Electrode reaction of zinc ions at a dropping mercury electrode in ammonium sulphate solutions

The electrode reaction of Zn(II) at a DME in aqueous solutions of (NH₄)₂SO₄ has been studied by d.c. and square-wave polarography at 25.0±0.1°C. The electrochemical kinetic parameters for the reaction are determined. The appearance of the second wave in the square-wave polarogram has been attributed to the low values of the rate parameter and the transfer coefficient.     

Formation of non-racemic E- and Z-olefins based on discrimination of enantiotopic carbonyl groups in α-diketones by a chiral phosphonate reagent

A chiral HWE reagent reacted with an alternative carbonyl group of meso-α-diketones of bicyclo[2.2.1] system to give non-racemic (Z)- and (E)-olefins, respectively.     

Spectrofluorimetric assay for acyl CoA-cholesterol acyltransferase

A sensitive assay for acyl CoA-cholesterol acyltransferase (EC 2.3.1.26) in rat liver microsomal and mitochondrial preparations is described. The lowered cholesterol concentration in the enzyme reaction with oleoyl CoA is determined spectrofluorimetrically by using the cholesterol oxidase/peroxidase/p-hydroxyphenylpropionic acid system. The assay requires as little as 20 μg of protein in the enzyme preparation.     

Acidity distribution of carboxyl groups in Loy Yang brown coal: its analysis and the change by heat treatment

Brown coals have a considerable number of acidic functional groups of which the main component is carboxyl groups, and the acidity has a wide distribution. In this paper, changes of the acidity distribution were examined by aqueous titration when brown coal was heat-treated to control its acidity distribution. For Loy Yang brown coal from Australia dried at 50 degrees C under vacuum (LY50), the acid dissociation constant, Ka, was distributed over a wide pKa range between 2 and 9. Then, using Gaussian functions, the acidity distribution was divided into four groups, which were characterized by average pKa values: average pKa value of 3.8 (hereafter referred to as Group A), 5.2 (Group B), 6.8 (Group C), and 8.3 (Group D). Among them, Groups A, B, and C were assigned to carboxyl groups. From the changes of the number of carboxyl groups when brown coal was heat-treated up to 400 degrees C, it was found that the way of decrease was different among these acidic groups. The decrease of the amount of carboxyl groups in Group C was significant, and at 325 degrees C most of them disappeared. On the other hand, the carboxyl groups in Group A remained even at a high temperature of 400 degrees C. We estimated approximately the structures around carboxyl groups for LY50 and their structural changes by heat treatment using the known pKa values for simple carboxylic acids and the pKa values calculated by the MOPAC program for complicated carboxylic acids.     

Furan derivatives. Part 8 On substituent effects in the synthesis of 4,5-dihydro-3H-naphtho[1,8-bc]furans

4,5-Dihydro-3H-naphtho[1,8-bc]furans 4 and 6 which have various substituents (R¹ and R²) have been synthesized from 8-oxo-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-1-naphthyloxyacetic acids 1 and 3 or their ethyl esters 2 . The reaction of acids 1 and 3 with sodium acetate in acetic anhydride gave a mixture of furans 4 and 6 and lactones 5 and 7 . The ratios of the products were varied according to the types of substituents (R¹ and R²) in acids 1 and 3 . As the substituent R¹ (R² = hydrogen) in acids 1 was changed from hydrogen to a methyl, ethyl or isopropyl group, production of furans 4 became more difficult. However, when a phenyl group was used as the substituent, furan 4 was obtained in good yield. Similarly, as the substituent R² (R¹ = hydrogen) in acids 1 was changed from hydrogen to a methyl, ethyl or isopropyl group, furan formation was more difficult. In contrast, acids 3 which had electron-withdrawing substituents such as chlorine, bromine or a nitro group at the 4-position afforded furans 6 in good yield. 4,5-Dihydro-3H-naphtho[1,8-bc]furans 4 and 4,5-dihydro-3H-naphtho[1,8-bc]furan-2-carbocylic acids 8 were synthesized from the reaction of esters 2 and potassium hydroxide in dioxane. When the substituents R¹ or R² in esters 2 were varied from hydrogen to a methyl, ethyl or isopropyl group the total yields of furans 4 and furancarboxylic acids 8 were reduced.     

Measurement of attachment force of microbial cells

A parallel-plate flow chamber consisting of two transparent electro-conductive glass plates was constructed. The two glass plates were set parallel to each other and connected to a potentiostat apparatus to regulate the strength of the electric field between the plates. A microbial cell suspension was flowed through the chamber. This system enabled the application of an electrostatic force to suspend charged particles, e.g. microbial cells, existing between the two plates. The time course of the cell attachment of Pseudomonas syringae pv. atropurpurea NIAES 1309 suspended in 10 mM phosphate buffer solution (pH 7.0) to the glass plate was investigated at various electric field strengths ranging from −4.2 to +4.1 V cm⁻¹. The attachment rate and the maximum number of attached cells increased linearly with the increase in the strength of the positive electric field. In contrast, the rate and the number of cells decreased linearly with the decrease in the strength of the negative electric field. These linear relations gave a specific value for the strength of the electric field (−5.9 ± 0.7 V cm⁻¹) where the electrostatic repulsion and the microbial attachment force were thought to be equal, resulting in no cell attachment. From this value, the electrostatic repulsion, i.e. the microbial attachment force, was calculated to be 5.0 × 10⁻¹¹ N cell⁻¹ for cells of average size.     

Studies directed towards the asymmetric total synthesis of antileukemic lignan lactones. Synthesis of optically pure key intermediate and its utility

By the self-immolative asymmetric synthesis, optically pure key intermediate β-piperonyl-γ-lactone (R)-(+)-$\text{6}$ was found to be prepared in reasonable yield from the easily available chiral γ-lactone synthon ($\text{1}$) which had been also reported to give an antipode (S)-(-)-$\text{6}$. The optically pure (R)-(+)-$\text{6}$ was shown to be converted successfully into several optically pure natural lignan lactones.     

First asymmetric total synthesis of (+)-steganacin determination of absolute stereochemistry

(+)-Steganacin was synthesized in a new and highly specific asymmetric pathway based on the novel application of chiral γ-lactone as a chiral synthon. By this synthesis the absolute stereochemistry of natural (?)-steganacin could be determined in unequivocal way.     

Reaction of poly(vinyl alcohol) with formaldehyde and polymer stereoregularity. Model compounds

The reaction of stereoisomers of pentane-2, 4-diol and heptane-2, 4, 6-triol with formaldehyde was investigated as a model for the formalization reaction of poly(vinyl alcohol) in order to determine effect of the stereochemical configuration of the polyol molecules on the reaction. The isotactic (meso) diol portion reacted with formaldehyde to give cis-formal several times faster than did the syndiotactic (dl) diol portion to give trans-formal at 30–80°C. In the reaction of heterotactic (meso-dl) triol which provides both the isotactic and syndiotactic diol portions in a molecule, the proportion of trans-formal in the total formal decreased as the reaction proceeded. This shows that the formation of cis-formal is also favored thermodynamically to a greater extent, and hence the intramolecular migration of trans-formal to cis-formal did occur during the reaction. The rates of hydrolysis of formals of the diols were compared with those of the triols in order to see the effect of a hydroxyl group adjacent to the formal ring on the reaction. No appreciable rate difference was observed between the dimer and trimer models both in cis- and trans- formals. Therefore it was deduced from these results that the increase of the rate of hydrolysis of poly(vinyl formal) with the increase of hydroxyl groups along the polymer chain is a characteristic of macromolecules that is not observed in the low molecular weight models.