Concise procedure for the synthesis of cardiolipins having different fatty acid combinations

Production of a wide variety of cardiolipin (CL) analogues is critical for studying molecular mechanism of diverse biological functions of CL in mitochondria. We describe a concise procedure for the synthesis of CL using a phosphoramidite approach, which allows for the production of diverse CL analogues bearing linoleic acid(s) at any position on the glycerol backbone.     

Development of a highly sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for bisphenol A in serum

4,4'-Isopropylidenediphenol, bisphenol A (BPA), was derivatized to BPA-carboxymethylether (BPA-CME), BPA-carboxypropylether (BPA-CPE) and BPA-carboxybutylether (BPA-CBE), and then linked to bovine serum albumin (BSA). The BPA-BSA conjugates were injected into female New Zealand White rabbits, which then generated six kinds of polyclonal antibodies. In addition, BPA and bisphenol B (BPB)-enzyme conjugates were derivatized to BPA-CME, BPA-CPE, BPA-CBE, BPA-carboxyphenylether (CPhE) and BPB-CPE, and then linked to horseradish peroxidase (HRP). An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed and the specificity of the antibodies was confirmed by comparison with pre-immune serum and by competitive assays using different dilutions of BPA standards. Although anti-BPA antibodies cross-reacted with BPB by more than 13.6% at all dilutions used, cross-reaction with phthalates and phenols occurred only less than 0.1%. The combination with the highest sensitivity was obtained using anti-BPA-CME-BSA antibody and BPA-CPhE-HRP conjugate. ELISA successfully detected BPA in human serum at concentrations as low as 0.3 ng mL(-1), and over a measurable range of 0.3-100 ng mL(-1). Recovery tests were carried out by adding BPA to three kinds of human serum, and ranged from 89.7 to 97.3%, from 85.4 to 94.9% and from 81.9 to 97.4%, respectively. The correlation between the results from ELISA and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for BPA in spiked serum was r2 = 0.990, indicating that the proposed method is a potential tool for screening a large number of human serum samples.     

Scandium(III) trifluoromethanesulfonate catalyzed aromatic nitration with inorganic nitrates and acetic anhydride

The rare earth metal(III) trifluoromethanesulfonate (rare earth metal(III) triflate, RE(OTf)3) was found to be an efficient catalyst for aromatic nitration with carboxylic anhydride-inorganic nitrate as the nitrating agent. In the presence of a catalytic amount of RE(OTf)3, the nitration of substituted benzenes proceeded to afford the corresponding nitrobenzenes. Especially, scandium(III) trifluoromethanesulfonate (scandium(III) triflate, Sc(OTf)3) is the most active catalyst among our tested Lewis acids. It was also found that acetic anhydride-Al(NO3).9H2O is the most active nitrating agent in this system.     

Total synthesis of ecteinascidin 743

The total synthesis of ecteinascidin 743 (1), an extremely potent antitumor agent, has been accomplished. The synthesis features Ugi's 4CC reaction, intramolecular Heck reaction, phenol-aldehyde cyclization, and acid-induced intramolecular sulfide formation.     

Universal Functions on Complex General Linear Groups

In 1929, Birkhoff proved the existence of an entire function F on with the property that for any entire function f there exists a sequence {a_k} of complex numbers such that {F(ζ+a_k)} converges to f (ζ) uniformly on compact sets. Luh proved a variant of Birkhoff's theorem and the second author proved a theorem analogous to that of Luh for the multiplicative group *. In this paper extensions of the above results to the multi-dimensional case are proved. Let M(n,  ) be the set of all square matrices of degree n with complex coefficients, and let G=GL(n,  ) be the general linear group of degree n over . We denote by (G) the set of all holomorphic functions on G. Similarly, we define ( ). Let K be the (G)-hull of a compact set K in G. Finally we denote by B(G) the set of all compact subsets K of G with K=K such that there exists a holomorphic function f on M(n,  ) with f(0)(f(K)), where (f(K)) is the ( )-hull of f(K). Our main result is the following. There exists a holomorphic function F on G such that for any KB(G), for any function f holomorphic in some neighbourhood of K, and for any >0, there exists CG with max_ZK |F(CZ)−f(Z)|<.     

Synthesis of novel liquid crystals having the perfluoropyrrolidino group

Novel liquid crystals which have the perfluoropyrrolidino group, a heterocyclic perfluoroalkyl group, and which show smectic phases have been synthesized with perfluoro-(2-pyrrolidinopropionyl fluoride) as one of the starting materials. Analogues with a polymerizable functional group also have been prepared and polymerized to give side chain liquid crystal polymers.