Towards Diastereomeric Pure Salts with Antisolvent Methods

Chiral molecules, especially enantiomers and diastereomers of purity > 99 %, present a significant market share within the chemical, pharmaceutical, and flavor industries. Antisolvent precipitations, both batch and semicontinuous operations to serve the current trends in flow chemistry were demonstrated to be environmentally benign and efficient tools in achieving high optical purities. Although salts are known to be insoluble in supercritical CO₂, instabilities of the nascent salts were detected and applied for increasing efficiency. Diastereomeric excess values of the crystalline products exceeded 99 % in maximum of three consecutive steps both by repeated resolution with half molar equivalent of the amine to the acid and by direct recrystallization of the salts.     

Synthesis of amphiphilic magnetic microspheres by dispersion copolymerization of styrene and poly(ethylene oxide) macromonomer

Amphiphilic magnetic microspheres ranging in diameter from 5 to 100 µm were prepared by dispersion copolymerization of styrene and poly(ethylene oxide) vinylbenzyl (PEO‐VB) macromonomer (MPEO) in the presence of Fe₃O₄ magnetic fluid. The effects of various polymerization parameters on the average particle size were systematically investigated. The average particle size was found to increase with increasing styrene concentration and initiator concentration. It also increased with decreasing stabilizer concentration and molecular weight of MPEO. The content of the hydroxyl groups localized in the microspheres ranged from 0.01 to 0.2 mmol g^?1. © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry     

The Construction of Minimal DNA Expressions

We describe a formal language/notation for DNA molecules that may contain nicks and gaps. The elements of the language, DNA expressions, denote formal DNA molecules. Different DNA expressions may denote the same formal DNA molecule. We analyse the shortest DNA expressions denoting a given formal DNA molecule. We determine lower bounds on their lengths and explain how we construct these minimal DNA expressions.     

A Novel Topological Index F and Its Correlation With Standard Formaton Enthalpies of AB_n(g) Molecules

The topological index F* is defined and obtained by the method of a non-dimensional unit calculation in which three matrices multiply with each other. These matrices represent the connective cases of atoms in a molecule, the structural features of atoms on top and the bonded cases of the adjacent atoms respectively. The standard formation enthalpies of ABn(g) molecules were correlated with F'* (A = C, Al, Si, Ti, Zr, B = F, Cl, Br, I, H, n=1 -4) and these correlation coefficients are all more than 0.96. Some molecules (e.g CH4, SiH4,etc. )can be preferably handled by F* but can not be dealt with by other topological indices. By contrast to traditional hydrogen suppressed graph, the contribution of hydrogen atoms to structures and properties of molecules is considered.     

用两亲聚合物制备大颗粒苯丙乳液

分别以两亲聚合物P(C9-AA)和P(DCPD-St-α-St-AA)作乳化荆，研究了制备大颗粒(约1μm)及具有一定稳定性的苯丙乳液的方法，讨论了乳化剂，温度及引发剂用量对乳液性能的影响。结果表明，以P(C9-AA)作乳化剂时，引发剂用量为单体质量的1．2％，90℃时可以合成性能良好的苯丙乳液；以P(DCPD-St-α-St-AA)作乳化荆时，引发剂用量为单体质量的1．2％，80℃时可以合成性能良好的苯丙乳液。     

Pharmacologic Control of CAR T Cells

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapy is a promising modality for the treatment of advanced cancers that are otherwise incurable. During the last decade, different centers worldwide have tested the anti-CD19 CAR T cells and shown clinical benefits in the treatment of B cell tumors. However, despite these encouraging results, CAR treatment has also been found to lead to serious side effects and capricious response profiles in patients. In addition, the CD19 CAR success has been difficult to reproduce for other types of malignancy. The appearance of resistant tumor variants, the lack of antigen specificity, and the occurrence of severe adverse effects due to over-stimulation of the therapeutic cells have been identified as the major impediments. This has motivated a growing interest in developing strategies to overcome these hurdles through CAR control. Among them, the combination of small molecules and approved drugs with CAR T cells has been investigated. These have been exploited to induce a synergistic anti-cancer effect but also to control the presence of the CAR T cells or tune the therapeutic activity. In the present review, we discuss opportunistic and rational approaches involving drugs featuring anti-cancer efficacy and CAR-adjustable effect.     

