Synthesis of a novel prostaglandin H2(pgH2) analogue

We describe a five-step synthesis of a PGH₂ analogue from (R)-glyceraldehyde acetonide via formation of 1,2(S)-0-isopropylidene-hex-3(E)-en-5-one, conjugate addition of prostanoid C₁₃- C₂₀ side-chain as the cuprate with C₁-C₇ side-chain used to quench the resultant enolate, and finaily acid-catalysed ketal exchange to provide the desired analogue.     

A catalytic asymmetric method for the synthesis of gamma-unsaturated beta-amino acid derivatives

Catalytic enantioselective synthesis of beta-amino acid derivatives is an area of intense interest, due to the importance of these compounds as components in pharmaceutical agents and peptidomimetics. In this report, we present the first catalytic enantioselective method for the synthesis of gamma-unsaturated beta-amino acids and their corresponding 1,3-amino alcohol derivatives. This methodology takes advantage of a highly enantioselective vinylzinc addition to an aldehyde to set chirality. The resulting allylic alcohols are then transformed into the corresponding allylic amines via Overman's [3,3]-sigmatropic imidate rearrangement, and subsequent one-pot deprotection-oxidation of a pendant oxygen leads to the gamma-unsaturated beta-amino acid derivatives of high enantiopurity.     

Achiral tetrahydrosalen ligands for the synthesis of C(2)-symmetric titanium complexes: a structure and diastereoselectivity study

Achiral tetrahydrosalen ligands have been employed in the synthesis of chiral C(2)-symmetric titanium complexes. When combined with tetrahydrosalen ligands 2a and 2b, titanium tetraisopropoxide liberated 2 equiv of isopropyl alcohol and generated the (tetrahydrosalen)Ti(O-i-Pr)(2) complexes 3a and 3b. These complexes were shown to be C(2)-symmetric by (1)H and (13)C[(1)H] NMR spectrometry and X-ray crystallography. X-ray structures of 3a and 3b indicate that the bonding of the tetrahydrosalen ligand to titanium is different than the bonding of salen ligands to titanium. Whereas salen ligands usually bind to titanium in a planar arrangement, the tetrahydrosalen is bonded with the phenoxide oxygens mutually trans. When bound in this fashion, the nitrogens of the tetrahydrosalen ligand and the titanium become stereogenic centers. The use of titanium complexes of high enantiopurity in the generation of tetrahydrosalen titanium adducts resulted in a maximum diastereoselectivity of 2:1. The diastereoselectivity obtained using chiral titanium alkoxide complexes was greater than the diastereoselectivity observed when a tetrahydrosalen ligand derived from (S,S)-trans-diaminocyclohexane was employed.     

A modified internal lock-mass method for calibration of the product ions derived from sustained off-resonance irradiation collision-induced dissociation using a Fourier transform mass spectrometer

A modified internal lock-mass calibration method is introduced for improving the mass measurement accuracy of the product ion spectra derived from sustained off-resonance irradiation collision-induced dissociation (SORI-CID) Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) mass spectrometry. This method involves an initial external calibration of the Fourier transform mass spectrometer to obtain the initial A- and B-terms for the equation (f(i) = A/(m/z)(i) + B). The A-term is adjusted by using an empirical relationship between the up-shift of the A-term and the pulse-gas duration, whereas the B-term is adjusted by using the mass of the unfragmented precursor ion from the SORI-CID mass spectrum of the unknown sample as internal lock-mass. These adjusted A- and B-terms are then used to provide exact mass SORI-CID calibration for the unknown sample. The modified internal lock-mass method achieved average mass measurement accuracy of approximately 3 ppm which is significantly better than that of the conventional internal lock-mass calibration ( approximately 9 ppm) and is approaching that of the internal calibration ( approximately 2 ppm) and requires no addition of internal calibrant or instrumental modifications.     

Generalized logic and the representation of rings

Following the progression towards weaker logics, a number of authors have considered the notion of a sheaf over a quantale or, equivalently, a quantale valued set. In this paper, we use ideas from enriched category theory to motivate the definition of a quantic sheaf. Given a localic subquantale of Q, a quantic sheaf over Q gives a sheaf in the usual sense. As an application, we derive a series of sheaf representations for commutative rings including the familiar Pierce representation.     

A chemoenzymatic approach to glycopeptide antibiotics

Many biologically active natural products are constrained by macrocyclization and modified with carbohydrates. These two types of modifications are essential for their biological activities. Here we report a chemoenzymatic approach to make carbohydrate-modified cyclic peptide antibiotics. Using a thioesterase domain from the decapeptide tyrocidine synthetase, 13 head-to-tail cyclized tyrocidine derivatives were obtained with one to three propargylglycines incorporated at positions 3-8. These cyclic peptides were then conjugated to 21 azido sugars via copper(I)-catalyzed cycloaddition. Antibacterial and hemolytic assays showed that the two best glycopeptides, Tyc4PG-14 and Tyc4PG-15, have a 6-fold better therapeutic index than the natural tyrocidine. We believe this method will also be useful for modifying other natural products to search for new therapeutics.     

Evidence for a monomeric structure of nonribosomal Peptide synthetases

Nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS) are multimodular biocatalysts that bacteria and fungi use to assemble many complex peptides with broad biological activities. The same modular enzymatic assembly line principles are found in fatty acid synthases (FAS), polyketide synthases (PKS), and most recently in hybrid NRPS/PKS multienzymes. FAS as well as PKS are known to function as homodimeric enzyme complexes, raising the question of whether NRPS may also act as homodimers. To test this hypothesis, biophysical methods (size exclusion chromatography, analytical equilibrium ultracentrifugation, and chemical crosslinking) and biochemical methods (two-affinity-tag-system and complementation studies with enzymes being inactivated in different catalytic domains) were applied to NRPS subunits from the gramicidin S (GrsA-ATE), tyrocidine (TycB(1)-CAT and TycB(2-3)-AT.CATE), and enterobactin (EntF-CATTe) biosynthetic systems. These methods had revealed the dimeric structure of FAS and PKS previously, but all three NRPS systems investigated are functionally active as monomers.     

Novel alkyl-modified anionic siloxanes as pseudostationary phases for electrokinetic chromatography. III. Performance in organic-modified buffers

Anionic water-soluble siloxanes modified with different amounts of alkyl chains have been used as pseudostationary phases in electrokinetic chromatography. Ionic siloxane polymers with attached alkyl chains of C8 and C12 and having different alkyl chain densities have been employed previously to achieve selective and efficient separations with a range of electrophoretic mobilities and methylene selectivities. In this study, the performance of three alkyl-modified siloxanes is examined in different organic-modified buffers and at differing amounts of organic modifier. The organic modifiers used are acetonitrile and methanol. The siloxanes are stable in these organic solvents and show good mobility and good methylene selectivities even at high concentration of organic solvent. Siloxanes have also been used to separate a mixture of 14 polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons in an acetonitrile-modified buffer.