The Canonical Solutions of the Q-Systems¶ and the Kirillov–Reshetikhin Conjecture

We study a class of systems of functional equations closely related to various kinds of integrable statistical and quantum mechanical models. We call them the finite and infinite $Q$-systems according to the number of functions and equations. The finite Q-systems appear as the thermal equilibrium conditions (the Sutherland–Wu equation) for certain statistical mechanical systems. Some infinite Q-systems appear as the relations of the normalized characters of the KR modules of the Yangians and the quantum affine algebras. We give two types of power series formulae for the unique solution (resp. the unique canonical solution) for a finite (resp. infinite) Q-system. As an application, we reformulate the Kirillov–Reshetikhin conjecture on the multiplicities formula of the KR modules in terms of the canonical solutions of Q-systems. Received: 2 August 2001 / Accepted: 27 December 2001     

Glycopolymeric inhibitors of β‐glucuronidase. III. Configurational effects of hydroxy groups in pendant glyco‐units in polymers upon inhibition of β‐glucuronidase

Two kinds of new glycopolymers, (P(VB‐1‐GlcaH‐co‐AAm), 9 ) and (P(VB‐1‐Glco‐co‐AAm), 10 ), were synthesized through the radical copolymerization of styrene derivatives bearing pendant D ‐glucaric and D ‐gluconic moieties, N‐(p‐vinylbenzyl)‐1‐D ‐glucaramide (VB‐1‐GlcaH, 7 ), and N‐(p‐vinylbenzyl)‐D ‐gluconamide (VB‐1‐Glco, 8 ), with acrylamide (AAm). Glycopolymer 9 bearing the pendant glucaric moiety at the first position inhibited the hydrolysis of a model compound for xenobiotics‐β‐glucuronide conjugates, p‐nitrophenyl β‐D ‐glucuronide, uncompetitively, in contrast to the competitive inhibition in the presence of the corresponding isomeric glycopolymer bearing the pendant D ‐glucaric unit at the sixth position (P(VB‐6‐GlcaH‐co‐AAm), 3 ) reported in our previous article. On the other hand, another copolymer 10 bearing the gluconic moiety was found not to inhibit the hydrolysis as well as the corresponding copolymer bearing pendant gulonic unit (P(VB‐6‐Glco‐co‐AAm), 4 ). These results indicate that the hydrolysis is influenced not only by existence of pendant carboxyl units but also by the direction on the linkage of the glyco‐units to the polymer frame. Therefore the configurational position of hydroxy groups in pendant glyco‐units in macromolecular inhibitors may be essential for the interaction with β‐glucuronidase. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 4895–4903, 2006     

Synthesis of a Stimuli‐Responsive P‐Chiral Polymer with Chiral Phosphorus Atoms and Azobenzene Moieties in the Main Chain

A reaction of the P‐chiral compound (S,S)‐1,2‐bis(boranato(tert‐butyl)methylphosphino)ethane with an azobenzene derivative gave stimuli‐responsive polymers with P‐chiral phosphines in the main chain. This is the first example of a stimuli‐responsive P‐chiral polymer. The polymer isomerized from the trans to the cis form upon UV irradiation and reverted to the trans form reversibly. The polymer was able to coordinate to platinum, and the resulting polymer complex exhibited the Cotton effect owing to the chirality of the phosphorus atoms. The structure of the P‐chiral polymer obtained could be changed reversibly by light and thermal stimuli, and the polymer chain was induced to rotate helically when complexed with transition metals through the chiral phosphorus atoms.     

The synthesis of isoquinoline alkaloid and its related compounds using alanine derivatives as chiral auxiliaries

Chiral 1-substituted isoquinoline derivatives, which were obtained by the reaction using alanine derivatives as chiral auxiliaries, were transformed to (S)-2,3,9,10,11-pentamethoxyhomoprotoberberine (7) and a synthetic intermediate for O-methylkreysigine (9) in good yields and high stereoselectivity. The corresponding chiral allyl derivative of isoquinoline was transformed to a pyrrolidinoisoquinoline (16) in a highly enantioselective manner.     

Macrophage activation in vitro by chemically cross-linked (1----3)-beta-D-glucans

The chemical cross-linking of soluble (1----3)-beta-D-glucans having molecular weights of 21000 (CL 3 h) and 6400 (CL 6 h), and laminarin (CL LAMI), which showed negligible biological activity, by epichlorohydrin provided rigid particles. These particles showed no gel-to-sol transition upon the addition of sodium hydroxide. We compared the effects of chemical cross-linking on the biological activities of glucans. The alternative complement pathway was not activated by any of the cross-linked glucans. Glucose consumption, lysosomal enzyme release, and interleukin-1 production by mouse resident peritoneal macrophages incubated in vitro were strongly induced by CL 3 h, CL 6 h and CL LAMI. However, cross-linked dextran, Sephadex, did not exhibit any of these biological activities. These results suggested that chemical cross-linking of (1----3)-beta-D-glucans enhances macrophage activities without opsonization by complement components.     

Structural variety of membrane permeable peptides

Peptide-mediated protein delivery into living cells has been attracting our attention. Among the peptides that have been reported to have carrier activity, the one from the human immunodeficient virus (HIV)-1 Tat has been most often used for the introduction of exogenous macromolecules into cells. We have shown that not only the Tat peptide, but also various arginine-rich peptides showed very similar characteristics in translocation, and the possible presence of ubiquitous internalization mechanisms among the arginine-rich peptides has also been suggested. These arginine-rich peptides includes ones derived from HIV-1 Rev and flock house virus coat proteins. The linear- and branched-chain peptides containing approximately 8 residues of arginine also show a similar ability. In this review, we present the structural variety of membrane permeable peptides and provide a survey of the findings on the translocation of these peptides through the cell membranes.     

Suppressive effect of the SOS-inducing activity of chemical mutagen by citric acid esters from Prunus mume Sieb. Et Zucc. using the Salmonella typhimurium TA1535/pSK1002 umu test

A methanol extract from Prunus mume Sieb. Et Zucc. showed a suppressive effect of the SOS-inducing activity on the mutagen 3-amino-1,4-dimethyl-SH-pyrido[4,3-b]indole(Trp-P-1) in the Salmonella typhimurium TA1535/pSK1002 umu test. The methanol extract was re-extracted with hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, butanol and water. The dichloromethane and ethyl acetate fractions showed suppressive effect. Suppressive compounds were isolated by silica gel column chromatography and identified as trimethyl citrate (1) and dimethyl citrate (2) by GC-MS, IR and 1H and 13C-NMR spectroscopy. Compounds 1 and 2 suppressed 51 and 39% of the SOS-inducing activity at a concentration of 2.0 micromol/mL.