Search

The ability of long-range proton transport by substitution of 7-hydroxyquinoline at the eighth position with sulfonamide and sulfonylhydrazone rotor units to act as a crane-arm has been studied. Different proton transport pathways triggered by different stimuli have been established depending on the structure of the crane-arms. Solvent-driven proton switching from OH to the quinoline nitrogen (N

The bispectral index (BIS) value during general anesthesia with the newly developed anesthetic remimazolam is reported to be relatively high; however, the reason for this and the appropriate indicator for assessing the sedation level during remimazolam anesthesia have not been determined. In this study, the level of sedation during general anesthesia with remimazolam was evaluated using several different indicators.Thirty patients who underwent breast surgery under general anesthesia with remimazolam were included. BIS®, Sedline® and the pupil resting diameters were measured simultaneously. The intraoperative dose of remimazolam was adjusted to obtain a BIS in the range of 40-60; if a BIS 60 could not be achieved, the intraoperative dose was increased up to the maximal dose of 2 mg/kg/h.The mean intraoperative BIS and patient state index (PSI) in all patients was 50.6 ± 9.1 and 43.0 ± 11.8, respectively. Five patients showed a mean intraoperative BIS 60 and eight patients showed mean intraoperative PSI 50. The mean intraoperative spectral edge frequency (SEF) of BIS® or Sedline® was 15.3 ± 2.5 Hz or 10.6 ± 3.0 Hz, each. The mean intraoperative resting pupil diameter was 1.7 ± 0.2 mm. There were no patients with awareness during anesthesia.Processed electroencephalograms (BIS and PSI), and SEF of BIS® were relatively high during anesthesia with remimazolam, but SEF of Sedline® or pupillary diameter could be a supportive indicator to confirm sedation level during remimazolam anesthesia.

The organocatalytic enantioselective hydrophosphinylation of various secondary phosphine sulfides with aromatic and aliphatic nitroalkenes is presented in this study. The reaction produced chiral β-nitrophosphine sulfides with excellent yields and enantioselectivities (up to 99% yield and 99% ee). Furthermore, the chiral β-nitrophosphine sulfides can be easily converted into α-substituted β-aminophosphine, which is a family of useful P, N-ligands and phosphine catalysts.

In muscle rehabilitation and training, it is important to evaluate a patient's muscle state. In general, training is based on physical therapy, but there has not been quantitative assessme...

The reimagined concept of long-range tautomeric proton transfer using crane subunits is shown by designing and synthesising two new acylhydrazones containing a 7-hydroxyquinoline (7-OHQ) platform. The acylhydrazone subunits attached to the 7-OHQ at the 8th position act as crane arms for delivering proton cargo to the quinoline nitrogen. Light-induced tautomerization to their keto forms leads to Z/E isomerization of the C=C axle bond, followed by proton delivery to the quinoline nitrogen by the formation of covalent or hydrogen bonds. The axle's being either an imine or ketimine bond is the structural difference between the studied compounds. The -CH3 group in the latter provides steric strain, resulting in different proton transport pathways. Both compounds show long thermal stability in the switched state, which creates a tuneable action of bidirectional proton cargo transport by using different wavelengths of irradiation. Upon the addition of acid, the quinoline nitrogen is protonated; this results in E/Z configuration switching of the acylhydrazone subunits. This was proven by single-crystal X-ray structure analysis and NMR spectroscopy.

A novel N,N-dibenzyl diaminomethylenemalononitrile organocatalyst efficiently promoted asymmetric Henry reactions of trifluoromethyl enones with nitromethane, affording corresponding highly functionalized products in high yields with excellent enantioselectivities (up to 90% ee). This study is the first to report the successful example of the asymmetric 1,2-additions of nitromethane to trifluoromethyl enones.

N-Methyl-d-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) are members of the ionotropic glutamate receptor family and play a crucial role in learning and memory by regulating synaptic plasticity. Activation of NMDARs containing GluN2A, one of the NMDAR subunits, has recently attracted attention as a promising therapeutic approach for neuropsychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia, depression, and epilepsy. In the present study, we developed potent and brain-penetrable GluN2A-selective positive allosteric modulators. Lead compound 2b was generated by scaffold hopping of hit compound 1, identified from the internal alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor (AMPAR)-focused compound library through a high-throughput screening campaign. Subsequent optimization of the lead compound, including a structure-based drug design approach, resulted in the identification of a potent GluN2A PAM (R)-9, which possessed high selectivity against both subtypes of AMPAR and NMDAR. Furthermore, (R)-9 significantly enhanced long-term potentiation in the rat hippocampus 24 h after oral administration, indicating that this molecule is a potentially useful in vivo pharmacological tool for treating psychiatric diseases.

