Preparation and biological activity of 2-[4-(thiazol-2-yl)phenyl]propionic acid derivatives inhibiting cyclooxygenase.

A series of 2-[4-(thiazol-2-yl)phenyl]propionic acids substituted at various positions were prepared by the reaction of diethyl 2-methyl-2-(4-thiocarbamoylphenyl)malonates with alpha-bromoaldehyde diethyl acetals or alpha-haloketones followed by hydrolysis of esters. The inhibition of prostaglandin H synthetase (cyclooxygenase) was assayed by use of an enzyme preparation from guinea pig polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Examination of the structure-activity relationship of these compounds indicated that the substitution pattern with halogens at position 3 (R1) of the benzene ring and a methyl group in position 4 (R2) and/or 5 (R3) of the thiazole ring were favorable for inhibitory activity. The compounds bearing bulky alkyl or polar functional groups at the R2 position were weak inhibitors. The potent inhibitors of cyclooxygenase were tested for their ability to reduce carrageenin-induced inflammation of rat paws. These derivatives had strong anti-inflammatory activity based on their strong inhibition of cyclooxygenase, with some exceptions, including those with a thiomethyl group at R1.     

Preferential Uniplanar Orientation of Cellulose Microfibrils Reinvestigated by the FTIR Technique

A simple detection method to observe the uniplanar orientation behavior of native cellulose microfibrils to the cell wall surface by using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy in the transmission mode is reported. Four bands at 1372, 1355, 1337, and 1317 cm⁻¹ (the latter two have been mentioned previously by Liang and Marchessault (1960, J. Polym. Sci. 43: 85–100)) were found to be sensitive to such orientation: the two middle bands at 1355 and 1337 cm⁻¹ increase remarkably when the 0.60–61 nm lattice planes lie parallel to the cell wall surfaces. The reverse was true when the 0.53–54 nm lattice planes oriented preferentially. Polarization of the two bands at 1372 and 1355 cm⁻¹ was parallel, while that of the other two bands at lower wavenumbers, i.e., at 1337 and 1317 cm⁻¹, was perpendicular to the molecular axis of cellulose. These bands were assigned to OH-related motion, probably to in-plane OH bending, as reported by Maréchal and Chanzy (2000, J. Mol. Spectrosc. 523: 183–196).     

Triple hydrogen bonds direct crystal engineering of metal-assembled complexes: the effect of a novel organic-inorganic module on supramolecular structure

Novel triply hydrogen bonded suprastructures based on [M(tdpd)2(L)2]2- (H2tdpd=1,4,5,6-tetrahydro-5,6-dioxo-2,3-pyrazinedicarbonitrile, L=solvent) and melamine-analogous cations have been synthesized and characterized. The use of anions containing two AAA sets from [M(tdpd)2(L)2]2- together with cations containing one DDD set (A=hydrogen-bond acceptor, D=hydrogen-bond donor) leads to the formation of complementary triply hydrogen bonded modules in the solid state. In all cases, the building module is further extended via additional hydrogen-bonding interactions to produce a tape, and tapes are assembled into sheets. These results show that a hydrogen-bonded module consisting of different kinds of building blocks, one of which is a metal complex that includes hydrogen-bond acceptor sites and the other is a hydrogen-bond donor molecule, will be attractive for constructing metal-containing supramolecular systems by the self-assembly technique.     

Synthesis of tert-butyl-substituted poly (ether ketone) by nickel-catalyzed coupling polymerization of aromatic dichloride

tert-Butyl substituted poly (aryl ether ketone)s with relatively high molecular weights were prepared by the Ni-catalyzed polymerization of tert-butyl substituted aromatic dichlorides containing ether ketone unit. These polymers were amorphous and soluble in common organic solvents, such as THF, dichloromethane, and chloroform. De-tert-butylation of the polymer by the treatment of trifluoromethanesulfonic acid in the presence of toluene proceeded smoothly and produced crystalline poly (aryl ether ketone). © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

2-aza-2'-deoxyadenosine: synthesis, base-pairing selectivity, and stacking properties of oligonucleotides

2-Aza-2'-deoxyadenosine (2, z2Ad) is synthesized via its 1,N6-etheno derivative 7 and enzymatically deaminated to 2-aza-2'-deoxyinosine (3). Compound 2 is converted into the phosphoramidite building block 10b. This is employed in solid-phase oligonucleotide synthesis. The 2-azapurine base forms a strong base pair with guanine, but a much weaker one with adenine, thymine, and cytosine. Oligonucleotide duplexes with dangling nucleotide residues, such as 2-aza-2'-deoxyadenosine and 7-deaza-2'-deoxyadenosine (4, c7Ad), either on one or both termini, are synthesized, and the thermal stability of the duplexes is correlated with the hydrophobic properties of the dangling nucleotide residues.     

