Conformation and Atropisomeric Properties of Indometacin Derivatives

The stereochemistry around the N‐benzoylated indole moiety of indometacin was studied by restricting the rotation about the N? C7′ and/or C7′? C1′ bond. In the 2′,6′‐disubstituted ones, an atropisomeric property was found and the atropoisomers were separated and isolated as stable forms. Their biological abilities to inhibit cyclooxygenase‐1 (COX‐1) and cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2) were examined. Only the aR‐isomer showed specific inhibition of COX‐1, and COX‐2 was not inhibited by either atropisomer. Conformational analysis in NMR studies and X‐ray crystallography, and CD spectra in combination with calculations were utilized to elucidate the bioactive conformations.     

Synthesis and Properties of Phosphorus-Containing Aromatic Polyethers

The phosphorus-containing aromatic polyethers were prepared from bis(p-chlorophenyl)phenylphosphine oxide (BCPO) with the sodium salt of several bisphenols by high temperature solution polycondensation. The best result (yield 84%, n _sp /c = 0.15) was obtained from BCPO with bisphenol A (BPA) in dimethyl sulfoxide. However, the polymerization in the solvents such as N, N′-dimethyl-2-pyrrolidone, hexamethylphosphoramide, and N,N′-dimethylformamide, and the polymerization with the other bisphenols HO-C₆H₄-X-C₆H₄?OH, where X = CO, S0₂, CH₃P(O), C₆H₅P(O) in place of BPA gave gumlike polymers. The polymer prepared from BCPO and BPA did not decompose up to ca. 300°C under air or nitrogen atmosphere, but it decomposed slowly at 300–520°C, and decomposed rapidly at 520–540°C. The activation energy (δE) for the maximum rate of weight loss was 47.8 kcal/mole.     

All Non-Carbon B3NO2 Exotic Heterocycles: Synthesis,Dynamics, and Catalysis

The B₃NO₂ six-membered heterocycle (1,3-dioxa-5-aza-2,4,6-triborinane=DATB), comprising three different non-carbon period 2 elements, has been recently demonstrated to be a powerful catalyst for dehydrative condensation of carboxylic acids and amines. The tedious synthesis of DATB, however, has significantly diminished its utility as a catalyst, and thus the inherent chemical properties of the ring system have remained virtually unexplored. Here, a general and facile synthetic strategy that harnesses a pyrimidine-containing scaffold for the reliable installation of boron atoms is disclosed, giving rise to a series of Pym-DATBs from inexpensive materials in a modular fashion. The identification of a soluble Pym-DATB derivative allowed for the investigation of the dynamic nature of the B₃NO₂ ring system, revealing differential ring-closing and -opening behaviors depending on the medium. Readily accessible Pym-DATBs proved their utility as efficient catalysts for dehydrative amidation with broad substrate scope and functional-group tolerance, offering a general and practical catalytic alternative to reagent-driven amidation.     

BDH-TTP as a Structural Isomer of BEDT-TTF,and Its Two-Dimensional Hexafluorophosphate Salt

Metallic behavior down to low temperature is shown by charge transfer salts of BDH-TTP ( 1 ), a structural isomer of bis(ethylenedithio)tetrathiafulvalene (BEDT-TTF). In the case of (BDH-TTP)₂PF₆ this behavior is attributed to the structure, which is made up of κ-type sheets of BDH-TTP donor molecules and sheets of PF₆⁻ anions.     

Radiation-induced emission from golden hamster embryo cells

Emission from high-energy-electron-irradiated golden hamster embryo (GHE) cells has been studied over the temperature range 12–300 K both by a one-shot-single-photon-counting method and by photocurrent measurements with an oscilloscope. Emission from the irradiated phosphate buffered saline (PBS) also has been studied. The emission spectra from PBS at 12 and 77 K show a maximum around 330 and 380 nm, respectively, which are the same spectra as those from irradiated pure H₂O. The emission from irradiated GHE consists of the new band at 480 nm in addition to the emission from H₂O. The 480 nm emission is observed at the temperature range of 12–300 K, though the emission at 300 K is much lower than that at low temperature. The 480 nm emission is ascribed to the transition from excited organic substances in GHE cells. The intensity of 480 nm emission at 300 K increases linearly with increasing irradiation-dose in the range of 11–600 Gy.     

