On behalf of the survey teams I summarize the designs and results of the Las Campanas Infrared Survey and Gemini Deep Deep Survey, both of which were initiated to understand the nature of red galaxies and to study the history of stellar mass assembly. Our results from luminosity function analysis, ISM absorption line measurements, and spectral synthesis modeling show that near-infrared selected...

The color, flavor, texture, and the nutritional value of fresh-cut fruit and vegetable products are factors critical to consumer acceptance and the success of these products. In this chapter, desirable and undesirable quality attributes of fresh-cut fruit and vegetable products are reviewed. Both instrumental and sensory measurements for determining these critical quality attributes are discuss...

An approach to the asymmetric synthesis of the azaphilone natural products is reported involving copper-mediated enantioselective oxidative dearomatization of o-alkynylbenzaldehydes. The approach was successfully applied to the synthesis of (-)-S-15183a and several unnatural azaphilones.

An enantioselective total synthesis of the diterpenoid natural product (+)-salvileucalin B is reported. Key findings include a copper-catalyzed arene cyclopropanation reaction to provide the unusual norcaradiene core and a reversible retro-Claisen rearrangement of a highly functionalized norcaradiene intermediate.

Zobellia sp. strain OII3 was isolated from a marine environmental sample due to its heterotrophic lifestyle, i.e., using Escherichia coli cells as prey. It shows strong agar-lytic activity. The genome was assembled into 41 contigs with a total size of 5.4 Mb, revealing the genetic basis for natural product biosynthesis.

The reactivity of two hydroxy groups in some multioxygenated cyclohexanoids was examined for basic study of the synthesis of the cytotoxic marine natural product pericosine B and related compounds. Differences in reactivity for O-methylation or O-acylation among substrates were observed.

A modular total synthesis of the natural product (+)-varitriol (1) and seven analogs was achieved by using combined coinage metal catalysis. Starting from enynol 13, reagent-controlled introduction of stereogenic centers and efficient center-to-axis-to-center chirality transfer viaα-hydroxyallene 5 afforded (+)-varitriol with 6.4% yield over 10 steps.

The total synthesis of the thiopeptide antibiotic, thiocillin I, is described. This work unequivocally defines the full structure (constitution and configuration) of the natural product as 1.

Macrocyclic scaffolds are commonly found in bioactive natural products and pharmaceutical molecules. So far, a large number of macrocyclic natural products have been isolated and synthesized. The construction of macrocycles is generally considered as a crucial and challenging step in the synthesis of macrocyclic natural products. Over the last several decades, numerous efforts have been underta...