Asymmetric synthesis of (-)-7-epiaustraline and (+)-1,7-diepiaustraline

A diastereoselective and modular approach to the synthesis of the 3-hydroxymethyl-2,3,5,6,7,7a-hexahydro-1H-pyrrolizine-1,2,7-triol structure, characteristic of several natural pyrrolizidine natural products, has been developed. This approach culminated in the synthesis of (-)-7-epiaustraline and (+)-1,7-diepiaustraline. The oxazolidinone group has been found to be a useful protecting group in the RCM reaction and, as part of a pyrrolo[1,2-c]oxazol-3-one ring system, has functioned as a stereo- and regio-directing group in a key diastereoselective cis-dihydroxylation reaction and a regioselective nucleophilic ring-opening of a S,S-dioxo-dioxathiole.     

Bond indices and heats of formation of some nitriles

The definition of bond index introduced by Ehrenson, and written in terms of bond order and overlap integrals, has been applied to a series of nitriles. A good correlation between heats of formation and a linear equation in the indices for each bond present is obtained. This was extended to include the results for a set of hydrocarbons.     

LC-ESI-MS Determination of Bilobalide and Ginkgolides in Canine Plasma

A sensitive and selective method using liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization mass spectrometric detection was developed for the quantification of bilobalide and ginkgolides in canine plasma. The analytes were extracted with diethyl ether-dichloromethane-isopropanol (6:3:1, v/v) after spiking the samples with daidzein (internal standard). The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) of the method was 2.5 μg L⁻¹ for ginkgolide B and 10.0 μg L⁻¹ for bilabolide, ginkgolide A and ginkgolide C. The accuracy of the method was within 15% of the actual values over a wide range of plasma concentrations. The intra-day and inter-day precision was better than 15% (R.S.D.). Finally, the LC-ESI-MS method was successfully applied to study the pharmacokinetics of ginkgolides and bilabolide after administration of Ginkgo biloba extracts to dogs.     

Quantum chemistry study on B32 and B32H2–32

The structures of B32 and B₃₂H^2–₃₂ with I_h symmetry have been investigated by means of ab initio calculations at STO-3G level. The relationship between molecular orbitals of them has been analyzed and their bonding properties have been discussed. Then the possibility of their existence, as well as the similarity and difference between B₃₂ (B₃₂H^2–₃₂) and C₆₀ (C₆₀H₆₀) have been inferred.     

Facile 5-endo electrophilic cyclization of unsaturated amides with BuOCl/I2

5-Endo iodocyclization of various β,γ-unsaturated amides proceeded smoothly to give the corresponding conjugated iminolactones exclusively in satisfactory yields with the use of ^tBuOCl and I₂ as the reagents, which proved to be much advantageous over the conventional I₂/NaHCO₃.     

Preconcentration of lanthanides from natural waters with a lipophilic crown ether carboxylic acid

Lipophilic crown ether carboxylic acids such as 2-(sym-dibenzo-16-crown-5-oxy)stearic acid with a cavity size comparable to the ionic radius of rare-earth elements are selective chelation agents for preconcentration and separation of lanthanides from natural waters for NAA. Interfering matrix elements such as sodium and bromine can be simultaneously eliminated during the extraction. The lanthanides can be back-extracted into a dilute acid solution for NAA, thus providing a large preconcentration factor. This two-step extraction method appears suitable for the determination of lanthanides in natural waters and in biological samples.     

A graphical evaluation of characteristic polynomials of huckel trees

Characteristic polynomials of acyclic carbon chains (Huckel trees) are treated in a systematic way. Formulas of coefficients (a_k) of the polynomial are obtained in terms of connectivities that were introduced for dealing with moments in a previous paper. Based on the meaning of a_k, a graph-theoretical analysis is given such that a_k can be expressed as a linear combination of binomial factors specified by a set of graphs containing ½k edges. The numerical relationship is disclosed between each binomial factor and its specified graph. This stimulates the proposal of a novel approach for evaluating ak by simply collecting the graph set of defnite edges. The approach is equally applicable for the evaluation of matching polynomials of cyclic systems and extendable to the investigation of general trees.