Production of hyperpolarized nuclei for MRI

The project in producing the hyperpolarized ³He and ¹⁹F are addressed in pursuit of radiation free medical diagnosis. The program for production of the hyperpolarized ³He by the brute force method with the Pomeranchuk cooling and the rapid melting of the solid 3He started a few years ago, and is still on the way, while a new program for production of the hyperpolarized ¹⁹F by means of the PHIP (ParaHydrogen Induced Polarization) has just got started. Particular attention is placed upon a new idea of the hyperpolarization catalyst to be used for ¹⁹F.     

Efficiency of radiation-induced main-chain scission of poly (methyl methacrylate) depends on the irradiation temperature because of coexisting monomer

Effect of irradiation temperature on the main-chain scission of poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) caused by γ-irradiation was studied by means of gel permeation chromatography and ESR spectroscopy. Although no temperature dependency was observed on the scission efficiency for purified PMMA, the efficiency for crude or monomer-doped purified PMMA was decreased by decreasing the temperature below ca. 200 K. Above 200 K the efficiency was constant and did not depend on the purity of PMMA. ESR study of the irradiated PMMA revealed that the suppression of the scission below 200 K is induced by the addition of methyl methacrylate monomer to primary radical species, which otherwise cause the main-chain scission by warming the polymer above 200 K. The primary radical generated above 200 K immediately converts to the scission-type ? CH₂ ? ?(CH₃) COOCH₃ radical through the β-scission of the polymer main chain, so that the efficiency of the scission does not depend on both the impurity and the irradiation temperature. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Glucose concentration determination based on silica sol-gel encapsulated glucose oxidase optical biosensor arrays

Optical biosensor arrays for rapidly determining the glucose concentrations in a large number of beverage and blood samples were developed by immobilizing glucose oxidase (GOD) on oxygen sensor layer. Glucose oxidase was first encapsulated in silica based gels through sol-gel approach and then immobilized on 96-well microarrays integrated with oxygen sensing film at the bottom. The oxygen sensing film was made of an organically modified silica film (ORMOSIL) doped with tris(4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline) ruthenium dichloride (Ru(dpp)₃Cl₂). The oxidation reaction of glucose by glucose oxidase could be monitored through fluorescence intensity enhancement due to the oxygen consumption in the reaction. The luminescence changing rate evaluated by the dynamic transient method (DTM) was correlated with the glucose concentration with the wide linear range from 0.1 to 5.0 mM (Y = 13.28X − 0.128, R = 0.9968) and low detection limit (0.06 mM). The effects of pH and coexisting ions were systemically studied. The results showed that the optical biosensor arrays worked under a wide range of pH value, and normal interfering species such as Na⁺, K⁺, Cl⁻, PO₄³⁻, and ascorbic acid did not cause apparent interference on the measurement. The activity of glucose oxidase was mostly retained even after 2-month storage, indicating their long-term stability.     

Optimized synthesis, structural investigations, ligand tuning and synthetic evaluation of silyloxy-based alkyne metathesis catalysts

Nitride- and alkylidyne complexes of molybdenum endowed with triarylsilanolate ligands are excellent (pre)catalysts for alkyne-metathesis reactions of all sorts, since they combine high activity with an outstanding tolerance toward polar and/or sensitive functional groups. Structural and reactivity data suggest that this promising application profile results from a favorable match between the characteristics of the high-valent molybdenum center and the electronic and steric features of the chosen Ar(3) SiO groups. This interplay ensures a well-balanced level of Lewis acidity at the central atom, which is critical for high activity. Moreover, the bulky silanolates, while disfavoring bimolecular decomposition of the operative alkylidyne unit, do not obstruct substrate binding. In addition, Ar(3) SiO groups have the advantage that they are more stable within the coordination sphere of a high-valent molybdenum center than tert-alkoxides, which commonly served as ancillary ligands in previous generations of alkyne metathesis catalysts. From a practical point of view it is important to note that complexes of the general type [(Ar(3) SiO)(3) Mo?X] (X = N, CR; R = aryl, alkyl, Ar = aryl) can be rendered air-stable with the aid of 1,10-phenanthroline, 2,2'-bipyridine or derivatives thereof. Although the resulting adducts are themselves catalytically inert, treatment with Lewis acidic additives such as ZnCl(2) or MnCl(2) removes the stabilizing N-donor ligand and gently releases the catalytically active template into the solution. This procedure gives excellent results in alkyne metathesis starting from air-stable and hence user-friendly precursor complexes. The thermal and hydrolytic stability of representative molybdenum alkylidyne and -nitride complexes of this series was investigated and the structure of several decomposition products elucidated.     

Palladium-catalyzed anti-hydrothiolation of 1-alkynylphosphines

[structure: see text]. Treatment of 1-alkynylphosphine with thiol in the presence of a catalytic amount of palladium acetate results in regio- and stereoselective anti-hydrothiolation, yielding the corresponding (Z)-1-phosphino-2-thio-1-alkene.     

Total Synthesis of Nominal Gobienine A

The lichen‐derived glycoconjugate gobienine A is structurally more complex than most glycolipids isolated from higher plants by virtue of the all‐cis substituted γ‐lactone substructure embedded into its macrocyclic frame. A concise entry into this very epimerization‐prone and hence challenging structural motif is presented, which relies on an enantioselective cyanohydrin formation, an intramolecular Blaise reaction, a palladium‐catalyzed alkoxycarbonylation, and a diastereoselective hydrogenation of the tetrasubstituted alkene in the resulting butenolide. This strategy, in combination with ring‐closing olefin metathesis for the formation of the macrocyclic perimeter, allowed the proposed structure of gobienine A ( 1 ) to be formed in high overall yield. The recorded spectral data show that the structure originally attributed to gobienine A is incorrect and that it is not the epimerization‐prone ester site on the butanolide ring that is the locus of misassignment; rather, the discrepancy must be more profound.     

Clathrate-formation mediated adsorption of methane on Cu-complex crystals

We measured adsorption and desorption isotherms of methane on [Cu(4, 4'-bipyridine)2(BF4)2] (LPC) at 258, 273, and 303 K. Adsorption proceeds almost vertically at a definite pressure, which is named gate pressure. The lower the measurement temperature, the smaller the gate pressure. The temperature dependence of the gate pressure is expressed by the Clapeyron-Clausius equation, giving a thermodynamic evidence on the clathrate formation between the Cu complex and methane.