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.     

Microcalorimetric measurements of the metabolic activity by bacteria and fungi in some Brazilian soils amended with different organic matter

The effect of bacterial and fungal activities on organic matter degradation in Brazilian soils was studied by a microcalorimetric method. Bacteria and fungi isolated from tropical soils and added to: Rhodic eutrudox (R), Typic eutrudox (V) and Quartzipsamment (Q) soils amended separately with moisture (control) (A) and 25% of cattle manure (E), municipal refuse compost (L), earthworm casts (H) or 23 μg of trifluralin (T) were investigated. The number of colony forming units in soil suspension was quantified by microscopy and inoculated in respective soil. All processes were measured at intervals of 7 days over a period of 35 days. The exothermic thermal effect (μJ) per cm³ of bacteria or fungi per gram of dry soil, respectively, for each substrate was: [(9±1), (4±1)] RA; [(478±24), (105±5)] RE; [(121±6), (71±4)] RL; [(121±6), (71±4)] RH; [(8±1); (3±1)] RT; [(10±1), (9±1] VA; [(347±17), (261±13)] VE; [(71±4), (28±1)] VL; [(22±1), (33±2)] VH; [(7±1), (10±1)] VT; [(19±1), (12±1)] QA; [(1301±65), (46±2)] QE; [(89±4), (9±1)] QL; [(130±7), (11±1)] QH; [(32±2), (8±1)] QT. The calorimetric values are higher for bacteria than for fungi. In general, the results showed higher activities in the soil amended with cattle manure than with other additives.     

A New Cytotoxic Acetogenin from the Seeds of Annona squamosa

A New Annonaceous acetogenin,squamostolide(1),was isolated from the seeds of Annona squamosa.Its structure was elucidated based on spectroscopic methods and comparison with known compounds.It is the first example of Annonaceous acetogenin with each of the two ends of the aliphatic chain bearing a γ-lactone.Thenew compound exhibited cytotoxic activity in vitro against bel-7402 and CNE2 human tumor cell lines.     

硅氧聚合度对细胞毒性的影响

本文采用家兔肺泡巨噬细胞(AM)存活率和细胞过氧化脂质(LPO)值为测定指标,研究了硅氧的聚合度对其细胞毒性的影响。结果表明:各种聚合度的硅氧都有一定的细胞毒性,聚合度愈大,细胞毒性也愈大。胶体SiO_2的粒径增大,其细胞毒性降低。十硅酸盐及粒径小于5nm的硅溶胶的细胞毒性大于α-石英。聚合度小于6的低聚硅酸及其盐、粒径18nm以上的硅溶胶以及硅胶H的毒性皆小于α-石英。本实验细胞存活率降低和过氧化脂质值升高的趋势基本一致,这表明硅氧可能主要与细胞表面膜作用,膜上磷脂等表面活性物质被氧化和变性,从而导致细胞损伤。     

New bioactive triterpenoid from Oldenlandia cantonensis How

A new pentacyclic triterpenoid, urs-12-en-29α-oic acid-3β-ol (1), was obtained from the ethanol extract of Chinese herb Oldenlandia cantonensis How. The structure was elucidated by spectroscopy methods, including nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) (1D and 2D), infrared spectroscopy (IR), and mass spectrometry (MS). 1 exhibited significant inhibitory activity against the human DNA topoisomerase I (hTopo I), the cancer cell lines BEL-7402 and MCG-803, with the IC₅₀ values 12.0, 6.5, and 8.0 μg/mL, respectively. The volatile oil, the fraction of petroleum ether: EtOAc = 20:1 (V/V) on Si gel chromatography, was also quantitatively analyzed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). As a result, 60 compounds were identified. Among them, the long chain aliphatics, terpenes and steroids, as the representative structure type, were found with percentages of 36.16%, 6.42% and 9.28%, respectively. Translated from Chinese Journal of Applied Chemistry, 2006, 23(8): 871–874 [译自: 应用化学]     

Photocatalytic activity and biodegradation of polyhydroxybutyrate films containing titanium dioxide

