Ovalbumin-stabilized gold nanoclusters with ascorbic acid as reducing agent for detection of serum copper

Ovalbumin-stabilized gold nanoclusters(OVA@AuNCs) were prepared with ascorbic acid as a reducing agent. This strategy could realize the synthesis of water-soluble OVA@AuNCs within 20 min. The asprepared fluorescent probe showed a red fluorescence emission at 630 nm. Moreover, the properties of the OVA@AuNCs were characterized by transmission electron microscope, dynamic light scattering,ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, fluorescent spectroscopy. Based on the surface electron density decrease-induced fluorescence quenching mechanism, the OVA@AuNCs provided high sensitivity and selectivity for sensing copper ions. A good linear relationship was obtained between the fluorescence intensity of OVA@AuNCs and the concentration of copper ions in the range of 5.0-100.0 μmol/L(R~2=0.999) with a detection limit of 640 nmol/L Furthermore, the rat serum copper contents were determined by using the OVA@AuNCs based assay, indicating great potential of fluorescent probes for application in biological and clinical analysis.     

Stereoselective synthesis of (−)-synargentolide B

A convergent, enantioselective total synthesis of (?)-synargentolide-B has been accomplished from readily available l-arabinose and d-ethyl lactate by a 10-step sequence involving Still-Gennari olefination, one-pot acidic deprotection/lactonization and olefin cross-metathesis reaction as the key step.     

Halogenation of 1,1-diarylethylenes by N-halosuccinimides

An efficient method for the preparation of 2,2-diarylvinyl halides from the corresponding 1,1-diarylethylenes has been developed. N-Halosuccinimides (N-bromosuccinimide or N-chlorosuccinimide) were used as the halogenation reagents. The practicability of this method is highlighted by its simple operation, broad substrate scope and capability for large-scale reaction.     

Asymmetric transfer hydrogenations of β-N-substituted enamino esters with ammonia borane

Optically active β-amino acids and their derivatives are very useful building blocks in synthetic and medicinal chemistry. The catalytic asymmetric reduction of β-enamino esters is one of the most efficient approaches for their synthesis. Ammonia borane with low molecular weight, high hydrogen capacity, and good stability, is an ideal hydrogen source for the transfer hydrogenation. However, only a few successful examples have been reported for the asymmetric reduction with ammonia borane. In this work, an asymmetric metal-free transfer hydrogenation of β-N-substituted enamino esters with ammoinia borane was successfully realized by using a frustrated Lewis pair of Piers’ borane and (S)-tert-butylsulfinamide as a chiral catalyst. A variety of β-amino acid derivatives were obtained in 51–90% yields with up to 91% ee.     

Divergent total synthesis of aspinolides B,E and J

Stereoselective total synthesis of aspinolides B, E and J, naturally occurring 10-membered lactones, were accomplished by divergent strategies starting from the commercially available 2,3-O-isopropylidene-d-ribose and methyl d-lactate. The synthesis features rapid access to the both key fragments from chiral pool and the formation of 10-membered ring lactones containing trans double bond employing cross-metathesis reaction (CM) and intramolecular Shiina macrolactonization.     

Transition metal-mediated or catalyzed hydrocarboxylation of olefins with CO2

The development of new methods to incorporate carbon dioxide into organic molecules is of special significance and interest as it is an abundantly available and recyclable C1 source. Catalytic hydrocarboxylation of readily available olefins with CO₂ represents a highly atom- and step-economic approach toward transformations of CO₂ into widely-used aliphatic acids. However, due to relatively lower reactivity of them, this goal has been always a formidable challenge. Herein we review relevant progress on transition metal-mediated or catalyzed methodologies toward the desired hydrocarboxylation, with an emphasis on the development of two main pathways, including transition-metal-catalyzed cyclometallation of olefin and CO₂ and direct addition of alkylmetal to CO₂.     

Copper-catalyzed asymmetric silylative cyclization of cyclohexadienone-containing 1,6-enynes

The first copper-catalyzed asymmetric silylative cyclization of cyclohexadienone-containing 1,6-enynes has been accomplished through a tandem process: regioselective silylcupration of terminal unactivated alkynes and subsequently enantioselective conjugate addition to cyclohexadienones. This reaction proceeded smoothly to afford the cis-hydrobenzofuran and cis-hydroindole frameworks bearing two consecutive chiral carbon centers in high to excellent yields and moderate enantioselectivities. Additionally, the cyclization products could be readily subjected to several transformations for elaborating synthetic utilities.     

