Grubbs carbene complex-catalyzed cleavage of allyl vic-diols to aldehydes with a co-oxidant: application to the selective cleavage of huge marine molecules

An oxidative cleavage of allyl vic-diols to aldehydes catalyzed by a Grubbs carbene complex using a co-oxidant has been established for the first time, with good yields. The utility of this selective cleavage reaction was demonstrated through the use of two huge marine molecules, symbiodinolide and N-p-BrBz palytoxin.     

Targeted Delivery using Immunoliposomes with a Lipid-Modified Antibody-Binding Protein

A recombinant antibody-binding protein originating from streptococcal protein G was modified with lipid in a site-directed manner by genetic engineering. The resulting lipoprotein was incorporated into the surface of liposomes by simple mixing. Immunoliposomes were then prepared by binding anti-IgG antibodies molecules onto the surface of proteoliposome via the lipid-anchored streptococcal protein G. Either small fluorophores or fluorescently labeled proteins were encapsulated into prepared immunoliposomes, and these molecular tracers could be delivered into cells whose surfaces were marked with specific antibodies.     

Novel metal-free hydrogenation of the carbon-carbon double bond in azulenoid enones by use of cycloheptatriene and protic acid

[reaction: see text] An efficient method for the hydrogenation of the carbon-carbon double bond in azulenoid and aromatic fused azulenoid enones without the use of hydrogen and a metal catalyst is reported. Treatment of a variety of azulenoid enones with cycloheptatriene and a protic acid in acetonitrile gave the corresponding beta-azulenyl ketone derivatives in excellent to moderate yield. In this reaction, cycloheptatriene acts as a hydride donor.     

Synthesis and toxicity assay of ceramic nanophosphors for bioimaging with near-infrared excitation

Yttrium hydroxyl carbonate (Y(OH)CO₃) precursors were synthesized by the homogeneous co-precipitation method in the presence of polyacrylic acid (PAAc). Resultant precursor particle size is about 15–20 nm with narrow size distribution whereas the particle size is smaller than those acquired by the conventional homogeneous precipitation method. Effective decrease of Y(OH)CO₃ particle size was found to be higher for the presence of weak polyanionic ionomer such as PAAc than the presence of strong polyanionic ionomer such as sodium polystyrene sulfonate (PSS). It was observed that the morphology and size of the precursors are almost unchanged after the calcination process. Er³⁺ doped Y₂O₃ nanoparticles were synthesized by PAAc assisted homogeneous co-precipitation method showed bright green (550 nm) and red (660 nm) upconversion (UC) as well as near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence (1550 nm) under 980-nm excitation. UC and NIR fluorescence bioimaging and in-vitro cytotoxicity assay of Er³⁺ doped Y₂O₃ nanoparticles were successfully attempted with commercially available macrophages and B-cell hybridomas. Cellular uptake of nanoparticles is evidenced from bright field, UC and NIR fluorescence images of macrophages.     

Novel and efficient one‐pot synthesis of azuleno[1,2‐b]‐benzothiophenic enones from the corresponding 2‐cycloheptatrientyl‐3‐(2‐furyl)benzothiophenes

2‐Cycloheptatrienyl‐3‐(2‐furyl)benzothiophenes, which are prepared by Stille coupling reaction of 2‐cyclo‐heptatrienyl‐3‐bromobenzothiophene with the 5‐substituted 2‐trimethylstannylfurans, react with triphenylmethyl tetrafluoroborate to give the corresponding azuleno[1,2‐b]benzothiophenic enones in excellent yields.     

Bifurcation phenomena associated to a class of p-Laplacian like operators

 Global bifurcation of positive solutions for some degenerate quasilinear elliptic problems is considered. The uniform estimate of the gradient of weak solutions is given. This estimate is crucial in our arguments. Received: 10 August 2001 Supported in part by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. 11640207), Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, Japan. Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 35B32, 35J25, 35J70     

Integrable coupled dispersionless equations

A new type of coupled dispersionless equations, which has a real dark type of soliton and a complex bright type of envelope soliton, is proposed and solved by the inverse scattering method. The N-soliton solution is given and one and two solitons are explicitly shown.     

Friedländer reaction of 3-acetyltropolones: Synthesis of naphthyridinyl- and allied heterocyclic-substituted tropolones

Five 3-acetyltropolones reacted with 2-amino-3-pyridinecarbaldehyde to afford the corresponding 3-(1,8-naphthyridin-2-yl)tropolones in excellent yields. In a similar manner, 1,6-naphthyridin-2-yl-,1,7-naphthyridin-2-yl-, 6-pyrido[2,3-b]pyrazinyl-, and 1-methyl-6-pyrazolo[5,4-b]pyridyl-substituted tropolones were prepared. Reactivities of amino-substituted heteroarenecarbaldehydes in these reactions and properties of the products are also discussed.     

A normalization method of input data that conserves the norm information for competitive learning neural network using inner product

Normalization of input vector is essential for a competitive learning neural network using the inner product. In this paper we propose a transformation method of input vector without losing the norm information. To conserve the norm information, an additional vector component concerning the norm is introduced besides the original normalized components of the input vector. By applying the method to Kohonen’s self-organizing feature map, its usefulness is demonstrated. We also propose an optical apparatus for its realization.