The asymmetric direct bisvinylogous conjugate addition of 5-benzylfurfural derivatives to nitroalkenes using a thiourea organocatalyst resulted in a corresponding e-regioselective addition products in high yields and up to 95% enantiomeric excess.

An improved diaminomethylenemalononitrile organocatalyst, bearing a N,N-disubstituted structure, promoted enantioselective conjugate addition reaction of α-branched aldehydes with vinyl sulfone, affording adducts with excellent enantioselectivities (up to 96% ee). Mechanistic studies revealed that the diaminomethylenemalononitrile motif holds the vinyl sulfone substrate using a single hydrogen bond accompanied by multiple weak interactions, including electrostatic C-H⋅⋅⋅O interactions.

The hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated 4 (HCN4) channel underlies the pacemaker currents, called "If," in sinoatrial nodes (SANs), which regulate heart rhythm. Some HCN4 blockers such as ivabradine have been extensively studied for treating various heart diseases. Studies have shown that these blockers have diverse state dependencies and binding sites, suggesting the existence of potential chemical and functional diversity among HCN4 blockers. Here we report approaches for the identification of novel HCN4 blockers through a random screening campaign among 16,000 small-molecule compounds using an automated patch-clamp system. These molecules exhibited various blockade profiles, and their blocking kinetics and associating amino acids were determined by electrophysiological studies and site-directed mutagenesis analysis, respectively. The profiles of these blockers were distinct from those of the previously reported HCN channel blockers ivabradine and ZD7288. Notably, the mutagenesis analysis showed that blockers with potencies that were increased when the channel was open involved a C478 residue, located at the pore cavity region near the cellular surface of the plasma membrane, while those with potencies that were decreased when the channel was open involved residues Y506 and I510, located at the intracellular region of the pore gate. Thus, this study reported for the first time the discovery of novel HCN4 blockers by screening, and their profiling analysis using an automated patch-clamp system provided chemical tools that will be useful to obtain unique molecular insights into the drug-binding modes of HCN4 and may contribute to the expansion of therapeutic options in the future.

Collapses of expressway embankments due to large earthquakes and heavy rainfalls have been reported. Those collapses often closed important transportation routes and resulted in serious damages in communities. Inappropriate groundwater treatment and slaking/weathering of embankment materials contribute to these collapses. In order to diagnose road embankment soundness, we have to visualize the inside the embankment. The automatic technology for surveys and evaluations of embankments by using surface wave logging and electric resistivity logging has been proposed. We performed initial diagnostics before the opening of the expressways to evaluate embankment materials and stability of the embankment, especially in the vicinity of the stiff structures, such as box culverts and around the boundary between embankment and cut section. The desired target inspection speed, 500 m per h (mean speed), was achieved. The stiffness of embankment was continuously obtained for many sections with different fill materials as the initial reference data for future inspection. Based on the comparison between initial reference data and those obtained in the future, it is possible to select the optimal countermeasures to ensure the continuous stability of the road embankment.

A diaminomethylenemalononitrile organocatalyst efficiently promotes the asymmetric direct vinylogous conjugate additions of α-angelica lactones to benzoyl acrylonitrile derivatives, resulting in the corresponding addition products bearing vicinal tertiary and quaternary stereogenic centers with excellent enantioselectivities (up to 99% ee). This report is the first successful example of the asymmetric conjugate additions of α-angelica lactone to benzoyl acrylonitriles. The chiral γ,γ-disubstituted γ-butenolides obtained can be readily transformed to the bicyclic γ-lactam derivative as a valuable synthetic intermediate.

The number of people infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 is increasing globally, and some patients have a fatal clinical course. In light of this situation, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) a pandemic on March 11, 2020. While clinical studies and basic research on a treatment for COVID-19 are ongoing around the world, no treatment has yet been proven to be effective. Several clinical studies have demonstrated the efficacy of chloroquine phosphate and nafamostat mesylate with COVID-19. Here, we report the case of a Japanese patient with COVID-19 with severe respiratory failure who improved following the administration of hydroxychloroquine and continuous hemodiafiltlation with nafamostat mesylate. Hence, hydroxychloroquine with nafamostat mesylate might be a treatment option for severe COVID-19.