The AFLATOX® Project: Approaching the Development of New Generation,Natural-Based Compounds for the Containment of the Mycotoxigenic Phytopathogen Aspergillus flavus and Aflatoxin Contamination

The control of the fungal contamination on crops is considered a priority by the sanitary authorities of an increasing number of countries, and this is also due to the fact that the geographic areas interested in mycotoxin outbreaks are widening. Among the different pre- and post-harvest strategies that may be applied to prevent fungal and/or aflatoxin contamination, fungicides still play a prominent role; however, despite of countless efforts, to date the problem of food and feed contamination remains unsolved, since the essential factors that affect aflatoxins production are various and hardly to handle as a whole. In this scenario, the exploitation of bioactive natural sources to obtain new agents presenting novel mechanisms of action may represent a successful strategy to minimize, at the same time, aflatoxin contamination and the use of toxic pesticides. The Aflatox^® Project was aimed at the development of new-generation inhibitors of aflatoxigenic Aspergillus spp. proliferation and toxin production, through the modification of naturally occurring molecules: a panel of 177 compounds, belonging to the thiosemicarbazones class, have been synthesized and screened for their antifungal and anti-aflatoxigenic potential. The most effective compounds, selected as the best candidates as aflatoxin containment agents, were also evaluated in terms of cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and epi-genotoxicity to exclude potential harmful effect on the human health, the plants on which fungi grow and the whole ecosystem.     

An Autophagy-Disrupting Small Molecule Promotes Cancer Cell Death via Caspase Activation

A novel autophagy inhibitor, autophazole (Atz), which promoted cancer cell death via caspase activation, is described. This compound was identified from cell-based high-content screening of an imidazole library. The results showed that Atz was internalized into lysosomes of cells where it induced lysosomal membrane permeabilization (LMP). This process generated nonfunctional autolysosomes, thereby inhibiting autophagy. In addition, Atz was found to promote LMP-mediated apoptosis. Specifically, LMP induced by Atz caused release of cathepsins from lysosomes into the cytosol. Cathepsins in the cytosol cleaved Bid to generate tBid, which subsequently activated Bax to induce mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization (MOMP). This event led to cancer cell death via caspase activation. Overall, the findings suggest that Atz will serve as a new chemical probe in efforts aimed at gaining a better understanding of the autophagic process.     

两亲8-氨基喹啉配体的合成、表征及其光谱性质

设计合成了以8-氨基喹啉为亲水头基的两亲配体：2-十六烷基丙二酸二(8-氨基喹啉)酰胺(H2A)。通过元素分析、红外光谱、核磁共振、荧光和UV-Vis光谱表征鉴定了这个化合物。在UV-Vis光谱中，H2A的吸收峰随溶剂极性的增大而紫移，F(n，ε)函数(ε为溶剂的介电常数，n为折射率)对H2A吸收带频率具有线性关系。H2A在室温、中性条件下具有荧光现象，Zn^2 离子使H2A的荧光强度稍有增加，而Cu^2 离子对H2A的荧光具有强的淬灭作用。H2A及其LB膜可被用作电致发光器件的发光层。     

原子转移自由基聚合法制备聚乳酸三嵌段共聚物的研究

以自制的双端羟基聚乳酸与α-溴代丙酰溴反应而制得的含溴端基的聚乳酸为大分子引发剂,溴化亚铜/2,2′-联吡啶为催化体系,研究了N-乙烯基吡咯烷酮的原子转移自由基聚合行为,制得了具有两亲性聚乳酸嵌段共聚物。随单体/引发剂摩尔比的增大、聚合温度的升高,共聚物溶液的特性黏度增大,共聚物薄膜的吸水率增加;共聚物在不同降解介质中的降解规律相似,均随降解时间的延长,共聚物薄膜的失重增加,且在不同介质中呈现的降解速率表现为碱液>酸液>水>缓冲液。对聚合物进行了结构表征。