Pyrimidine-directed metal-free C–H borylation of 2-pyrimidylanilines: a useful process for tetra-coordinated triarylborane synthesis

Convenient, easily handled, laboratory friendly, robust approaches to afford synthetically important organoboron compounds are currently of great interest to researchers. Among the various available strategies, a metal-free approach would be overwhelmingly accepted, since the target boron compounds can be prepared in a metal-free state. We herein present a detailed study of the metal-free directed ortho-C–H borylation of 2-pyrimidylaniline derivatives. The approach allowed us to synthesize various boronates, which are synthetically important compounds and various four-coordinated triarylborane derivatives, which could be useful in materials science as well as Lewis-acid catalysts. This metal-free directed C–H borylation reaction proceeds smoothly without any interference by external impurities, such as inorganic salts, reactive functionalities, heterocycles and even transition metal precursors, which further enhance its importance.

We present the metal-free ortho-C–H borylation of 2-pyrimidylanilines to afford synthetically important boronic esters and tetra-coordinated triarylboranes, which could be useful in materials science as well as Lewis-acid catalysts.     

Field-deployable measurements of free-living individuals to determine energy balance: fuel substrate usage through δ13C in breath CO2 and diet through hair δ13C and δ15N values

Carbon isotopes of breath CO₂ vary depending on diet and fuel substrate used. This study examined if exercise-induced δ¹³C-CO₂ changes in substrate utilization were distinguishable from baseline δ¹³C-CO₂ variations in a population with uncontrolled diet, and compared hair isotope values and food logs to develop an isotope model of diet. Study participants included nine women with diverse Body Mass Index (BMI), age, ancestry, exercise history, and diet. Breath samples were collected prior to and up to 12?h after a 5- or 10?K walk/run. Indirect calorimetry was measured with a smartphone-enabled mobile colorimetric device, and a field-deployable isotope analyzer measured breath δ¹³C-CO₂ values. Diet was assessed by food logs and δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N of hair samples. Post-exercise δ¹³C-CO₂ values increased by 0.54?±?1.09‰ (1 sd, n?=?9), implying enhanced carbohydrate burning, while early morning δ¹³C-CO₂ values were lower than daily averages (p?=?0.0043), indicating lipid burning during overnight fasting. Although diurnal δ¹³C-CO₂ variation (1.90?±?0.77‰) and participant baseline range (3.06‰) exceeded exercise-induced variation, temporal patterns distinguished exercise from dietary isotope effects. Hair δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values were consistent with a new dietary isotope model. Notwithstanding the small number of participants, this study introduces a novel combination of techniques to directly monitor energy balance in free-living individuals.     

Synthesis of novel macrocyclic crown ethers from D-glucose

A simple and efficient synthetic protocol for an easy access of carbohydrate-linked crown ethers from cheap and readily available D-glucose in good yields has been devised. The base-mediated cyclization of sugar-linked bis-iodo podands in CH₃CN with amines, including ethylamine and furfurylamine afforded the novel chiral monoaza-15-crown-5-type macrocyclic crown ethers anellated to 3-O-benzyl-1,2-O-isopropylidene-α-D-glucofuranose and 3-O-benzyl-1,2-O-isopropylidene-α-D-allofuranose. The glucose-based crown ethers have been characterized by spectroscopy techniques including IR, ¹H NMR, and ¹³C NMR.     

Hydroxylamines and sulfinamide as amine components in the Petasis boronic acid-Mannich reaction: synthesis of N-hydroxy or alkoxy-α-aminocarboxylicacids and N-(tert-butyl sulfinyl)-α-amino carboxylicacids

An efficient synthesis of N-hydroxy or alkoxy-α-aminocarboxylic acids and N-(tert-butyl sulfinyl)-α-amino carboxylic acids has been developed from N,O-alkyl or hydroxylamines and tert-butyl sulfinamide utilizing a Petasis boronic acid-Mannich reaction. The scope and limitations of this method have been examined.     

Conjugation of <Emphasis Type="Italic">para</Emphasis>-benzoquinone of Cigarette Smoke with Human Hemoglobin Leads to Unstable Tetramer and Reduced Cooperative Oxygen Binding

Besides multiple life-threatening diseases like lung cancer and cardiovascular disease, cigarette smoking is known to produce hypoxia, a state of inadequate oxygen supply to tissues. Hypoxia plays a pivotal role in the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Smoking during pregnancy imposes risk for the unborn child. In addition to carbon monoxide, conjugation of para-benzoquinone (pBQ), derived from cigarette smoke, with human hemoglobin (HbA) was also reported to contribute in hypoxia. In fact, conjugation of pBQ is more alarming than carbon monoxide as it is an irreversible covalent modification. In the present study, the functional assay of Hb-pBQ, performed through oxygen equilibrium curve, showed a significant decrease in both P₅₀ and cooperativity. However, the structural changes associated with the observed functional perturbation of the hemoglobin conjugate (Hb-pBQ) are unknown to date. Enhanced sensitivity and high resolution of nano-ESI mass spectrometry platform have enabled to investigate the native structure of oligomers of hemoglobin in a single scan. The structural integrity of Hb-pBQ measured through the dissociation equilibrium constants (K_d) indicated that compared to HbA, K_d of tetramer-dimer and dimer-monomer equilibria were increased by 4.98- and 64.3-folds, respectively. Using isotope exchange mass spectrometry, we observed perturbations in the inter-subunit interactions of deoxy and oxy states of Hb-pBQ. However, the three-dimensional architecture of Hb-pBQ, monitored through collision cross-sectional area, did not show any change. We propose that the significant destabilization of the functionally active structure of hemoglobin upon conjugation with pBQ results in tighter oxygen binding that leads to hypoxia.

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Dehydrative intramolecular nitrone cycloaddition in confined aqueous media: a green chemical route to cis-fused chromano[4,3-c]isoxazoles

An efficient synthetic route to the formation of cis-fused chromano[4,3-c]isoxazoles via dehydrative intramolecular 1,3-dipolar nitrone cycloaddition in organized aqueous media in the presence of a surfactant (viz. CTAB) as catalyst was developed, which indeed appeared to be green and a more sustainable method than the existing methods with the additional advantage of easy isolation of products.