Studies on nilvadipine. I. Synthesis and structure-activity relationships of 1,4-dihydropyridines containing novel substituents at the 2-position.

The synthesis of new 1,4-dihydropyridine derivatives containing novel substituent at the 2-position of the nucleus via the key intermediate 2-formyl-1,4-dihydropyridines (X), is described. The aldehydes (X) were prepared by hydrolysis of the acetals (IX) which were obtained from aryl aldehyde (V) and alkyl 4,4-dialkoxyacetoacetate (VI) by the Knoevenagel reaction and treatment with alkyl 3-aminocrotonate (VIII) according to the modified Hantzsch method. The formyl group of the aldehydes (X) was reactive enough to be converted to a variety of functional groups such as hydroxymethyl, cyano, substituted iminomethyl, carbamoyl, semicarbazone, substituted vinyl, ethynyl, and so on. In all of the novel compounds we prepared, 2-hydroxymethyl- and 2-cyano-1,4-dihydropyridines (IV and XXII) were found to possess potent activities in preliminary biological evaluations on hypotension in normotensive rats and on an increase in coronary blood flow in pentobarbital-anesthetized dogs. Optimization research in order to obtain a more potent compound was accomplished in the 2-hydroxymethyl- and 2-cyano-1,4-dihydropyridine series. We selected isopropyl 2-cyano-3-methoxycarbonyl-4-(3-nitrophenyl)-6-methyl-1,4-dihydropyridine -5-carboxylate (XXIIj) as a candidate compound for further biological evaluation studies. Fortunately, XXIIj (nilvadipine) has been accepted in clinical use for the treatment of hypertension.     

Selective oxidation of methane to formaldehyde over antimony oxide-loaded catalyst

A possibility of antimony oxide as a catalyst for the selective oxidation of methane with oxygen to formaldehyde was investigated. The activity measurement was carried out at an atmospheric pressure and at 873 K, where the homogeneous gas-phase reaction was negligible. Oxidized diamond (O-Dia)-supported antimony oxide catalyst produced 1.3 mmol h⁻¹ g-cat⁻¹ of formaldehyde with a formaldehyde selectivity of 23%. On the other hand, SiO₂ supported antimony oxide catalyst exhibited negligible catalytic activity. XRD and UV–vis analyses revealed that -Sb₂O₄ was formed on the oxidized diamond while Sb₆O₁₃ was formed on SiO₂. Selective oxidation of methane to formaldehyde seemed to proceed on -Sb₂O₄ with moderate activity and selectivity to formaldehyde, via a redox cycle of -Sb₂O₄ and Sb₂O_4−x. On the other hand, Sb₆O₁₃ on SiO₂ was stable under the reaction conditions and the selective oxidation occurred only slightly.     

Accumulation mechanism of basic drugs in the isolated perfused rat lung

The mechanism of the accumulation of basic drugs was investigated by isolated rat lung perfusion. Treatment with various metabolic inhibitors or non-basic drugs did not affect the accumulation of a basic drug in the lung, but a second basic drug inhibited the accumulation of the first basic drug depending on its lipid solubility. The basic drug already accumulated was rapidly displaced by the second drug except for poorly lipid-soluble basic drugs and non-basic drugs. The ability of a second basic drug to displace the first basic drug was well correlated with its ability to inhibit accumulation. From the Scatchard plot, at least two independent sets of binding sites for basic drugs were found to be present in the isolated perfused lung. The maximum binding capacity for each basic drug was similar in both sites. These results indicate that specific common binding sites for basic drugs, which do not contribute to the active transport system, exist in the lung tissues and the affinity to the sites depends on the lipid solubility of the basic drugs.     

Theory of chemical bonds in metalloenzymes IV: Hybrid‐DFT study of Rieske‐type [2Fe?2S] clusters

The Rieske‐type [2Fe? 2S] cores of electron‐transfer (ET) proteins in the mitochondrial respiratory chain have unusual properties, such as redox potentials and spectroscopy. In this study, part IV of a series, the inherent molecular structures and characteristic electronic structures of the Rieske‐type [2Fe? 2S] clusters are investigated using broken‐symmetry hybrid density functional theory (BS‐HDFT). Geometry optimizations for the oxidized and reduced states were performed and their characteristic vibrational modes are assigned. Magnetic properties are investigated using model Hamiltonians to describe the electron delocalization and the unsymmetric property. The parameters of the model Hamiltonian, such as exchange coupling J, valence delocalization B, and potential energy difference Δ, are evaluated from the BS‐HDFT calculations. The valence localization and excitation energy (ΔE) of the Rieske‐type [2Fe? 2S] cluster are discussed. The chemical bond nature is characterized by chemical indices from natural orbital analysis. Our theoretical results are reasonably consistent with experimental results. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2007     

