A new synthetic pathway of segmented tri-block copolyether

A new synthetic pathway of A–B–A tri-block copolyether which is composed of a hydrophilic poly(oxyethylene) unit as an A part and a hydrophobic poly(oxy-2-methyl-trimethylene) unit as a B part is proposed. Telechelic α-tosyl-ω-tosyloxypoly(oxy-2-methyl-trimethylene) derived from tosylation of poly(oxy-2-methyl-trimethylene glycol) (PMTG) was allowed to react with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) in the presence of sodium hydroxide. T_g of the resulting A–B–A tri-block copolyether (PEMG) (M?_n = 1600) was ?72°C and its specific gravity [D₄¹⁵] was 1.055.     

Determination of iodine in organic iodine compounds by non-equilibrium isotope exchange in a heterogeneous exchange system

Some water-soluble organic iodine compounds (aqueous solution) can be analyzed for iodine by isotopically exchanging with labelled elementary iodine (organic solution). The method is applicable to exchange systems in which the rate of the exchange is rather small but measurable, before the exchange equilibrium is attained. The iodine content of iodoaromatic amino acids such as 5-iodouracil and 3,5-diiodotyrosine can be determined within an error of ±4%.     

Determination of arsenic at the picogram level by atomic absorption spectrometry with miniaturized suction-flow hydride generation

A continuous-flow hydride generator is modified and miniaturized for the determination of picogram amounts of arsenic by atomic absorption spectrometry. A 300-μl sample is dropped into a teflon cup and pumped into an alkaline sodium tetrahydroborate stream, which is acidified in a reaction coil. The evolved hydride is swept with argon through a phase separator into an electrically-heated quartz absorption cell and the absorbance is recorded. To eliminate differences in sensitivity between arsenic(III) and arsenic(V) without prereduction by potassium iodide, it is important that arsenic(V) be mixed with tetrahydroborate prior to mixing with hydrochloric acid. The method has a detection limit of 0.08 ng As ml^?1 (24 pg) and the calibrations is linear up to 50 ng As ml^?1. The relative standard deviation for 10 replicate measurements is 5.4% for 0.5 ng As ml^?1. The addition of potassium iodide and hydroxylamine is confirmed to be effective in minimizing some interferences. The sampling rate is 90 h^?1. Results for NBS biological and steel reference materials demonstrate applicability of the technique.     

Efficient routes to optically active azido-, amino-, di-azido- and di-amino-cyclitols with chiro- and allo-configuration from myo-inositol

Efficient routes to hitherto unknown 1d-2,5-di-azido-di-deoxy-allo-inositol, 1d-2,5-di-amino-di-deoxy-allo-inositol, 1l-1-azido-1-deoxy-chiro-inositol and 1l-1-amino-1-deoxy-chiro-inositol were developed by using cheaply available myo-inositol as the starting material. Preliminary investigations on the enzyme inhibitory properties were done. The methodology reported is amenable to gram scale synthesis and thus can find application in natural product synthesis.     

Interpretation of structure formation during the sol-gel transition of a resorcinol-formaldehyde solution by population balance

Growth of colloidal particles formed during the sol-gel transition of a resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) solution was simulated based on the population balance equation by using the discrete-sectional model (DSM). During the early stage of the sol-gel transition, the transient change of sizes of colloidal particles estimated by this method agreed well with the previous experimental observation by dynamic light scattering (DLS), which confirmed the influence of the catalyst concentration of a starting RF solution on the growth rate of the particles. From the size distribution of colloidal particles predicted at the gelation time, the surface area of a RF hydrogel after the completion of the sol-gel transition was estimated, which coincided with the BET surface area of a RF aerogel because the porous structure of a hydrogel was maintained and few micropores were formed during supercritical drying.     

High resolution mass spectrometric studies of some bicyclic γ-lactones

The mass spectra of three bicyclic γ-lactones have been studied, and the fragmentation pathways have been proposed with the aid of accurate mass measurements and metastable transitions. An unusually low [M ? CH₃] ion and the presence of an abundant [M ? C₅H₉] ion in the mass spectrum of dihydroactinidiolide were interpreted as a possible rearrangement involving a methyl migration. The eliminations of methyl radical, carbon monoxide and ketene are important processes in many cases.     

