Post-Synthesis Conversion of an Unstable Imine Cage to a Stable Cage with Amide Moieties Towards Selective Receptor for Fluoride

Synthesis of robust covalent macrocycles/cages via multiple amide-bond forming reaction is highly challenging and generally it needs multistep reactions. One-pot reaction of appropriate di-/tri-acyl chloride with a diamine generally results polymers or oligomers instead of discrete architectures. To overcome this limitation, a strategy is reported here using dynamic imine chemistry for facile construction of imine-based macrocycle and cage upon treatment of a diamine with di- and tri-aldehydes respectively, followed by post-synthesis one-step conversion of imine bonds to amides to form the desired robust macrocycle and cage containing multiple amide bonds. While the macrocycle was found to form aggregates in DMSO, the cage was intact without any aggregation. Six amide groups in the confined pocket of the cage made it an ideal receptor for selective binding of fluoride with very high selectivity (∼3 10³ fold) over chloride, and it was silent towards other halides, phosphate, and other oxyanions.     

A Phosphoramidite Analogue of Cyclotriphosphate Enables Iterative Polyphosphorylations

An iterative polyphosphorylation approach is described, which is based on a phosphoramidite (P‐amidite) derived reagent (c‐PyPA) obtained from the cyclization of pyrophosphate with a reactive diisopropylaminodichlorophosphine. This type of reagent is unprecedented as it represents a reactive P‐amidite without protecting groups. The reagent proved to be stable in solution over several weeks. Its utility is described in the context of iterative monodirectional and bidirectional polyphosphorylations. The ensuing functionalized cyclotriphosphate can be opened with a variety of nucleophiles providing ready access to diverse functionalized polyphosphate chains of defined length with several tags, including both P‐N and P‐O labels. Their interaction with exo‐ and endopolyphosphatases is described.     

A Review on Obesity Management through Natural Compounds and a Green Nanomedicine-Based Approach

Obesity is a serious health complication in almost every corner of the world. Excessive weight gain results in the onset of several other health issues such as type II diabetes, cancer, respiratory diseases, musculoskeletal disorders (especially osteoarthritis), and cardiovascular diseases. As allopathic medications and derived pharmaceuticals are partially successful in overcoming this health complication, there is an incessant need to develop new alternative anti-obesity strategies with long term efficacy and less side effects. Plants harbor secondary metabolites such as phenolics, flavonoids, terpenoids and other specific compounds that have been shown to have effective anti-obesity properties. Nanoencapsulation of these secondary metabolites enhances the anti-obesity efficacy of these natural compounds due to their speculated property of target specificity and enhanced efficiency. These nanoencapsulated and naive secondary metabolites show anti-obesity properties mainly by inhibiting the lipid and carbohydrate metabolizing enzymes, suppression of adipogenesis and appetite, and enhancing energy metabolism. This review focuses on the plants and their secondary metabolites, along with their nanoencapsulation, that have anti-obesity effects, with their possible acting mechanisms, for better human health.     

Vibrational dynamics and heat capacity in poly(L‐lactic acid)

Poly(L ‐lactic acid) (PLLA) (? CH(CH₃) ? COO? )_n is a biodegradable polymer, which exhibits many applications in the biomedical field and where thermoplastics are employed. A comprehensive study of the normal modes and their dispersion in PLLA using Wilson′s GF matrix method as modified by Higgs is being reported. Assignments of calculated normal modes have been made and characteristic features of dispersion curves are discussed. Heat capacity has been calculated via density‐of‐states using Debye relation in the temperature range 10–250 K, which is in fairly good agreement with the experimental data. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 48: 175–182, 2010     

Efficient Elemental Iodine Catalyzed One-Pot Synthesis of 2,4,5-Triarylimidazoles

Summary. Elemental iodine is used as an efficient catalyst for the synthesis of 2,4,5-triarylimidazoles in excellent yields via condensation of benzoin, ammonium acetate, and aromatic aldehydes. This is a simple, one-pot, high yielding technique using cheap, non-toxic iodine in catalytic amounts.     

A physicochemical model for analyzing DNA sequences

In search of an ab initio model to characterize DNA sequences as genes and nongenes, we examined some physicochemical properties of each trinucleotide (codon), which could accomplish this task. We constructed three-dimensional vectors for each double-helical trinucleotide sequence considering hydrogen-bonding energy, stacking energy, and a third parameter, which we provisionally identified with DNA-protein interactions. As this three-dimensional vector moves along any genome, the net orientation of the resultant vector should differ significantly for gene and nongene regions to make a distinction feasible, if the underlying model has some merits. An analysis of 331 prokaryotic genomes comprising a total of 294 786 experimentally verified genes (nonoverlapping) and an equal number of nongenes presents a proof of concept of the model without the need for further parametrization. Also, initial analyses on Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Arabidopsis thaliana suggest that the methodology is extendable to eukaryotes. The physicochemical model (ChemGenome1.0) introduced has the potential to be developed into a gene-finding algorithm and, more pressingly, could be employed for an independent assessment of the annotation of DNA sequences.     

On Lower Bounds For Covering Codes

We study lower bounds on K(n,R), the minimum number of codewords of any binary code of length n such that the Hamming spheres of radius R with center at codewords cover the Hamming space . We generalize Honkala's idea toobtain further improvements only by using some simple observationsof Zhang's result. This leads to nineteen improvements of thelower bound on K(n,R) within the range of .     

Efficient Elemental Iodine Catalyzed One-Pot Synthesis of 2,4,5-Triarylimidazoles

Elemental iodine is used as an efficient catalyst for the synthesis of 2,4,5-triarylimidazoles in excellent yields via condensation of benzoin, ammonium acetate, and aromatic aldehydes. This is a simple, one-pot, high yielding technique using cheap, non-toxic iodine in catalytic amounts.