Air-Segmented Continuous-Flow Analysis for Molybdenum in Various Geochemical Samples

 An air-segmented continuous-flow method has been developed for the determination of molybdenum at ultra trace levels using the catalytic effect of molybdate during the oxidation of L-ascorbic acid by hydrogen peroxide. Incorporation of an on-line ion exchange column improved the tolerance limit for various ions. The detection limits with and without the column were 64 pmol L⁻¹ and 17 pmol L⁻¹, and the reproducibilities at 10 nmol L⁻¹ were 2.1% and 0.2%, respectively. The proposed method was applied to the determination of molybdenum in seawater and lake water as well as in rock and sediment samples. This method has the highest sensitivity among the available literature to our knowledge, and is also convenient for routine analysis of molybdenum in various natural samples. Author for correspondence. E-mail: masahito.sugiyama@ sojin0206.mbox.media.kyoto-u.ac.jp Received October 23, 2002; accepted January 28, 2003 Published online May 19, 2003     

Rationale for the acidity of Meldrum's acid. Consistent relation of C-H acidities to the properties of localized reactive orbital

Detailed investigation on the origin of the acidity of the alpha-protons of a set of the carbonyl molecules was carried out on the basis of properties of the localized molecular orbital. An anomalously high acidity of Meldrum's acid, as compared with those of dimedone and dimethyl malonate, is one of the well-known but unresolved issues. The well-localized sigma orbitals of the C-H bonds at the alpha-position of the carbonyl groups can be obtained with the reactive hybrid orbital (RHO) theory. We found that the energy levels of the unoccupied RHOs of the C-H moiety of Meldrum's acid and other carbonyl compounds showed a good linear correlation with the experimental deprotonation energies. This is probably because the deprotonation reaction to form the proposed naked anions in a polar solvent is a highly endothermic process, in which the thermodynamic energy differences between the neutral molecules and the corresponding anions approximately coincide with the activation energies. We also investigated the effect of the conformational change upon deprotonation on the electron-accepting energy level of the relevant C-H bonds of cyclic/acyclic and monocarbonyl/dicarbonyl compounds. A conformational change occurs in the cases of cyclic six-membered compounds, but its influence on the reactivity of the C-H bond is small. The acidity of dicarbonyl compounds, including Meldrum's acid, showed a good correlation with the deviations from the perpendicular position of the dihedral angles of the relevant C-H bond with respect to the adjacent carbonyl C=O bond. This angle parameter can be related to the magnitude of the in-phase orbital interaction between the sigma(CH) and pi(C)(=)(O) orbitals, which facilitate electron acceptance. These results indicated that the acidity of the alpha-proton of carbonyl compounds can be represented in terms of the electron-accepting orbital levels of the unoccupied RHO of the C-H moiety. All the linear relationships found in the present work strongly suggested that the acidity of Meldrum's acid, which is conventionally regarded as an anomaly, is consistent with those of the other carbonyl compounds.     

Vinyl polymerization. 275. Polymerization of vinyl monomers photosensitized by tetramethyltetrazene

A study of the photopolymerization of vinyl monomers in the presence of tetramethyltetrazene (TMT) was made. TMT was found to act as an effective sensitizer. In the photopolymerization of vinyl monomers such as methyl methacrylate or styrene the rate of polymerization was expressed by the equation: R_p = k[TMT]^1/2[monomer]. The chain-transfer constant of TMT under ultraviolet irradiation was estimated to be 3.8 × 10^?2 for the above monomers. A linear correlation was found to exist between the reactivity of dimethylamino radical toward the vinyl monomers and e values for the corresponding monomers.