Development of Odorless Thiols and Sulfides and Their Applications to Organic Synthesis

Summary. Development of new odorless thiols (dodecanethiol, 4-n-heptylphenylmethanethiol, 4-trimethylsilylphenylmethanethiol, 4-trimethylsilylbenzenethiol) and an odorless sulfide (1-methylsulfanyldodecane) and their applications to dealkylation, Michael addition, Swern oxidation, and Corey-Kim oxidation are described.     

Broadly effective enantioselective Diels-Alder reactions of 1-amino-substituted-1,3-butadienes

[reaction: see text] A broad range of substituted 1-amino-1,3-butadienes undergo enantioselective Diels-Alder reactions with methacrolein in the presence of 5 mol % of Cr(III)-salen complex 1. The reactions are carried out conveniently, at room temperature, and they afford the cycloadducts in high yields and excellent ee's.     

Chiral ligand-controlled asymmetric conjugate addition of alpha-trimethylsilanylacetate to acyclic and cyclic enones

The reaction of lithium ester enolate with enones provides a challenge for chemoselectivity, that is, discrimination between a conjugate addition and a 1,2-addition. Asymmetric conjugate addition of a lithium enolate of alpha-trimethylsilanylacetate to acyclic and cyclic alpha,beta-unsaturated ketones was mediated by an external chiral ligand to give the corresponding 1,4-adducts in good enantioselectivity of 74% and good chemoselectivity.     

Hydroxylation of ionized aromatics including carboxylic acid or amine using recombinant Streptomyces lividans cells expressing modified biphenyl dioxygenase genes

The bphA1(2072)A2A3A4 gene cluster codes for a shuffled biphenyl dioxygenase holoenzyme with broad substrate specificity. These bphA1(2072)A2A3A4 genes were expressed in the actinomycetes Streptomyces lividans using a thiostrepton-inducible promoter P_tipA. Biotransformation experiments of various aromatics including carboxylic acid or amine in their molecular structure, such as 1-naphthoic acid, 2-(1-naphthyl)acetic acid, diphenylamine, and 1-benzyl-4-piperidone, were performed using the recombinant S. lividans cells. These ionized aromatics were converted to the corresponding 1,2-dihydrodiol, mono- or tri-hydroxy forms in 48 h. The structure of the converted products was determined by their EI-MS, ¹H- and ¹³C NMR analysis, and several products were found to be novel compounds.     

Recent progress of high-power negative ion beam development for fusion plasma heating

A negative-ion-based neutral beam injector (N-NBI) has been constructed for JT-60U. The N-NBI is designed to inject 500 keV, 10 MW neutral beams using two ion sources, each producing a 500 keV, 22 A D⁻ ion beam. In the preliminary experiment using one ion source, a D⁻ ion beam of 13.5 A has been successfully accelerated with an energy of 400 keV (5.4 MW) for 0.12 s at an operating pressure of 0.22 Pa. This is the highest D⁻ beam current and power in the world. Co-extracted electron current was effectively suppressed to the ratio of Ie/I_D⁻ < 1. The highest energy beam of 460 keV, 2.4 A, 0.44 s has also been obtained. To realize 1 MeV class NBI system for ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), demonstration of ampere class negative ion beam acceleration up to 1 MeV is an important mile stone. To achieve the mile stone, a prototype accelerator and a 1 MV, 1 A test facility called MeV Test Facility (MTF) were constructed. Up to now, an H⁻ ion beam was accelerated up to the energy of 805 keV with an acceleration drain current of 150 mA for 1 s in a five stage electrostatic multi-aperture accelerator.     

Oxidation of propene over various doped tungsten oxides

The oxidation of propene was studied on several tungsten oxides which contained small amounts of Ti, Ta, Nb and Sn. Only the Sn-containing specimen was found to be selective in the conversion of propene to acrolein. The catalytic results are correlated with crystal structures determined by electron microscopy.

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, Ti, Ta, Nb Sn. , , Sn, . , .

     

Control of photoinduced energy- and electron-transfer steps in zinc porphyrin-oligothiophene-fullerene linked triads with solvent polarity

The dramatic changes of the lifetimes of the charge-separated (CS) states were confirmed in zinc porphyrin (ZnP)-oligothiophene (nT)-fullerene (C(60)) linked triads (ZnP-nT-C(60)) with the solvent polarity. After the selective excitation of the ZnP moiety of ZnP-nT-C(60), an energy transfer took place from the (1)ZnP moiety to the C(60) moiety, generating ZnP-nT-(1)C(60). In polar solvents, the CS process also took place directly via the (1)ZnP moiety, generating ZnP(*+)-nT-C(60)(*-), as well as the energy transfer to the C(60) moiety. After this energy transfer, an indirect CS process took place from the (1)C(60) moiety. In the less polar solvent anisole, the radical cation (hole) of ZnP(*+)-nT-C(60)(*-) shifted to the nT moiety; thus, the nT moiety behaves as a cation trapper, and the rates of the hole shift were evaluated to be in the order of 10(8) s(-1); then, the final CS states ZnP-nT(*+)-C(60)(*-) were lasting for 6-7 mus. In the medium polar solvent o-dichlorobenzene (o-DCB), ZnP-nT(*+)-C(60)(*-) and ZnP(*+)-nT-C(60)(*-) were present as an equilibrium, because both states have almost the same thermodynamic stability. This equilibrium resulted in quite long lifetimes of the CS states (450-910 mus) in o-DCB. In the more polar benzonitrile, the generation of ZnP-nT(*+)-C(60)(*-) was confirmed with apparent short lifetimes (0.6-0.8 mus), which can be explained by the fast hole shift to more stable ZnP(*+)-nT-C(60)(*-) followed by the faster charge recombination. It was revealed that the relation between the energy levels of two CS states, which strongly depend on the solvent polarity, causes dramatic changes of the lifetimes of the CS states in ZnP-nT-C(60); that is, the most appropriate solvents for the long-lived CS state are intermediately polar solvents such as o-DCB. Compared with our previous data for H(2)P-nT-C(60), in which H(2)P is free-base porphyrin, the lifetimes of the CS states of ZnP-nT-C(60) are approximately 30 times longer than those in o-DCB.     

Simultaneous determination of radionuclides separable into natural decay series by use of time-interval analysis

A delayed coincidence method, time-interval analysis (TIA), has been applied to successive – decay events on the millisecond time-scale. Such decay events are part of the ²²⁰Rn²¹⁶Po (T_1/2 145 ms) (Th-series) and ²¹⁹Rn²¹⁵Po (T_1/2 1.78 ms) (Ac-series). By using TIA in addition to measurement of ²²⁶Ra (U-series) from -spectrometry by liquid scintillation counting (LSC), two natural decay series could be identified and separated. The TIA detection efficiency was improved by using the pulse-shape discrimination technique (PSD) to reject -pulses, by solvent extraction of Ra combined with simple chemical separation, and by purging the scintillation solution with dry N₂ gas. The U- and Th-series together with the Ac-series were determined, respectively, from alpha spectra and TIA carried out immediately after Ra-extraction. Using the ²²¹Fr²¹⁷At (T_1/2 32.3 ms) decay process as a tracer, overall yields were estimated from application of TIA to the ²²⁵Ra (Np-decay series) at the time of maximum growth. The present method has proven useful for simultaneous determination of three radioactive decay series in environmental samples.     

Total synthesis of antibiotic althiomycin

Antibiotic althiomycin was totally synthesized from d-cysteine via the procedures of the coupling with sodium salt of pyrrolinone, hydroxymethylation, and the coupling with the thiazole part, successively.