Compelling evidence for a stepwise mechanism of the alkaline cyclisation of uridine 3'-phosphate esters

A Bronsted graph with a convex break at pK(a)(Lg)= 12.58 provides compelling evidence for an intermediate in the alkaline cyclisation of uridine 3'-phosphate esters. The transient pentacoordinated oxyphosphorane dianion intermediate collapses to reactant and cyclic uridine 2',3'-monophosphate faster than it can pseudo-rotate and isomerise to the 2'-isomer.     

Hydrolytic reactions of thymidine 5'-o-phenyl-N-alkylphosphoramidates, models of nucleoside 5'-monophosphate prodrugs

To obtain detailed data on the kinetics of hydrolytic reactions of triester-like nucleoside 5'-O-aryl-N-alkylphosphoramidates, potential prodrugs of antiviral nucleoside monophosphates, the hydrolysis of diastereomeric (Rp/Sp) thymidine 5'-{O-phenyl-N-[(1S)-2-oxo-2-methoxy-1-methylethyl]phosphoramidate} (3), a phosphoramidate derived from the methyl ester of L-alanine, has been followed by reversed-phase HPLC over the range from Ho=0 to pH 8 at 90 degrees C. According to the time-dependent product distributions, the hydrolysis of 3 proceeds at pH<4 by two parallel routes, namely by nucleophilic displacement of the alaninyl ester moiety by a water molecule and by hydrolysis of the carboxylic ester linkage that allows intramolecular attack of the carboxy group on the phosphorus atom, thereby resulting in the departure of either thymidine or phenol without marked accumulation of any intermediates. Both routes represent about half of the overall disappearance of 3. The departure of phenol eventually leads to the formation of thymidine 5'-phosphate. At pH>5, the predominant reaction is hydrolysis of the carboxylic ester linkage followed by intramolecular displacement of a phenoxide ion by the carboxylate ion and hydrolysis of the resulting cyclic mixed anhydride into an acyclic diester-like thymidine 5'-phosphoramidate. The latter product accumulated quantitatively without any indication of further decomposition. Hydroxide-ion-catalyzed P--OPh bond cleavage of the starting material 3 occurred as a side reaction. Comparative measurements with thymidine 5'-{N-[(1S)-2-oxo-2-methoxy-1-methylethyl]phosphoramidate} (4) revealed that, under acidic conditions, this diester-like compound is hydrolyzed by P--N bond cleavage three orders of magnitude more rapidly than the triester-like 3. At pH>5, the stability order is reversed, with 3 being hydrolyzed six times as rapidly as 4. Mechanisms of the partial reactions are discussed.     

Hydrolysis of Phosphodiester Bonds within RNA Hairpin Loops in Buffer Solutions: the Effect of Secondary Structure on the Inherent Reactivity of RNA Phosphodiester Bonds

The hydrolysis of phosphodiester bonds of chimeric 2′-O-methyloligoribonucleotides was studied in buffer solutions. Pseudo-first-order rate constants for cleavage of phosphodiester bonds within hairpin loops were calculated and compared with those for cleavage of phosphodiester bonds within double-stranded stems and linear single-stranded oligonucleotides. No large differences in reactivity were observed: some of the hairpin structures studied were slightly less and others slightly more reactive than the linear reference. These results suggest that phosphodiester bonds within small hairpin loops are conformationally free to cleave by an in-line mechanism, but also that the secondary structure may influence the reactivity of phosphodiester bonds.     

Ethylene‐Norbornene Terpolymerization with 5‐Vinyl‐2‐norbornene Using Single‐Site Catalysts

The incorporation of 5‐vinyl‐2‐norbornene (VNB) into ethylene‐norbornene copolymer was investigated with catalysts [Ph₂C(Fluo)(Cp)]ZrCl₂ ( 1 ), rac‐[Et(Ind)₂]ZrCl₂ ( 2 ), and [Me₂Si(Me₄Cp)^tBuN]TiCl₂ ( 3 ) in the presence of MAO by terpolymerizing different amounts of 5‐vinyl‐2‐norbornene with constant amounts of ethylene and norbornene at 60°C. The highest cycloolefin incorporations and highest activity in terpolymerizations were achieved with 1 . The distribution of the monomers in the terpolymer chain was determined by NMR spectroscopy. As confirmed by XRD and DSC analysis, catalysts 1 and 3 produced amorphous terpolymer, whereas 2 yielded terpolymer with crystalline fragments of long ethylene sequences. When compared with poly‐(ethylene‐co‐norbornene), VNB increased both the glass transition temperatures and molar masses of terpolymers produced with the constrained geometry catalyst whereas decreased those for the metallocenes.     

