Solid-phase synthesis using a new polyacrylic resin : Synthesis of the fragment 14–21 of the amino acid sequence of histone H4

The solid-phase synthesis of the octapeptide 1 AcGly-Ala-Lys-Arg-His-Arg-Lys-ValOMe, which represents the fragment 14-21 of the amino acid sequence of the chromosomal histone H4, as well as of the structurally related nonapeptide 2 AcGly-Ala-Lys-Leu-Arg-His-Arg-Lys-ValOMe, is described using a new polyacrylic resin containing a glycolamide ester linkage(resin-NHCO-CH₂-OCO-peptide) acting as a labile anchoring moiety between the resin and the peptide.After elongation of the polypeptide chain using classical protecting groups, i.e. t-butyloxycarbonyl for the α-NH₂ function, benzyloxycarbonyl, nitro and 2,4-dinitrophenyl groups for the side-chains of Lys, Arg and His respectively, both peptides 1 and 2 were obtained in good yields and with a high purity as shown by high-pressure liquid chromatography, by amino-acid analysis and by high-field proton NMR spectroscopy.This work demonstrates the ability of the newly introduced polyacrylic resin to act as a convenient support for solid-phase peptide synthesis.     

The reduction and hydrolysis of some 7,7-diethylpyrazolo[1,2-a]-pyridazine-6,8(7H)dione derivatives

The chemistry of several of the Diels-Alder adducts formed by the reaction of 4,4-diethylpyrazoline-3,5-dione ( 1 ) with conjugated dienes was studied with respect to reduction (hydride and catalytic) and reaction with base. Reaction of the 2,3-dimethyl-1,3-butadiene adduct with lithium aluminum hydride followed by hydrogenation gave 1,3,5,6,7,8-hexahydro-cis-endo-6,7-dimethyl-2,2-diethylpyrazolo[1,2-a]pyridazine ( 11 ). Attempted conversion of this compound to 3,3-diethyl-cis-7,8-dimethyl-1,5-diazacyclononane ( 12 ) gave instead a compound which has been tentatively identified as N-(2,3-dimethyl-4-aminobutyl)-2-ethyl-2-methylbutanaldimine ( 14 ). Lithium aluminum hydride reduction of 4,4-diethylpyrazolidine-3,5-dione ( 22 ) or the adducts formed from 1 and cyclopentadiene or 1,3-cyclohexadiene gave good yields of 4,4-diethylpyrazolidine ( 21 ). This later reduction gave a new and efficient synthetic route to the pyrazolidine ring system. Lithium aluminum hydride reduction of 5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-5,8-ethano-2,2-diethylpyrazolo[1,2-a]pyridazine-1,3(2H)dione ( 26 ) followed by hydrogenolysis led to a high yield of 4,4-diethyl-2,6-diazabicyclo[5.2.2]undecane ( 28 ) which is the first reported example of this ring system. Reaction of several of the adducts with ethanolic potassium hydroxide resulted in the opening of the five-membered ring.     

Alkylation of heme by the antimalarial drug artemisinin

The peroxide function of artemisinin has been activated by iron(II)-heme generated in situ from iron(III)-protoporphyrin-IX and glutathione, a biologically relevant reductant. In mild conditions, this reaction produced a high yield (85%) of heme derivatives alkylated at alpha-, beta-, and delta-meso positions by a C4-centered radical derived from artemisinin.     

Extended average energy perturbation calculation of the 2s2 and 2p21S resonance state energies of two-electron atoms

An extended average energy (EAE) calculation of the 2s² and 2p²¹S resonance state energies of two-electron atoms is carried out. We take the bare-nucleus hamiltonian as the initial approximation and treat the zeroth-order degeneracy by van Vleck perturbation theory, For both H^? and He the lower state energies agree quite well with experiment while the upper state is about 1–2 eV too high. Our remits for He are comparable in accuracy to those obtained by the 1/Z Hartree—Fock perturbation method. A brief concluding discussion of ways to improve the simple EAE technique is presented.     

Thermally stable silarylene-1,3,4-oxadiazole polymers

The effects of incorporating a p-phenylene- (or m-phenylene)-1,3,4-oxadiazole fragment into the backbone of poly[1,4-phenylene(diphenylsilyl)-1,4-phenylene-2,5-(1,3,4-oxadiazole)], which was developed by the authors, was investigated. Bis[(p-carbohydrazidophenyl)]diphenylsilane was copolymerized with dipentachlorophenyl terephthalate or isophthalate to produce the prepolymers poly[N-(p-diphenylsilylbenzoyl)-N′N″-(terephthaloyl)-N″′-(p-benzoyl)dihydrazide] and poly[N-(p-diphenylsilylbenzoyl)-N′,-N″-(isophthaloyl)-N″′-p-(benzoyl) dihydrazide], respectively. The polyhydrazides were converted by thermal dehydration into poly[1,4-phenylene(diphenylsilyl)-1,4-phenylene-(1,3,4-oxadiazole-2,5-diyl)-1,4-phenylene-2,5-(1,3,4-oxadiazole)] and poly[1,4-phenyl-ene(diphenylsilyl)-1,4-phenylene-(1,3,4-oxadiazole-2,5-diyl)-1,3,4-(oxadiazole)]. The new polymers were soluble in organic solvents. Films cast from these solutions exhibited good adhesion to glass and metal surfaces. Thermal analysis showed that the heat stability of all these polymers was about the same and that they were resistant to decomposition when heated in air to about 400°C. The results also indicated that these polymers were somewhat less heat-resistant than samples of poly-[1,4-phenylene(diphenylsilyl)-1,4-phenylene-2,5-]1,3,4-(oxadiazole) synthesized from bis(p-carbohydrazidophenyl)diphenylsilane and bis-(p-carbopentachlorophenoxy-phenyl)diphenylsilane.     

High-performance liquid chromatographic determination of Levetiracetam in human plasma: comparison of different sample clean-up procedures

An accurate and precise high-performance liquid chromatographic method using diode array detection for the determination of the novel antiepileptic, Levetiracetam, has been developed. Three clean-up procedures for the analysis of Levetiracetam in human plasma were implemented and evaluated, namely solid-phase extraction, deproteinization by addition of organic solvents and formation of insoluble salts. Adenosine was used as the internal standard for all three sample pretreatment procedures. Among the several cartridges used for solid-phase extraction, the hydrophilic-lypophilic balance (Oasis) HLB) phase provides the best extraction yield of Levetiracetam, together with high precision. With the two other clean-up procedures involving plasma deproteinization by addition of methanol or zinc sulphate, lower sensitivity and precision of the assays were obtained. However, they are cheaper and faster when compared with the solid-phase extraction procedure.     

Concise synthesis of anhydrovinblastine from leurosine

[reaction: see text] The Cp(2)TiCl-mediated deoxygenation of leurosine (1) afforded anhydrovinblastine (4) in good yield. Furthermore, as the reaction proceeded via a carbon-centered radical intermediate, this transient was also trapped by a hydrogen-atom donor to afford selectively reduced alkaloid 10.