Total Synthesis and Structure Revision of Didemnaketal B

Didemnaketal B, a structurally complex spiroacetal that exhibits potent HIV‐1 protease inhibitory activity, was originally discovered by Faulkner and his colleagues from the ascidian Didemnum sp. collected at Palau. Its absolute configuration was proposed on the basis of degradation/derivatization experiments of the authentic sample. However, our total synthesis of the proposed structure of didemnaketal B questioned the stereochemical assignment made by Faulkner et al. Here we describe in detail our first total synthesis of the proposed structure 2 of didemnaketal B, which features 1) a convergent synthesis of the C7–C21 spiroacetal domain by means of a strategy exploiting Suzuki–Miyaura coupling, 2) an Evans syn‐aldol reaction and a vinylogous Mukaiyama aldol reaction for the assembly of the C1–C7 acyclic domain, and 3) a Nozaki–Hiyama–Kishi reaction for the construction of the C21–C28 side chain domain. The NMR spectroscopic discrepancies observed between synthetic 2 and the authentic sample as well as careful inspection of the Faulkner’s stereochemical assignment led us to postulate that the absolute configuration of the C10–C20 domain of 2 has been erroneously assigned. Accordingly, the total synthesis of the revised structure 65 was achieved to show that the NMR spectroscopic properties of synthetic 65 were in good agreement with those of the authentic sample. Furthermore, application of the phenylglycine methyl ester (PGME) method to the C7–C21 spiroacetal domain enabled us to establish the absolute configuration of didemnaketal B.     

Effects of Arrangement of UV Light‐Emitting Diodes on the Inactivation Efficiency of Microorganisms in Water

Ultraviolet light‐emitting diodes (UV‐LEDs) offer high flexibility in the reactor design for water disinfection. To specify the key design factors affecting the performance of a reactor, we examined how the arrangement of UV‐LEDs in a cylindrical reactor affects the inactivation efficiency of Escherichia coli and coliphage Qβ. A ring‐shaped UV‐LED apparatus, composed of two units containing ten 285‐nm UV‐LEDs each, were attached to a quartz cylinder, and microbial suspensions flowed through the cylinder for single pass at altered flow rates. The distance between the two units, L, was altered to examine its effects on inactivation efficiencies. Over 4 log inactivation of E. coli was achieved at 800 mL min^?1 regardless of the L values, suggesting that the apparatus has a high potential to disinfect water. The inactivation at L = 20 mm was significantly higher than that at L = 0 in all cases tested (ANOVA, P < 0.05), while this was not true when L was extended to 40 and 60 mm. Therefore, a separate arrangement of UV‐LEDs at a certain distance can improve the efficiency, and the distance matters to enhance the performance. This study involves a design concept on how to arrange UV‐LEDs in a water disinfection apparatus.     

Remarkable effects of titanium tetrachloride in diastereoselective aza Diels-Alder cycloaddition: synthesis of (S)-piperazic acid

Titanium tetrachloride-mediated aza Diels-Alder cycloaddition using a chiral diene and an aza dienophile proceeds in highly diastereoselective manner to form a dehydropiperazic acid derivative in high yield, and diastereoselectivity of the reaction depends on the quantity of titanium tetrachloride.     

Adsorption structure of acetic anhydride on a TiO2(1 1 0) surface observed by scanning tunneling microscopy

The carboxylic acids are stably adsorbed on TiO₂(1 1 0) surfaces at room temperature. To demonstrate the neutralization mechanism proposed by Ashima et al. [H. Ashima, W.-J. Chun, K. Asakura, Surf. Sci. 601 (2007) 1822.] that explains the stable adsorption of carboxylic acids, we studied the full-coverage adsorption structure of acetic anhydride on a TiO₂(1 1 0) surface by STM (scanning tunneling microscopy). We directly observed three postulated species on the TiO₂(1 1 0) surface; normal acetates (termed acetate A) forming a (2 × 1) ordered structure, a minor acetate species (termed acetate B) which was present between the bridging oxygen and the 5-fold Ti, and the oxygen vacancies. We determined the ratio of these three species. This ratio was in good agreement with the postulated conversion reaction of acetate B to A.     

Size separation of colloidally dispersed nanoparticles using a monolithic capillary column

We developed a method to separate colloidally dispersed nanoparticles on monolithic capillary columns. Silica nanoparticles were eluted according to their sizes, and the plots of the logarithm of the size of nanoparticles against their elution volume showed good linearity (r=0.992) over wide range of sizes. Because of the high porosity of the monolithic column (porosity; 88%), the column's length could be increased without clogging of the dispersed samples and the pressure in a long column (500 mm × 0.2 mm i.d.) was low, with a value of 5.8 MPa at a flow rate of 1 μL/min. We demonstrate that this method using monolithic capillary columns could be used as a powerful tool for size separation of nanometer-size materials, which will open a new pathway to quality control of nanomaterials in nanotechnology applications.     

Hg(OTf)2-catalyzed arylene cyclization

Novel Hg(OTf) 2-catalyzed arylene cyclization was achieved with highly efficient catalytic turnover (up to 200 times). The reaction takes place via protonation of allylic hydroxyl group by in situ formed TfOH of an organomercuric intermediate to generate a cationic species. Subsequent smooth demercuration regenerates the catalyst.     

Difluorinated Danishefsky's diene: a versatile C(4) building block for the fluorinated six-membered rings

[reaction: see text] A Mg(0)/Me(3)SiCl system was found to be effective for the preparation of difluoro Danishefsky's dienes 2, which involves selective C-F bond cleavage of trifluoromethyl ketones 3. Subsequent hetero Diels-Alder reactions of 2 with aldehydes and imines gave a variety of fluorinated six-membered heterocycles.     

GLC determination of partial molar free energies at infinite dilution for simple organic solutes in moderately volatile solvents

Summary A simple and sensitive method is described for the determination of methylaltrexone, a quaternary narcotic antagonist, in discrete rat brain regions and serum. Separation and quantitation are performed by reversedphase high-performance liquid chromatography with coulometric electrochemical detection. Perchloric acid extracts of the brain tissue or serum were passed through a normal-phase solid-phase extraction CN column, and methylnaltreexone was subsequently eluted with a mixture of absolute ethanol and 25mM trifluoroacetic acid. Methylnaltrexone gave a linear response over the range of 12.5–100ng in 1.0ml for cerebellar homogenates and 25–200ng in 50l for serum. The average betweenassay coefficients of variation for methylnaltrexone from 1.0ml of cerebellar homogenate and 50l of serum were 5.2 and 3.6%, respectively, over the concentration range studied. The within-assay coefficients of variation at 12.5ng/ml cerebellar homogenate and 25ng/50l for serum were 7.4 and 4.6%, respectively. Analytical recovery of methylanyltrexone, added to cerebellar homogenate and serum samples, were 85 and 89%, respectively. The method was applied to the analysis of methylnaltrexone in discrete rat brain regions and serum after intraperitoneal injection.     

Algebraic theory of difference equations and Mahler functions

Algebraic independence of certain Mahler functions constructed from Rudin–Schapiro sequences and Baum–Sweet sequences is proved, using difference Riccati equations and the notion of difference field extension of valuation ring type.