Radioprotective Effects of Kelulut Honey in Zebrafish Model

Large doses of ionizing radiation can damage human tissues. Therefore, there is a need to investigate the radiation effects as well as identify effective and non-toxic radioprotectors. This study evaluated the radioprotective effects of Kelulut honey (KH) from stingless bee (Trigona sp.) on zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos. Viable zebrafish embryos at 24 hpf were dechorionated and divided into four groups, namely untreated and non-irradiated, untreated and irradiated, KH pre-treatment and amifostine pre-treatment. The embryos were first treated with KH (8 mg/mL) or amifostine (4 mM) before irradiation at doses of 11 Gy to 20 Gy using gamma ray source, caesium-137 (¹³⁷Cs). Lethality and abnormality analysis were performed on all of the embryos in the study. Immunohistochemistry assay was also performed using selected proteins, namely γ-H2AX and caspase-3, to investigate DNA damages and incidences of apoptosis. KH was found to reduce coagulation effects at up to 20 Gy in the lethality analysis. The embryos developed combinations of abnormality, namely microphthalmia (M), body curvature and microphthalmia (BM), body curvature with microphthalmia and microcephaly (BMC), microphthalmia and pericardial oedema (MO), pericardial oedema (O), microphthalmia with microcephaly and pericardial oedema (MCO) and all of the abnormalities (AA). There were more abnormalities developed from 24 to 72 h (h) post-irradiation in all groups. At 96 h post-irradiation, KH was identified to reduce body curvature effect in the irradiated embryos (up to 16 Gy). γ-H2AX and caspase-3 intensities in the embryos pre-treated with KH were also found to be lower than the untreated group at gamma irradiation doses of 11 Gy to 20 Gy and 11 Gy to 19 Gy, respectively. KH was proven to increase the survival rate of zebrafish embryos and exhibited protection against organ-specific abnormality. KH was also found to possess cellular protective mechanism by reducing DNA damage and apoptosis proteins expression.     

Screening a Strain of Klebsiella sp. O852 and the Optimization of Fermentation Conditions for Trans-Dihydrocarvone Production

Flavors and fragrances have high commercial value in the food, cosmetic, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. It is interesting to investigate the isolation and characterization of new microorganisms with the ability to produce flavor compounds. In this study, a new strain of Klebsiella sp. O852 (accession number CCTCC M2020509) was isolated from decayed navel orange (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck), which was proved to be capable of converting limonene to trans-dihydrocarvone. Besides, the optimization of various reaction parameters to enhance the trans-dihydrocarvone production in shake flask was performed for Klebsiella sp. O852. The results showed that the yield of trans-dihydrocarvone reached up to 1 058 mg/L when Klebsiella sp. O852 was incubated using LB-M medium for 4 h at 36 °C and 150 rpm, and the biotransformation process was monitored for 36 h after adding 1680 mg/L limonene/ethanol (final ethanol concentration of 0.8% (v/v)). The content of trans-dihydrocarvone increased 16 times after optimization. This study provided a basis and reference for producing trans-dihydrocarvone by biotransformation.     

Antifungal Activity of Chemical Constituents from Piper pesaresanum C. DC. and Derivatives against Phytopathogen Fungi of Cocoa

In this study, the antifungal potential of chemical constituents from Piper pesaresanum and some synthesized derivatives was determined against three phytopathogenic fungi associated with the cocoa crop. The methodology included the phytochemical study on the aerial part of P. pesaresanum, the synthesis of some derivatives and the evaluation of the antifungal activity against the fungi Moniliophthora roreri, Fusarium solani and Phytophthora sp. The chemical study allowed the isolation of three benzoic acid derivatives (1–3), one dihydrochalcone (4) and a mixture of sterols (5–7). Seven derivatives (8–14) were synthesized from the main constituents, of which compounds 9, 10, 12 and 14 are reported for the first time. Benzoic acid derivatives showed strong antifungal activity against M. roreri, of which 11 (3.0 ± 0.8 µM) was the most active compound with an IC₅₀ lower compared with positive control Mancozeb^® (4.9 ± 0.4 µM). Dihydrochalcones and acid derivatives were active against F. solani and Phytophthora sp., of which 3 (32.5 ± 3.3 µM) and 4 (26.7 ± 5.3 µM) were the most active compounds, respectively. The preliminary structure–activity relationship allowed us to establish that prenylated chains and the carboxyl group are important in the antifungal activity of benzoic acid derivatives. Likewise, a positive influence of the carbonyl group on the antifungal activity for dihydrochalcones was deduced.     

过渡金属催化的硅烷基C(sp3)–H键活化

有机硅化合物在有机合成、材料化学和药物化学中都有广泛应用.因此,其自身的合成方法学在近年来广受关注.从原子经济性的角度出发,选择性的C(sp³)–H键切断是一种高效经济的合成策略.硅烷基单元在有机化合物中广泛存在,通过对硅烷基中的C(sp³)–H键直接官能团化来合成新的有机硅化合物是一种十分有前景的合成方法.近年来,过渡金属催化的C(sp³)–H键活化成为有机合成研究的热点领域.与肟基、唑啉、吡啶基、酰胺基、羧酸酯基等官能团或是与氧、氮或硫等杂原子相连的C(sp³)–H键的活化研究已有许多报道,但是与硅相邻的C(sp³)–H键活化研究报道很少.本文综述了近年来过渡金属催化的硅烷基C(sp³)–H键切断的研究进展.     

