Direct Addition of Amides to Glycals Enabled by Solvation‐Insusceptible 2‐Haloazolium Salt Catalysis

The direct 2‐deoxyglycosylation of nucleophiles with glycals leads to biologically and pharmacologically important 2‐deoxysugar compounds. Although the direct addition of hydroxyl and sulfonamide groups have been well developed, the direct 2‐deoxyglycosylation of amide groups has not been reported to date. Herein, we show the first direct 2‐deoxyglycosylation of amide groups using a newly designed Brønsted acid catalyst under mild conditions. Through mechanistic investigations, we discovered that the amide group can inhibit acid catalysts, and the inhibition has made the 2‐deoxyglycosylation reaction difficult. Diffusion‐ordered two‐dimensional NMR spectroscopy analysis implied that the 2‐chloroazolium salt catalyst was less likely to form aggregates with amides in comparison to other acid catalysts. The chlorine atom and the extended π‐scaffold of the catalyst played a crucial role for this phenomenon. This relative insusceptibility to inhibition by amides is more responsible for the catalytic activity than the strength of the acidity.     

A Hydroperoxide-Mediated Decarboxylation of α-Ketoacids Enables the Chemoselective Acylation of Amines

Strategies for the formation of amide bonds, that is, one of the most basic and important transformations in organic synthesis, have so far focused predominantly on dehydration reactions. Herein, we report and demonstrate the practical utility of a novel decarboxylative amidation of α-ketoacids by using inexpensive tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP), which is characterized by high yields, a broad substrate scope, mild reaction conditions, and a unique chemoselectivity. These features enable the synthesis of peptides from amino acid derived α-ketoacids under preservation of the stereochemical information.     

Phase Conjugation in Saturable Absorbing Dye Films by Degenerate Four-Wave Mixing and Holographic Processes Using Nanosecond Pulse and CW Lasers

We report on the simultaneous generation of phase-conjugate signals by degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) and holographic processes using a nanosecond pulse and a CW lasers in polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) films doped with four kinds of saturable absorbing dyes. For the pulse laser, of the four kinds of dye-doped PVA films, the erythrosine B-doped PVA and uranine doped-PVA films generate PC signals only by the DFWM process, while the other dye-doped PVA films generate PC signals simultaneously by not only the DFWM process but also the holographic process. Especially, the safranin T-doped PVA film generates strong PC signals by the holographic process. In contrast, all of the dye-doped PVA films generate the two types of PC signals for the CW laser. The fading of dye molecules is found to result in the generation of the holographic component of PC signals which governs the temporal behavior of the total PC signals.     

Thiourea-catalyzed nucleophilic addition of TMSCN and ketene silyl acetals to nitrones and aldehydes

The effect of hydrogen bonding between nitrones and urea derivatives in the nucleophilic addition reaction was examined. Thioureas bearing an electron-withdrawing group on an aromatic ring, behave like Lewis acid to promote the addition of TMSCN and ketene silyl acatals to various nitrones and aldehydes. Presumed interaction between nitrones and thioureas was supported by NMR experiments.     

Regioselectivity in palladium-indium iodide-mediated allylation reaction of glyoxylic oxime ether and N-sulfonylimine

Allylation reaction of electron-deficient imines with allylic alcohol derivatives in the presence of a catalytic amount of palladium(0) complex and indium(I) iodide was studied. The reversibility of allylation was observed in the reaction of glyoxylic oxime ether having camphorsultam. As the important effect of water on regioselectivity, the gamma-adducts were kinetically formed from monosubstituted allylic reagents in the presence of water. The selective formation of thermodynamically stable alpha-adducts was observed in anhydrous THF. In contrast, the allylation of N-sulfonylimine gave the gamma-adducts with high regioselectivities even under anhydrous reaction conditions.     

A new doping superlattice photodetector

A new GaAs photodetector with high sensitivity in the whole 0.8–1.4m wavelength range has been fabricated from totally depleted GaAs doping superlattices grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Photoexcited electrons and holes are separated in real space by the space-charge field of the doping superlattice immediately after excitation, yielding a high quantum efficiency of this device. Because of the complete depletion, the doping superlattice behaves like a highly resistive material, which allows application of high electric field along the layers via selectiven ⁺ — andp ⁺ -electrodes. The sensitivity of this device at 1.3 m reaches more than 90% of the original band edge response at 0.85 m, and the external quantum efficiency amounts to 65% at 0.85 m. This excellent photoresponse at longer wavelengths arises from an extremely high electric field composed of the intrinsic space charge field and applied external field, and from the existence of pronounced tail states in the forbidden gap region of the superlattice.     

Inhibitory effects of tetragalloylglucose on the complex II of mitochondrial respiratory chain of Ascaris muscle

The effects of tetragalloylglucose (1,2,3,6-tetra-O-galloyl-beta-D-glucose) on purified complex II (succinate-ubiquinone oxidoreductase) of the mitochondrial electron transport system of Ascaris muscle were studied. Both succinate-ubiquinone-1 (Q1) oxidoreductase, and succinate dehydrogenase measured with 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)- 2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) in the presence of phenazine methosulfate (PMS) were inhibited by tetragalloylglucose. The inhibitions of both reductase activities of complex II were of competitive type, and the inhibitor constant (Ki) for Ascaris complex II (148 nM) was lower than that for rat liver complex II (1.5 microM). Thus, Ascaris complex II is much more sensitive to this inhibitor than the mammalian counterpart.     

Low-capacity cation-exchange chromatography of ultraviolet-absorbing urinary basic metabolites using a reversed-phase column coated with hexadecylsulfonate

A low-capacity cation-exchange HPLC method for the determination of UV-absorbing organic cations such as amino acids, histidine dipeptides, and creatinine was developed. A commercially available reversed-phase column was dynamically coated with hexadecylsulfonate, and was successfully used for the cation-exchange separation with ethylenediammonium eluting ion at pH 2.5. The coated column was enough stable for the specific use with a completely aqueous mobile phase at low and constant pH; and the day-to-day reproducibility for retention time was 0.9-1.7% of RSD (relative standard deviation). The linear relation between concentrations and detector responses (area) by using a photodiode-array UV detection at 210 nm ranged from 0.2 to 1000 microM (sample size 50 microl) for 1-methylhistidine, 3-methylhistidine, histidine, creatinine, anserine, carnosine, and homocarnosine, and from 0.5 to 2000 microM for creatine, tyrosine, and phenylalanine, with less than 5% of RSD. The UV spectrum (190-300 nm) obtained during chromatography was very indicative for each analyte. Overall recoveries were 97-104%. The developed HPLC method in conjunction with preliminary fractionation technique could be applied to the analysis of urine of patient with metabolic disorder such as phenylketonuria.