Triterpenoid total synthesis. Synthesis and absolute configuration of mispyric acid

The first synthesis of mispyric acid (1), an inhibitor of DNA polymerase beta with a novel triterpene skeleton, was achieved by starting from isoprene (2), geraniol (6) and 1,5-dimethoxy-1,4-cyclohexadiene (14). The absolute configuration of the naturally occurring 1 was determined as 2S,4S.     

New sesquiterpene hydroperoxides with trypanocidal activity from Pogostemon cablin

Trypanocidal constituents of Pogostemon cablin were investigated. Activity guided isolation of the acetone extract resulted in isolation of three new sesquiterpene hydroperoxides 1-3, together with a known sesquiterpene, patchouli alcohol (4). In vitro minimum lethal concentrations of the hydroperoxides 1-3 against epimastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi were 0.84 microM (1), 1.7 microM (2) and 1.7 microM (3). The activity of the corresponding alcohols and patchouli alcohol was very weak (MLC>200 microM).     

A new redox-active coordination polymer with cobalticinium dicarboxylate

A new two-dimensional coordination polymer with cobalticinium 1,1'-dicarboxylate (ccdc) incorporated in the framework has been prepared, the ccdc functioning as unique monoanionic dicarboxylate ligands. The compound shows a high redox activity based on the ccdc units.     

Models and Inference for Corrosion Pit Depth Data

A new regression structure is introduced to several families of distributions, including the Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) distribution, which are available to explain the distribution of the maximum pit depth of a small sample. This regression structure depends on sample sizes, but under a simple assumption it is also available in the case of unknown sample sizes. GEV with the proposed regression structure provides us with a new extrapolation model for time. Compared to ordinary GEV models, effectiveness of our GEV model is demonstrated for our real data set. Also, comparisons are made with GEV and other two families of distributions with respect to the proposed regression structure.     

Phase-transition phenomena of 0.8 microm superfluid 3He slab

We have investigated the transition phenomena of superfluid 3He in thin 0.8 microm slabs with a cw-NMR method. We found that, just below the phase-transition temperature, only the A phase appeared at any pressure. At lower temperatures, the phase transition to the B phase occurred between 0.3 and 2.74 MPa. We obtained a universal critical thickness delta as a function of pressure. When the reduced slab thickness, d/xi(T), is smaller than delta, only the A phase becomes stable.     

Improved direct measurement of A(b) and A(c) at the Z(0) pole using a lepton tag

The parity violation parameters A(b) and A(c) of the Zb(b) and Zc(c) couplings have been measured directly, using the polar angle dependence of the polarized cross sections at the Z(0) pole. Bottom and charmed hadrons were tagged via their semileptonic decays. Both the electron and muon analyses take advantage of new multivariate techniques to increase the analyzing power. Based on the 1993-1998 SLD sample of 550,000 Z(0) decays produced with highly polarized electron beams, we measure A(b) = 0.919+/-0.030(stat)+/-0.024(syst), and A(c) = 0.583+/-0.055(stat)+/-0.055(syst).     

Relative carrier-envelope phase dynamics between passively synchronized Ti:sapphire and Cr:forsterite lasers

We observed and measured the relative carrier-envelope phase difference per round trip between synchronized femtosecond Ti:sapphire and Cr:forsterite mode-locked lasers. The relative carrier-envelope phase slip was directly recorded by heterodyning of the Cr:forsterite laser with the supercontinuum from the Ti:sapphire laser. We also obtained another phase relation by superimposing the third harmonic of the Cr:forsterite laser with the second harmonic of the Ti:sapphire laser. In the latter case we obtained a stable beat signal with a signal-to-noise ratio larger than 30 dB and found a dependence of the beat frequency on the cavity length.     

Practical asymmetric synthesis of the herbicide (S)-indanofan via lipase-catalyzed kinetic resolution of a diol and stereoselective acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of a chiral epoxide

Racemic indanofan [(+/-)-1] was efficiently converted to enantiopure (S)-indanofan [(S)-1] by a combination of enzymatic resolution and chemical inversion techniques. An additional important technique is the use of an o-xylene complex of a hemiketal (S)-3c as a precursor, which can be quantitatively converted to (S)-indanofan and easily purified by recrystallization from o-xylene.