Development of near-infrared 35 fs laser microscope and its application to the detection of three- and four-photon fluorescence of organic microcrystals

Femtosecond near-infrared laser microscope was developed with a home-built cavity-dumped chromium:forsterite laser as a light source centered at 1.26 microm. Optimization of the pulse duration achieved 35 fs fwhm at the sample position of the microscope after passing through a 100x objective. This system was applied to the detection of multiphoton fluorescence of some organic microcrystals. Excitation intensity dependence and the interferometric autocorrelation detection of the fluorescence clearly demonstrated that simultaneous three- and four-photon absorption processes are responsible for the production of the excited state for perylene and anthracene microcrystals, respectively. The spatial resolution along the optical axis and its dependence on the order of the multiphoton process were also discussed.     

Interfacial behavior of sulforhodamine 101 at the polarized water/1,2-dichloroethane interface studied by spectroelectrochemical techniques

The transfer mechanism of an amphoteric rhodamine, sulforhodamine 101 (SR101), across the polarized water/1,2-dichloroethane (DCE) interface was investigated using cyclic voltammetry, differential voltfluorometry and potential-modulated fluorescence (PMF) spectroscopy. The voltammetric response for the ion transfer of SR101 monoanion from water to DCE was observed as the diffusion-controlled transfer process. An unusual voltammetric response was found at 0.15 V more negative than the formal transfer potential of SR101⁻ in the cyclic voltammogram and voltfluorogram. The frequency dependence of the PMF responses confirmed the presence of the adsorption processes at negative potentials. In addition, a further transient adsorption step was uncovered at The interfacial mechanism of SR101 is discussed by comparing the results obtained from each technique.     

Total synthesis of (R)-telomestatin

We have achieved a total synthesis of telomestatin, and its absolute configuration was determined to be (R). Coupling of cysteine-containing trisoxazole amine and serine-containing trisoxazole carboxylic acid, followed by macrocyclization, provided a 24-membered diamide. The seventh oxazole ring was formed by a Shin's procedure via dehydroamide. Cyclodehydration of a modified (R)-cysteine-(S-(t)Bu) moiety using Kelly's method (PPh3(O)-Tf2O) with anisole furnished (R)-telomestatin, whose CD spectrum was in good agreement with that of the natural product.     

Adsorption of biopolyester depolymerase on silicon wafer and poly[(R)-3-hydroxybutyric acid] single crystal revealed by real-time AFM

The adsorption behavior of PHB depolymerase from R. pickettii T1 on a silicon wafer and on P(3HB) single crystals has been studied by real-time and AFM in air and a buffer solution. First, the morphology of PHB depolymerase adsorbed on a silicon wafer was characterized to show that one molecule of PHB depolymerase has dimensions of 2.2 +/- 0.7 nm height and 16 +/- 5 nm width. The observation of PHB depolymerase adsorbed on a P(3HB) single crystal indicated that the dimensions of enzyme on the crystalline surface in air were 1.2 +/- 0.5 nm high and 28 +/- 7 nm wide, while enzyme molecules with dimensions of 2.1 +/- 0.6 nm height and 16 +/- 7 nm width were detected in a buffer solution. Comparison of the dimensions of PHB depolymerase in air with those in a buffer solution showed that the enzyme was squashed in air, but not in a buffer solution. In addition, the influence of enzymatic adsorption on the molecular state of the P(3HB) crystalline surface was investigated. The AFM images of P(3HB) single crystals after enzymatic adsorption and washing with ethanol indicated that the adhesion of PHB depolymerase changed the molecular state and generated holes on the crystalline surface.     

Nondestructive testing in human teeth using a leaky Lamb wave device

A Lamb wave interdigital transducer mounted on a layered substrate composed of two plates, a thin piezoelectric ceramic plate and an acrylic plate, operating at a liquid-solid boundary, is investigated for ultrasonic nondestructive testing of the layer thickness in human teeth. A higher-order mode having a phase velocity higher than the longitudinal wave velocity in the human teeth can be used for nondestructive testing. In the combination of the two layers, the fourth mode of leaky Lamb wave is most favorable for a frequency-controllable radiation angle of an ultrasound beam into a water layer as an acoustic coupler. In the configuration of an acoustic delay line, the layer-thickness measurement in vivo, evaluated from the time interval between two reflected ultrasound echoes, is successfully realized under a thin water layer as the acoustic coupler.     

Distribution of distances between topologies and its effect on detection of phylogenetic recombination

Inferences about the evolutionary history of biological sequence data are greatly influenced by the presence of recombination, that tends to disrupt the phylogenetic signal. Current recombination detection procedures focus on the phylogenetic disagreement of the data along the aligned sequences, but only recently the link between the quantification of this disagreement and the strength of the recombination was realised. We previously described a hierarchical Bayesian procedure based on the distance between topologies of neighbouring sites and a Poisson-like prior for these distances. Here, we confirm the improvement provided by this topology distance and its prior over existing methods that neglect this information by analysing datasets simulated under a complex evolutionary model. We also show how to obtain a mosaic structure representative of the posterior sample based on a newly developed centroid method.     

Facile synthesis of asymmetric quaternary centers based on diastereoselective protection of the carbonyl group at the symmetrical position

The C2-side chain hydroxyl group of 1,3-cycloalkanedione discriminates between two ketones depending on its chirality. It chooses one ketone to form hydrogen bond with the oxygen atom of the TBDPS-oxymethyl group, but chooses the other ketone upon conversion to the isopropyl acetal. Two optically pure diastereomers, whose absolute configuration at the angular position is opposite for each other, were thus synthesized from this single chiral source through simple operations. This method may be applied for the synthesis of a variety of compounds with asymmetric quaternary centers.     

Synthesis and biological evaluation of a beauveriolide analogue library

Synthesis of beauveriolide III (1b), which is an inhibitor of lipid droplet accumulation in macrophages, was achieved by solid-phase assembly of linear depsipeptide using a 2-chlorotrityl linker followed by solution-phase cyclization. On the basis of this strategy, a combinatorial library of beauveriolide analogues was carried out by radio frequency-encoded combinatorial chemistry. After automated purification using preparative reversed-phase HPLC, the library was tested for inhibitory activity of CE synthesis in macrophages to determine structure-activity relationships of beauveriolides. Among them, we found that diphenyl derivative 7{9,1} is 10 times more potent than 1b.     

Solid-phase combinatorial synthesis of aeruginosin derivatives and their biological evaluation

A 24-member combinatorial library based on the structure of aeruginosin 298-A (1a) was synthesized utilizing solid-phase, and their inhibitory activity against trypsin was evaluated. Among the library, we found that D-Hpla-D-Leu-L-Choi-Agma (1h) is 300 times more potent than the parent natural product 1a.