Phosphodiesterase type 2A (PDE2A) has received considerable interest as a molecular target for treating central nervous system diseases that affect memory, learning, and cognition. In this paper, the authors present the discovery of small molecules that have a novel modality of PDE2A inhibition. PDE2A possesses GAF-A and GAF-B domains and is a dual-substrate enzyme capable of hydrolyzing both cGMP and cAMP, and activation occurs through cGMP binding to the GAF-B domain. Thus, positive feedback of the catalytic activity to hydrolyze cyclic nucleotides occurs in the presence of appropriate concentrations of cGMP, which binds to the GAF-B domain, resulting in a "brake" that attenuates downstream cyclic nucleotide signaling. Here, we studied the inhibitory effects of some previously reported PDE2A inhibitors, all of which showed impaired inhibitory effects at a lower concentration of cGMP (70 nM) than a concentration effective for the positive feedback (4 μM). This impairment depended on the presence of the GAF domains but was not attributed to binding of the inhibitors to these domains. Notably, we identified PDE2A inhibitors that did not exhibit this behavior; that is, the inhibitory effects of these inhibitors were as strong at the lower concentration of cGMP (70 nM) as they were at the higher concentration (4 μM). This suggests that such inhibitors are likely to be more effective than previously reported PDE2A inhibitors in tissues of patients with lower cGMP concentrations.

In this study, stereoselective conjugate addition of ketones to alkylidene malonates using organocatalyst has been developed. The reaction in the presence of 20 mol% of a novel thiourea-sulfonamide organocatalyst afforded conjugate adducts in moderate to high yields (up to 81%) under mild reaction conditions. Excellent diastereoselectivity (up to 98:2 dr) and enantioselectivity (up to 88% ee) were achieved.

The use of diaminomethylenemalononitrile (DMM) organocatalyst to promote the challenging 1,2-hydrophosphonylation of simple ketones and enones, which are also called α,β-unsaturated ketones, is proposed and validated. This reaction provided the corresponding chiral α-hydroxy phosphonates in high to excellent yields and with enantioselectivity up to 96% ee.

A diaminomethylenemalononitrile organocatalyst efficiently catalyzed the asymmetric conjugate addition of α-cyanoketones to vinyl ketones to give the corresponding 1,5-dicarbonyl compounds, which bear an all-carbon quaternary stereogenic center with high enantioselectivities. This report is the first example of the asymmetric conjugate addition of α-cyanoketones to vinyl ketones using an organocatalyst.

A pyrrolidine–diaminomethylenemalononitrile organocatalyst efficiently promotes the asymmetric direct bisvinylogous Michael addition of 5-benzylfurfural derivatives to nitroalkenes, affording the corresponding e-regioselective addition products in high yields with up to 86% ee.

Phosphodiesterase (PDE) 2A inhibitors have emerged as a novel mechanism with potential therapeutic option to ameliorate cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia or Alzheimer’s disease through upregulation of cyclic nucleotides in the brain and thereby achieve potentiation of cyclic nucleotide signaling pathways. This article details the expedited optimization of our recently disclosed pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine lead compound 4b, leading to the discovery of clinical candidate 36 (TAK-915), which demonstrates an appropriate combination of potency, PDE selectivity, and favorable pharmacokinetic (PK) properties, including brain penetration. Successful identification of 36 was realized through application of structure-based drug design (SBDD) to further improve potency and PDE selectivity, coupled with prospective design focused on physicochemical properties to deliver brain penetration. Oral administration of 36 demonstrated significant elevation of 3′,5′-cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) levels in mouse bra...

The asymmetric conjugate addition of nitroalkanes to α,β-unsaturated ketones in the presence of a catalytic amount of a novel sulfonamide-thiourea organocatalyst resulted in the corresponding γ-nitro carbonyl products in high yields with excellent enantioselectivities (up to 97% ee).

Asymmetric direct vinylogous aldol reactions of furan-2(5H)-one with aldehydes in the presence of a catalytic amount of novel squaramide-sulfonamide organocatalyst resulted in the corresponding addition products with high to excellent enantioselectivities. This is the first successful report illustrating an example of highly stereoselective reactions using a squaramide-sulfonamide organocatalyst.

Asymmetric catalytic activities of various organocatalysts bearing double hydrogen-bonding donor units showing different pK a values were examined for direct aldol reactions of cyclohexanone with aromatic aldehydes. Organocatalyst with motif exhibiting the highest acidity resulted in the corresponding aldol products with the highest enantioselectivity. A good correlation has been observed between the asymmetric catalytic activity for direct aldol reactions and acidities of double hydrogen-bonding donating units.

Asymmetric conjugate additions of phosphonates to trans-crotonophenone and chalcone derivatives using a diaminomethylenemalononitrile organocatalyst resulted in the generation of the corresponding chiral γ-ketophosphonates in high yields with excellent enantioselectivities (up to 95% ee). This report is the first successful example of asymmetric 1,4-additions of phosphonate to α,β-unsaturated ketones using an organocatalyst.

An organocatalyzed method for synthesizing chiral γ,γ-disubstituted γ-butenolides via direct vinylogous aldol reactions of γ-substituted β,γ-butenolides with aldehydes is reported. This reaction is catalyzed by a squaramide-sulfonamide organocatalyst to afford a range of anti-aldol adducts possessing vicinal quaternary and tertiary stereocenters with high to excellent enantioselectivities (reaching 95% ee). This is the first report of a successful stereoselective direct vinylogous aldol reaction of aldehydes with γ-substituted β,γ-butenolides.

