Convenient Method of Chain‐Growth Polycondensation for Well‐Defined Aromatic Polyamides

Summary: For the convenient synthesis of well‐defined poly(N‐octyl‐p‐benzamide)s with low polydispersities, the polycondensation of methyl 4‐octylaminobenzoate ( 1 ) was investigated. Methyl ester monomer 1 polymerized with lithium 1,1,1,3,3,3‐hexamethyldisilazide (LHMDS) in the presence of an initiator in tetrahydrofuran at −10 °C. The highly pure polyamide with a defined molecular weight and a low polydispersity is obtained after simple treatment of the reaction mixture with aqueous NaOH solution, followed by evaporation.

The chain‐growth polycondensation of 4‐octylaminobenzoic acid methyl ester ( 1 ) with lithium 1,1,1,3,3,3‐hexamethyldisilazide (LHMDS) to yield poly(N‐octyl‐p‐benzamide).     

Synthesis of 2-aminoazulene derivatives. Nucleophilic and palladium-catalyzed amination of 2-substituted azulene

Amination of 2-substituted azulene was carefully examined using several types of amines, and the scope and limitation of substrates and reagents in these direct nucleophilic aminations were found. The synthesis of 2-aminoazulenes was successfully achieved by the reaction of 2-bromoazulene with several amines via palladium-catalyzed amination.     

Synthesis of chromogenic crown ethers and liquid—liquid extraction of alkaline earth metal ions

New crown ether dyes carrying two pendent anionic side-arms were synthesized for the extraction-spectrophotometry of alkaline earth metal ions. In the extraction of alkaline earth metal ions by these dianionic reagents, size recognition by the crown ether ring was more remarkable than in the case of alkali metal ion extraction by a similar type of monoanionic reagents. Dramatic changes in metal selectivity were observed when the nature of the anionic side-arm was changed while the crown ether skeleton was kept the same. The structure/selectivity relationship is discussed in terms of “chelate” and “intramolecular ion-pair” formation. Typically, when the basicity of the pendent anions was relatively high and a six-membered chelate was structurally possible for the pendent anions and the crown-bound metal, the extraction of calcium was favored by up to a factor of 3000 in the ratio of the Ca/Ba extraction constants for reagents of the diaza-18-crown-6 type. In contrast, the reagents which had pendent anions with only poor coordination ability for metal ions seemed to form complexes of the ion-pair type, and calcium ion was 10⁵ times less extractable than barium ion for the same diaza-18-crown-6-skeleton. Strontium ion seemed to be extracted most effectively when the extracted complex assumed properties intermediate between the chelate and intramolecular ion-pair.     

Redox-photosensitized aminations of 1,2-benzo-1,3-cycloalkadienes, arylcyclopropanes, and quadricyclane with ammonia

1,2,4-Triphenylbenzene and 2,2'-methylenedioxy-1,1'-binaphthalene successfully photosensitized the aminations of 1,2-benzo-1,3-cycloalkadienes, arylcyclopropanes, and quadricyclane with ammonia and primary amines in the presence of m- or p-dicyanobenzene, which gave the 4-amino-1,2-benzocycloalkenes, 3-amino-1-arylpropanes, and 7-amino-5-(p-cyanophenyl)bicyclo[2.2.1]hept-2-ene, respectively. A key pathway for the photosensitized amination is the hole transfer from the cation radicals of the sensitizers that were generated by photoinduced electron transfer to the electron acceptors to the substrates. Therefore, it was found that the relationships in oxidation potentials between the sensitizers and the substrates and the positive charge distribution of the cation radicals of the substrates were important factors for the efficient amination.     

Neosidomycin,a new antibiotic of Streptomyces

A new indole-N-glycoside, neosidomycin (I), is produced by a strain belonging to Streptomyces hygroscopicus. The structure of I has been deduced from physico-chemical data obtained using the natural compound, its derivatives and products of degradation reactions.     

