Isolation,characterization, and determination of a new compound in red wine

Chromatographic separation using fluorescence as a detection mode revealed, besides a series of flavan-3-ols, the recurrent presence of an undefined compound in Bordeaux red wine. Its isolation and structure characterization by complementary means (high-resolution mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance, and chemical synthesis) has permitted us to identify it as the nitrogen-containing glycoconjugate 3-indolyl-(2R)-O-β-d-glucosyl-lactic acid. Its quantification was performed for different wines of different vine varieties and terroirs with the aim to assess whether this compound may be used as a terroir, variety, or wine process tag.     

An Enzyme Cascade Synthesis of ε‐Caprolactone and its Oligomers

Poly‐ε‐caprolactone (PCL) is chemically produced on an industrial scale in spite of the need for hazardous peracetic acid as an oxidation reagent. Although Baeyer–Villiger monooxygenases (BVMO) in principle enable the enzymatic synthesis of ε‐caprolactone (ε‐CL) directly from cyclohexanone with molecular oxygen, current systems suffer from low productivity and are subject to substrate and product inhibition. The major limitations for such a biocatalytic route to produce this bulk chemical were overcome by combining an alcohol dehydrogenase with a BVMO to enable the efficient oxidation of cyclohexanol to ε‐CL. Key to success was a subsequent direct ring‐opening oligomerization of in situ formed ε‐CL in the aqueous phase by using lipase A from Candida antarctica, thus efficiently solving the product inhibition problem and leading to the formation of oligo‐ε‐CL at more than 20 g L ^?1 when starting from 200 mM cyclohexanol. This oligomer is easily chemically polymerized to PCL.     

Implications of genetic testing for the insurance industry: the UK example

This report summarises the controversy of genetic tests and insurance, with a focus on the UK situation during the past decade. UK experience provides insight for future strategies to help people with genetic disadvantages make insurance provision for themselves and their families. Non-disclosure of genetic test results (already carried out for clinical purposes) may not benefit people at risk of genetic disorders or with positive genetic tests. The pressure of geneticists over a decade to prevent disclosure to insurers may have masked opportunities to use insurance to provide help for people with genetic disadvantages. To seize the opportunities now, there must be collaboration, not conflict. Politicians, geneticists, social scientists and all elements of the insurance industry can contribute to wise solutions.     

The Algorithm Z and Ramanujan’s <Subscript>1</Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">ψ</Emphasis><Subscript>1</Subscript> summation

We use the Algorithm Z on partitions due to Zeilberger, in a variant form, to give a combinatorial proof of Ramanujan’s ₁ ψ ₁ summation formula.     

Study on bioequivalence of beraprost in healthy volunteers by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry

Beraprost sodium is an oral prostacyclin analog that was first approved in 1992 (Japan) for the treatment of peripheral vascular disorders. It is administered orally as a tablet available in strength 20 μg. In this paper, we described a liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method that was developed for the quantification of beraprost in human plasma with high sensitivity at picogram per milliliter concentration. The method had been validated in terms of selectivity, sensitivity, accuracy and precision, matrix effect, linearity, recovery and carry‐over according to the Guideline on Bioanalytical Validation from the European Medicines Agency. The standard calibration curve for beraprost was 9.5–1419 pg/mL. This method has been applied successfully to a bioequivalence study with 60 μg of beraprost (three tablets) in 29 healthy volunteers. The results showed that the two formulations of beraprost are bioequivalent.     

Synthesis and Anti-Leishmanial Properties of Quinolones Derived from Zanthosimuline

Quinoline derivatives and especially quinolones are considered as privileged structures in medicinal chemistry and are often associated with various biological properties. We recently isolated a series of original monoterpenyl quinolones from the bark of Codiaeum peltatum. As this extract was found to have a significant inhibitory activity against a Leishmania species, we decided to study the anti-leishmanial potential of this type of compound. Leishmaniasis is a serious health problem affecting more than 12 million people in the world. Available drugs cause harmful side effects and resistance for some of them. With the aim of finding anti-leishmanial compounds, we developed a synthetic strategy to access natural quinolones and analogues derived from zanthosimuline. We showed the versatility of this natural compound toward cyclization conditions, leading to various polycyclic quinolone-derived structures. The natural and synthetic compounds were evaluated against amastigote forms of Leishmania infantum. The results obtained confirmed the interest of this family of natural compounds but also revealed promising activities for some intermediates deriving from zanthosimuline. Following the same synthetic strategy, we then prepared 14 new analogues. In this work, we identified two promising molecules with good activities against intramacrophage L. infantum amastigotes without any cytotoxicity. We also showed that slight changes in amide functional groups affect drastically their anti-parasitic activity.     

Ryser's permanent identity in the symmetric algebra

The polynomial algebra ofver a field is canonically isomorphic to the symmetric algebra over a vector space. Several identities expressing homogeneous polynomials in terms of sums of powers of linear polynomials are exploited to obtain Ryser'ś permanent identity along with extensions of some recent identities due to Bebiano.