A diaminomethyleneindenedione motif can serve as an excellent double hydrogen bonding donor. Bifunctional chiral primary amine 3 bearing a diaminomethyleneindenedione motif is an excellent organocatalyst to promote the asymmetric conjugate additions of various carbonyl compounds to maleimides in high yields with up to 99% ee.

Highly potent and brain-penetrant phosphodiesterase 10A (PDE10A) inhibitors based on the 2-oxindole scaffold were designed and synthesized. (2-Oxo-1,3-oxazolidin-3-yl)phenyl derivative 1 showed the high P-glycoprotein (P-gp) efflux (efflux ratio (ER)=6.2) despite the potent PDE10A inhibitory activity (IC50=0.94 nM). We performed an optimization study to improve both the P-gp efflux ratio and PDE10A inhibitory activity by utilizing structure-based drug design (SBDD) techniques based on the X-ray crystal structure with PDE10A. Finally, 1-(cyclopropylmethyl)-4-fluoro-5-[5-methoxy-4-oxo-3-(1-phenyl-1H-pyrazol-5-yl)pyridazin-1(4H)-yl]-3,3-dimethyl-1,3-dihydro-2H-indol-2-one (19e) was identified with improved P-gp efflux (ER=1.4) and an excellent PDE10A inhibitory activity (IC50=0.080 nM). Compound 19e also exhibited satisfactory brain penetration, and suppressed PCP-induced hyperlocomotion with a minimum effective dose of 0.3mg/kg by oral administration in mice.

Phosphodiesterase 10A (PDE10A) is a member of the PDE family of enzymes that degrades cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP). Our aim was to label a series of structurally related PDE10A inhibitors with carbon-11 and evaluate them as potential positron emission tomography (PET) radioligands for PDE10A using nonhuman primates. The series consisted of seven compounds based on the 3-(1H-pyrazol-5-yl)pyridazin-4(1H)-one backbone. These compounds were selected from the initial larger library based on a number of parameters such as affinity, selectivity for hPDE10A in in vitro tests, lipophilicity, and on the results of multidrug resistance protein 1 (MDR1)-LLCPK1 and the parallel artificial membrane permeability assays. Seven radioligands (KIT-1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 12) were radiolabeled with carbon-11 employing O-methylation on the hydroxyl moiety using [(11)C]methyl triflate. In vivo examination of each radioligand was performed using PET in rhesus monkeys; analysis of radiometabolites in plasma also was conducted using HPLC. All seven radioligands were labeled with high (>90%) incorporation of [(11)C]methyl triflate into their appropriate precursors and with high specific radioactivity. Carbon-11 labeled KIT-5 and KIT-6 showed high accumulation in the striatum, consistent with the known anatomical distribution of PDE10A in brain, accompanied by fast washout and high specific binding ratio. In particular [(11)C]KIT-6, named [(11)C]T-773, is a promising PET tool for further examination of PDE10A in human brain.

A novel diaminomethyleneindenedione (DMI) organocatalyst efficiently promotes the asymmetric conjugate addition of a ketone to a maleimide to afford the corresponding addition product in a high yield with up to 99% enantiomeric excess.

This paper makes the development of the word ’straight’ clear. Dictionaries define ’straight’ as; ‘without a curve or bend’, ‘going direct to the target’, ‘honest’, ‘in continuous succession’ or ‘neat’. As can be seen, ’straight’ has a variety of meanings. Some connections between these meanings can be guessed but others cannot. The mechanism of how ’straight’ has obtained each meaning will be explained logically in this paper. First, the most basic or central meaning of ’straight’ is ‘without a curve or bend’. So ’straight’ modifies the verb ’stand’ like the following: He stood up straight. ’Straight’ has a strong conceptual connection with a standing posture. At the present time, ’straight’ is the normal posture for human beings. This means ’straight’ has a concept for ‘normal’ for human beings like the following: He grew up straight. This sentence does not mean that his posture is straight up. It means that he grew up honest. ’Straight’ gives a normal image to English speakers both physically and metaphysically. Like an example above, this paper explains how ’straight’ has developed its meanings through the human beings’ way of thinking. And some comparisons between English expressions and Japanese ones, which is the author’s mother tongue, are made in this paper as well.

Pyrrolidine–diaminomethylenemalononitrile (pyrrolidine–DMM) organocatalyst has been an efficient reaction medium to promote asymmetric direct aldol reactions to afford the corresponding addition products in high yields with up to 99% ee under solvent-free conditions.