Protonation-induced structural change of lyotropic liquid crystals in oley- and alkyldimethylamine oxides/water systems

Lyotropic phase behavior of the nonionic and the half-ionized oleyldimethylamine oxide (OlDMAO)/water systems was investigated using polarized light microscopy, small-angle X-ray diffraction, and differential scanning calorimetry. Nonionic OlDMAO formed isotropic micellar solution, nematic, hexagonal, cubic, and lamellar liquid crystalline phases as the surfactant concentration increased. In contrast, half-ionized OlDMAO (i.e., 1:1 mixture of the nonionic and the protonated species) had a greater tendency to form bilayer structures, and the phase diagram became quite similar to those of double-chained ionic surfactants rather than single-chained ones, despite the introduction of positive charges to the nonionic one. The preference of the bilayer structures in the half-ionized OlDMAO was interpreted in terms of the dimers stabilized by the hydrogen bond between the nonionic and protonated species. For alkyldimethylamine oxides with a saturated hydrocarbon chain (CnDMAO, chain length: n = 14, 16, and 18), the phase sequence of lyotropic liquid crystals was hardly affected by the protonation, but an elongation of the cylinders of the hexagonal phase was observed for the half-ionized C14DMAO. Consequently, it can be considered that the dominant bilayer formation of the half-ionized OlDMAO is attributed to the combined effect of the hydrogen-bonded dimer formation and the cis-double-bond configuration of the alkyl chain.     

Application of samarium diiodide (SmI2)-induced reduction of gamma-acetoxy-alpha,beta-enoates with alpha-specific kinetic electrophilic trapping for the synthesis of amino acid derivatives

Gamma-acetoxy-alpha,beta-enoates were easily reduced by samarium diiodide (SmI2) in THF to generate samarium dienolates which were kinetically trapped with ease at their alpha-positions by electrophiles (proton, aldehydes or ketones) to yield (E)-alkene dipeptide isosteres or gamma-amino acid derivatives in high chemical yields.     

Total synthesis of (+)-tubelactomicin A. 2. Synthesis of the upper-half segment and completion of the total synthesis

[reaction: see text]. We have completed the total synthesis of natural (+)-tubelactomicin A (1), a 16-membered macrolide antibiotic. This Letter presents a highly efficient synthesis of the upper-half segment (C14-C24) and the completion of the total synthesis featuring a high-yielding Stille coupling for the connection of the upper-half and lower-half segments and Mukaiyama macrolactonization for the construction of the entire structure of 1.     

Elucidation of solid-state complexation in ground mixtures of cholic acid and guest compounds

The solid-state complexation between cholic acid (CA) and either methyl p-hydroxybenzoate (MPB) or ibuprofen (IBP) was investigated. Powder X-ray diffractometry, IR spectroscopy and thermal analysis suggested the complex formation between CA and MPB as well as between CA and IBP by co-grinding method. The stoichiometry of CA-MPB was 1 : 1 while that of CA-IBP was 2 : 1, reflecting the effect of guest size on complex formation. The guest compounds were assumed to be included in the channel of complexes formed by hydrogen bonds among CA molecules.     

The use of ozone as the primary digestion reagent for the cold vapor mercury procedure

Ozone was tested as an alternative digestion/oxidation system to the permanganate/peroxidisulfate currently used in the cold vapor mercury method. The results indicate that the digestion of comparable size samples to the 'Standard Method' was complete in less than 2 min. A 0.5 ml (10 ppb) sample size was completely oxidized in less than 30 s. The batch system used produced a limit of detection (LOD) for mercury(II) chloride, methylmercury chloride, and phenylmercury acetate of about 0.5 ppb.     

SmI2-mediated reduction of gamma,gamma-difluoro-alpha,beta-enoates with application to the synthesis of functionalized (Z)-fluoroalkene-type dipeptide isosteres

A samarium diiodide (SmI(2))-mediated reduction of gamma,gamma-difluoro-alpha,beta-enoates (15, 29, and 34) was successfully applied to the synthesis of (Z)-fluoroalkene dipeptide isosteres (23, 30, and 35), which have served as potential dipeptide mimetics. Reduction of the gamma,gamma-difluoro-alpha,beta-enoates by SmI(2) proceeded via successive two-electron transfers to form dienolate species which upon kinetically controlled trapping with t-BuOH yielded Xaa-Gly-type fluoroalkene isosteres exemplified by 23, 30, and 35. Replacement of the t-BuOH kinetic trapping agent with aldehydes or ketones provided access to alpha-substituted fluoroalkene isosteres (43 and 45) through aldol reactions of Sm-dienolates with the carbonyl compounds. Of particular note, the use of the SmI(2)-HCHO reagent system with chiral enoate 34 provided D-Phe-psi[(Z)-CF[double bond]CH]-D/L-Ser isosteres (45), which could be converted to enantiomerically pure isosteres (49-52) that bore a variety of side chain functionalities at the alpha-position. This was achieved by a sequence of manipulations consisting of beta-lactone formation followed by chromatographic separation and ring-opening with soft nucleophiles. Included in the present work is the first utilization of a Rh-catalyzed Reformatsky reaction of chiral imines for the stereoselective preparation of alpha,alpha-difluoro-beta-amino acid derivatives (28 and 33). The appropriate choice of reagents (carbonyl compounds for kinetic trapping or ring-opening nucleophiles and imines for Reformatsky reactions) allows the presented methodology to yield various fluoroalkene isosteres possessing a wide range of side chain functionalities.     

Tandem base-promoted ring-opening/Brook rearrangement/allylic alkylation of O-silyl cyanohydrins of beta-silyl-alpha,beta-epoxyaldehyde: scope and mechanism

Metalated O-silyl cyanohydrins of beta-silyl-alpha,beta-epoxyaldehyde have been found to serve as functionalized homoenolate equivalents by a tandem sequence involving base-promoted ring opening of the epoxide, Brook rearrangement, and alkylation of the resulting allylic anion. On the basis of mechanistic studies involving competitive experiments using the diastereomeric cyanohydrins, we propose a reaction pathway involving a silicate intermediate 36 formed by a concerted process via an anti-opening of the epoxide followed by the formation of an O-Si bond.     

A new synthetic pathway of segmented tri-block copolyether

A new synthetic pathway of A–B–A tri-block copolyether which is composed of a hydrophilic poly(oxyethylene) unit as an A part and a hydrophobic poly(oxy-2-methyl-trimethylene) unit as a B part is proposed. Telechelic α-tosyl-ω-tosyloxypoly(oxy-2-methyl-trimethylene) derived from tosylation of poly(oxy-2-methyl-trimethylene glycol) (PMTG) was allowed to react with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) in the presence of sodium hydroxide. T_g of the resulting A–B–A tri-block copolyether (PEMG) (M?_n = 1600) was ?72°C and its specific gravity [D₄¹⁵] was 1.055.     

Synthesis of optically active 2-ethyl-1,6-dioxaspiro[4.4]nonane (chalcogran), the principal aggregation pheromone of pityogenes chalcographus (l.)1

((2R, 5RS)- and (2S, 5RS)-2-Ethyl-1,6-dioxaspiro[4.4]nonanes (chalcograns) were synthesized in a simple manner by applying the recent technique of dianion chemistry.     

Total synthesis of gymnocin-A

A highly convergent total synthesis of gymnocin-A, a cyctotoxic polyether marine natural product, has been achieved. The synthesis features Suzuki-Miyaura coupling of the ABCD and FGHIJKLMN rings, stereoselective introduction of the C17 hydroxyl group, ring-closure of the F ring, and a late-stage incorporation of a 2-methyl-2-butenal side chain.