Our expedition in the construction of fluorescent supramolecular metallacycles

During the past few years, the construction of fluorescent supramolecular metallocycles has attracted extensive attention due to their diverse applications such as sensing, photoelectric devices, and mimicking complicated natural photo-processes. In this review, we will discuss how we entered the field of fluorescent supramolecular metallacycles and what we investigated in this field. The preparation of various fluorescent supramolecular metallacycles and their applications in monitoring the dynamics of coordination-driven self-assembly, sensing, catalysts, and supramolecular gels will be summarized.     

Metal-free synthesis of novel indolizines from chromones and pyridinium salts via 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition,ring-opening and aromatization

A simple, efficient, and economical synthetic approach to construct a variety of stucturally novel indolizines bearing a phenolic hydroxy group has been developed through 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of chromones and pyridinium salts. The methodology is tolerant of a wide range of functional groups and applicable to library synthesis.     

Polymerizable C70 derivatives with acrylate functionality for efficient and stable solar cells

Fullerene-based organic solar cells are generally suffering from severe microstructure evolution occurring in their bulk heterojunction active layers and thus are extremely stable. To address it, four polymerizable C₇₀ fullerene derivatives, [6,6]-phenyl-C₇₁-ethyl acrylate (PC₇₁EA), [6,6]-phenyl-C₇₁-propyl acrylate (PC₇₁PrA), [6,6]-phenyl-C₇₁-butyl acrylate (PC₇₁BA), and [6,6]-phenyl-C₇₁-pentyl acrylate (PC₇₁PeA), have been designed, synthesized, and investigated. These fullerene compounds have a molecular structure, shape and size very like the conventional C₇₀ fullerene acceptor, [6,6]-phenyl-C₇₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PC₇₁BM), and have been found no different in their light absorption, redox potentials, and frontier orbital energy levels. Using these fullerene acrylates individually as acceptor and poly(3-hexylthiophene) as donor, organic solar cells have been fabricated and gave optimal efficiencies ranging from 3.32% to 4.16%, comparable to PC₇₁BM-based reference cells (4.06%). Owing to their acrylate functionality, these fullerene derivatives can turn into insoluble upon heating, and thus endow their solar cell devices much better thermostability than PC₇₁BM-based reference cells. The best one, coming from PC₇₁PeA devices, reported an optimal efficiency of 4.16%, and maintained 91.7% efficiency after heat treatment at 150 °C for 35 h. As a sharp contrast, the PC₇₁BM reference cell dropped its optimal efficiency from 4.06% to 0.48% only after 5 h heat treatment. X-ray diffraction, optical and atomic force microscopy, and space-charge-limited current method have been carried out to understand active layer structure, morphology, and charge mobility change during heat treatment.     

Erythrina alkaloids from leaves of Erythrina arborescens

Continued interest in Erythrina alkaloids resulted in the isolation of 38 alkaloids including 7 undescribed ones from the leaves of Erythrina arborescens Roxburgh. Among the new compounds, erythrivarines H-I were two dimeric alkaloids, while others were Erythrina alkaloid glucosides. Dimeric Erythrina alkaloids and monomers, turcomanidine and isoboldine, showed medium xanthine oxidase inhibition.     

Naphthalene derivatives of a conformationally locked GFP chromophore with large stokes shifts

The active development of fluorescence microscopy requires an increase in the variety of the dyes and their characteristics. Compounds with a large Stokes shift, i.e., a large difference between the positions of the absorption and emission maxima, have attracted the interest of researchers as a tool that can be used for multicolor labeling. One of the known approaches to increase the Stokes shift is the introduction of additional polycyclic fragments. Herein, we report novel derivatives of a conformationally locked GFP chromophore containing the naphthalene ring. The proposed modification leads not only to the enhancement of the Stokes shift up to 100 nm but also leads to the noticeable red-shift of the emission and absorption spectra in contrast with the corresponding derivatives with one benzene ring.     

Acid-catalyzed highly diastereoselective and effective synthesis of 1,3-disubstituted tetrahydropyrano[3,4-b]indoles

We successfully explored for the first time that trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) can effectively catalyze the oxa-Pictet-Spengler reaction of secondary tryptophols and acetals to synthesize 1,3-disubstituted 1,3,4,9-tetrahydropyrano[3,4-b]indoles in high yield (up to >99%) and diastereoselectivity (>20:1). The secondary tryptophols were synthesized from indole-3-acetic acid. The one-pot synthesis of tetrahydropyrano[3,4-b]indoles was successfully developed from secondary tryptophols and in situ prepared acetals from aldehydes and trimethylorthoformate and thus the cost-efficiency of the protocol was effectively enhanced. Finally, the catalytic asymmetric synthesis of the 1,3-disubstituted tetrahydropyrano[3,4-b]indole was also demonstrated after enantioselective achievement of highly enantiopure secondary tryptophols.     

