Transformation of indole alkaloids—I : Conversion of oxindole alkaloids into indole alkaloids

Chemical conversion of some natural oxindoles (pteropodine, isopteropodine and isorhynchophylline) into the corresponding indole alkaloids has been made by way of a sequence of reactions which include formation of iminoethers of the natural oxindoles with Meerwein's reagent, reduction of the iminoethers to 2,3-seco-indoles and cyclization of 2,3-seco-indoles to the desired natural indole alkaloids. Sodium borohydride in acetic acid was found to be a specific reagent for the reduction of oxindole-iminoethers to 2,3-seco-indoles which were the key intermediates in these transformations. Yohimbine-oxindole iminoether was similarly converted to yohimbine and pseudoyohimbine. A number of by-products were obtained and their structures were elucidated.     

Electrostatics of cell membrane recognition: structure and activity of neutral and cationic rigid push-pull rods in isoelectric, anionic, and polarized lipid bilayer membranes.

Design, synthesis, and structural and functional studies of rigid-rod ionophores of different axial electrostatic asymmetry are reported. The employed design strategy emphasized presence of (a) a rigid scaffold to minimize the conformational complexity, (b) a unimolecular ion-conducting pathway to minimize the suprastructural complexity and monitor the function, (c) an extended fluorophore to monitor structure, (d) variable axial rod dipole, and (e) variable terminal charges to create axial asymmetry. Studies in isoelectric, anionic, and polarized bilayer membranes confirmed a general increase in activity of uncharged rigid push-pull rods in polarized bilayers. The similarly increased activity of cationic rigid push-pull rods with an electrostatic asymmetry comparable to that of alpha-helical bee toxin melittin (positive charge near negative axial dipole terminus) is shown by fluorescence-depth quenching experiments to originate from the stabilization of transmembrane rod orientation by the membrane potential. The reduced activity of rigid push-pull rods having an electrostatic asymmetry comparable to that in alpha-helical natural antibiotics (a positive charge near the positive axial dipole terminus) is shown by structural studies to originate from rod "ejection" by membrane potentials comparable to that found in mammalian plasma membranes. This structural evidence for cell membrane recognition by asymmetric rods is unprecedented and of possible practical importance with regard to antibiotic resistance.     

QUATERNARY STRUCTURE OF PEA PHYTOCHROME I DIMER STUDIED WITH SMALL-ANGLE X-RAY SCATTERING and ROTARY-SHADOWING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY

Abstract— The quaternary structure of pea phytochrome type I (PI) dimer in the red-light-absorbing form was studied by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) technique and rotary-shadowing electron microscopy. Structural parameters for PI 114 kDa chromopeptide dimer and its tryptically digested N-terminal 59 kDa chromopeptide monomer, such as average electron density, molecular volume and the second moment of electron density distribution, were determined in terms of SAXS using the contrast variation method. Furthermore, by means of model simulation for the scattering profiles of the chromopeptides, most plausible structural models for both peptides were constructed. The distance between the chromophoric domains was estimated to be about 70 A in the resultant model for 114 kDa chromopeptide dimer. Furthermore, the model was consistent with the electron-micrographic images of both the intact PI dimer and the PI 114 kDa chromopeptide dimer, so that the N-terminal 7 kDa fragment did not significantly contribute the low-resolution images of the dimer.     

Molecular orbital study for Na, Mg, and Al adsorption on the Si (111) surface

We investigated the interactions between the Si(111) surface and the Na, Mg, and Al atoms using cluster model calculations. Calculations were performed at levels of complete-active-space self-consistent-field (CASSCF) and multi-reference singly and doubly excited configuration interaction (MRSDCI) calculations using the model core potential method. Our calculations revealed that the most favorable sites of Na, Mg, and Al adsorption on Si(111) are on top (T₁), bridge (B₂), and 3-fold filled (T₄) sites, respectively. The nature of chemical bonds between these metal atoms and the dangling bonds of the surface Si atoms are found to be essentially covalent.     

飞行时间型质量分析器(TOFMS)的研制及应用

自行研制了电子碰撞离子化的飞行时间型质量分析器（ＴＯＦＭＳ），用于物质的化学分析。用研制的ＴＯＦＭＳ测量了Ａｒ离子化的飞行时间谱和离子的部分电离截面积比与碰撞电子能量的依赖关系，将它与Ｓｔｅｐｓｈａｎ等人的实验结果进行了比较。     

Simultaneous two- and three-component determinations in multicomponent mixtures by extraction-spectrophotometry and thermochromism of ion-association complexes

A selective method of determination of amines and quaternary ammonium salts by solvent extraction and thermochromism of ion-association complexes has been established. The method is based on the formation of ion-association species with tetrabromophenolphthalein ethyl ester and the thermochromism effect in the organic phase at low temperature. The absorbance of the red amine charge-transfer complexes decreases quantitatively (DeltaA) with increase in temperature (DeltaT), and Delta A Delta T is characteristic of a particular species. This characteristic has been applied for the sensitive and selective determination of amines. The absorbance of the blue quaternary ammonium ion-association complexes does not vary with temperature, however, and the quaternary ammonium compounds can be determined without interference by amines because of the disappearance of the red species at 60 degrees . Methylephedrine, diphenhydramine, ephedrine (amines), benzethonium and/or berberine (quaternary ammonium compounds) in two- and three-component mixtures can be determined by using the thermochromism effect. The method is highly selective, sensitive and reproducible.     

Flow-injection determination of copper(II) based on its catalysis on the redox reaction of cysteine with iron(III) in the presence of 1,10-phenanthroline

A redox reaction of cysteine with iron(III) proceeds slowly in the presence of 1,10-phenanthroline (phen). However, this reaction is accelerated in the presence of copper(II) as a catalyst, producing an iron(II)-phen complex (lambda(max)=510 nm). A sensitive spectrophotometric flow-injection method is proposed for the determination of copper(II) based on its catalytic action on this redox reaction. The dynamic range was 0.1-10 ng ml(-1) of copper(II) with a relative standard deviation of 1.0% (n=10) for 1.0 ng ml(-1) of copper(II) at a sampling rate of 30 h(-1). The detection limit (S/N=3) is 0.04 ng ml(-1). The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of copper in river water as a certified reference material.