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The consumption of foods that are high in antioxidant capacity is believed to contribute to good health. Moreover, the addition of highly antioxidant compounds to foods is believed to prevent food deterioration. Among the known antioxidants in food, phenols have been identified as the primary antioxidants. The 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay is a simple, inexpensive, and rapid method widely used to evaluate the antioxidant capacity. Although the results of the DPPH assay depend on conditions such as the reaction time and concentration, the experimental conditions have not been standardized. Further, previous research that compared the antioxidant capacity determined through the DPPH assay largely focused on the differences in the specific substructures of approximately several dozen compounds. In this study, we conducted DPPH assays on 169 phenols under the same experimental conditions and summarized the correlation between their structures and activity. This DPPH assay study is the first single-laboratory investigation of the largest number of components in terms of their Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacities. Further, the analysis method was reproduced in an interlaboratory collaborative study, enabling its application in the reproduction and comparison of measurements in other laboratories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antioxidants, represented by plant phenolics, protect living tissues by scavenging reactive oxygen species through diverse reaction mechanisms. Research on antioxidants is often individualized, for example, focusing on the evaluation of their activity against a single reactive oxygen species or examining the antioxidant properties of compounds with similar structures. In this study, multivariate analysis was used to comprehensively examine antioxidant properties. Eighteen features were selected to explain the results of the antioxidant capacity tests. These selected features were then evaluated by supervised learning, using the results of the antioxidant capacity assays. Dimension-reduction techniques were also used to represent the compound space with antioxidants as a two-dimensional distribution. A small amount of data obtained from several assays provided us with comprehensive information on the relationships between the structures and activities of antioxidants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radioactivity was measured in a micellar gel dosimeter, a polymer gel dosimeter, and water was irradiated by carbon ion beams at various beam energy conditions. Monte Carlo simulation was also performed to estimate the radioactivity. Short-lived positron-emitting nuclides were observed immediately after irradiation, but they decayed rapidly into the background. At 24 h post-irradiation, the dominant measured radioactivity was of 7Be. The simulation also showed minor activity of 24Na and 3H; however, they were not experimentally observed. The measured radioactivity was independent of the type of gel dosimeter under all irradiation conditions, suggesting that the radioactivity was induced by the interaction of carbon ions with water (the main component of the gel dosimeters). The ratio between the simulated and measured radioactivity was within 0.9–1.5. The activity concentration of 7Be was found to be less than 1/10 of the value derived using the exemption concept proposed by the International Atomic Energy Agency. This result should be applicable to irradiated gel dosimeters containing mainly water and 0–4 wt.% C and 0–1.7 wt.% N. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: Recently, multimodal representation learning for images and other information such as numbers or language has gained much attention. The aim of the current study was to analyze the diagnostic performance of deep multimodal representation model‐based integration of tumor image, patient background, and blood biomarkers for the differentiation of liver tumors observed using B‐mode ultrasonography (US). Method: First, we applied supervised learning with a convolutional neural network (CNN) to 972 liver nodules in the training and development sets to develop a predictive model using segmented B‐mode tumor images. Additionally, we also applied a deep multimodal representation model to integrate information about patient background or blood biomarkers to B‐mode images. We then investigated the performance of the models in an independent test set of 108 liver nodules. Results: Using only the segmented B‐mode images, the diagnostic accuracy and area under the curve (AUC) values were 68.52% and 0.721, respectively. As the information about patient background and blood biomarkers was integrated, the diagnostic performance increased in a stepwise manner. The diagnostic accuracy and AUC value of the multimodal DL model (which integrated B‐mode tumor image, patient age, sex, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, platelet count, and albumin data) reached 96.30% and 0.994, respectively. Conclusion: Integration of patient background and blood biomarkers in addition to US image using multimodal representation learning outperformed the CNN model using US images. We expect that the deep multimodal representation model could be a feasible and acceptable tool for the definitive diagnosis of liver tumors using B‐mode US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The photoreactivity of anthracene has been previously verified for a range of its derivatives. 9,10-Dibutoxyanthracene is commonly used as an electron transfer sensitizer for photopolymerization because of its favorable optical properties. This study experimentally demonstrated that 9,10-dibutoxyanthracene produces an endoperoxide species upon reaction with the oxygen present in air. A secondary decomposition product formed during the photodecomposition of the endoperoxide species was also isolated and identified. The proposed reaction pathway is supported by singlet oxygen scavenger studies and calculations of the singlet–triplet transition energies. Our findings suggest that 9,10-dibutoxyanthracene can be used as a photo-induced oxygen scavenger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trifluoroacetic acid salt of 2-(pyrrolidinylmethyl)pyrrolidine is an effective organocatalyst of an asymmetric intramolecular aldol reaction that has afforded bicyclo[4.3.0]nonane derivatives with high enantioselectivity. An intramolecular, enantioselective and direct aldol reaction is disclosed, in which the aldehyde and ketone have acted as donor and acceptor respectively.

