Cascade and one-pot processes providing substituted quinolines from aldimines and allylsilanes: auto-tandem catalysis of triflic imide

We have demonstrated cascade and one-pot reactions, which constitute inverse electron demand hetero-Diels-Alder reaction and oxidative aromatization, to provide substituted quinolines to form aryl aldimines and allylsilanes. The cascade process involves an auto-tandem catalysis; Tf₂NH activates these mechanistically distinct reactions. We have found that a multicomponent process starting from aniline, aldehyde, and allylsilane is also available.     

A C4N4 Diaminopyrimidine Fluorophore

A new scaffold for producing efficient organic fluorescent materials was identified: 2,5-diamino-4,6-diarylpyrimidine featuring a C4N4 elemental composition. Single-step installation of two aryl groups at the 4,6-positions of the pyrimidine core delivered fluorescent organic materials in a modular fashion. A range of fluorescent compounds with distinct absorption/emission properties was readily accessed by changing the aromatic attachments. A generally high absorption coefficient and quantum yield were observed, including C4N4 derivatives that could fluoresce even in the solid state. The two amino groups at the 2,5-positions of the pyrimidine were essential for intense fluorescence with a large Stokes shift, which was corroborated by structural relaxation to a p-iminoquinone-like structure in the excited state. Besides live-cell imaging capabilities, fluorescent labeling of a protein involved in autophagy elucidated a new protein–protein interaction, supporting potential utility in bioimaging applications.     

Total Synthesis and Complete Stereostructure of a Marine Macrolide Glycoside, (−)‐Lyngbyaloside B

We have described in detail the total synthesis of both the proposed and correct structures of (?)‐lyngbyaloside B, which facilitated the elucidation of the complete stereostructure of this natural product. Our study began with the total synthesis of 13‐demethyllyngbyaloside B, in which an esterification/ring‐closing metathesis (RCM) strategy was successfully used for the efficient construction of the macrocycle. We also established reliable methods for the introduction of the conjugated diene side chain and the l ‐rhamnose residue onto the macrocyclic framework. However, the esterification/RCM strategy proved ineffective for the parent natural product because of the difficulties in acylating the sterically encumbered C‐13 tertiary alcohol; macrolactionization of a seco‐acid was also extensively investigated under various conditions without success. We finally completed the total synthesis of the proposed structure of (?)‐lyngbyaloside B by means of a macrolactonization that involves an acyl ketene as the reactive species. However, the NMR spectroscopic data of our synthetic material did not match those of the authentic material, which indicated that the proposed structure must be re‐examined. Inspection of the NMR spectroscopic data of the natural product and molecular mechanics calculations led us to postulate that the configuration of the C‐10, C‐11, and C‐13 stereogenic centers had been incorrectly assigned in the proposed structure. Finally, our revised structure of (?)‐lyngbyaloside B was unambiguously verified through total synthesis.     

Preparation of ureido group bearing polymers and their upper critical solution temperature in water

Poly(2‐ureidoethylmethacrylate) (PUEM_n) was synthesized via reversible addition‐fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) radical polymerization and following polymer reaction. We prepared two PUEM_n samples with different degrees of polymerization (n = 100 and 49). The polymers exhibited upper critical solution temperature (UCST) in phosphate‐buffered saline (PBS) solution. The phase separation temperature (T_p) in PBS can be controlled ranging from 17 to 55 °C by changing molecular weight of the polymer, polymer concentration, and adding NaCl concentration. The polymers in PBS formed coacervate drops by liquid–liquid phase separations below T_p. Results of the dielectric relaxation measurement, the hydration number per monomeric unit was 5 above T_p. Based on a fluorescence study, the polymer formed slightly hydrophobic environments below T_p. The liquid–liquid phase separation was occurred presumably because of weak hydrophobic interactions and intermolecularly hydrogen bonding interactions between the pendant ureido groups. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2016 , 54, 2845–2854     

On the topological complexity of DC-sets

A DC-set is a set defined by means of convex constraints and one additional inverse convex constraint. Given an arbitrary closed subsetM of the Euclideann-space, we show that there exists a DC-set in (n+1)-space being homeomorphic to the given setM. Secondly, for any fixedn2, we construct a compactn-dimensional manifold with boundary, which is a DC-set and which has arbitrarily large Betti-numbersr _k fork n–2.     

Oxygen equilibrium properties of myoglobin locked in the liganded and unliganded conformations

A comparison of the O(2) equilibrium curves of sperm-whale myoglobin locked in the liganded (CO-bound) and unliganded (deoxy) conformations by encapsulation in a wet porous sol-gel silica reveals a marked difference between them. The CO-bound state-locked myoglobin showed a nearly monophasic (hyperbolic) O(2) equilibrium curve with a dissociation constant of 0.2 Torr, which is smaller than that of myoglobin in solution (0.5 Torr). On the other hand, the deoxy state-locked myoglobin exhibited a multiphasic O(2) equilibrium curve that can be represented by a sum of three independent components with dissociation constants of 0.19, 0.90, and 44 Torr, respectively, indicating that deoxymyoglobin exists in multiple conformations. These results show that myoglobin can be frozen into ligand-dependent conformational populations at room temperature in the wet sol-gel and suggest that the overall O(2) equilibrium properties of myoglobin in solution are generated by a redistribution of protein conformational populations in response to ligand binding.     

Effect of solvent on the reactivity of functional groups in polycondensation reactions

The effect of solvent on solution or interfacial polycondensations was investigated in terms of selectivity and control of functional groups such as amine or hydroxyl groups toward polycondensation reactions. Solution polycondensation of a mixture of resorcinol (RL) and m-xylyenediamine (m-XD) with isophthaloyl chloride was affected by solvents to such extent as to change the course of the polycondensation reaction, and hexamethylenephosphoramide (HMPA) caused the formation of amide-rich polymer, while tetrahydrofuran (THF) was a solvent favoring formation of a polyamide ester with a regular structure. Polycondensation of 3,3′-dihydroxybenzidine (DHB) with isophthaloyl chloride yielded exclusively a linear polyamide in HMPA solution, while with aldehyde as a solvent polyester was obtained owing to the preservation of the amine group. Thus, it was found that the course of polycondensation reactions of monomers having different functional groups could be controlled by selection of a suitable solvent.