Weighted estimates for rough oscillatory singular integrals

Weighted L^p estimates (1<p<∞) are shown for oscillatory singular integral operators with polynomial phase and a rough kernel of the form e^iP(x,y)Ω(x−y)h(|x−y|)|x−y|⁻ⁿ. We assume that Ω∈L logL(Sⁿ⁻¹) is homogeneous of degree zero and ∫_Sn-1Ω=0. The radial factor h has bounded variation. The necessary condition on the weight is similar to the A_p condition but involves rectangles (instead of cubes) arising from a covering of a star-shaped set related to Ω.     

Preparation, characterization and application of a stationary chromatographic phase from a new (+)-tartaric acid derivative

The preparation, characterization and application of a new stationary phase derived from 1,4-cyclohexanedione and diethyl (+)-tartrate are described. A suitable TADDOL for immobilization has been synthesized and grafted to a γ-mercaptopropylsilylated silica gel. The resulting modified stationary phase has been characterized and its ability to separate enantiomers has been studied. While the free TADDOL in solution was able to resolve a range of enantiomers, the resolving properties were lost on immobilization. Solid state ¹³C CPMAS NMR of the new stationary phase was used to explain the lack of stereoselective recognition.     

Continuous learning methods in two-buyer pricing problem

This paper presents continuous learning methods in a monopoly pricing problem where the firm has uncertainty about the buyers’ preferences. The firm designs a menu of quality-price bundles and adjusts them using only local information about the buyers’ preferences. The learning methods define different paths, and we compare how much profit the firm makes on these paths, how long it takes to learn the optimal tariff, and how the buyers’ utilities change during the learning period. We also present a way to compute the optimal path in terms of discounted profit with dynamic programming and complete information. Numerical examples show that the optimal path may involve jumps where the buyer types switch from one bundle to another, and this is a property which is difficult to include in the learning methods. The learning methods have, however, the benefit that they can be generalized to pricing problems with many buyers types and qualities.     

Orthogonally protected cyclo-beta-tetrapeptides as solid-supported scaffolds for the synthesis of glycoclusters

Two novel peptide scaffolds, viz. cyclo[(N(alpha)-Alloc)Dpr-beta-Ala-(N(alpha)-Fmoc)Dpr-beta-Ala] (1) and cyclo[(N(alpha)-Alloc)Dpr-alpha-azido-beta-aminopropanoyl-(N(alpha)-Fmoc)Dpr-beta-Ala] (2), composed of orthogonally protected 2,3-diaminopropanoyl (Dpr) and beta-alanyl residues, have been described. Fmoc chemistry on a backbone amide linker derivatized resin has been used for the chain assembly. Selective removal of the 4-methyltrityl (Mtt) and 1-methyl-1-phenylethyl protections (PhiPr) exposes the beta-amino and carboxyl terminus, respectively, and on-resin cyclization then gives the desired orthogonally protected cyclo-beta-tetrapeptides (1 and 2). The alpha-amino groups, bearing the Fmoc and Alloc protections and the azide mask, allow stepwise orthogonal derivatization of these solid-supported cyclo-beta-tetrapeptide cores (1 and 2). This has been demonstrated by attachments of various sugar units [viz., acetyl- or toluoyl-protected carboxymethyl alpha-d-glycopyranosides (13-15) and methyl 6-O-(4-nitrophenoxycarbonyl)-alpha-d-glycopyranosides (22-24)] to obtain diverse di- and trivalent glycoclusters (33-42). Acidolytic release (TFA) from the support, followed by conventional NaOMe-catalyzed transesterification (33-40) or hydrazine-induced acyl substitution in DMF (41 and 42), gives the fully deprotected clusters (43-52) as final products.