Co@N-石墨烯/C催化甲苯衍生物氧化胺化研究

核壳结构纳米催化剂的发展一直备受化学家的关注.我们通过热解碳担载乙酸钴和1,10-菲哕啉复合物制备出具有核壳结构的氮掺杂石墨烯包裹钴催化剂,并对其进行了系统的表征和催化性能研究.研究发现,该催化剂在TBHP和H2共存的条件下,在催化硝基苯和甲苯的选择性还原-氧化胺化合成N-烷基化胺反应中展现出较好的催化性能和良好的官能团耐受性.透射电镜表征表明氧化钴纳米颗粒被厚度约1.12～1.87 nm的含氮石墨烯壳包裹.X射线光电子能谱表征发现壳层中的石墨烯氮和作为核的氧化钴纳米颗粒间具有较明显的相互作用.我们对催化体系的普适性以及反应机理也进行了较为系统的研究.     

Palladium(I) Dimer Enabled Extremely Rapid and Chemoselective Alkylation of Aryl Bromides over Triflates and Chlorides in Air

Disclosed herein is the first general chemo‐ and site‐selective alkylation of C−Br bonds in the presence of COTf, C−Cl and other potentially reactive functional groups, using the air‐, moisture‐, and thermally stable dinuclear Pd^I catalyst, [Pd(μ‐I)PtBu₃]₂. The bromo‐selectivity is independent of the substrate and the relative positioning of the competing reaction sites, and as such fully predictable. Primary and secondary alkyl chains were introduced with extremely high speed (<5 min reaction time) at room temperature and under open‐flask reaction conditions.     

Nickel‐Catalyzed Decarboxylative Acylation of Heteroarenes by sp2 CH Functionalization

Nickel‐catalyzed ligand‐free decarboxylative cross‐coupling of azole derivatives with α‐oxoglyoxylic acids has been developed. This work represents the first example of decarboxylative cross‐coupling reactions, in a C?H bond functionalization manner, through nickel catalysis, and tolerates various functional groups. Additionally, this approach provides an efficient access to azole ketones, an important structural motif in many medicinal compounds with a broad range of biological activities.     

Chuan-Cai Fan;Li-Jin Xu;Han-Yuan Gong;%T Neutral C–H bond vs. electron pair of N（sp~2）： A binding site effect study of macrocycle anion receptor

To evaluate the effect of neutral C–H bond or electron pair of nitrogen atom with sp2hybridization（N（sp2）） involving into the same chemical environment for anion binding, two analogous tetracationic imidazolium macrocycles, namely cyclo[2]（2,6-bis-（1H-imidazol-1-yl）pyridine） [2]（1,3-dimethylenebenzene）（14＋）, and cyclo[2]（2,6-bis-（1H-imidazol-1-yl）pyridine）[2]（2,6-di methylenepyridine）（24＋）were studied in detail as small inorganic anion receptors. The guest anions with different shapes are Cl,N3, NO3, and H2PO4. The host–guest interactions were characterized via1 H NMR spectroscopy,electrospray ionization mass spectrometry（ESI-MS） and single crystal X-ray crystallography. The results implied that macrocyclic hosts with similar backbone but two distinct binding sites（14＋with neutral C–H vs. 24＋with N（sp2）） vary markedly in their response to anions, including the binding modes and association constants. The finding will serve to the construction of new anion receptors, even improve insights into the anion binding process in biology.     

Seimatoric acid and colletonoic acid:Two new compounds from the endophytic fungi,Seimatosporium sp.and Colletotrichum sp.

A new metabolite,named seimatoric acid(1),representing a new oxobutanoic acid derivative has been isolated from Seimatosporium sp., in addition to four known compounds viz.,2-hydroxymethyl-4β,5α,6β-trihydroxycyclohex-2-enone(2),(-)-phyllostine(3),(+)-epiepoxydon(4) and(+)-epoxydon monoacetate(5).Similarly one new benzoic acid derivative,named colletonoic acid(6) was isolated from the ethyl acetate fraction of Colletotrichum sp.The structures of the new compounds were elucidated by detailed ~1 H NMR,~(13)C NMR,COSY,HMQC.HMBC spectroscopic analysis,and HR-E1-MS.Seimatoric acid(1)was also isolated from another taxonomical unidentified fungal strain 4295 in ourgroup.The structures of the known compounds were elucidated by their spectral data comparison to literature data.Preliminary studies showed that colletonoic acid(6) showed good antibacterial,antifungal,and antialgal activities.     

Copper-catalyzed Csp3–O cross-coupling of unactivated alkyl halides with organic peroxides

An efficient Cu-catalyzed C_sp3–O coupling of peroxides with haloalkanes is described. High yields of products were achieved under mild conditions. Significantly, in addition to primary alkyl halides, secondary alkyl halogenated hydrocarbons could also be applied to this system. The new reaction system could tolerate a wide range of organic peroxides.