Antifungal activity of Annona coriacea Mart. ethanol extracts against the aetiological agents of cryptococcosis

Cryptococcosis is an opportunistic disease with a worldwide distribution. This disease is caused by fungi of the genus Cryptococcus, and its treatment is limited to several antifungals. In this study, the antifungal, cytotoxic and mutagenic properties of ethanol extracts from the bark and leaves of Annona coriacea were evaluated against the standard Cryptococcus species and clinical yeast specimens. Both extracts of A. coriacea showed inhibitory activity of 1.5 mg/mL for all of the yeasts tested. The number of viable cells at the lowest tested concentration was 0.187 mg/mL. The extracts that were tested showed inhibitory activity and reduced the fungal growth of the Cryptococcus gattii species and Cryptococcus neoformans species complexes, suggesting that this plant may be an effective alternative treatment for cryptococcosis.     

A deprotection procedure using SO3H silica gel to remove non-silyl protecting groups

Protecting groups are indispensable in organic synthesis and there is a great need for a variety of deprotection methods. Here, we investigated the scope of the application of a deprotection procedure using SO₃H silica gel, which we have previously reported as a desilylation procedure. Under these conditions, -OMOM, -OSEM, -OTHP, and -OAc groups and dimethyl acetal were cleaved. Pivaloyloxy, benzyloxy and methoxy carbonyl groups remained intact and selective deprotection of TBS groups in the presence of other protecting groups was accomplished. We succeeded in cleaving an acetyl group on a secondary alcohol in a highly polar nortropine derivative. Our findings here provide another deprotection option and would be helpful in the synthesis of multifunctional compounds.     

Determination of volatile organic compounds in the dried leaves of Salvia species by solid-phase microextraction coupled to gas chromatography mass spectrometry

Salvia spp. are used throughout the world both for food and pharmaceutical purposes. In this study, a method involving headspace solid-phase microextraction combined with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry was developed, to establish the volatiles profile of dried leaves of four Iranian Salvia spp.: Salvia officinalis L., Salvia leriifolia Benth, Salvia macrosiphon Boiss. and two ecotypes of Salvia reuterana Boiss. A total of 95 volatiles were identified from the dried leaves of the five selected samples. Specifically, α-thujone was the main component of S. officinalis L. and S. macrosiphon Boiss. (34.40 and 17.84%, respectively) dried leaves, S. leriifolia Benth was dominated by β-pinene (27.03%), whereas α-terpinene was the major constituent of the two ecotypes of S. reuterana Boiss. (21.67 and 13.84%, respectively). These results suggested that the proposed method can be considered as a reliable technique for isolating volatiles from aromatic plants, and for plant differentiation based on the volatile metabolomic profile.     

Liquid chromatography of polymers under limiting conditions of desorption II. Tandem injection and quantitative molar mass determination

Liquid chromatography under limiting conditions of desorption (LC LCD) is a method which allows molar mass independent elution of various synthetic polymers. A narrow, slowly moving zone of small molecules, which promotes full adsorption of one kind of polymer species within column (an adsorli) acts as an impermeable barrier for the fast moving macromolecules. The latter accumulate on the barrier edge and elute nearly in total volume of liquid within column. At the same time, transport of less adsorptive macromolecules is not hampered so that these are eluted in the size exclusion (SEC) mode. As result, polymers differing in their polarity and adsorptivity can be easily separated without molar mass interference. Three methods of barrier creation are discussed and compared. It is shown that a fraction of sample may elute unretained if the adsorli sample solvent is used as a barrier in connection with a narrow-pore column packing. One part of excluded macromolecules likely breaks-out from the adsorli zone and this results in partial loss of sample and distortion of the LC LCD peaks. This problem can be avoided if the adsorli zone is injected immediately before sample solution. Applicability of the LC LCD method for polymer separation has been demonstrated with a model mixture of poly(methyl methacrylate) (adsorbing polymer) and polystyrene (non adsorbing polymer) using bare silica gel as a column packing with a combination of tetrahydrofuran (a desorption promoting liquid -a desorli) and toluene (adsorli). It has been shown that the LC LCD procedure with tandem injection allows simple and fast discrimination of polymer blend components with good repeatability and high sample recovery. For quantitative determination of molar masses of both LC LCD and SEC eluted polymers, an additional size exclusion chromatographic column can be applied either in a conventional way or in combination with a multi-angle light scattering detector. A single eluent is used in the latter column, which separates the mixed mobile phase, system peaks and the desorli zone from the polymer peaks so that measurements are free from disturbances caused by the changing eluent composition. The resulting LC LCD x SEC procedure has been successfully applied to poly(methyl methacrylate) samples.     

Stimuli‐responsive 4‐acryloylmorpholine/4‐acryloylpiperidine copolymers via nitroxide mediated polymerization

4‐acryloylmorpholine/4‐acryloylpiperidine statistical copolymers were synthesized by nitroxide mediated polymerization (NMP) with BlocBuilder unimolecular initiator in dimethylformamide solution at 120 °C. The copolymers had narrow molecular weight distributions (dispersity ? = 1.25–1.35, number average molecular weights M _n = 8.5–13.7 kg mol^?1). The copolymer microstructure was essentially statistical (reactivity ratios r _4AP = 0.81 ± 0.73, r _4AM = 0.73 ± 0.68 based on non‐linear fitting of the Mayo‐Lewis equation). Cloud point temperatures (CPT) in aqueous media were tuned from 11 °C to 92 °C, merely by adjusting the initial monomer composition. Using NMP permitted sharper control of the CPT transitions, compared to the similar copolymer made using conventional radical polymerization. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2017 , 55 , 2160–2170     

Thermal polymerizations of alkali 4-(1-bromoethyl)benzoates

Thermal reactions of alkali salts of 4-(1-bromoethyl)benzoic acid in bulk were investigated. These reactions were found to produce unexpectedly the graft copolymer, poly(4-vinylbenzoate)-graft-oligo(oxycarbonyl-1,4-phenylenethylidene) ( 1 ). The relative reactivity of the oligocondensation as well as the vinyl polymerization of the salts decreased in the following order: K > Na > Li. The reaction polymerization rate proceeded rapidly during the initial 15 min, and then slowed down.     

Poly[2,4-bis(chloroamino)-6-vinyl-1,3,5-triazine] as a recyclable oxidizing agent of alcohols

A polymer containing dichlorotriazine moiety was prepared readily by the reaction of poly(2,4-diamino-6-vinyl-1,3,5-triazine) with tert-butyl hypochlorite. This polymer oxidizes various primary and secondary alcohols to the corresponding carbonyl compounds under mild conditions, while the reaction of the monomeric analogue N,N′-dichloroacetoguanamine with alcohols does not proceed. The polymer reagent can be handled easily and recycled for further use.