The Synthesis of 3-(R)- and 3-(S)-Hydroxyeicosapentaenoic Acid

Monohydroxylated polyunsaturated fatty acids belonging to the oxylipin class of natural products are present in marine and terrestrial sources as well as in the human body. Due to their biological activities and role in diverse biosynthetic pathways, oxylipins biosynthesized from eicosapentaenoic acid and arachidonic acid have attracted great interest from the scientific community. One example is 3-hydroxyeicosapentaenoic acid where the absolute configuration at C-3 has only been tentatively assigned. In this paper, studies on acetate type aldol reactions that enabled the preparation of 3-(R)-hydroxyeicosapentaenoic acid (3R-HETE, 2) and its enantiomer are presented.     

A high yielding one-pot method for the preparation of salen ligands

Phenols are converted to salicylaldehydes with paraformaldehyde, MgCl₂-Et₃N in THF, and subsequently treated with (+)-(R,R)-1,2-diammoniumcyclohexane mono-(+)-tartrate salt affording the corresponding salen ligands in high yields. The reactions are conveniently carried out as a one-pot procedure.     

Prediction of physical properties of hydrocarbon mixtures by partial-least-squares calibration of carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance data

By using the partial-least-squares (PLS) method, bulk properties of 12-component synthetic mixtures containing n-alkanes, iso-alkanes, cyclo-alkanes and aromatics are calibrated against intensities and chemical shifts of ¹³C-NMR spectra. The standard error of prediction (SEP) for the determinations of density, refractive index, mean molecular weight and carbon-type distribution was found to be less than 3.2% of the observed range. The SEP for excess densities is significantly larger, especially for values based on chemical shift data. The chemical shift variation supplies unique chemical information on solute/solvent interactions.     

Metabolism of carotenoids in salmonids. Part 2. Distribution and absolute configuration of idoxanthin in various organs and tissues of one atlantic salmon (Salmo salar,L.) fed with astaxanthin

The content of total carotenoids and the ratio astaxanthin/idoxanthin ( = 3,3′-dihydroxy-β,β-carotene-4,4′-dione/3,3′,4′-trihydroxy-β,β-caroten-4-one) in varoius organs and tissues of one Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar, L.) reared indoors in a tank were analyzed after feeding ‘racemic’ ((3R,3′R)/(3R,3′S; meso)/(3S,3′S) 1:2:) astaxanthin (90 mg/kg feed) during one yera. Configurational analysis of astaxanthin was carried out via the (?)-dicamphanate derivative and that of idoxanthin after reaction with (+)-(S)-l-(l-naphthyl)ethyl isocyanate. Separation of all eight optical isomers of idoxanthin-tricarbamate derivatives by HPLC is described. In salmon, enzymatic reduction of astaxanthin was found to be sterospecific leading to th (4′R)-hydroxy group irrespective of the configuration at C(3′), thus resulting in four different stereoisomers of idoxanthin formed from (3R,3′R), (3R,3′S; meso)-, and (3S3′S)-astaxanthin present in the diet.     

ortho-Formylation of oxygenated phenols

Oxygenated phenols are mono-formylated using a mixture of paraformaldehyde, MgCl₂, and Et₃N in THF. In all cases but one, only one regioisomer of the salicylaldehyde is obtained in good to high yield.     

Graph coloring in the estimation of sparse derivative matrices: Instances and applications

We describe a graph coloring problem associated with the determination of mathematical derivatives. The coloring instances are obtained as intersection graphs of row partitioned sparse derivative matrices. The size of the graph is dependent on the partition and can be varied between the number of columns and the number of nonzero entries. If solved exactly our proposal will yield a significant reduction in computational cost of the derivative matrices. The effectiveness of our approach is demonstrated via a practical problem from computational molecular biology. We also remark on the hardness of the generated coloring instances.     

Rotationally averaged linear absorption spectra beyond the electric-dipole approximation

ABSTRACT

Based on the recently developed implementation of the full semi-classical field–matter interaction operator, we present a numerically accurate yet efficient scheme to perform rotational averaging of linear absorption spectra beyond the electric-dipole approximation. This allows for a gauge-origin independent determination of UV/vis and X-ray absorption spectra for randomly oriented systems such as multilayers, liquids, and gas phase samples. The approach is illustrated by the determination of spectral intensities of electric-dipole allowed π → π* transitions and electric-dipole forbidden n → π* transitions in the UV–vis region of the spectrum as well as electric-dipole forbidden 1s → 3d transitions in the X-ray region of the spectrum. The employed Lebedev quadrature scheme shows very fast convergence with respect to the number of symmetry-independent quadrature points – in all considered cases, the oscillator strengths for the randomly oriented systems are fully converged with use of only seven quadrature points.     

The significance of anti-neuronal antibodies for acute psychiatric disorders: a retrospective case–controlled study

Background

The clinical significance of anti-neuronal antibodies in patients with psychiatric disorders, but without encephalitis, remains unknown. In patients admitted to acute psychiatric inpatient care we aimed to identify clinical features distinguishing anti-neuronal antibody positive patients from matched controls.

Results

Patients who were serum-positive to N-methyl d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) (n?=?21), contactin-associated protein 2 (CASPR2) (n?=?14) and/or glutamic acid decarboxylase 65 (GAD65) (n?=?9) antibodies (cases) were age and sex matched (1:2) with serum-negative patients from the same cohort (controls). The prevalence and severity of psychiatric symptoms frequently encountered in NMDAR, CASPR2 and GAD65 antibody associated disorders were compared in cases and controls. NMDAR, CASPR2 and GAD65 antibody positive patients did not differ in their clinical presentation from matched serum negative controls.

Conclusion

In this cohort, patients with and without NMDAR, CASPR2 and GAD65 antibodies admitted to acute psychiatric inpatient care had similar psychiatric phenotypes. This does not exclude their clinical relevance in subgroups of patients, and studies further investigating the clinical significance of anti-neuronal antibodies in patients with psychiatric symptomatology are needed.