Synthetic alpha-mannosyl ceramide as a potent stimulant for an NKT cell repertoire bearing the invariant Valpha19-Jalpha26 TCR alpha chain

A NKT cell repertoire is characterized by the expression of the Valpha19-Jalpha26 invariant TCR alpha chain (Valpha19 NKT cell). This repertoire, as well as a well-established Valpha14-Jalpha281 invariant TCR alpha(+) NKT cell subset (Valpha14 NKT cell), has been suggested to have important roles in the regulation of the immune system and, thus, is a major therapeutic target. Here, we attempted to find specific antigens for Valpha19 NKT cells. Valpha19 as well as Valpha14 NKT cells exhibited reactivity to alpha-galactosyl ceramide (alpha-GalCer). Thus, a series of monoglycosyl ceramides with an axially oriented glycosidic linkage between the sugar and ceramide moiety were synthesized and their antigenicity to Valpha19 NKT cells was determined by measuring their immune responses in culture with glycolipids. Comprehensive examinations revealed substantial antigenic activity for Valpha19 NKT cells by alpha-mannosyl ceramide.     

Structural analysis of amylose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) by NMR relevant to its chiral recognition mechanism in HPLC

The structural analysis of amylose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) (ADMPC) was performed by NMR spectroscopy using a sample with a lower degree of polymerization in order to understand the chiral recognition mechanism when it was used as a chiral stationary phase (CSP) in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). ADMPC exhibited chiral discrimination for many enantiomers, including 1-(9-anthryl)-2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (1) and 1,1'-bi-2-naphthol (2) in both NMR and HPLC. A good agreement was observed between the HPLC and NMR results when chloroform was employed as the common solvent. The structure of ADMPC in solution was investigated by NMR using the 2D NOESY technique coupled with computer modeling, and a left-handed 4/3 helical structure was obtained as the most probable one. The binding geometry between ADMPC and the enantiomers of 1 was also investigated by (1)H NMR titration. On the basis of these results combined with molecular modeling, a rational model to explain the chiral discrimination mechanism of 1 on ADMPC was proposed.     

The effect of the steric hindrance on metallic cation conduction in polymer electrolytes

2,6-Di-t-butylphenol and oligo(ethylene oxide) bound covalently to polyisocyanate were synthesized and characterized. The ionic conductivities of their Li, Na, and K phenolates were studied at various temperatures. The conductivities were in the range of 10^?7?10^?5 S/cm at 30°C. The conductivity of Na and K salts was approximately 10² greater than that of the Li salts. The t-butyl groups serve to dissociate K and Na ions from the phenoxide. The cations, therefore, are more mobile as a result increasing the conductivity. The temperature dependence of ionic conductivity suggests that the migration of ions is controlled by segmental motion of the polymer, shown by linear curves obtained in Vogel–Tammann–Fulchere plots. The polyisocyanate backbone is a rather stiff structure, however, a flexible oligo(ethylene oxide) side chain forms complexes with metal ion. Since the ion transport is associated with the local movement of polymer segments, the rigidity of the polymer backbone does not have much influence on the ion mobility.     

Synthesis and tautomeric behavior of 3-(pyrazolylhydrazonomethyl)-2-oxo-1, 2-dihydroquinoxalines. Specification of hydrazone imine and diazenyl enamine forms

3-(Pyrazolylhydrazonomethyl)-2-oxo-1, 2-dihydroquinoxalines were synthesized, and their tautomer ratios between hydrazone imine and diazenyl enamine forms were specified by pmr spectral data.     

Second-order nonlinear optical properties from poled silicate channel-waveguide

Thin film waveguides of germanosilicate glass are fabricated byrf-sputtering. Second-order nonlinearity ofd ₃₃=3.2 pm/V is obtained from electrically poled film, and the lifetime of the nonlinearity is found to be310 years. The poled channel-waveguide is prepared and the Cerenkov-type phase-matched frequency doubling is successfully observed.     

Salting-in of alcohols in aqueous solutions by tetraalkylammonium bromides at the freezing temperature

The freezing-point depression of the ternary systems tetraalkylammonium bromides-t-butanol-water for the first five homologs of R₄NBr was measured. In the case of Bu₄NBr, the effect of size of the alcohol (methahol ton-butanol) was also investigated. From the corresponding freezing-point data for the binary systems the apparent salting constants were calculated. The true salting constantsk _s were obtained by extrapolation to infinite dilution. These are all very close to zero at the freezing temperature. From the corresponding thermochemical data the temperature dependence ofk _s was calculated, and above 5°C all the R₄NBr salts int-butanol; the salting-in increases with temperature and with the size of the hydrophobic cations. The scaled-particle theory is at present the only one which can account semiquantitatively for the temperature dependence of the salting-in effect. On leave of absence from Chemistry Department, The University, Sheffield S3 7HF, England To whom correspondence should be addressed.     

Intramolecular Nucleophilic Acyl Substitution Reaction of 3,4-Alkadienyl Carbonates Mediated by Ti(O-i-Pr)(4)/2 i-PrMgCl Reagent. Efficient Synthesis of Optically Active beta,gamma-Unsaturated Esters with an alpha-Substituent

Treatment of 3,4-alkadienyl carbonates 2a-i with a low-valent titanium reagent diisopropoxy(eta(2)-propene)titanium (1), readily generated by the reaction of Ti(O-i-Pr)(4) with 2 i-PrMgCl, resulted in an intramolecular nucleophilic acyl substitution (INAS) reaction to afford vinyltitanium compounds 3 which, in turn, reacted with H(3)O(+), D(2)O, or iodine to give alpha-substituted beta,gamma-unsaturated esters 4 in good to excellent yields. The olefin moiety of the hydrolysis product 4 has (Z)-geometry mainly except for 4h. Starting from chiral 2f or 2g, the reaction proceeded stereospecifically to give optically active alpha-substituted beta,gamma-unsaturated ester 4f or 4g having (Z)-olefin geometry exclusively.     

Biomimetic syntheses of syncarpurea

Simple syntheses of syncarpurea (1) from syncarpic acid and the amino acids ornithine or citrulline are presented.