Structural and spectral characteristics of the electrogenerated tetracyanoethylene dianion

Structural and spectral characteristics of the electrogenerated tetracyanoethylene dianion (TCNE2-) were experimentally and theoretically examined. Spectroelectrochemistry of TCNE gives the spectra of TCNE2- in CH3CN at 220 nm, and in CH2Cl2 at 300 nm. These spectral characteristics are well explained by CIS/6-31G(d) and semiempirical CNDO/S-CI calculations. The bands in CH3CN and in CH2Cl2 are assigned to the degenerate 1E<--1A1 transition at the D2d structure and the 1B2u<--1Ag transition at the D2h structure, respectively. The rotation barrier of the C=C bond in TCNE2- is estimated by Hartree-Fock (HF), second-order M?ller-Plesset perturbation (MP2) and fourth-order MP (MP4) calculations with 6-31G(d), 6-31+G(d) and 6-311+G(d) basis sets as 42-51 kJ mol(-1). The D2d structure is most stable, and the D2h structure represents the transition state of the internal rotation. The calculations reveal that the two-electron addition to the antibonding LUMO of TCNE causes an easy rotation around the C=C bond of TCNE2- characterized by the formal single bond. These results show that TCNE2- preferentially adopts D2d and D2h structures in solvents depending upon the solvent nature by virtue of the easy rotation around the C=C bond.     

Mechanistic insights in charge-transfer-induced luminescence of 1,2-dioxetanones with a substituent of low oxidation potential

We have investigated the decomposition pathway of dioxetanones 1c with a phenoxide anion group by the B3LYP/6-31+G(d) method together with the second-order multireference M?ller-Plesset perturbation (MRMP) theory and propose charge-transfer-induced luminescence (CTIL) with polarization-induced branching excitation processes. In the gas phase, the thermal decomposition of 1c occurs by an asynchronous two-stage pathway without a discrete intermediate; that is, the initial O-O bond breaking to generate a charge-transfer (CT) diradical species is immediately followed by the subsequent C-C bond breaking with simultaneous back CT, which is responsible for the surface crossing at the avoided crossing. The activation energy is dramatically reduced from 19.4 to 3.8 kcal mol(-)(1) by the deprotonation of phenol meta-1d to its anion meta-1c, showing an important role of the endothermic CT. The odd/even selection rule for the chemiluminescence efficiency can be explained by the orbital interaction for the back CT between the carbonyl pi orbital and either a HOMO or a LUMO of the generated light emitters. To examine the accessibility of the chemically initiated electron exchange luminescence (CIEEL) route, we considered the solvent effects on the free-energy change of meta-1c by using continuum solvent models. The bending vibration mode of the CO(2) fragment is specifically considered. Borderline features emerges from the solution-phase CT reaction of meta-1c, which depends on the solvent polarity: one is a nonadiabatic or adiabatic back CT process (polarization-induced concerted CTIL), and the other is a radical dissociation, i.e., complete one-electron-transfer process (CIEEL).     

Analysis of hemoglobin and globin chain variants by a commonly used capillary isoelectric focusing method

To analyze both hemoglobin (Hb) and globin chain variants, we modified a commonly used method, capillary isoelectric focusing (CIEF), with detection at 280 nm. The samples were hemolysates prepared from red blood cells, and globin chains obtained from the hemolysates by treatment with cold acidified acetone. When the migration time for the internal reference, carbonic anhydrase I (isoelectric point, pI 6.60), was taken as 1.0, the migration ratio for Hb A0 in normal human blood was 0.877 +/- 0.004 (mean +/- SD, n = 9), and those of the alpha- and beta-globin chains were 0.673 +/- 0.004 and 0.847 +/- 0.005 (mean +/- SD, n = 4), respectively. The ratio of peak heights between the beta- and alpha-globin chains (beta/alpha) in the normal Hbs obtained from four subjects was almost constant at 2.5 +/- 0.1 (mean +/- SD). This ratio indicates which of the globin chains includes a mutation (if one exists). When an Hb variant, Hb Hoshida (in which Gln is substituted for Glu at residue 43 in the beta-globin chain), was analyzed by this method, two main peaks were observed (migration ratios 0.836 and 0.877, corresponding to an abnormal and the normal Hb, respectively). An additional peak with an abnormal migration ratio of 0.788 was also detected in the globin chain profiles. The ratio of peak heights between normal beta- and alpha-globin chains was 1.57, indicating that a mutation exists in the beta-globin chain. We thus established a convenient system using CIEF that provides a rapid and reproducible method for the random analysis of both Hb and globin chain variants.     

