Sabiperones A-F, new diterpenoids from Juniperus sabina

Six new diterpenoids, sabiperones A-F (1-6) have been isolated from the aerial part of Juniperus sabina. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods including 2D NMR techniques. Sabiperone F showed moderate cell growth inhibitory activities against five human cancer cell lines.     

alpha-CD/crown-appended diazophenol for selective sensing of amines

[reaction: see text] Azophenol dyes having the permethylated cyclodextrin and/or crown moieties have been synthesized. Compound 1 provides critical information on discriminating 1-3 degrees amines with unique color changes. Addition of 1 degrees and 2 degrees amines to 1 shifts the absorbance maximum of 1 from 380 to approximately 580 and approximately 530 nm, respectively, but no change is observed with 3 degrees amines. The high selectivity of 1 is mainly due to H-bonding between the ammonium H atoms of the amine and oxygen atoms of the crown-6.     

Absorption measurement of a 50-mm-Long periodically poled lithium niobate optical parametric oscillator pumped at 1064 nm by a Nd: YAG laser

We measured the absorption of different periodically poled lithium niobate crystals when different wavelength beams come through them. The choice of a periodically poled lithium niobate crystal is utilized by a singly resonant oscillator to efficiently generate 3800-nm light when it is pumped by a 1064-nm laser and to generate the 2600-nm signal, and, then, injection seeded at 1550 nm. The temperature-tuning curve and idler output power of the chosen crystal are measured.     

Catalysis of giant palladium cluster complexes. Highly selective oxidations of primary allylic alcohols to α,β-unsaturated aldehydes in the presence of molecular oxygen

A giant Pd cluster, Pd₅₆₁phen₆₀(OAc)₁₈₀, has high catalytic activity for the selective oxidations of various primary allylic alcohols to the corresponding α,β-unsaturated aldehydes in the presence of molecular oxygen under mild reaction conditions. A Pd cluster anchored on TiO₂ also catalyzes the above oxidations; the heterogeneous Pd₅₆₁ cluster catalyst is easily separated from the reaction mixture and is reusable.     

Gold nanoparticle-catalyzed environmentally benign deoxygenation of epoxides to alkenes

We have developed a highly efficient and green catalytic deoxygenation of epoxides to alkenes using gold nanoparticles (NPs) supported on hydrotalcite [HT: Mg(6)Al(2)CO(3)(OH)(16)] (Au/HT) with alcohols, CO/H(2)O or H(2) as the reducing reagent. Various epoxides were selectively converted to the corresponding alkenes. Among the novel metal NPs on HT, Au/HT was found to exhibit outstanding catalytic activity for the deoxygenation reaction. Moreover, Au/HT can be separated from the reaction mixture and reused with retention of its catalytic activity and selectivity. The high catalytic performance of Au/HT was attributed to the selective formation of Au-hydride species by the cooperative effect between Au NPs and HT.     

Multicomponent assembly strategies for the synthesis of diverse tetrahydroisoquinoline scaffolds

Several novel multicomponent assembly processes have been developed for the rapid and efficient assembly of various heterocyclic scaffolds bearing a tetrahydroisoquinoline core, each of which allows for facile derivatization to access a diverse array of compounds. This work led to the serendipitous discovery of a new method for the synthesis of a fused quinazolone ring system, which was applied to a one-step total synthesis of the quinazolinocarboline alkaloid rutaecarpine.     

Thin Shear Layer Structures in High Reynolds Number Turbulence

Three-dimensional tomographic time dependent PIV measurements of high Reynolds number (Re) laboratory turbulence are presented which show the existence of long-lived, highly sheared thin layer eddy structures with thickness of the order of the Taylor microscale and internal fluctuations. Highly sheared layer structures are also observed in direct numerical simulations of homogeneous turbulence at higher values of Re (Ishihara et al., Annu Rev Fluid Mech 41:165–180, 2009). But in the latter simulation, where the fluctuations are more intense, the layer thickness is greater. A rapid distortion model describes the structure and spectra for the velocity fluctuations outside and within ‘significant’ layers; their spectra are similar to the Kolmogorov (C R Acad Sci URSS 30:299–303, 1941) and Obukhov (Dokl Akad Nauk SSSR 32:22–24, 1941) statistical model (KO) for the whole flow. As larger-scale eddy motions are blocked by the shear layers, they distort smaller-scale eddies leading to local zones of down-scale and up-scale transfer of energy. Thence the energy spectrum for high wave number k is $E_X (k)\sim Bk^{-2p}$ . The exponent p depends on the forms of the large eddies. The non-linear interactions between the distorted inhomogeneous eddies produce a steady local structure, which implies that 2p?=?5/3 and a flux of energy into the thin-layers balancing the intense dissipation, which is much greater than the mean $\left<\epsilon\right>$ . Thence $B\sim\left<\epsilon\right>^{2/3}$ as in KO. Within the thin layers the inward flux energises extended vortices whose thickness and spacing are comparable with the viscous microscale. Although peak values of vorticity and velocity of these vortices greatly exceed those based on the KO scaling, the form of the viscous range spectrum is consistent with their model.