1. Methyl retinoate has been converted into methyl 5,6-monoepoxyretinoate by reaction with monoperphthalic acid. The epoxy acid ester on alkaline hydrolysis gave 5,6-monoepoxyretinoic acid. 2. Treatment of the 5,6-monoepoxy compounds with ethanolic hydrochloric acid gave the corresponding 5,8-epoxy (furanoid) compounds. 3. With lithium aluminium hydride, the acid and the ester groups were selec...

Wood-plastic composites (WPC) have been developed into new and important wood-based composites because of their benefits for the environment, economy, and recyclability. When combined with structural adhesives, WPCs will have a greatly broadened application in the construction field. In this work, epoxy resin and acrylic ester were used to bond WPC adhesive joints. The shear strength of the adh...

The Plasmodium falciparum cysteine proteases falcipain-2 and falcipain-3 appear to be required for hemoglobin hydrolysis by intraerythrocytic malaria parasites. Previous studies showed that peptidyl vinyl sulfone inhibitors of falcipain-2 blocked the development of P. falciparum in culture and exerted antimalarial effects in vivo. We now report the structure-activity relationships for inhibitio...

Vinyl cations I+, of the structure R^C^CR" (I+: R' = R" = anisyl; R' = phenyl.R" = anisyl. I*: R' — methyl.R" = anisyl) were generated by flash photolysis of corresponding bromides. Lifetime measurements yielded the following: substitution of aromatic groups in 2-position by methyl groups largely improved the electrophilicity of the vinyl cations. The nucleophilicity of typical compounds (keton...

The first ruthenium-catalyzed oxidative homo- and cross-coupling of exclusive vinyl derivatives giving highly valued 1,3-diene building blocks is reported. In situ hydrogenation afforded relevant adipic acid ester derivatives.

A method to determine the absolute configuration of 2,3-epoxy-2-methylbutanoate ester residues in natural products is presented, based on (i) the reduction of the ester function to yield a 2-methyl-1,2-butanediol, (ii) esterification of the obtained primary alcohol with either (R)-(+)- or (S)-(-)-Mosher's acid to afford the corresponding Mosher's ester, and (iii) 1H-NMR spectral comparison of t...

A stereoselective practical synthetic route to indolmycin is described. The route is composed of the regioselective coupling of indolyl magnesium halide with a trans-epoxy ester, diastereoselective oxazolone ring formation with guanidine and amine exchange reaction with methylamine. In the coupling step, use of dichloromethane as co-solvent and conversion of the resulting hydroxy ester to the h...