Diagnostic protein discovery using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry for proteolytic peptide targeting

A peptide targeting method has been developed for diagnostic protein discovery, which combines proteolytic digestion of fractionated plasma proteins and liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-TOFMS) profiling. Proteolysis prior to profiling overcomes molecular weight limitations and compensates for the poor sensitivity of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) protein profiling. LC/MS increases the peak capacity compared to crude fractionation techniques or single sample MALDI analysis. Differentially expressed peptides are targeted in the mass chromatograms using bioinformatic techniques and subsequently sequenced with MALDI tandem MS. In a model study comparing pancreatic cancer patients to controls, 74% of the peptide targets were successfully sequenced. This profiling method was superior to previous experiments using single sample MALDI analysis for protein profiling or proteolytic peptide profiling, because more potential protein markers were identified.     

Photo- and electro-luminescent properties of thermotropic liquid crystalline quaterphenyl analogues comprising a 2,2'-bi-1,3,4-thiadiazole unit

Thermotropic liquid crystalline quaterphenyl analogues constituting a central 2,2'-bi-1,3,4- thiadiazole ring, the compounds 5,5'-bis(4-methoxy- and 4-octyloxy-phenyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazole, have been prepared and their photoluminescent (PL) and electroluminescent (EL) properties evaluated. The materials form enantiotropic smectic and nematic phases. The PL spectra showed that they emit blue and green fluorescence in the solid state. The octyloxy compound exhibited an EL spectrum with blue emission and is a candidate for organic EL applications.     

Quality control of PET radiopharmaceuticals by high‐performance liquid chromatography with tris(2,2′‐bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) electrogenerated chemiluminescence detection

A highly sensitive reversed‐phase liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method was investigated to analyze a range of positron emission tomography (PET) radiopharmaceuticals using electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) detection. ECL is based on the reaction of PET molecules with tris(2,2′‐bipyridyl)ruthenium(III) [Ru(bpy)₃³⁺], which is generated through the on‐line electro‐oxidation of Ru(bpy)₃²⁺. In 21 different radiopharmaceuticals studied, 18 compounds could be detected with detection limits (signal‐to‐noise ratio = 3) of 0.12–72 ng/mL per 20 μL injection. Sufficient reproducibility and linearity were obtained for the quantitative determination of PET molecules in pharmaceutical fluid. This method could be successfully applied to quality control tests of PET radiopharmaceuticals with ultra‐high specific radioactivity. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysis of waveform from perpendicular magnetic printed media

Edge printing is one of the perpendicular magnetic printing methods for writing servo signals with high speed, high accuracy and low cost. Sub-peaks of waveform from edge printed media are concerned as the sub-peaks can cause errors during the read-back process. In this study, in order to reduce sub-peaks, the influence of printing field, bit length and patterned magnetic layer thickness of master medium on sub-peaks is investigated by using a metal-evaporated (ME) tape as a slave medium. The results show that sub-peak to main peak ratio decreases with stronger printing field, smaller bit length and thicker patterned magnetic layer of master media.     

Competing Roles of Two Kinds of Ligand during Nonclassical Crystallization of Pillared-Layer Metal-Organic Frameworks Elucidated Using Microfluidic Systems

To diversify metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), multi-component MOFs constructed from more than two kinds of bridging ligand have been actively investigated due to the high degree of design freedom afforded by the combination of multiple ligands. Predicting the synthesis conditions for such MOFs requires an understanding of the crystallization mechanism, which has so far remained elusive. In this context, microflow systems are efficient tools for capturing non-equilibrium states as they facilitate precise and efficient mixing with reaction times that correspond to the distance from the mixing point, thus enabling reliable control of non-equilibrium crystallization processes. Herein, we prepared coordination polymers with pillared-layer structures and observed the intermediates in the syntheses with an in-situ measurement system that combines microflow reaction with UV/Vis and X-ray absorption fine-structure spectroscopies, thereby enabling their rapid nucleation to be monitored. Based on the results, a three-step nonclassical nucleation mechanism involving two kinds of intermediate is proposed.