Formation and stabilization model of the 42-mer Abeta radical: implications for the long-lasting oxidative stress in Alzheimer's disease

Amyloid fibrils mainly consist of 40-mer and 42-mer peptides (Abeta40, Abeta42). Abeta42 is believed to play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease because its aggregative ability and neurotoxicity are considerably greater than those of Abeta40. The neurotoxicity of Abeta peptides involving the generation of free radicals is closely related to the S-oxidized radical cation of Met-35. However, the cation's origin and mechanism of stabilization remain unclear. Recently, structural models of fibrillar Abeta42 and Abeta40 based on systematic proline replacement have been proposed by our group [Morimoto, A.; et al. J. Biol. Chem. 2004, 279, 52781] and Wetzel's group [Williams, A. D.; et al. J. Mol. Biol. 2004, 335, 833], respectively. A major difference between these models is that our model of Abeta42 has a C-terminal beta-sheet region. Our biophysical study on Abeta42 using electron spin resonance (ESR) suggests that the S-oxidized radical cation of Met-35 could be generated by the reduction of the tyrosyl radical at Tyr-10 through a turn structure at positions 22 and 23, and stabilized by a C-terminal carboxylate anion through an intramolecular beta-sheet at positions 35-37 and 40-42 to form a C-terminal core that would lead to aggregation. A time-course analysis of the generation of radicals using ESR suggests that stabilization of the radicals by aggregation might be a main reason for the long-lasting oxidative stress of Abeta42. In contrast, the S-oxidized radical cation of Abeta40 is too short-lived to induce potent neurotoxicity because no such stabilization of radicals occurs in Abeta40.     

Reaction of azole condensed quinoxaline N-oxides with acetic anhydride

The reaction of 7-chlorotetrazolo[1,5-α]quinoxaline 5-oxide 6a with acetic anhydride gave 7-chloro-5-(7-chlorotetrazolo[1,5-α]quinoxalin-4-yl)-4,5-dihydro-4-oxotetrazolo[1,5-α]quinoxaline 7a , while the reaction of 7-chloro-1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-α]quinoxaline 5-oxide 6b with acetic anhydride afforded 7-chloro-5-(7-chloro-1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-α]quinoxalin-4-yl)-4,5-dihydro-4-oxo-1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-α]quinoxaline 7b and 7-chloro-4,5-dihydro-4-oxo-1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-α]quinoxaline 8b . The reaction of compound 6a or 6b with acetic anhydride/acetic acid provided 7-chloro-4,5-dihydro-4-oxo-tetrazolo[1,5-α]quinoxaline 8a or compound 8b , respectively.     

Photoinduced chemical reactions on natural single crystals and synthesized crystallites of mercury(II) sulfide in aqueous solution containing naturally occurring amino acids

Photoirradiation at >300 nm of aqueous suspensions of several natural crystal specimens and synthesized crystallites of mercury(II) sulfide (HgS) induced deaminocyclization of optically active or racemic lysine into pipecolinic acid (PCA) under deaerated conditions. This is the first example, to the best of our knowledge, of photoinduced chemical reactions of natural biological compounds over natural minerals. It was found that the natural HgS crystals had activity higher than those of synthesized ones but lower than those of other sulfides of transition metals, e.g., CdS and ZnS, belonging to the same II-IV chalcogenides. In almost all of the photoreactions, decompostion of HgS occurred to liberate hydrogen sulfide (H(2)S) and Hg(2+), and the latter seemed to have undergone in-situ reductive deposition on HgS as Hg(0) after a certain induction period (24-70 h) during the photoirradiation, as indicated by the darkened color of the suspensions. The formation of PCA, presumably through combination of oxidation of lysine and reduction of an intermediate, cyclic Schiff base, could also be seen after a certain induction time of the Hg(0) formation. This was supported by the fact that the addition of small amount of Hg(2+) (0.5 wt % of HgS) increased the PCA yield by almost 2-fold. We also tried to elucidate certain aspects of the plausible stereochemical reactions in relation to the chiral crystal structure of HgS. Although, in some experiments, slight enantiomeric excess of the product PCA was observed, the excess was below or equal to the experimental error and no other supporting analytical data could not be obtained; we cannot conclude the enantiomeric photoproduction of PCA by the natural chiral HgS specimen.     

Thermal decomposition of vinylacetylene in shock waves

The thermal decomposition of vinylacetylene (C₄H₄) was studied behind reflected shock waves using both a single-pulse method (reaction time between 0.8 and 3.3 ms) and a time-resolved UV-absorption method (230 nm). The studies were done over the temperature range of 1170–1690 K at the total pressure range of 1.3–2.3 atm. The mechanism was used to interpret both the early and late stages of vinylacetylene decomposition at the high temperatures. It was confirmed that C₄H₄ dissociation proceeded through the following three channels. The rate constant expression of reaction (1) was determined as k₁ = 6.3 × 10¹³ exp(?87.1 kcal/RT) s^?1. The rate constants of the succeeding reactions (chain reaction, C₄H₄ + H → i-C₄H₃ + H₂ and C₄H₄ + H → C₂H₂ + C₂H₃ and decomposition reactions of free radicals, i-C₄H₃ + M → C₄H₂ + H + M) were confirmed or estimated. © John Wiley & Sons, Inc.