Asymmetric Total Syntheses,Stereostructures, and Cytotoxicities of Marine Bromotriterpenoids Aplysiol B (Laurenmariannol) and Saiyacenol A

There are marine cytotoxic bromotriterpenoids, named the thyrsiferol family that are structurally characterized by some tetrahydropyran (THP) and tetrahydrofuran (THF) rings. The thyrsiferol family belongs to natural products that are often difficult to determine their stereostructures even by the current, highly advanced spectroscopic methods, especially in acyclic systems including stereogenic tetrasubstituted carbon centers. In such cases, it is effective to predict and synthesize the possible stereostructures. Herein, to elucidate ambiguous stereostructures and unassigned absolute configurations of aplysiol B, laurenmariannol, and saiyacenol A, members of the thyrsiferol family, we carried out their asymmetric chemical syntheses featuring 6-exo and 5-exo oxacyclizations of epoxy alcohol precursors and 6-endo bromoetherification of a bishomoallylic alcohol. In this paper, we report total assignments of their stereostructures through their asymmetric chemical syntheses and also their preliminary cytotoxic activities against some tumor cells. These results could not have been achieved without depending on asymmetric total synthesis.     

Analysis method of the angiotensin-I converting enzyme inhibitory activity based on micellar electrokinetic chromatography.

A micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) method was developed for estimating the angiotensin-I converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity by separating the hippuric acid liberated in the ACE reaction mixture in the presence of an inhibitor, captopril. The hippuric acid was successfully separated and detected by MEKC with a 25 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate solution in a 25 mM phosphate-50 mM borate buffer at pH 7.0; the total analysis took about 5 min. A good linear relationship was observed between the inhibitor and the peak area of hippuric acid release. No significant difference in the ACE inhibitory activity (IC50) of captopril (an antihypertensive medicine) or autolyzed-mushrooms (functional foods) was observed between the conventional method and the MEKC method. The MEKC method was found to be a useful technique for a rapid assay of the ACE inhibitory activity.     

Status of heavy element research using a gas-filled recoil separator at RIKEN

A gas-filled type of recoil separator for heavy element research was installed at an experimental hall of RIKEN Linear Accelerator facility to realize getting higher intensity of primary beam and long beam time. Performance of the separator was studied using target recoils and various nuclear reactions. The results show the high performance of the separator for heave element research. As an application of the GARIS, production and identification of an isotope of the 110th element ²⁷¹[110] have been performed using the ²⁰⁸Pb(⁶⁴Ni,1n)²⁷¹[110] reaction. Three decay chains coincide well both in decay times and energies with the ones reported by the group of SHIP experiment at GSI, Germany. Our results provide a confirmation of the synthesis of an isotope ²⁷¹[110] of element 110.     

Improved detectability with a polymer-based trapping device in rapid HPLC analysis for ultra-low levels of bisphenol A (BPA) in environmental samples.

A new high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method has been developed to detect ultra-low concentrations of bisphenol-A (BPA) (below 1 ng/L (ppt)) using column switching electrochemical detection (ECD). The results were superior to those obtained from manual pretreatment procedure with membrane stationary phase. BPA is inherently ubiquitous in the environment, including tools and solvents used for its analysis; to obtain meaningful results, therefore, the concentration of the overall BPA contamination must be below the detection limit for BPA using the analytical system. Therefore, purified water for preparing the standard BPA solution must be filtered with a hydrophobic membrane to suppress BPA background levels of contamination. In addition, we investigated methods for effectively preserving environmental water containing BPA. The addition of a small amount of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) provided good recovery even after overnight storage. By employing these precautionary measures and procedures to reduce BPA contamination from the analytical procedure, we could accurately determine l(-10) ppt of BPA in environmental water samples using a column switching HPLC system.     

Basic study of the gelation of dimethacrylate‐type crosslinking agents

An investigation was made of the gelation of dimethacrylate‐type crosslinking agents in view of an application for separation media. The study mainly centered on a crosslinking agent, glycerol dimethacrylate (GDMA), which is relatively hydrophilic because of a hydroxyl group in the middle of its structure. The gelation of GDMA was compared with that of other hydrophobic crosslinking agents such as ethylene glycol dimethacrylate and 1,6‐hexanediol dimethacrylate. The diluents used in the study were toluene, toluene with methanol, and cyclohexanol. The gelation was observed in real time with a charge coupled device camera and dynamic light scattering (DLS). Also, the separated dry gels were extensively characterized with scanning electron microscopy, BET (N₂ absorption and desorption isotherm), and Fourier transform infrared. DLS analysis showed a stronger molecular interaction of GDMA gelation in toluene, whereas this interaction was much weaker in an alcoholic solvent such as toluene with methanol or cyclohexanol. This indicated that GDMA gelation might proceed through hydrogen bonding as well as a crosslinking reaction of vinyl groups. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 949–958, 2006     

Preparation of uniformly sized molecularly imprinted polymers for phenolic compounds and their application to the assay of bisphenol A in river water.

Uniformly sized molecularly imprinted polymers, which can recognize bisphenol A (BPA), have been prepared by a multi-step swelling and polymerization method using BPA or a structurally related analogue of BPA [p-t-octylphenol (OP) or p-t-butylphenol (BP)] as the template molecule, 4-vinylpyridine as the functional monomer, and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as the cross-linker. The BP-imprinted polymer showed higher molecular recognition ability for BPA than the OP-imprinted polymer. The BPA- and BP-imprinted polymers were applied for the assay of a trace amount of BPA in river water using column-switching HPLC with fluorescence detection: A BPA-imprinted polymer was used for removal of BPA from the pretreatment eluent as the trap column, and a BP-imprinted polymer was used for selective pretreatment and enrichment of BPA in river water as the pretreatment column. The calibration graph, constructed from peak area data plotted versus BPA concentration, was linear with a correlation coefficient of >0.999 in the concentration ranges of 25-1000 ppt. The limit of quantitation was 25 ppt with a 5-ml injection. The column-switching HPLC system was successfully applied for the assay of BPA in river water.     

Femtosecond intermolecular electron transfer in condensed systems

We have investigated the ultrafast intermolecular electron transfer (ET) from an electron-donating solvent (aniline (AN) or N, N-dimethylaniline (DMA)) to an excited dye molecule (oxazines (Nile blue and oxazine 1) or coumarins). A non-exponential time dependence was observed in AN and can be explained by solvent reorientation and nuclear motion of the reactants. However, in DMA, a single exponential process was observed for Nile blue (160 fs) and oxazine 1 (280 fs), which can be explained by assuming that the rate of ET is limited mainly by ultrafast nuclear motion. A clear substituent effect on intermolecular ET was observed for the 7-aminocoumarins. When the alkyl chain on the 7-amino group is extended and a hexagonal ring with the benzene moiety is formed, the rate of ET is reduced by three orders of magnitude. This effect can be explained by a change in the free energy difference of the reaction and by the vibrational motion of the amino group.