Glass formation and third-order optical nonlinear properties within TeO2–Bi2O3–BaO pseudo-ternary system

Tellurite glasses from TeO₂–Bi₂O₃–BaO pseudo-ternary system were prepared using a conventional melt-quenching method and its glass-forming region was determined. A series of glasses were selected and their third-order optical nonlinearities (TONL) were measured by employing the Z-scan method at a wavelength of 800 nm with femtosecond laser pulses. The results showed that glass former Te⁴⁺ ions exhibited positive influences on the TONL and glass modifiers Ba²⁺ ions behaved similarly; low concentrated Bi³⁺ ions as glass modifiers weakened the nonlinearities, but an excess amount of Bi³⁺ behaved oppositely. FTIR measurements demonstrated that chemical bonds especially Te–O_eq vibrated at a high energy level remarkably promoted the TONL susceptibility χ⁽³⁾, and the glass sample with the highest Bi₂O₃ content exhibited the largest χ⁽³⁾ value which was due to the presence of BiO₃ polyhedra.     

Understanding the Behavior of Thermomyces lanuginosus Lipase in Acylation of Pyrimidine Nucleosides Possessing 2′-Substituent

The effect of 2′-differing substituent groups (such as the H, F, Cl, Br, OCH₃) as well as various chain lengths of the acyl substrates (C6, C10, and C14) on the performance of Thermomyces lanuginosus lipase for the regioselective acylation of pyrimidine nucleoside analogs was investigated systematically for the first time. The results evidently demonstrated that changing substituents in nucleosides had a significant influence on the substrate specificity for the enzymatic reaction, possibly due to the differences in physicochemical properties of the substituents and the special shape of the substrate binding site in enzyme active region. With respect to the chain-length selectivity, the enzyme exhibited the highest 5′-regioselectivity toward the longer chain (C14) as compared to short (C6 and C10) ones. The reason might be attributed to the presence of the interaction between the acyl chain and the large hydrophobic substrate-binding pocket.     

pH‐Regulated Selectivity in Supramolecular Polymerizations: Switching between Co‐ and Homopolymers

A strategy is presented to regulate the selectivity in aqueous supramolecular polymerizations by changes in pH. In neutral buffered conditions, oppositely charged phenylalanine‐based dendritic peptide amphiphiles self‐assemble into (A?B)_n alternating copolymers of low polydispersity when mixed in a 1:1 comonomer feed ratio. Via pH switch of the glutamic acid and lysine side chains, attractive Coulomb interactions in the coassembled materials are screened and selective polymerization occurs to form (A)_n homopolymers of the acidic comonomer at low pH and (B)_n homopolymers of the basic comonomer at high pH, while the complementary comonomer is released during the transition. Reversible switching is demonstrated between these three different polymeric states, which were characterized by CD and fluorescence spectroscopy, using a peptide based minimalistic fluorophore/quencher pair, and transmission electron microscopy.     

Biocatalytic reduction of prochiral aromatic ketones to optically pure alcohols by a coupled enzyme system for cofactor regeneration

A simple, highly efficient, and economical biphasic cell-free system was developed for biocatalytic reduction of prochiral aromatic ketones to furnish enantiopure alcohols. This system is characterized by using endogenous enzymes of the cell-free extract to form enzyme-coupled NADPH recycling system. Besides, it offered much higher productivity than whole cells and greatly simplified the preparation process of biocatalysts in comparison with isolated enzymes. Various prochiral aromatic ketones, especially α-substituted acetophenone derivatives, were reduced to chiral alcohols with excellent enantiomeric excess (ee) and moderate to good yield by this cell-free system.     

Existence and stability of periodic solution of a stage‐structured model with state‐dependent impulsive effects

A single population growth model with stage‐structured and state‐dependent impulsive control is proposed. By using the Poincar'e map and the analogue of Poincaré's criterion, we prove the existence and the stability of positive order‐1 or order‐2 periodic solution. Moreover, we show that there is no periodic solution with order greater than or equal to three. Numerical results are carried out to illustrate the feasibility of our main results and the superiority of state feedback control strategy is also discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Novel asymmetric synthesis of oseltamivir phosphate (Tamiflu) from (−)-shikimic acid via cyclic sulfite intermediates

A novel asymmetric synthesis of oseltamivir phosphate 1 from the naturally abundant (?)-shikimic acid via 3,4-cyclic sulfite intermediate 3 (Scheme 1) is described. Target compound 1 was obtained in 39% overall yield from this nine-step synthesis, and the characteristic step of the synthesis is the regio- and stereospecific nucleophilic substitution with sodium azide at the allylic (C-3) position of 3,4-cyclic sulfite 3. Since the yield of the direct-aziridine-formation from the unprotected dihydroxyl azide 4 was not satisfactory, two improved preparations of the established compound 7 via protected 3,4-cyclic sulfites 10 and 13 (Scheme 2) have been developed. In these two improved preparations, compound 7 was obtained from 3,4-cyclic sulfite 3 in 7-steps in 64% or 62% overall yield, respectively.