The total syntheses of synerazol, an antifungal antibiotic, by two routes in a highly stereoselective manner is presented. The two possible isomers are synthesized in the first generation synthesis and the absolute stereochemistry is determined and in the second-generation synthesis, the key steps are racemization-free deprotection of a triisopropylsilyl group and introduction of methyl ether by dimethyldioxirane oxidation of the benzylidene moiety in a substrate having a small protecting group.

Aim: Liver fibrosis caused by congestive hepatopathy has emerged as an important complication after Fontan procedure. We evaluated the utility of the hepatic vein (HV) waveform using Doppler ultrasound for identification of liver fibrosis in Fontan patients. Methods: We investigated the HV waveforms in 41 Fontan patients and assessed correlations with clinical parameters, liver fibrosis markers, and hemodynamic data. Results: Based on our preliminary analysis of 64 adult patients with chronic liver disease who underwent liver biopsy, we classified HV waveforms into five types with reference to the degree of flattening (from type 1, normal triphasic waveform; to type 5, a monophasic waveform indicating cirrhosis), and confirmed a significant correlation between waveform pattern and fibrosis stage. Notably, we detected HV waveforms in all of the Fontan patients and classified them into five types. The HV waveform pattern positively correlated with γ‐glutamyl transferase and hyaluronic acid levels, and negatively correlated with albumin level and platelet count, but did not correlate with central venous pressure or brain natriuretic peptide level, suggesting that HV waveform could reflect pathophysiological changes in the liver without being affected by hepatic congestion. The highest area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the HV waveform for detecting advanced liver fibrosis, as defined by ultrasonic findings and clinical features, was 0.829 (81.8% sensitivity, 73.3% specificity), which was higher than that of other non‐invasive fibrosis markers. Conclusions: Hepatic vein waveforms change in accordance with liver fibrosis progression in Fontan patients, and can be a useful indicator of liver fibrosis after the Fontan procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The naphthylamide catalyst cysteine-derived amine derived from cysteine is developed to act as an efficient organocatalyst of two different types of asymmetric intramolecular Michael reaction. The results show that in the synthesis of the cyclopentane skeleton, the cis-isomer is synthesized diastereo- and enantioselectively, which is complementary to the intramolecular Michael reaction.

The reactions of α,β-unsaturated aldehydes with cyclopentadiene in the presence of diarylprolinol silyl ethers as catalyst proceed via iminium cations as intermediates, and can be divided into two types; one involving a Michael-type reaction (type A) and one involving a cycloaddition (type B). Diphenylprolinol silyl ethers and trifluoromethyl-substituted diarylprolinol silyl ethers, which are widely used proline-type organocatalysts, have been investigated in this study. As the LUMO of the iminium ion derived from trifluoromethyl-substituted diarylprolinol silyl ether is lower in energy than that derived from diphenylprolinol silyl ether, as supported by ab initio calculations, the trifluoromethyl-substituted catalyst is more reactive in a type B reaction. The iminium ion from an α,β-unsaturated aldehyde is generated more quickly with diphenylprolinol silyl ether than with the trifluoromethyl-substituted diarylprolinol silyl ether. When the generation of the iminium ion is the rate-determining step, the diphenylprolinol silyl ether catalyst is the more reactive. Because acid accelerates the generation of iminium ions and reduces the generation of anionic nucleophiles in the Michael-type reaction (type A), it is necessary to select the appropriate acid for specific reactions. In general, diphenylprolinol silyl ether is a superior catalyst for type A reactions, whereas the trifluoromethyl-substituted diarylprolinol silyl ether catalyst is preferred for type B reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of silyl substituents in diphenylprolinol silyl ether catalysts was investigated. Mechanistically, reactions catalyzed by diphenylprolinol silyl ether can be categorized into three types: two that involve an iminium ion intermediate, such as for the Michael-type reaction (type A) and the cycloaddition reaction (type B), and one that proceeds via an enamine intermediate (type C). In the Michael-type reaction via iminium ions (type A), excellent enantioselectivity is realized when the catalyst with a bulky silyl moiety is employed, in which efficient shielding of a diastereotopic face of the iminium ion is directed by the bulky silyl moiety. In the cycloaddition reaction of iminium ions (type B) and reactions via enamines (type C), excellent enantioselectivity is obtained even when the silyl group is less bulky and, in this case, too much bulk reduces the reaction rate. In other cases, the yield increases when diphenylprolinol silyl ethers with bulky substituents are employed, presumably by suppressing side reactions between the nucleophilic catalyst and the reagent. The conformational behaviors of the iminium and enamine species have been determined by theoretical calculations. These data explain the effect of the bulkiness of the silyl substituent on the enantioselectivity and reactivity of the catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A stable tert-butyl(10-phenyl-9-anthryl)nitroxide (BPAN) radicalwas newly synthesized and used for the capture/characterization ofreactive radicals. Adducts obtained from the reactions of BPAN with in situgenerated reactive radicals showed excellent stability,assuring complete isolation and purification. The structures of theadducts were established by LC–MS and NMR analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A definition of the scope of aromatic substrates that participate with