Addition reactions of pendant epoxide group in poly(glycidyl methacrylate) with various active esters

Addition reactions of pendant epoxide groups in poly(glycidyl methacrylate) (PGMA) with various active esters such as 1-benzotriazolyl benzoate, S-(2-benzoxazolyl) thiobenzoate, S-(2-benzothiazolyl) thiobenzoate, 4-nitrophenyl benzoate (4NPB), and S-phenyl thiobenzoate (PTB) were carried out using quaternary salts as catalysts. The reactions of PGMA with those active esters proceeded in diglyme at 100°C for 24 h quantitatively without the formation of 2-hydroxyl pendant groups in the polymer when 10 mol % of tetraethylammonium bromide was used as a catalyst. Furthermore, it was found that the respective quaternary salts have higher catalytic activity than tertiary amines in the reaction of PGMA with the active esters, and the reaction of PGMA with 4NPB gave the corresponding polymer with the highest conversion by addition of tetrabutylammonium bromide as a catalyst, while tetraethylammonium chloride showed the highest activity for the reaction of PGMA with PTB. In addition, the rate of reaction of PGMA with 4NPB was proportional to third order kinetics of the epoxide concentration, the ester concentration and the catalyst concentration as follows: ?d[Epoxide]/dt = ?[Ester]/dt = k₃[Epoxide] [Ester] [Catalyst].     

Microbiological synthesis of 16-ketopregnanes from steroidal sapogenins

Incubation of diosgenone (1, 25D-spirost-4-en-3-one) with Verticillium theobromae (Turconi) Mason et Hughes (CBS) afforded 20α-hydroxypregn-4<ne-3,16-dione (3) and 3α,11β,20α-trihydroxy-5α-pregnan-16-one (4). The same transformation products were also obtained by the use of Stachylidium bicolor Link (IFO 6647). Isolation and identification processes of the products are discussed.     

Copper(II) chloride as a new,efficient additive suppressing racemization in peptide synthesis by the carbodiimide method

Copper(II) chloride was found to be an extremely efficient additive suppressing racemization in the carbodiimide mediated couplings.     

One electron transfer mechanism in the enzymatic oxygenation of sulfoxide to sulfone promoted by a reconstituted system with purified cytochrome p-450

A kinetic study on enzymatic S-oxygenation of sulfoxides to sulfones was carried out by a reconstited system with purified cytochrome P-450. A linear correlation observed between log(Vmax)'s and the one-electron oxidation potentials of sulfoxides suggests that the oxygenation of sulfoxides proceeds via one electron transfer process to the active “oxenoid” intermediate of the enzyme.