Catalytic Active Site for NO Decomposition Elucidated by Surface Science and Real Catalyst

Comprehensive studies combining surface science and real catalyst were performed to get further insight into catalytic active site and reaction mechanism for NO decomposition over supported palladium and cobalt oxide-based catalysts. On palladium single-crystal model catalysts, adsorption, dissociation and desorption behavior of NO was found to be closely related to the surface structures, the stepped surface palladium being active for dissociation of NO. In accordance with this result, the activity of powder Pd/Al₂O₃ catalysts for NO decomposition was directly related to the number of step sites exposed on the surface, suggesting that the step sites act as the catalytic active site for NO decomposition on Pd/Al₂O₃. NO decomposition over cobalt oxide was found to be significantly promoted by addition of alkali metals. Surface science study and catalyst characterization led to the same conclusion that the interface between the alkali metal and Co₃O₄ serves as the catalytic active site. From the results of in situ Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and isotopic transient kinetic analysis, a reaction mechanism was proposed in which the reaction is initiated by NO adsorption onto alkali metals to form NO₂⁻ species and then NO₂⁻ species react with the adsorbed NO species to form N₂ over the interface between the alkali metal and Co₃O₄.     

Multiplex amplified product-length polymorphism analysis of 36 mitochondrial single-nucleotide polymorphisms for haplogrouping of East Asian populations

We present a reliable, rapid, and economical multiplex amplified product-length polymorphism (APLP) method for analyzing the haplogroup-diagnostic mitochondrial single-nucleotide polymorphisms (mtSNPs) in East Asian populations. By examining only 36 haplogroup-specific mtSNPs in the coding region by using four 9-multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and subsequent electrophoresis, we could safely assign 1815 individuals from 8 populations of Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Germans to 45 relevant haplogroups. This multiplex APLP analysis of coding-region mtSNPs for haplogrouping is especially useful not only for molecular phylogenetic studies but also for large-scale association studies due to its rapid and economical nature. This is the first panel of mtSNPs in the coding region to be used for haplogrouping of East Asian populations.     

Novel asymmetric through-hole array microfabricated on a silicon plate for formulating monodisperse emulsions

We have proposed a novel microchannel (MC) structure for formulating monodisperse emulsions. The emulsification device is a silicon array of microfabricated, asymmetric through-holes with a slit and a circular channel (an asymmetric straight-through MC). The asymmetric through-holes of a uniform size stably yielded monodisperse emulsions with average droplet diameters of 35-41 mum and coefficients of variation of less than 2% by forcing the to-be-dispersed phase into the continuous phase via the through-holes. Their asymmetry enabled the stable formation of monodisperse emulsion droplets by spontaneous transformation, even using a to-be-dispersed phase with a very low viscosity below 1 mPa s. Additionally, the asymmetric straight-through MC with a high-density through-hole layout has the potential for high-throughput formulation of monodisperse emulsions.     

An iterative type I polyketide synthase PKSN catalyzes synthesis of the decaketide alternapyrone with regio-specific octa-methylation

A biosynthetic gene cluster containing five genes, alt1-5, was cloned from Alternaria solani, a causal fungus of early blight disease to tomato and potato. Homology searching indicated that the alt1, 2, and 3 genes code for cytochrome P450s and the alt4 gene for a FAD-dependent oxygenase/oxidase. The alt5 gene encodes a polyketide synthase (PKS), named PKSN, that was found to be an iterative type I complex reduced-type PKS with a C-methyltransferase domain. To identify the PKSN function, the alt5 gene was introduced into the fungal host Aspergillus oryzae under an alpha-amylase promoter. The transformant produced a polyketide compound, named alternapyrone, whose structure is shown to be 3,5-dimethyl-4-hydroxy-6-(1,3,5,7,11,13-hexamethyl-3,5,11-pentadecatrienyl)-pyran-2-one. Labeling experiments confirmed that alternapyrone is a decaketide with octa-methylation from methionine on every C(2) unit except the third unit.