Stereospecific photocyclization of α-bisulfenylated keto compounds. Cis-dihydrobenzothiophenes

Irradiation of α-bisulfenylated keto compounds in acetonitrile affords the cis-fused dihydrobenzothiophenes which are dehydrated to benzothiophenes in high yields.     

Prostaglandin analogs modified at the 10 and 11 positions

A simplified methodology for the building of prostaglandins substituted at the 10 and 11 positions is presented.     

Photochemical vapor deposition of amorphous silicon through 185 nm excitation of monosilane

Photochemical vapor deposition of a-Si films at a high rate using SiH₄ and a 185 nm low pressure mercury lamp is described. A maximum rate of 1 nm/sec was attained using the 185 nm lamp. This rate was about ten times higher than that using a 254 nm lamp. Assuming that there is no interaction between the effects of the two wavelengths, the deposition rate per light output power of 184.9 nm light is 160 times larger than that for 253.7 nm light. The absorption cross-section of the 184.9 nm light is ten times greater than that for the 253.7 nm light.     

Nanometric summation architecture based on optical near-field interaction between quantum dots

A nanoscale data summation architecture is proposed and experimentally demonstrated based on the optical near-field interaction between quantum dots. Based on local electromagnetic interactions between a few nanometric elements via optical near fields, we can combine multiple excitations at a certain quantum dot, which allows construction of a summation architecture. Summation plays a key role for content-addressable memory, which is one of the most important functions in optical networks.     

Effect of moisture on impact toughness of sugar-coated tablets manufactured by the dusting method

The purpose of this study was to clarify the effect of moisture on the impact toughness of sugar-coated tablets manufactured by the dusting method. We demonstrated that moisture plays an important role in the impact toughness of sugar-coated tablets. Moisturizing the sugar-coating layer resulted in enhancement of impact toughness of sugar-coated tablets, while reducing moisture in the sugar-coating layer resulted in weakening of the impact toughness. This was due to the characteristics of sucrose, the main ingredient of the sugar-coating layer, which is a soft and non-fragile material at high moisture levels, but hard and fragile at low moisture levels. We also demonstrated that friability as an indicator of impact toughness changed with time, and friability should be measured at 14 d after manufacture. This is due to moisture movement from outer sugar-coating layer into the inner sugar-coated tablets. Incorporating microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) in the subcoating layer resulted in sugar-coating layers with high resistance against impact even though moisture content of sugar-coated tablets was low. We confirmed the high impact toughness of the sugar-coated tablets with MCC whose moisture content was low from the results of both free fall and friability tests. We suggest that the dusting method using dusting powder containing MCC is a useful method for the production of sugar-coated tablets containing moisture sensitive drugs.     

A new strategy for the design of water-soluble synthetic receptors: specific recognition of DNA intercalators and diamines

Water-soluble zinc bisporphyrin receptors 1 and 2 having two Lewis acidic sites (zinc) in the hydrophobic environment consisting of alkyl chains and a bisporphyrin framework, and covered with hydrophilic exterior (twelve or eighteen carboxyl groups) were prepared. The receptors show high affinity for diamines and DNA intercalators in water where the binding constants K(a) are of the order of 10(7) and 10(8) M(-1), respectively. Diamines and DNA intercalators are bound to the receptor through different mechanisms. Diamines are bound through hydrophobic interactions and zinc-nitrogen interactions, while DNA intercalators are bound through hydrophobic interactions and charge-transfer interactions. Flexible alkyl chains can make van der Waals contact with guests and create a hydrophobic environment around the bound guest by an induced-fit-type mechanism. For the binding of DNA intercalators, the following features are noteworthy: 1). Binding constants are similar between the zinc porphyrins and zinc-free porphyrins; 2). the binding constant is larger for the guest having the lower LUMO; this indicates the important contribution of charge-transfer interactions to binding; 3). the hydrophobic and cationic nature of DNA intercalators is substantially important, and 4). higher ionic strength reduced the binding affinities; this shows a moderate contribution of electrostatic interactions. The conformational instability of the receptors also contributes to the tight binding: hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions cannot both be favorable at the same time in the guest-free receptor. Enthalpy-entropy compensation observed for the binding of diamines and DNA intercalators is characterized by a relatively small slope (alpha=0.74) and a large intercept (beta=7.75 kcal mol(-1)) in the DeltaH degrees versus TDeltaS degrees plot; this shows that a conformational change of receptors and a significant desolvation occur upon binding. The receptor can competitively bind to propidium iodide to deprive DNA of the intercalated propidium iodide. These features of water-soluble receptors consisting of a rigid framework and flexible side chains with a large solvent-accessible area are in contrast to highly preorganized rigid receptors, and they can provide useful guidelines for rational design of induced-fit artificial receptors in water.     

Complete memory of chirality upon photodecarboxylation of mesityl alkanoate to mesitylalkane: theoretical and experimental evidence for cheletropic decarboxylation via a spiro-lactonic transition state

The photodecarboxylation of chiral mesityl alkanoate to mesitylalkane has been studied experimentally/theoretically, and it has been found that the photodecarboxylation proceeds to give the product in > 99% enantiomeric excesses under a variety of conditions, indicating no involvement of any radical intermediates, but that the reaction proceeds through the concerted cheletropic extrusion of CO2 from the energetically less-favored s-cis conformation.