The synthesis of 6-trifluoroethyl-l-lysine: a method to introduce functionality at C-6 of l-lysine

Described is a method of introducing trifluoroalkyl groups at C-6 of lysine. This chemistry has the potential to introduce a variety of functionality at C-6 of lysine.     

Dark cure studies of cationic photopolymerizations of epoxides: Characterization of kinetic rate constants at high conversions

The effective propagation rate constant (k_p; averaged over all the propagating active centers) was characterized for solvent‐free cationic photopolymerizations of phenyl glycidyl ether over the entire range of conversions, including the high conversion regime in which mass transfer limitations become important. The profile for the k_p as a function of conversion was found to exhibit a constant plateau value at low to intermediate conversions, followed by a monotonic increase above a threshold value of conversion. To explain this trend, it is proposed that at high conversion the diffusional mobility of the photoinitiator counterion is reduced whereas the mobility of the cationic active center remains high because of reactive diffusion. Therefore, with increasing conversion, the average distance between the active centers and counterions may increase, resulting in an increase in the propagation rate constant. The profiles for the k_p values were investigated as a function of the temperature, photoinitiator anion, and photoinitiator concentration. As the photoinitiator concentration was increased, the plateau value of the effective propagation rate constant decreased whereas the threshold conversion increased. All of the experimental trends are consistent with the proposed increase in ion separation at high conversions. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 4409–4416, 2004     

Recent changes in A-level Mathematics: is the availability and uptake of mechanics declining yet more?

In the past 6 years changes have occurred in GCE A-levels. Inparticular, there have been several major changes in A-levelMathematics courses. As engineering students are usually requiredto have studied A-level Mathematics, or its equivalent, thesechanges have had an effect on their prior mathematical knowledge.Moreover, engineering students traditionally obtained a goodgrounding in mechanics as part of their A-level Mathematicsqualification. However, mechanics, which was once included inthe core syllabus, is now optional. This article investigatesthe current availability and uptake of mechanics modules withinA-level Mathematics courses in schools. Comparisons are drawnbetween these results and results of a survey of schools in2004 and surveys of first year engineering students conductedin 2004 and 2005. It is found that there is a decline in theavailability of mechanics modules and the uptake of more thanone mechanics module has also decreased. The implications ofthese findings for engineering educators are discussed.     

Tobacco protein separation by aqueous two-phase extraction

Tobacco has long been considered as a host to produce large quantity of high-valued recombinant proteins. However, dealing with large quantities of biomass is a challenge for downstream processing. Aqueous two-phase extraction (ATPE) has been widely used in purifying proteins from various sources. It is a protein-friendly process and can be scaled up easily. In this paper, ATPE was studied for its applicability to recombinant protein purification from tobacco with egg white lysozyme as the model protein. Separate experiments with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-salt-tobacco extract and PEG-salt-lysozyme were carried out to determine the partition behavior of tobacco protein and lysozyme, respectively. Two-level fractional factorial designs were used to study the effects of factors such as, PEG molecular mass, PEG concentration, the concentration of phase forming salt, sodium chloride concentration and pH, on protein partitioning. The results showed that, among the studied systems, PEG-sodium sulfate system was most suitable for lysozyme purification. Detailed experiments were conducted by spiking lysozyme into the tobacco extract. The conditions with highest selectivity of lysozyme over native tobacco protein were determined using a response surface design. The purification factor was further improved by decreasing the phase ratio along the tie line corresponding to the phase compositions with the highest selectivity. Under selected conditions the lysozyme yield was predicted to be 87% with a purification factor of 4 and concentration factor of 14. From this study, ATPE was shown to be suitable for initial protein recovery and partial purification from transgenic tobacco.     

Lithiation and electrophilic substitution of 8-chlorodibenz[b,f][1,4]-oxazepine-10-tert-butylcarbamate: The preparation of novel fused heterocyclic derivatives of 8-chlorodibenzoxazepine

Lithiation of 8-chlorodibenz[b,f][1,4]oxazepine-10-tert-butylcarbamate ( 1 ) is described. Electrophilic substitution of the resulting N-Boc dibenzoxazepine α- lithioamine 2 with ketones, aldehydes, nitriles, iso-cyanates and imines, followed by an in-situ cyclization, gave fused carbamates 5–26 , fused 2H-imidazol-2-ones 27–29 , fused hydantoins 30–32 , and fused ureas 33–35 , respectively, in 11–66% yield.     

Development of a capillary electrophoretic method for the separation of diastereoisomers of a new human immunodeficiency virus protease inhibitor

A capillary electrophoretic (CE) method was developed for the separation of diastereoisomers of a new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) protease inhibitor TMC114. In total 16 isomers of this drug have been synthesized (eight pairs of enantiomers). We succeeded in the separation of the eight diastereoisomers, but no enantiomers could be separated. Because of the high similarity and water-insolubility of these isomers, the separation is a real challenge. Different CE modes were tried out: capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE), nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis (NACE), micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MEKC), and microemulsion electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MEEKC). Only MEEKC offered resolution of these compounds.     

Enhanced fluorescence from o-phthalaldehyde and fluorescamine fluorophores using Triton and β-cyclodextrin

Mexiletine— and lysine hydrochloride—o-phthalaldehyde and mexiletine hydrochloride—, cysteine—, cysteamine—, homocysteine— and lysine hydrochloride—fluorescamine derivatives were subjected to Triton and β-cyclodextrin enhancement treatments. Of several classical fluorescence-enhancing reagents tested (Triton, β-cyclodextrin, sodium dodecyl sulphate, Brij), Triton provided the best results, followed by β-cyclodextrin. Increases in fluorescence emission by a factor of up to about 10 (mexiletine—fluorescamine—Triton X-100) were observed, with a generally negligible influence of the enhancing reagents on the excitation and emission maxima. Fluorescence enhancement by the addition of a suitable reagent solution to the final analyte solution may, in specific instances, enhance the detectability of native or chemically induced fluorophores.     

General approach for the synthesis of chiral perylenequinones via catalytic enantioselective oxidative biaryl coupling

By using oxygen as the terminal oxidant, copper complexes derived from chiral 1,5-diaza-cis-decalin catalyze the enantioselective oxidative biaryl coupling of highly functionalized naphthols to provide octa- and decasubstituted binaphthalenes with high selectivity (86-90% ee). Products containing very electron-rich naphthalenes were prone to epimerization under the reaction conditions. This epimerization could be suppressed by employing naphthol starting materials with phenol protecting groups that attenuated the electron-rich nature of the naphthalenes. Direct oxidation of the resultant chiral 1,1'-binaphthol framework completed the first asymmetric synthesis of a perylenequinone containing only an axial chirality element.     

Unsymmetrical selenides from selenocyanates and methyl grignard

The addition of methyl Grignard to diethyl acetamido(cyanoselenobenzyl)malonates 3 and 4 at ?78° followed by hydrolysis yields the 3-(4-and 3-methylselenophenyl)alanines 1 and 2.