Determination of tetracycline antibiotics by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection.

A highly sensitive method for the determination of tetracycline antibiotics (TCs) using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection is presented. This method was based on the use of disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate (EDTA) and calcium chloride as fluorescence-increasing reagents in the mobile phase. The concentrations of each reagent in the mobile phase greatly influenced the fluorescence intensity of TCs. When the concentration of EDTA and calcium chloride were 25 and 35 mM, respectively, and the pH of the mobile phase was 6.5, the maximum fluorescence intensity was obtained. The column temperature hardly influenced the fluorescence intensity. At 3.75 ng of TCs injected, the precision (relative standard deviation) ranged from 1.12 to 2.20%. In the range 0.075-37.5 ng for tetracycline and oxytetracycline and 0.225-37.5 ng for chlortetracycline, a linear response was observed. The detection limits of this method were 49-190 pg for three different TCs. The proposed method was applied to the determination of one of the TCs in pharmaceuticals by the internal standard method using other TCs as internal standards and was also applied to determination of TCs added to fish tissue.     

A simple and rapid in situ preconcentration method for the determination of phosphate in environmental waters by use of solid-phase extraction, and its applications to brackish lake waters

A simple and rapid in situ preconcentration method for the determination of phosphate in environmental waters has been developed for field analysis. This method is based on solid-phase extraction on a zirconium-loaded Sep-Pack Accell CM cartridge (Zr-SP) and is applicable to studies in which sampling is performed by use of a graduated syringe to prevent contamination and to ensure easy operation at sampling sites. The Zr-SP cartridge was prepared by passing 0.1 mol L(-1) zirconium solution through a Sep-Pak Accell CM cartridge, packed with cation exchange sorbent based on a silica matrix. The adsorption of phosphate and its desorption depend only on the pH of the solution. A water sample containing phosphate was adjusted to pH 2 and passed through the Zr-SP cartridge to collect it. The retained phosphate was quantitatively eluted with 0.5 mol L(-1) sodium hydroxide solution. The phosphate retained in the Zr-SP cartridge was stable for at least one month. The established preconcentration method was successfully applied to brackish lake waters to investigate seasonal changes in the distribution and behavior of phosphate in a brackish lake.     

N‐band Hubbard models. III. Boson–fermion and interaction–boson models for high‐Tc superconductivity

In this series of articles (I, II), N‐band Hubbard models have been considered for strongly correlated electron systems, which are realized in d–p, π–d, π–R, and σ–R conjugated systems. The magnetism and superconductivity of these systems have been elucidated in terms of effective exchange integrals (J), which are calculated by first‐principle methods. In part III of this series, the BCS–BEC crossover theory, has been introduced to elucidate the physical foundation of our J and JP model for the high‐T_c superconductivity (HTSC). The boson–fermion (BF) model for this theory is found useful for a reasonable explanation of the experimental phase diagrams of HTSC. The underlying physics of the BF model is different from that of the slave boson field‐theoretical model assuming spinon–holon condensations in the low dimension. The interaction boson model (IBM) for nuclear matter is also employed to describe the cooperative mechanisms of electron–phonon (EP), spin fluctuation (SF), charge fluctuation (CF), and many‐bands (MB) effects. This phenomenological model is useful for pictorial understanding and for the theoretical explanation of the cooperative mechanisms: (EP + SF), (SF + CF), (EP + SF + MB), etc. These are also investigated in analogy to BF model of fermionic gases, where the Feshbach resonance between boson and fermion is responsible for their coupling. The implications of these theoretical results are discussed in relation to recent ALPES and STM experiments for HTSC, which suggest the contributions of SF (J) and EP (P) interactions. The recently discovered superconductivity of boron‐doped diamond is examined as an example of two‐band sigma‐radical (σ–R) conjugated systems. Finally, the bipolaron model is briefly discussed in relation to boson–fermion model via EP interaction to superconductivity. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2006