Planarized Phenyldithienylboranes: Effects of the Bridging Moieties and π-Extension on the Photophysical Properties and Lewis Acidity

Two kinds of planarized phenyldithienylboranes, which contain (CH₃)₂C- or CH₂-bridging moieties, were synthesized. The difference of the bridging moieties affects their packing structures and photophysical properties. In particular, the (CH₃)₂C-bridged derivative exhibits a large Stokes shift, unusual for such planarized compounds, that results from a large structural relaxation in the excited state. A series of π-extended derivatives was synthesized, among which a p-(diphenylamino)phenyl-substituted derivative shows large solvatochromism in the fluorescence spectra, while maintaining high quantum yields even in polar solvents. The Lewis acidity of the phenyldithienylborane derivatives was also assessed by titration with pyridine. The Lewis acidity of the boron center is affected not only by the difference in the steric bulk of the bridging moieties, but also by the electronic effect of the substituents introduced at remote positions relative to the boron atom. These results demonstrate the characteristic features of planarized phenyldithienylboranes as building blocks for boron-based π-electron materials.     

Novel ring transformation of thiazolidine to oxazolidine: acyl halide-promoted intramolecular rearrangement of 4(R)-hydroxymethyl-3-methyl-1,3-thiazolidine

An interesting transformation occurs during acylation of 4(R)-hydroxymethyl-3-methyl-1,3-thiazolidine when 4(R)-acylthiomethyl-3-methyl-1,3-oxazolidines are yielded: the reaction competing with O-acylation is controlled by the bulkiness of the acyl group.     

Probing the Charge Transfer in a Frustrated Lewis Pair by Resonance Raman Spectroscopy and DFT Calculations

A classical Lewis adduct derives from a covalent bond between a Lewis acid and a base. When the adduct formation is precluded by means of steric hindrance the association of the respective acid-base molecular system is defined as a frustrated Lewis pair (FLP). In this work, the archetypal FLP Mes₃P/B(C₆F₅)₃ was characterized for the first time by resonance Raman spectroscopy, and the results were supported by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The charge transfer nature of the lowest energy electronic transition, from phosphine to borane, was confirmed by the selective enhancement of the Raman bands associated to the FLP chromophore at resonance condition. Herein, we demonstrate the use of resonance Raman spectroscopy as a distinguished technique to probe the weak interaction involved in FLP chemistry.     

Singlet and triplet photocycloaddition reactions of 2-pyridones with propenoate and 2,4-pentadienotes,and the frontier molecular orbital analysis

Regioselective photocycloadditions of 2-pyridones ( 1 ) with 2,4-pentadienoates ( 3 ) were analysed and compared with the reactions with propenoate ( 2 ), and origins of the different regioselectivities were inferred from frontier molecular orbital properties by the use of PM3-CI method. Direct photoreactions of 1 with 3 being α,β,γ,δ-unsaturated carboxylates gave four types of regio-selective [2+2]cycloadducts, 3-β:4-α-4, 5, 3-δ:4-γ-6,7,5-δ: 6-γ-8, 9 and 5-δ:6-γ-[2+2]cycloadducts 10,11. Sensitized photoreactions of 1 with 3 did not occur, and fluorescence of 1 was weakly quenched by 3. Otherwise, main cycloadducts in the sensitized reactions of 1 with 2 have been obtained as 5-α:6-β-[2+2]cycloadducts, which were different from main 3-β:4-α-[2+2]cycloadducts of the direct reactions, and these site-and regio-selectivities were inferred from the different frontier molecular orbital coefficients at the. 3-and 6-positions of 1 for the triplet and singlet states. Formations of 4–7 were also interpreted by both effects of frontier orbital HSOMO-LUMO interactions and of the electrostatic interaction between 1 and 3. The other site-and regioselective adducts 8–11 were inferred to be formed by the electrostatic interactions similar to 2-pyridone photodimerization.     

Efficient construction of the hexacyclic ring core of palau'amine: the pKa concept for proceeding with unfavorable equilibrium reactions

Palau''amine has received a great deal of attention as an attractive synthetic target due to its intriguing molecular architecture and significant immunosuppressive activity, and we achieved its total synthesis in 2015. However, the synthesized palau''amine has not been readily applicable to the mechanistic study of immunosuppressive activity, because it requires 45 longest linear steps from a commercially available compound. Here, we report the short-step construction of the ABCDEF hexacyclic ring core of palau''amine. The construction of the CDE tricyclic ring core in a single step is achieved by our pK_a concept for proceeding with unfavorable equilibrium reactions, and a palau''amine analog without the aminomethyl and chloride groups is synthesized in 20 longest linear steps from the same starting material. The palau''amine analog is confirmed to retain the immunosuppressive activity. The present synthetic approach for a palau''amine analog has the potential for use in the development of palau''amine probes for mechanistic elucidation.