An internal oxidant-directing strategy enabling transition metal-free C–S bond ligation

Organic sulfur compounds have broad applications in biology, medicine and material sciences and intensive efforts have been devoted to developing mild and general C–S bond-forming methods. However, a mild, transition-metal-free, direct C–H bond functionalization method remains elusive. Here, we report the use of an internal oxidant-directing strategy to achieve this goal. The cascade reactions described here show excellent chemoselectivity and a wide substrate scope for both oxyamines and sulfenylation reagents. This study enlarges the synthesis toolbox for preparing structurally diverse sulfilimines under mild conditions.     

Efficient activation of peroxymonosulfate by hollow cobalt hydroxide for degradation of ibuprofen and theoretical study

Hollow microsphere structure cobalt hydroxide (h-Co(OH)₂) was synthesized via an optimized solvothermal-hydrothermal process and applied to activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) for degradation of a typical pharmaceutically active compound, ibuprofen (IBP). The material characterizations confirmed the presence of the microscale hollow spheres with thin nanosheets shell in h-Co(OH)₂, and the crystalline phase was assigned to α-Co(OH)₂. h-Co(OH)₂ could efficiently activate PMS for radicals production, and 98.6% of IBP was degraded at 10 min. The activation of PMS by h-Co(OH)₂ was a pH-independent process, and pH 7 was the optimum condition for the activation-degradation system. Scavenger quenching test indicated that the sulfate radical (SO₄^{? ?}) was the primary reactive oxygen species for IBP degradation, which contributed to 75.7%. Fukui index (f ^?) based on density functional theory (DFT) calculation predicted the active sites of IBP molecule for SO₄^{? ?} attack, and then IBP degradation pathway was proposed by means of intermediates identification and theoretical calculation. The developed hollow Co(OH)₂ used to efficiently activate PMS is promising and innovative alternative for organic contaminants removal from water and wastewater.     

Iodine-catalyzed aerobic oxidation of o-alkylazoarenes to 2H-indazoles

An iodine-catalyzed aerobic-oxidative C-H functionalization of o-alkylazoarenes to afford 2H-indazoles has been developed. CuI was found to be an effective additive to accelerate the regeneration of iodine in the catalytic cycle. This catalytic system is suitable for both electron-rich and electron-deficient azoarenes and tolerates a variety of functional groups with high yields. A gram-scale reaction was successfully conducted, proving the scalability of this reaction.     

Kharasch reaction: Cu-catalyzed and non-Kharasch metal-free peroxidation of barbituric acids

It was discovered that the Kharasch peroxidation of barbituric acids proceeds both with a Cu-catalyst and without a metal catalyst. Despite the presence of possible thermal-initiated side oxidation pathways, α-tert-butylperoxybarbiturates were selectively prepared from substituted barbituric acids and tert-butyl hydroperoxide.     

Bistachybotrysins D and E,one stereoisomeric pair of cytotoxic phenylspirodrimane dimers from Stachybotrys chartarum

Bistachybotrysins D and E (1 and 2), one stereoisomeric pair of phenylspirodrimane dimers, were isolated from Stachybotrys chartarum CGMCC 3.5365. They represent novel phenylspirodrimane dimers with a central [6,5,6]-tricyclic carbon scaffold containing a cyclopentanone core. The structures of 1 and 2 were elucidated through extensive spectroscopic data analysis, and their absolute configurations were characterized by calculated electronic circular dichroism (ECD). Compounds 1 and 2 displayed potent cytotoxic activity against the four human tumor cell lines HCT116, BGC823, Daoy and HepG2 with IC_ (50)values ranging from 6.7 μmol/L to 11.6 μmol/L. Furthermore, a plausible biogenetic pathway for 1 and 2 is proposed.     

Construction of highly enantiopure β,β-diaryl substituted glycine containing two contiguous stereocenters via asymmetric 1,6-conjugate addition

Asymmetric construction of β,β-diaryl substituted glycine bearing two contiguous chiral centers remains a significant challenge. Herein, the application of the para-quinone methides (p-QMs) and Ni(II)- complex of glycine via 1,6-conjugate addition to achieve asymmetric synthesis of β,β-diaryl substituted glycine has been explored successfully. This protocol features operational simplicity, high diastereoselectivity, and recyclable chiral ligand, which provides a versatile approach to the synthesis of highly enantiopure β,β-diaryl substituted glycine.