Synthesis of protected (2R,3R,4S)-4,7-diamino-2,3-dihydroxyheptanoic acid, a constituent of callipeltins A and D

An efficient synthesis of protected (2R,3R,4S)-4,7-diamino-2,3-dihydroxy heptanoic acid, a constituent of the depsipeptides, callipeltins A and D from l-ascorbic acid is described.     

Gas chromatographic determination of nitrite in water by precolumn formation of 2-phenylphenol with flame ionization detection

Nitrite can be determined by its reaction with 2-aminobiphenyl in acidic medium to produce 2-phenylphenol which is quantified by gas chromatography with flame ionisation detection using biphenyl as an internal standard. The hydrolysis of the intermediate diazonium ion avoids many of the problems encountered in the conventional determination of nitrite by the diazotization of an aromatic amine (usually sulphanilamide) and coupling with N-(1-napthyl)ethylenediamine dihydrochloride to yield an azo dye followed by spectrophotometry. Unlike this method, the proposed reaction is rapid and does not suffer from interferences by copper(II), iron(III) and lead(II). The calibration graph was linear over the range 5–1000 μg/l NO₂-N and the limit of detection found to be 0.5 μg/l NO₂-N. A single analysis can be completed within 20 min. The method was not affected by coloured or turbid analyte solutions and has been used to determine nitrite in natural waters.     

Titration of cerium (IV) sulphate with sodium oxalate at the room temperature using ferroin as internal indicator

Summary A method has been developed for the titration of cerium(IV) sulphate with sodium oxalate at the room temperature, using ferroin as internal indicator. A new principle has been utilised for facilitating the indicator action at the equivalence point. This involves the use of a photochemical reaction between the oxalate and iron(III) which is deliberately added to the mixture containing cerium(IV) sulphate and ferriin. When the mixture is titrated with the sodium oxalate solution under exposure to the light from a Philips Repro lamp, the addition of a very slight excess of sodium oxalate solution, after all the cerium(IV) sulphate has reacted, produces a vivid red colour. The slight excess of sodium oxalate added reacts with the iron(III) salt photochemically producing a trace of iron(II) salt which reduces the ferriin to the red ferroin. In titrations with 0.1 and 0.05 N solutions of sodium oxalate, the error is negligible. In titrations with sodium oxalate solution of lower strengths, the error amounts to 0.02 ml of 0.01 N oxalate which has to be subtracted from the titre.     

First diastereoselective intramolecular Baylis-Hillman reaction: an easy access to chiral alpha-methylene-beta-hydroxylactones

The first diastereoselective intramolecular Baylis-Hillman reaction of chiral substrates is reported wherein both aldehyde and activated olefin coexist as substituents to afford alpha-methylene-beta-hydroxylactones in good yields exclusively as single isomers under the standard base-catalyzed reaction conditions in CH(2)Cl(2). Formation of alkoxylactones by an in situ derivatization of adducts was also observed.     

Simple and regioselective oxyiodination of aromatic compounds with ammonium iodide and Oxone

A simple method for the iodination of aromatic compounds using NH₄I as the iodine source and Oxone^® as the oxidant is described.     

N7-guanine as a C+ mimic in hairpin aeg/aepPNA-DNA triplex: probing binding selectivity by UV-Tm and kinetics by fluorescence-based strand-invasion assay

N7-substituted guanine (N7G) has been introduced into aminoethylglycyl bisPNA (7) as a C(+) mimic to achieve pH-independent triplex formation with complementary DNA sequences. The introduction of chiral, cationic aminoethylprolyl units with C(+) and C(+) mimic N7G in the backbone of bisPNAs (8, 9) influenced the recognition of complementary DNA in an orientation-selective manner. A simple fluorescence assay is developed to examine the process of strand invasion of target DNA duplex by these modified bisPNAs and comparative results of the study employing triplex forming polypyrimidine (C/T) (6, 8) and purine-pyrimidine (N7G/T) mixmer-bisPNAs (7, 9) are presented.     

Identification of Inhibitors for Mycobacterial Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase B (MptpB) by Biology‐Oriented Synthesis (BIOS)

Protein phosphatases have recently emerged as important targets for research in chemical biology and medicinal chemistry, and new classes of phosphatase inhibitors are in high demand. BIOS (biology‐oriented synthesis) employs the criteria of relevance to nature and biological prevalidation for the design and synthesis of compound collections. In an application of the BIOS principle, an efficient solid‐phase synthesis of highly substituted indolo[2,3‐a]quinolizidines by using a vinylogous Mannich–Michael reaction in combination with phosgene‐ or acid‐mediated ring closure was developed. Screening of this library for phosphatase inhibitors yielded a new inhibitor class for the Mycobacterium tuberculosis phosphatase MptpB.     

Determination of nitrate in environmental water samples by conversion into nitrophenols and solid phase extraction−spectrophotometry, liquid chromatography or gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

Conversion of nitrate into a nitro-phenol derivative by reaction with 2-methylphenol or 2,6-dimethylphenol allowed at least 100-fold enrichment of the derivative on Lichrolut EN polymeric cartridge, and it is stable for up to 1 month on the cartridge. The derivative could be eluted with ammonia-methanol mixture. This reaction for nitrate determination has permitted a choice of final measurement by UV-Vis spectrophotometry, liquid chromatography or gas chromatography-mass spectrometry when the limits of detection were 10, 6 and 3 μg l⁻¹, respectively, and the calibration range 20 μg to 10 mg l⁻¹ nitrate. The method has been validated by spiking natural water samples, when the recovery of nitrate was 98.5-108.4% (relative standard deviation 2.5-6.1%).     

Diastereoselective Baylis-Hillman reaction: first use of chiral 2,3-epoxy aldehydes as novel electrophiles

Chiral 2,3-epoxy aldehydes have been effectively utilized for the first time as novel electrophiles in Baylis-Hillman reactions with activated alkenes to result in densely functionalized adducts in good yields (61-80%) and in moderate to good diastereoselectivities (40-72% de).     

A computational study of CO2, N2, and CH4 adsorption in zeolites

The adsorption properties of CO₂, N₂ and CH₄ in all-silica zeolites were studied using molecular simulations. Adsorption isotherms for single components in MFI were both measured and computed showing good agreement. In addition simulations in other all silica structures were performed for a wide range of pressures and temperatures and for single components as well as binary and ternary mixtures with varying bulk compositions. The adsorption selectivity was analyzed for mixtures with bulk composition of 50:50 CO₂/CH₄, 50:50 CO₂/N₂, 10:90 CO₂/N₂ and 5:90:5 CO₂/N₂/CH₄ in MFI, MOR, ISV, ITE, CHA and DDR showing high selectivity of adsorption of CO₂ over N₂ and CH₄ that varies with the type of crystal and with the mixture bulk composition.