A palau''amine analog (2) was synthesized from 2-cyclopentenone in 20 steps. The construction of the CDE tricyclic ring core in a single step is achieved by our pK_a concept for proceeding with the unfavorable equilibrium reactions.     

A new synthetic pathway of segmented tri-block copolyether

A new synthetic pathway of A–B–A tri-block copolyether which is composed of a hydrophilic poly(oxyethylene) unit as an A part and a hydrophobic poly(oxy-2-methyl-trimethylene) unit as a B part is proposed. Telechelic α-tosyl-ω-tosyloxypoly(oxy-2-methyl-trimethylene) derived from tosylation of poly(oxy-2-methyl-trimethylene glycol) (PMTG) was allowed to react with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) in the presence of sodium hydroxide. T_g of the resulting A–B–A tri-block copolyether (PEMG) (M?_n = 1600) was ?72°C and its specific gravity [D₄¹⁵] was 1.055.     

Solid-phase synthesis of HTLV-1 protease inhibitors containing hydroxyethylamine dipeptide isostere

An efficient method has been developed for the first solid-phase synthesis of HTLV-1 protease inhibitors that contain hydroxyethylamine isostere as a transition-state mimetic. The synthetic procedure was designed to allow the evaluation of stereostructure-activity relationships at the scissile site. All the possible configurations at the hydroxy- and side chain-bearing asymmetric centers of the isostere were constructed by an ester-derived asymmetric aldol reaction. Each inhibitor containing the isostere backbone was synthesized on solid support by using the newly developed succinate ester linker. The configuration at the hydroxy- and side chain-bearing asymmetric center showed remarkable effects on the inhibitory activity; the K(i) value changed with approximately 2 orders of magnitude. The described approach enables an efficient preparation of the inhibitors containing secondary alcohol as a transition-state mimetic.     

Isomerization of aldehyde-2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone derivatives and validation of high-performance liquid chromatographic analysis

The most widely used method for qualitative and quantitative analysis of carbonyl compounds is the 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine method through the formation of 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone derivatives. However, this method may cause an analytical error because 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones have both E- and Z-stereoisomers. Purified aldehyde-2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone demonstrated only the E-isomer. However under UV irradiation and the addition of acid, both E- and Z-isomers were seen. The spectral patterns of Z-isomers were different from those of E-isomers and the absorption maximum wavelengths were shifted towards shorter wavelengths by 5-8 nm. An equilibrium Z/E isomer ratio was observed in 0.02-0.2% (v/v) phosphoric acid solutions. In the case of acetaldehyde- and propanal-2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones, the equilibrium Z/E isomer ratios were 0.32 and 0.14, respectively. However, when irradiated with ultraviolet light at 364 nm, the isomer ratios were increased beyond this constant ratio and reached 0.55 and 0.33, respectively. Zero-order rates for decreases of aldehyde derivatives were observed under UV irradiation (364 nm), however the decreases of concentration were not observed in phosphoric acid solutions. The best method for the determination of aldehyde-2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones by HPLC is to add phosphoric acid to both the sample and the standard solution, to form a 0.02-1% acid solution.     

Determination of selenium in human serum by liquid chromatography/electron capture atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry after acid digestion and derivatization using 2,3-diaminonaphthalene

Analysis of selenium in biological samples is very important and numerous analytical methods for the element have been developed. One of the most convenient and widely used methods for routine determination of serum selenium is a fluorometric method using 2,3-diaminonaphthalene (DAN); however, this method lacks specificity. We observed that 4,5-benzopiazselenol (BPS), a selenium derivative of DAN, is ionized with electron capture in an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) interface, and subsequently established a method for determining total human serum selenium by means of liquid chromatography/atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry. All pretreatment procedures were carried out in a single test tube to minimize selenium loss. The recovery of organic or inorganic selenium spiked to human serum was 97-103%.The detection limit of BPS was equivalent to 0.2 ng of selenium and the lower quantitative limit of serum selenium was 10 ng mL(-1). The coefficient of variation of standard concentrations in control serum samples was 4.5%. The purity of the observed peak obtained from serum samples was confirmed using the ion cluster technique.