Long-term effects of UV light on contractility of rat arteries in vivo

Several studies have shown that UV irradiation may be effective for preventing vascular restenosis or vasopasm. However, the long-term effects of UV light on the physiological properties of vessels such as arterial tension have not been elucidated. We therefore studied the long-term effects of UV using rat carotid arteries treated with UV-B light (wavelength = 313 nm, total energy = 14 mJ/mm2). The animals were sacrificed at 1, 7 and 14 days after UV light exposure, and the carotid arteries were studied by light microscopy and the contractile responses of isolated arterial rings were recorded under isometric tension. UV treatment had induced a substantial loss of smooth muscle cells (SMC) along the entire circumference of the media on days 7 and 14, whereas loss of SMC on day 1 was negligible. Contractile responses of arteries that had been exposed to UV light were significantly reduced on days, 1, 7 and 14. The susceptibility of UV-treated arteries to phenylephrine and prostaglandin F2 alpha was significantly decreased on days 1 and 7, but decreased susceptibility was not seen on day 14. Acetylcholine-induced relaxations were not altered by UV treatment. These results suggest that the long-term effect of UV light is an attenuation of smooth muscle contractility without impairment of endothelial function.     

Two types of intramolecular homolytic substitution reactions at group XIV atoms: unusual radical 1,4-Sn shifts from Si to C and carbonylative SHi reaction at Si

4-[(Trimethylstannyl)diphenylsilyl]butanoyl radical, arising from the corresponding 3-(stannylsilyl)propyl radical and CO, undergoes an SHi reaction at Si with extrusion of trimethyltin radical to give silacyclopentanone. The parent 3-(stannylsilyl)propyl radical was also found to isomerize to (3-stannylpropyl)silyl radical via a 1,4-Sn shift from Si to C with a rate constant of 9.3 x 10(4) s-1 at 80 degrees C. Ab initio and DFT MO calculations support a front-side attack mechanism.     

Enantioselective carbanion cyclization of 5-alkenyl carbamates induced by asymmetric lithiation with s-butyllithium/(−)-sparteine system

Treatment of (E)-6-phenyl-5-hexenyl carbamates with s-BuLi/(−)-sparteine is shown to afford the trans-1,2-disubstituted cyclopentane derivatives in high % ee, along with the bicyclo[3.1.0]hexanes (bicyclization products).     

Efficient esterification of carboxylic acids and phosphonic acids with trialkyl orthoacetate in ionic liquid

An operationally simple, inexpensive, efficient, and environmentally friendly esterification of various carboxylic acids, phosphonic acids, and phosphinic acids with triethyl orthoacetate or trimethyl orthoacetate under neutral conditions in a typical room temperature ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate, was successfully carried out to provide the corresponding ethyl esters or methyl esters in high yields.     

Improved description of the orbital relaxation effect by practical use of the self‐energy

The self‐energy shift in the orbital relaxation (OR) term of the polarization propagator complete through the second‐order is presented. In combination with the optimal damping parameter in the OR term, the modified propagator produces the excitation energy of the coupled‐cluster with singles and doubles (CCSD) accuracy. The self‐energy shift requires the floating‐point operation of , where N refers to the magnitude of the molecular size. Because the second‐order polarization propagator requires the floating‐point operation of , the additional computational effort to construct the self‐energy is negligibly small. Numerical results are shown for several molecules including glycine, 2,3,5,6‐tetrafluorobenzene, and naphthalene, and promising agreements with those of CCSD are confirmed within less than 0.2 eV. The basis set dependence is also tested for the water molecule using aug‐cc‐pV NZ (N = D–7), where this newly developed approach mimics the behavior of the CCSD values. The self‐energy shifting for the second‐order response matrix in combination with the use of a dumping parameter is efficiently implemented for calculations of medium‐sized molecular systems, including glycine and naphthalene. The developed approach provides CCSD‐like accuracy at a more affordable computational expense. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

State of titanium in Ti-containing silica and silicalite catalysts in relation to their oxidation activity

The nature of active titanium species for epoxidation of olefins with H₂O₂ and t-butyl hydroperoxide has been investigated for titanium silicalite (TS-1), titania silica (TiO₂/SiO₂) prepared by a sol-gel method, and titanium oxide supported on silica by a CVD method (TiO₂/SiO₂-CVD). IR and XANES analyses suggested that Ti in TiO₂/SiO₂ and TiO₂/SiO₂-CVD has a tetrahedral configuration bonded to SiO₂ and that in TS-1 has a configuration composed of >Ti=O or related to it. Their configurations are closely related to their reactivities for epoxidation of olefins in which the former works with t-butyl hydroperoxide and the latter with H₂O₂.