Comparisons of O-acylation and Friedel-Crafts acylation of phenols and acyl chlorides and Fries rearrangement of phenyl esters in trifluoromethanesulfonic acid: effective synthesis of optically active homotyrosines

Reactions involving phenol derivatives and acyl chlorides have to be controlled for competitive O-acylations and C-acylations (Friedel-Crafts acylations and Fries rearrangements) in acidic condition. The extent for these reactions in trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (TfOH), which is used as catalyst and solvent, is examined. Although diluted TfOH was needed for effective O-acylation, concentrated TfOH was required for effective C-acylations in mild condition. These results have been applied to the novel synthesis of homotyrosine derivatives. Both Fries rearrangement of N-TFA-Asp(OBn)-OMe and Friedel-Crafts acylation of phenol with N-TFA-Asp(Cl)-OMe in TfOH afforded the homotyrosine skeleton, followed by reduction and deprotection afforded homotyrosines maintaining stereochemistry of Asp as an optically pure form.     

Synthesis of plakevulin A and structure-activity relationships of its related compounds against DNA polymerases

Synthesis of plakevulin A and structure-activity relationships of its related compounds against DNA polymerases is described. We have achieved a total synthesis and revised the structure of plakevulin A. Several analogues including untenone A, manzamenone A, and optically active plakevulin A, were prepared and tested with an enzyme inhibition assay for mammalian DNA polymerases. The effect of the methyl ester moiety, and the substituents at the 1- and 4-positions of plakevulin A on DNA polymerase activities are discussed.     

Regioselective Nucleophilic Functionalization of Antiaromatic Nickel(II) Norcorroles

Treatment of antiaromatic nickel(II) norcorrole with potassium cyanide provided nickel(II) 3‐cyanonorcorrole with perfect regioselectivity without the help of a catalyst. The reaction of the nickel(II) norcorrole with phenol or thiophenol in the presence of a base also yielded substitution products. The antiaromatic 16π conjugation system in the norcorrole core was preserved in the functionalized products. Introduction of phenylthio groups significantly decreased the HOMO–LUMO gap and enhanced the near IR absorption property.     

Highly Chemoselective and Versatile Method for Direct Conversion of Carboxylic Acids to Ketones Utilizing Zinc Ate Complexes

Various carboxylic acids were directly transformed into the corresponding ketones by utilizing organozinc ate complexes, which provide high chemoselectivity without any overreaction to the undesired tertiary carbinol, owing to formation of a stable tetrahedral zincioketal intermediate. This method offers good overall atom/step/pot economy and operational simplicity.     

Precise determination of bromine in PP resin pellet by instrumental neutron activation analysis using internal standardization

Instrumental neutron activation analysis with the internal standardization was applied to the precise determination of Br in polypropylene resin of candidate certified reference material. The known amount of ¹⁹⁷Au was used as an internal standard to compensate for neutron flux inhomogeneity, to improve the γ ray measurement uncertainty and the linearity of the calibration curves. The reliability of the proposed method validated using analytical results of BCR-681. The analytical result of Br in the sample was consistent with that obtained by ID-ICPMS. The relative expanded uncertainty (k = 2) was 1.5 %, and it was equivalent to that of ID-ICPMS.     

Recent progress in applications of graphene oxide for gas sensing: A review

This paper is a review of the recent progress on gas sensors using graphene oxide (GO). GO is not a new material but its unique features have recently been of interest for gas sensing applications, and not just as an intermediate for reduced graphene oxide (RGO). Graphene and RGO have been well known gas-sensing materials, but GO is also an attractive sensing material that has been well studied these last few years. The functional groups on GO nanosheets play important roles in adsorbing gas molecules, and the electric or optical properties of GO materials change with exposure to certain gases. Addition of metal nanoparticles and metal oxide nanocomposites is an effective way to make GO materials selective and sensitive to analyte gases. In this paper, several applications of GO based sensors are summarized for detection of water vapor, NO₂, H₂, NH₃, H₂S, and organic vapors. Also binding energies of gas molecules onto graphene and the oxygenous functional groups are summarized, and problems and possible solutions are discussed for the GO-based gas sensors.