Kinetics of the Copolymerization of Methyl Vinyl Ketone and Acrylamide Initiated by the Adduct of Methyl Vinyl Ketone and Imidazole

N-(Butyl-3-one)imidazole acts as an initiating adduct which is formed in the anionic polymerization of methyl vinyl ketone (MVK) induced by imidazole (Im) and is directly formed from Im and the MVK monomer. The kinetics of the anionic homopolymerization of MVK and acrylamide (AAm) under argon in the presence of the adduct were investigated in tetrahydrofuran (THF). The rate of polymerization for the MVK system is expressed as R_p = k[Adduct] [MVK], where k = 3.1 × 10^?6 L/(mol·s)in THF at 30°C. The overall activation energy, E_a , was found to be 5.34 kcal/mol. The R_p for the AAm system is expressed as R_p = k[Adduct] [AAm], where k = 6.8 × 10^?6 L/(mol·s) in THF at 30°C, with E_a 7.78 kcal/mol. The mechanism of the polymerization induced by the initiator adduct is discussed on the basis of these results.     

Polymerization of N,N-Dimethylaminopropyl-Acrylamide Through Hydrogen Transfer Induced by the Propagation of the Polyacrolein Anion

The anionic polymerization of acrolein (AL) with N, N-dimethylamino-propylacrylamide (DMAPA) in the presence of water was investigated in tetrahydrofuran, benzene, and ethanol at 0°C in a nitrogen atmosphere. The resulting polymers were found to be essentially vinyl polymers with one DMAPA attached and an aldehyde side chain. From observations of the polymerization process by ¹H NMR, we find that polymerization was initiated by the hydroxyl anion formed in the thermodynamic equilibrium between the amine of DMAPA and water. The hydrogen transfer reaction of DMAPA was caused by the propagating poly-AL anion. On the other hand, the monomer reactivity ratios and the Q₂-e₂values of DMAPA were determined by the free-radical copolymerization of styrene (St, M₁) with DMAPA and AIBN as initiator.     

Novel synthesis of zerumbone-pendant derivatives and their biological activity

Zerumbone 1, having powerful latent reactivity and containing two conjugated double bonds and a double conjugated carbonyl group is the major component of the essential oil of wild ginger, Zingiber zerumbet Smith. The conjugation system plays an important role in the expression of biological activity. N-Bromosuccinimide (NBS) reaction of 1 gave high reactive intermediate 2 with an exo-methylene group, which was obtained from 1 quantitatively. Treatment of 2 with nucleophiles gave various zerumbone-pendant derivatives, including C–H, C–O, C–N, and C–C bond formation, maintaining the conjugation system through S_N2′-type reaction. Almost all zerumbone-pendant derivatives showed a good value of IC₅₀ against the suppressive effect of NO generation. Among them, amine derivative 5, binding with 2 mol of zerumbone, showed the strongest activity (IC₅₀: 0.24 μM).     

FUNCTIONS OF LIPIDS ON HUMAN SKIN

In order to clarify the roles of lipids in the water-holding property of stratum corneum, the forearm skin of healthy male volunteers was treated with acetone/ether (1/1) or sodium dodecyl sulfate (5%) for 1-30 min. A prolonged treatment period of 5-30 min produced a chapped and scaly appearance of the stratum corneum without any inflammatory reactions. Under these conditions, there was a marked decrease in the water-holding capacity of the stratum corneum accompanied by a selective loss of stratum corneum lipids such as cholesterol, cholesterol esters, and sphingolipids. Two daily applications of the isolated stratum corneum lipids to experimentally induced dry skins caused a significant increase of conductance, accompanied by a marked improvement in the level of scaling. Meanwhile, the isolated sebaceous lipids exhibited no significant recovery in both the conductance value and the scaling. Out of chroma-tographically separated fractions of the stratum corneum lipids, topical applications of ceramide fraction induced the highest increase in the conductance value. Topical applications of synthesized pseudo-ceramides also showed a significant recovery of the water-retaining properties accompanied by an improvement in the scaling only when the polar group has an amide bond in the major linkage. Analysis of the alkyl chain structures has revealed that a structural requirement for the recovery of the water retaining capacity is the presence of saturated-straight alkyl chains, not unsaturated or branched alkyl chains. These structural characteristics required for water-retaining function also paralleled their capacity to form multiconcentric lamellae vesicles in vitro which is also capable of acquiring bound water as shown by DSC thermograms. The present study suggests that ceramides with relatively shorter alkyl chain length serve as a water modulator in the multi-lipid bilayers through the stratum corneum.     