This study aims to evaluate the photocatalytic activity and biodegradation of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) films containing titanium dioxide (TiO₂). Nanosized TiO₂ photocatalysts were immobilized onto PHB film to overcome the difficulty of the recovery process. PHB is a suitable base material as it is naturally biodegradable and is produced from renewable resources. The photocatalytic degradation of organic compounds, photocatalytic sterilization activity and biodegradation rate in garden soil of PHB-TiO₂ composite films were investigated. After an hour under solar illumination, 96% of methylene blue solution was decolorized. The antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli (E. coli) using PHB-TiO₂ composite film exhibited enhanced photocatalytic sterilization activity over time. As for the ability to biodegrade, PHB-TiO₂ composite films placed on soil surface with no direct solar illumination showed slower degradation rate compared to those receiving direct solar illumination. Interestingly, the latter composite films showed faster degradation rates compared to pure PHB films indicating that the degradation is mainly due to photocatalytic activity. PHB-TiO₂ composite films buried in soil generally showed slower degradation rates compared to pure PHB films and were dependent on the soil microbial activity.     

Physicochemical aspects of microbial adhesion — Influence of antibody adsorption on the deposition ofStreptococcus sobrinus in a parallel-plate flow chamber

Deposition of the oral bacteriumStreptococcus sobrinus HG977 onto glass (water contact angle 0°) and onto FEP-Teflon (fluoroethylenepropylene; water contact angle 110°) was studied in a parallel-plate flow chamber in the presence and absence of polyclonal antibodies (pAb) and monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) adsorbed onto the cells. The zeta potentials of the bacteria ranged from −7.1 to −8.5 mV at pH 6.8 and were not affected by the presence of pAb or mAbs. Hydrophobicity (by water contact angles) increased from 30° (no antibodies) to 88° in the presence of pAb adsorbed onto the bacterial cell surface. The untreatedS. sobrinus had a greater tendency to adhere to glass (44.5 × 10⁶ cm⁻²) than to FEP-Teflon (18.3 × 10⁶ cm⁻²), in accordance with thermodynamic modelling. After preincubation ofS. sobrinus with pAb, its clear preference for adhesion to glass disappeared as expected from its increased hydrophobicity. Although forS. sobrinus preincubated with OMVU10 no difference was found in hydrophobicity in comparison to the untreated bacteria, the number of bacteria adhering to glass decreased to 10.2 ¢ 10⁶ cm⁻². Formation of bacterial aggregates was found whenS. sobrinus, preincubated with pAb or OMVU10, adhered to glass and FEP. This was also observed when untreated bacteria adhered to glass coated with OMVU10, or to FEP coaled with OMVU10 or pAb. Adhesion in these experiments is therefore thought to occur via near-neighbour collection induced by the presence of pAb or mAbs. Low numbers of bacteria were removed from glass after draining the flow cell, whereas high numbers of untreated bacteria and bacteria preincubated with OMVU10 were removed from FEP.S. sobrinus cells preincubated with pAb were not removed but piled up. It was concluded that the adhesion of untreatedS. sobrinus andS. sobrinus preincubated with pAb is in accordance with thermodynamic modelling, based on the overall wettability of the cell surfaces, whereas the adhesion ofS. sobrinus preincubated with OMVU10 may be through localized interactions, not expressed in overall surface properties.     

卵磷脂抗石英毒作用的研究

本文采用家兔肺泡巨噬细胞(AM)体外培养法,以细胞内游离钙浓度([Ca~(2+)]_i)、细胞存活率、乳酸脱氢酶(LDH)和酸性磷酸酶(ACP)活性为指标,观察了卵磷脂、脑磷脂及现用防治硅肺药物克矽平(PVPNO)、柠檬酸铝等抗石英毒效果。结果表明:卵磷脂在所试各药物中效果最佳.初步探讨了卵磷脂拮抗石英细胞毒性的机理.卵磷脂有成为防治硅肺药物的可能性.     

大孔网状吸附剂在微生物制药分离纯化上的应用

本文介绍了20世纪末高分子吸附剂在β-内酰胺类，肽类、糖苷类，醌类，含氮杂环类，多烯类、蒽环类，大环内酯类，聚醚类和其它新抗生素，免疫抑制剂，酶抑制剂以及蛋白质类药物分离纯化上的应用发展状况。