these acids were synthesised and characterised. Excellent yields were observed for most of the E isomers and the more hindered Z esters were also obtained in good yields, far better than those obtained applying the classical acid-catalysed esterification reaction.     

Stereocontrolled synthesis of cis-dibenzoquinolizine chlorofumarates: curare-like agents of ultrashort duration

The quaternizations of dibenzoquinolizines 9 and 14 with 3-halo-1-propanols are highly cis-selective (94-100% cis), results consistent with the N-methylation of O-methylcapaurine (7b), but in contrast to the proposed trans-stereochemistry of dibenzo[a,h]quinolizine methiodide 10 and the analogous quaternizations of 1-benzyl- and 1-phenylisoquinoline congeners 5b and 5c. In this report, we describe stereoselective preparation of the unique cis-dibenzoquinolizinium propanols 15 and 16and their transformation into bis- and mixed-onium chlorofumarates 19, 20ab, and 26. Dibenzo[a,g]quinolizinium propanol 15 was prepared enantioselectively in three steps from dihydroisoquinoline 11. Asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of 11 in the presence of triethylamine/formic acid and Noyori's chiral ruthenium catalyst 12 produced R-(-)-5',8-dimethoxynorlaudanosine (13) in 98% yield and 87% ee. Pictet-Spengler cyclization of 13 in formalin/formic acid afforded the dibenzo[a,g]quinolizine 14 in 65% yield. Quaternization of 14 with 3-chloro-1-propanol under Finkelstein conditions generated cis-dibenzoquinolizinium propanol 15 in 85% yield with >94% cis-selectivity. The cis-dibenzo[a,h]quinolizinium propanol 16 was obtained as a single stereoisomer by reaction of the known tetramethoxyquinolizine 9 with neat 3-iodo-1-propanol. Bis-onium chlorofumarates 18 and 19 and the mixed-onium derivative 20ab were prepared by a pool synthesis procedure from (1R)-trans-6a, 16, and chlorofumaryl chloride (17). Mixed-onium alpha-chlorofumarate 26 was synthesized from (1S)-trans-6d, 15 and (+/-)-trans-2,3-dichlorosuccinic anhydride (22), employing a recently disclosed chlorofumarate mixed-diester synthesis. The title compounds (19, 20ab, and 26) displayed curare-like effects of ultrashort duration in rhesus monkeys.     

Cyclocondensation reaction of a 1,5-diketone with 1,2-diamines

Reaction of 2-acetonyl-4,5-dimethoxy-3′-chlorobenzophenone (1) with ethylenediamine afforded the imidazo[2,1-a]isoquinoline 2, whereas 6-(3-chlorophenyl)-8,9-dimethoxybenzo[b]phenazine (3) and naphthol 4 were obtained with ortho-phenylenediamine.     

Effect of pressure on retention factors in HPLC using a non-porous stationary phase

Summary Pressure and temperature have significant influence on retention in HPLC. This study investigates the effect of pressure and temperature on the retention behavior of aromatic hydrocarbons (toluene, ethyl benzene, butyl benzene, pentyl benzene) and polar, acidic and basic samples (phenol, acetophenone, N,N-dimethyl aniline, benzophenone) on a reversed phase column. The effect has been studied on non-porous, tetradecyl (C₁₄) coated silica particles. We found that the adsorption-induced decrease of the partial molar volume of the solutes investigated was between ΔV _m =5–15 cm³ mol⁻¹. The increment of the decrease of the partial molar volume due to the addition of one CH₂ group, for the homologous series of the aromatic hydrocarbons is approximately ΔV _CH2 =2.3 cm³mol⁻¹. Presented at Balaton Symposium '01 on High-Performance Separation Methods, Siófok, Hungary, September 2–4, 2001.     

Tandem Michael‐addition/cyclization synthesis and EGFR kinase inhibition activity of pyrido[2,3‐d]pyrimidin‐7(8H)‐ones

5‐Methoxy and 5‐anilinopyrido[2,3‐d]pyrimidin‐7(8H)‐ones 2a‐2f were obtained by a tandem Michael addition‐cyclization reaction of methanol and anilines with pyrimidinylpropynoate 5. Methoxy derivative 2a was obtained in 62% yield by treatment of 5 with methanol and potassium carbonate. Anilino derivatives 2b‐2f were prepared in 31–71% yields by reacting 5 with the corresponding anilines in refluxing methanol. This methodology accomplishes Michael‐addition and pyridopyrimidinone ring formation in one‐pot and affords the desired products in reasonable yield without chromatography. Propynoate 5 did not react with 4‐cyanoaniline under these conditions. Reaction of 5 with 2‐aminopyridine gave the unexpected arylpyrido[2,3‐d]pyrimidinone 8 in 58% yield and reaction of 5 with imidazole afforded Michael‐adduct 9 in 69% yield. Compounds 2a and 5 were submicromolar inhibitors of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase.     

Coordination Complexes to Combat Bacterial Infections: Recent Developments,Current Directions and Future Opportunities

Drug discovery aimed at the efficient eradication of life-threatening bacterial infections, especially in light of the emergence of multi-drug resistance of pathogenic bacteria, has remained a challenge for medicinal chemists over the past several decades. As nutrient acquisition and metabolism at the host-pathogen interface become better elucidated, new drug targets continue to emerge. Metal homeostasis is among these processes, and thus provides opportunities for medicinal inorganic chemists to alter or disrupt these processes selectively to impart bacteriostatic or bacteriotoxic effects. In this minireview, we showcase some of the recent work from the field of metal-based antibacterial agents and highlight divergent strategies and mechanisms of action.     

Extending the Balas-Yu bounds on the number of maximal independent sets in graphs to hypergraphs and lattices

A result of Balas and Yu (1989) states that the number of maximal independent sets of a graph G is at most ^p+1, where is the number of pairs of vertices in G at distance 2, and p is the cardinality of a maximum induced matching in G. In this paper, we give an analogue of this result for hypergraphs and, more generally, for subsets of vectors in the product of n lattices =₁××_n, where the notion of an induced matching in G is replaced by a certain binary tree each internal node of which is mapped into . We show that our bounds may be nearly sharp for arbitrarily large hypergraphs and lattices. As an application, we prove that the number of maximal infeasible vectors x=₁××_n for a system of polymatroid inequalities does not exceed max{Q,^logt/c(2Q,)}, where is the number of minimal feasible vectors for the system, , , and c(,) is the unique positive root of the equation 2^c(^c/log–1)=1. This bound is nearly sharp for the Boolean case ={0,1}ⁿ, and it allows for the efficient generation of all minimal feasible sets to a given system of polymatroid inequalities with quasi-polynomially bounded right-hand sides . This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant IIS-0118635), and by the Office of Naval Research (Grant N00014-92-J-1375). The second and third authors are also grateful for the partial support by DIMACS, the National Science Foundation's Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science.Mathematics Subject Classification (2000):20E28, 20G40, 20C20     

Pion exchange and the H1 forward spectrometer data

We point out that the component of the nucleon wave function is vital to the interpretation of the recent H1 data for leading baryon production. While the n/p ratio is equal to two with the component alone, the inclusion of the component brings this ratio very near to unity, as observed in the experiment. This result demonstrates that pion exchange can not only account for leading neutron but also for a large fraction of the leading proton production. Received: 4 December 1998 / Revised version: 1 February 1999 / Published online: 27 April 1999