Chirality Induction by Formation of Assembled Structures Based on Anion‐Responsive π‐Conjugated Molecules

Anion‐responsive π‐conjugated compounds having chiral alkyl chains were synthesized. Circular dichroism (CD) and circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) were observed in the solution‐state assemblies of the chiral anion receptors and those of their anion complexes as salts of a planar triazatriangulenium cation. The CD and CPL spectral patterns of the ion‐pair‐based assemblies were completely opposite to those of the anion‐free assemblies, and this suggests that anion binding and subsequent ion pairing change the chirality of the assembly modes.     

Chiral Photoresponsive Tetrathiazoles That Provide Snapshots of Folding States

Herein, we designed chiral photoresponsive tetra(2‐phenylthiazole)s, which induce a diastereoselective 6π‐electrocyclization reaction in a helically folded structure to freeze the conformational interconversions. The folding conformation with one helical turn of tetra(2‐phenylthiazole)s was supported by multiple intramolecular noncovalent interactions including vicinal S???N interheteroatom interactions and CH–π and π–π stacking interactions between nonadjacent units, as found in X‐ray crystal structures as well as quantum chemical calculations. The introduction of a chiral group at both ends of tetra(2‐phenylthiazole) dictates the preferential folding into a one‐handed helix conformation by the simultaneous operation of S???O and multiple CH–π interactions that involve the chiral end groups. Since the tetra(2‐phenylthiazole)s possess two equivalent photoreactive 6π‐electron systems and the folded conformation is suitable for photoinduced electrocyclization reaction, they undergo a photocyclization reaction in a stereoselective manner to memorize the chirality of the helix in a resulting diastereomeric closed form.     

7,7,8,8‐Tetraaryl‐o‐quinodimethane Stabilized by Dibenzo Annulation: A Helical π‐Electron System That Exhibits Electrochromic and Unique Chiroptical Properties

When two benzene rings are fused to a tetraaryl‐o‐quinodimethane skeleton, sterically hindered helical molecules 1 acquire a high thermodynamic stability. Because the tetraarylbutadiene subunit contains electron‐donating alkoxy groups, 1 undergo reversible two‐electron oxidation to 2 ²⁺, which can be isolated as deeply colored stable salts. Intramolecular transfer of the point chirality (e.g., sec‐butyl) on the aryl groups to helicity induces a diastereomeric preference in dications 2 b ²⁺ and 2 c ²⁺, which represents an efficient method for enhancing circular‐dichroism signals. Thus, those redox pairs can serve as new electrochiroptical response systems. X‐ray analysis of dication 2 ²⁺ revealed π–π stacking interaction of the diarylmethylium moieties, which is also present in solution. The stacking geometry is the key contributor to the chirosolvatochromic response.     

Enormously extended π-electronic conjugation system of dimeric octaethylporphyrin transmitted with anthracene

Based on the fact that anthracene (Anth) possesses much higher similarity in electron-releasing ability to porphyrin nucleus than the other polyacenes, the dimeric octaethylporphyrin (OEP) derivatives 4 and 5 (OEP–Anth–OEP) were synthesized and their structure–property relationships were examined, as compared with related OEP dimers 1–3. Among them, the derivative 4 showed enormously high electronic communication between two terminal OEP rings, potentially providing a suitable unit of the electronic structure for molecular design of the OEP devices operating with less energy and with higher sensitivity to outside stimuli.     

Rate constant measurements for initial addition reactions of radicals at the propagation step of photo‐polymerization as studied by pulsed EPR spectroscopy

Pulsed EPR spectroscopy was employed to determine reaction rate constants at an early stage of addition reactions in radical polymerizations triggered by four initiator radicals, which were generated by photodissociation of four parent molecules. Two monomers (tert‐butylacrylate and tert‐butylmethacrylate) were examined as reactant. Stern–Volmer analysis on the measured decay time of electron spin echo intensity of reacting radicals provides rate constants for addition reactions. We focused on rate constants for the second step reaction between monomer and adduct radical that is produced by the first step addition reaction between initiator radical and monomer. The rate constant measured by pulsed EPR was evaluated by theoretical calculations in the light of (1) enthalpy difference between product radical and reactants and (2) charge transfer interaction between reacting radical and monomer. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Observation of two resonant structures in e+ e- -->pi+ pi- psi(2S) via initial-state radiation at Belle

The cross section for e+ e- --> pi+ pi- psi(2S) between threshold and sqrt[s]=5.5 GeV is measured using 673 fb(-1) of data on and off the Upsilon(4S) resonance collected with the Belle detector at KEKB. Two resonant structures are observed in the pi+ pi- psi(2S) invariant-mass distribution, one at 4361 +/- 9 +/- 9 MeV/c2 with a width of 74 +/- 15 +/- 10 MeV/c2, and another at 4664 +/- 11 +/- 5 MeV/c2 with a width of 48 +/- 15 +/- 3 MeV/c2, if the mass spectrum is parametrized with the coherent sum of two Breit-Wigner functions. These values do not match those of any of the known charmonium states.