Sodium phenoxide-phosphine oxides as extremely active Lewis base catalysts for the Mukaiyama aldol reaction with ketones

A highly efficient Mukaiyama aldol reaction between ketones and trimethylsilyl enolates catalyzed by sodium phenoxide-phosphine oxides as simple homogeneous Lewis base catalysts (0.5-10 mol %) was developed, which minimized competing retro-aldol reaction. For a variety of aromatic ketones and aldimines, aldol and Mannich-type products with an alpha-quaternary carbon center were obtained in good to excellent yields. Up to 100 mmol scale of benzophenone and trimethylsilyl enolate with 0.5 mol % of catalyst was established in 97% yield (34.8 g).     

Single-molecule measurements with a single quantum dot

Recent progress of quantum dot (QD) applications in single-molecule measurements are reviewed in this paper. Bright fluorescence and anti-photobleaching properties of QDs have explored the way to conduct long-time trajectory tracking of transmembrane proteins both in vitro and in vivo. Coupled with diversities of chemical and biochemical modifications of QD surfaces, their application fields are expanding to multidiscipline fields including imaging on the basis of a single molecule. Currently, molecular interactions and conformational changes on the QD surface can be detected at a single-molecule level. These expansions of application fields also involve toxicity problems in cells since most commercially available QDs consist of cadmium selenide or cadmium telluride, which are inherently toxic. For widespread applications of QDs including in vivo and therapeutic use in place of current organic fluorophore, cytotoxicity is discussed as well in this paper. 10.1002/tcr.20128.     

The scope and limitation of the regio- and enantioselective hydrolysis of aliphatic epoxides using Bacillus subtilis epoxide hydrolase,and exploration toward chirally differentiated tris(hydroxymethyl)methanol

The substrate specificity of an engineered Bacillus subtilis epoxide hydrolase, which so far had shown high activity and enantioselectivity with 1-benzyloxymethyl-1-methyloxirane, has been studied by altering the methyl substituent into hydrogen, oxygen-containing functionalities, and unsaturated homologs. High enantioselectivity (E = 44) was observed with 1-benzyloxymethyl-1-vinyloxirane with a proper catalytic activity. The elaboration of the reaction conditions and work-up procedures enabled a preparative-scale kinetic resolution, to give (R)-2-benzyloxymethyl-3-butene-1,2-diol and its antipodal (R)-epoxide in high ees.     

Preparation and Characterization of Phospha Sugar Analogues, 2,3-Dibromo-3-methyl-1- phenylphospholane 1-Oxide Derivatives,as Novel Anticancer Agents

The synthesis of new phospha sugar analogues or phosphorus heterocycles and their biological activities as novel anticancer agents are reported in this article. A 1,2-dibromo-1,2-dideoxy phospha sugar derivative, 2,3-dibromo-3-methyl-1-phenylphospholane 1-oxide (2), was prepared from 1-phenyl-3-methyl-2-phospholene 1-oxide (1), and the yield and ratio of diastereomers 2a to 2d were changed by a catalyst such as manganese(IV) oxide and manganese(II) bromide. The antitumor activities of the mixture of dibromides 2 and the separated diastereomeric components 2a to 2d of the dibromides were evaluated by MTT in vitro method against the human leukemia cell lines of K562 and U937. The results showed that all of the diastereomers 2a to 2d as well as the diastereomer mixture exert excellent anticancer activity, and moreover, among them, diastereomer 2d showed the highest antitumor activity.

Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Phosphorus, Sulfur, and Silicon and the Related Elements to view the free supplemental file.     

Communication: Synthesis of 3-O-Benzyl-β-L-Arabinofuranose 1,2,5-Orthopivalate as a Starting Monomer for Ring-Opening Polymerization

We have studied the ring-opening polymerizations of a variety of glucose orthoester derivatives and found that substituents on the monomer play an important role in stereo- and regioregularity of the resulting polymers.^1-3 These substituent effects open the possibility of application to ring-opening polymerizations of other sugar orthoesters to give stereo- and regioregular polysaccharides. Additionally, the ring-opening polymerization of the galactose orthoester derivative⁴ gave stereoregular (1→5)-β-D-galactofuranan.     

Computer Simulation of Biphenyl-Phenyl Ester Liquid Crystals

Abstract

Molecular orbital (MO) calculation and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation were carried out for a set of smectic liquid crystalline molecules, 8O-O8 (4-octyloxyphenyl-4′-octyloxybi-phenyl-4-carboxylate) and 8O-8 (4-octylphenyl-4′-octyloxybiphenyl-4-carboxylate), to understand the molecular origin of different crystalline structure formation and to predict their conformational property in liquid crystalline phases. The results of MO and MD analyses indicate that the structure of 8O-O8 and 8O-8 in crystalline phase is essentially determined by intramolecular interactions and the experimentally observed structure is chosen as a consequence of intermolecular packing constraints. This paper also reports the first application of two-molecular ab-initio calculation to liquid crystalline systems.     

X‐ray diffraction study of the thermal expansion behavior of cellulose triacetate I

Highly crystalline samples of cellulose triacetate I (CTA I) were prepared from highly crystalline algal cellulose by heterogeneous acetylation. X‐ray diffraction of the prepared samples was carried out in a helium atmosphere at temperatures ranging from 20 to 250 °C. Changes in seven d‐spacings were observed with increasing temperature due to thermal expansion of the CTA I crystals. Unit cell parameters at specific temperatures were determined from these d‐spacings by the least squares method, and then thermal expansion coefficients (TECs) were calculated. The linear TECs of the a, b, and c axes were α_a = 19.3 × 10^?5 °C^?1, α_b = 0.3 × 10^?5 °C^?1 (T < 130 °C), α_b = ?2.5 × 10^?5 °C^?1 (T > 130 °C), and α_c = ?1.9 × 10^?5 °C^?1, respectively. The volume TEC was β = 15.6 × 10^?5 °C^?1, which is about 1.4 and 2.2 times greater than that of cellulose I_β and cellulose III_I, respectively. This large thermal expansion could occur because no hydrogen bonding exists in CTA I. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 47: 517–523, 2009     

Studies of the Polymerization of Diallyl Compounds. XL. Correlation between Addition Modes and Evolution of Carbon Dioxide in the Polymerization of Diailyl Oxalate

The occurrence of head-to-head (HH) addition in the radical polymerization of diallyl oxalate (DAO) was examined under various polymerization conditions. The content of HH linkage in poly (DAO) was reduced in comparison with allyl acetate and diallyl succinate; this may be ascribed to the high polarity of DAO inducing a polar effect on the intermolecular propagation of the growing polymer radical, resulting in reduced HH addition. The correlation between addition modes and evolution of carbon dioxide characteristic of DAO polymerization at elevated temperatures is mechanistically discussed in detail, with special focus on the solvent effect and the reduced dismutation of the cyclized radical compared to the uncyclized one.