Grob-type fragmentation of 5-oxabicyclo[2.1.1]hexane system: a strategy for synthesis of annulated and 2,2,5-trisubstituted tetrahydrofurans

Acid mediated, efficient Grob-type fragmentation reaction facilitated by vicinal ketal and ester moieties in variety of 5-oxabicyclo[2.1.1]hexanes leading to the corresponding annulated and 2,2,5-trisubstituted tetrahydrofurans is reported. Among the Brønsted and Lewis acids tested, BF₃·OEt₂ appears to give the best results, furnishing near quantitative yield (>99%) of tetrahydrofuran tricarboxylate derivatives under mild reaction condition. In case of unsymmetrical monosubstituted 5-oxabicyclo[2.1.1]hexanes two regioisomeric products are obtained. A strategy to transform one of the ester groups of the title compounds to protected hydroxymethyl moiety was evolved, which allows access to differentially protected 2-hydroxymethyl THF derivatives upon fragmentation. Employing TiCl₄/R or S-BINOL as chiral Lewis acid, an enantioselective fragmentation (up to 66% ee) was described for the meso bis-furan derivative.     

Total syntheses of (±)-cis- and (±)-trans-neocnidilides

Total syntheses of two antimicrobial natural products (±)-cis-neocnidilide and (±)-trans-neocnidilide starting from a readily preparable cyclohexa[b]-fused 5-oxabicyclo[2.1.1]hexane derivative are presented. The diastereomeric tetrahydrofuran tricarboxylate epimers obtained from a BF₃·OEt₂ promoted Grob-type fragmentation of the oxa-bicycle derivative were converted into title natural products by employing pyridinium dichromate/acetic anhydride mediated bis-oxidative cleavage reaction.     

Ultra-Small Air-Stable Triplet-Triplet Annihilation Upconversion Nanoparticles for Anti-Stokes Time-Resolved Imaging

Image contrast is often limited by background autofluorescence in steady-state bioimaging microscopy. Upconversion bioimaging can overcome this by shifting the emission lifetime and wavelength beyond the autofluorescence window. Here we demonstrate the first example of triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion (TTA-UC) based lifetime imaging microscopy. A new class of ultra-small nanoparticle (NP) probes based on TTA-UC chromophores encapsulated in an organic–inorganic host has been synthesised. The NPs exhibit bright UC emission (400–500 nm) in aerated aqueous media with a UC lifetime of ≈1 μs, excellent colloidal stability and little cytotoxicity. Proof-of-concept demonstration of TTA-UC lifetime imaging using these NPs shows that the long-lived anti-Stokes emission is easily discriminable from typical autofluorescence. Moreover, fluctuations in the UC lifetime can be used to map local oxygen diffusion across the subcellular structure. Our TTA-UC NPs are highly promising stains for lifetime imaging microscopy, affording excellent image contrast and potential for oxygen mapping that is ripe for further exploitation.