Power of isotopic fine structure for unambiguous determination of metabolite elemental compositions: In silico evaluation and metabolomic application

In mass spectrometry (MS)-based metabolomics studies, reference-free identification of metabolites is still a challenging issue. Previously, we demonstrated that the elemental composition (EC) of metabolites could be unambiguously determined using isotopic fine structure, observed by ultrahigh resolution MS, which provided the relative isotopic abundance (RIA) of ¹³C, ¹⁵N, ¹⁸O, and ³⁴S. Herein, we evaluated the efficacy of the RIA for determining ECs based on the MS peaks of 20,258 known metabolites. The metabolites were simulated with a ≤25% error in the isotopic peak area to investigate how the error size effect affected the rate of unambiguous determination of the ECs. The simulation indicated that, in combination with reported constraint rules, the RIA led to unambiguous determination of the ECs for more than 90% of the tested metabolites. It was noteworthy that, in positive ion mode, the process could distinguish alkali metal-adduct ions ([M + Na]⁺ and [M + K]⁺). However, a significant degradation of the EC determination performance was observed when the method was applied to real metabolomic data (mouse liver extracts analyzed by infusion ESI), because of the influence of noise and bias on the RIA. To achieve ideal performance, as indicated in the simulation, we developed an additional method to compensate for bias on the measured ion intensities. The method improved the performance of the calculation, permitting determination of ECs for 72% of the observed peaks. The proposed method is considered a useful starting point for high-throughput identification of metabolites in metabolomic research.     

Transition-Metal Free Catalytic Synthesis of Trifluoromethyl Indolines by [4+1] Cycloaddition of Trifluoromethyl Benzoxazinones with Sulfur Ylides

Stereoselective catalytic synthesis of 3-trifluoromethyl indolines through the [4+1] cycloaddition of benzoxazinones and sulfur ylides in a transition-metal-free manner was developed. In the presence of a catalytic amount of sodium hydride, aza-ortho-quinone methide intermediates were formed from trifluoromethyl benzoxazinones through decarboxylation after the first nucleophilic attack of sulfur ylides, which progressed to a second nucleophilic attack of sulfur ylides, resulting in the [4+1] cycloaddition. The key for this catalytic transformation is the dual attack of sulfur ylides on substrates. This unique transition-metal-free protocol is applicable to the synthesis of non-fluorinated vinyl-, ethynyl- or methyl-substituted indolines. The synthesis of 3-trifluoromethyl indoles was also achieved described under stoichiometric conditions.     

Photo-Induced Dihydroxylation of Alkenes with Diacetyl,Oxygen, and Water

Herein reported is a photo-induced production of vicinal diols from alkenes under mild reaction conditions. The present dihydroxylation method using diacetyl (= butane-2,3-dione), oxygen, and water dispenses with toxic reagents and intractable waste generation.     

Numerical Nahm transform for 2-caloron solutions

A new numerical method for performing the Nahm transform for charge k=2 caloron is presented. The Weyl equations with boundary impurities are solved directly and the determination of the appropriate basis to the linear system is established. The action densities of the 2-calorons with 10 moduli parameters are shown.     

Determination of the scattering coefficient of biological tissue considering the wavelength and absorption dependence of the anisotropy factor

The anisotropy factor g, one of the optical properties of biological tissues, has a strong influence on the calculation of the scattering coefficient μ _s in inverse Monte Carlo (iMC) simulations. It has been reported that g has the wavelength and absorption dependence; however, few attempts have been made to calculate μ _s using g values by taking the wavelength and absorption dependence into account. In this study, the angular distributions of scattered light for biological tissue phantoms containing hemoglobin as a light absorber were measured by a goniometric optical setup at strongly (405 nm) and weakly (664 nm) absorbing wavelengths to obtain g. Subsequently, the optical properties were calculated with the measured values of g by integrating sphere measurements and an iMC simulation, and compared with the results obtained with a conventional g value of 0.9. The μ _s values with measured g were overestimated at the strongly absorbing wavelength, but underestimated at the weakly absorbing wavelength if 0.9 was used in the iMC simulation.     

Solvent effect of fluorescence on/off switching of diarylethene linked to excited-state intramolecular proton transfer fluorophore

Efficient fluorescence on/off switching of a dyad consisting of a photochromic diarylethene and a fluorescence dye based on excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) was designed and demonstrated. Diarylethenes linked to (2-(2-methoxy-5-methylphenyl)benzothiazol-6-yl)- and (2-(2-hydroxy-5-methylphenyl)benzothiazol-6-yl)-9,9-dioctylfluorene moieties (1a and 2a, respectively) exhibited fluorescence on/off switching upon alternating irradiation with ultraviolet and visible light in various solvents. The fluorescence on/off contrast of 2a was found to be higher than that of 1a in n-hexane because the overlap integral between the absorption spectrum of the diarylethene closed-ring form and the fluorescence spectrum of 2a is larger than that of 1a. Diarylethene 2a exhibited green fluorescence with large Stokes shift in n-hexane, which is ascribed to the ESIPT process from the enol form to the keto form. In contrast, the fluorescence of 2a in N,N-dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) was mainly observed as blue fluorescence from enol form, while diarylethene 1a exhibited blue fluorescence in n-hexane and DMSO. The fluorescence on/off contrast of 2a in n-hexane was higher than that in DMSO because of the difference in the spectral overlaps in n-hexane and DMSO.     

Diphenylprolinol Silyl Ether as a Catalyst in an Enantioselective,Catalytic Michael Reaction for the Formation of α,α‐Disubstituted α‐Amino Acid Derivatives

Direct and enantioselective : Diphenylprolinol silyl ether was found to catalyze the direct, asymmetric Michael reaction of 4‐substituted 2‐aryl‐2‐oxazoline‐5‐one and α,β‐unsaturated aldehydes, affording the chiral α,α‐disubstituted α‐amino acid derivatives with excellent enantioselectivity.

     

Chiral Carboxylic Acid Enabled Achiral Rhodium(III)‐Catalyzed Enantioselective C−H Functionalization

Reported is an achiral Cp^xRh^III/chiral carboxylic acid catalyzed asymmetric C?H alkylation of diarylmethanamines with a diazomalonate, followed by cyclization and decarboxylation to afford 1,4‐dihydroisoquinolin‐3(2H)‐one. Secondary alkylamines as well as nonprotected primary alkylamines underwent the transformation with high enantioselectivities (up to 98.5:1.5 e.r.) by using a newly developed chiral carboxylic acid as the sole source of chirality to achieve enantioselective C?H cleavage by a concerted metalation‐deprotonation mechanism.     

An Efficient Method for the Conjugation of Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic Components by Solid‐Phase‐Assisted Disulfide Ligation

Chemical conjugation between hydrophilic and hydrophobic components is difficult because of their extremely different solubility. Herein, we report a new versatile method with a solid‐phase‐assisted disulfide ligation to overcome the difficulty of conjugation attributed to solubility. The method involves two steps in a one‐pot process: 1) loading of a hydrophobic molecule onto a resin in an organic solvent, and 2) release of the solid‐supported hydrophobic molecule as a conjugate with a hydrophilic molecule into an aqueous solvent. This strategy allows the use of a suitable solvent system for the substrates in each step. Conjugates of a water‐insoluble drug, plinabulin, with hydrophilic carriers that could not be prepared by solution‐phase reactions were obtained in moderate yields (29–45 %). This strategy is widely applicable to the conjugation of compounds with solubility problems.