Vitamin B12: An efficient type catalyst for the one-pot synthesis of 3,4,5-trisubstituted furan-2(5H)-ones and N-aryl-3-aminodihydropyrrol-2-one-4-carboxylates

Vitamin B12 was applied as catalyst for the one-pot three-component synthesis of 3,4,5-trisubstituted furan-2（5H）-ones from the condensation between aldehydes, amines and dialkylacetylendicarboxylates at ambient temperature in Et OH. In addition, N-aryl-3-aminodihydropyrrol-2-one-4-carboxylates were synthesised using mentioned catalyst at ambient temperature in Et OH from condensation between formaldehyde, amines, and dialkylacetylenedicarboxylates. This methodology has number of advantages such as： use of green and nonhazardous catalyst, clean work up, short reaction times,high yields and no need to column chromatography.

Etherification of HMF to biodiesel additives: The role of NH4+ confinement in Beta zeolites

The role of NH4^+ ion confinement in the catalytic etherification of HMF(5-hydroxymethylfurfural) with ethanol to biodiesel additives was evidenced by studying the catalytic behavior of NH4^+-Beta zeolites with SiO2/Al2O3 ratios of 25 and 75.In order to affect the strength and distribution of the acidic sites, as well as the mobility of NH4^+ ions in the zeolites cages, a secondary level of porosity was introduced in the NH4^+-Beta, presenting a different stability versus alkaline treatment, by using a thermal or an ultrasound assisted method.By analyzing the catalytic behavior in these two series of samples with respect to the changes in porosity by nonlocal density functional theory, structure by XRD, amount of acid sites by FT-IR and mobility of NH4^+ cations by measurements of reversible NH4^+ exchange capacity, was evidenced a decrease in catalytic performances both in terms of rate of HMF depletion and productivity to the main products, when confinement of the ammonium ions is lost due to the introduction of mesoporosity.The high capability of ammonium ions release, associated to the mono-dentate configuration,and the minor confinement effect inside the zeolite pore system, due to the more opened pores structure of mesoporous zeolites, hinders both the direct etherification of HMF to EMF [5-(ethoxymethyl)furan-2-carbaldehyde] and the parallel reaction pathway via acetalization, favoring the rapid desorption of the HMFDEA [5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural diethyl acetal] product out of the crystal and the consequent inhibition of the consecutive reactions to EMFDEA [5-(ethoxymethyl)furfural diethyl acetal] and EMF.

Total synthesis and determination of the absolute configuration of a natural analgesic: crotonine

We report the first total synthesis of four possible absolute configurations and four other regional isomers of a naturally occurring alkaloid crotonine,which was isolated from Croton tiglium L.(Euphoriaceae)without elucidation of its absolute configuration.The concise five-step route with a chirally poor and regioselective strategy starting from monosaccharides was established,and the absolute structure of the natural crotonine was determined by comparison of the NMR spectra and optical rotations of the synthetic products.

<i>Streptomyces zerumbet</i>, a Novel Species from <i>Zingiber zerumbet</i>(L.) Smith and Isolation of Its Bioactive Compounds

Streptomyces zerumbet W14, a novel species of the endophyte genus Streptomyces was isolated from the rhizome tissue of Zingiber zerumbet (L.) Smith. Identification of strain W14 was based on its morphology, chemotaxonomy and phylogenetic analysis using 16S rDNA sequence. It was classified as the secondary meabolites of the culture extract were studied. The major active ingredients from the crude extract were purified by silica gel column chromatography and identified by spectroscopic data. The crude extract and purified compounds were tested for their biological activities on antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. The crude extract showed inhibition on the growth of Gram-positive bacteria with the MIC and MBC values of 8 - 32 μg/ml and 32 - 128 μg/ml, respectively. The isolated compounds were identified to be methyl 5-(hydroxymethyl)furan-2-carboxylate (1) and geldanamycin (2). Bioassay studies showed that compound 1 had antibacterial activity against Staphylococus aureus ATCC 25923 and Methicillin Resistant S. aureus strain Sp6 (clinical isolate) with the MIC and MBC values of 1 μg/ml and 16 - 64 μg/ml, respectively, and also showed activity against Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (vaccine strain) with MIC and MBC values of 128.00 μg/ml and 128.00 μg/ml, respectively. The compound 2 at the concentration of 1 - 5 μg/ml had in vitro anti-inflammatory activity on LPS-induced RAW 264.7 cells by inhibition of mRNA expression and production of inducible NO synthase (iNOS), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and interleukin-6 (IL-6). These results suggest that compounds 1 and 2 produced by S. zerumbet W14 (an endophyte of Z. Zerumbet) have antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activities, respectively. Therefore, the future studies on these compounds could be useful for the management of bacterial infections and inflammatory diseases.