catharanthine in an Fe(III)-mediated coupling reaction, an examination of the key structural features of catharanthine required for participation in the reaction, and the development of a generalized indole functionalization reaction that bears little structural relationship to catharanthine itself are detailed. In addition to providing insights into the mechanism of the Fe(III)-mediated coupling reaction of catharanthine with vindoline suggesting the reaction conducted in acidic aqueous buffer may be radical mediated, the studies provide new opportunities for the preparation of previously inaccessible vinblastine analogs and define powerful new methodology for the synthesis of indole-containing natural and unnatural products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diphenylprolinol silyl ether was found to be an effective organocatalyst for promoting the asymmetric, catalytic, intramolecular [6 + 2] cycloaddition reactions of fulvenes substituted at the exocyclic 6-position with a δ-formylalkyl group to afford synthetically useful linear triquinane derivatives in good yields and excellent enantioselectivities. The cis-fused triquinane derivatives were obtained exclusively; the trans-fused isomers were not detected among the reaction products. The intramolecular [6 + 2] cycloaddition occurs between the fulvene functionality (6π) and the enamine double bond (2π) generated from the formyl group in the substrates and the diphenylprolinol silyl ether. The absolute configuration of the reaction products was determined by vibrational circular dichroism. The reaction mechanism was investigated using molecular orbital calculations, B3LYP and MP2 geometry optimizations, and subsequent single-point energy evaluations on model reaction sequences. These calculations revealed the following: (i) The intermolecular [6 + 2] cycloaddition of a fulvene and an enamine double bond proceeds in a stepwise mechanism via a zwitterionic intermediate. (ii) On the other hand, the intramolecular [6 + 2] cycloaddition leading to the cis-fused triquinane skeleton proceeds in a concerted mechanism via a highly asynchronous transition state. (iii) The fulvene functionality and the enamine double bond adopt the gauche-syn conformation during the C-C bond formation processes in the [6 + 2] cycloaddition. (iv) The energy profiles calculated for the intramolecular reaction explain the observed exclusive formation of the cis-fused triquinane derivatives in the [6 + 2] cycloaddition reactions. The reasons for the enantioselectivity seen in these [6 + 2] cycloaddition reactions are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to prepare amorphous precipitates of the binary system of cimetidine (CIM) and diflunisal (DIF) and to investigate the physicochemical properties of the precipitates. To achieve this, the interaction between CIM and DIF molecules was studied by means of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) measurements. The binary system of CIM and DIF was found to become amorphous upon precipitation from ethanol solution, without heating or melting. In the thermal analysis by TG–DTA equipped with a mass spectrometer, decarboxylation of DIF was found to occur below its melting temperature. In NMR studies, the chemical shifts of a proton in the imidazole ring of CIM and the carbon to which the DIF carboxyl group is bound were found to change depending on the composition of the binary system. The change in NMR chemical shifts suggested that a salt was formed between CIM and DIF. The precipitates had higher solubility than intact drugs due to this salt formation. The results suggest that CIM may be useful as an amorphous carrier, without requiring heating or melting, due to the formation of a salt with acidic drugs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A chemically explainable machine learning model was constructed with a small dataset to quantitatively predict the singlet-oxygen-scavenging ability. In this model, ensemble learning based on decision trees resulted in high accuracy. For explanatory variables, molecular descriptors by computational chemistry and Morgan fingerprints were used for achieving high accuracy and simple prediction. The singlet-oxygen-scavenging mechanism was explained by the feature importance obtained from machine learning outputs. The results are consistent with conventional chemical knowledge. The use of machine learning and reduction in the number of measurements for screening high-antioxidant-capacity compounds can considerably improve prediction accuracy and efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Purpose Methods Results Conclusion In carbon ion radiotherapy, accurate measurement of the three‐dimensional (3D) absorbed dose distribution is critical for effectively targeting tumors. Although micellar gel dosimeters exhibit considerable potential for measuring 3D absorbed dose distributions, few studies have focused on radiotherapy using carbon ion beams.This study investigated the applicability of the surfactant hydrogel dosimeter (SHD), a micellar gel dosimeter, to measuring a 3D dose absorbed through carbon ion beam irradiation.A cubic target region of 34 mm per side was established at a depth of 46 mm below the upper surface of an SHD specimen. Scanning irradiation was performed using a pencil beam of carbon ions at the Ion‐beam Radiation Oncology Center in Kanagawa (“i‐ROCK”), Japan, under irradiation conditions set by the treatment planning system (“Monaco for Carbon”, Ver. 5.20, Elekta AB, Sweden) to create a spread‐out Bragg peak within the target. The physical dose was set to 10 Gy at the isocenter, situated at the center of the target. The SHD responsiveness was measured twice using optical computed tomography (CT) (“Vista 15”, Modus Medical Devices, Canada) for three irradiated specimens, and six types of measured optical attenuation coefficient (OAC) were obtained. To assess whether the OAC represented the absorbed dose expected in the treatment plan, we compared the relative distribution of the OAC and that of the absorbed dose. Relative fraction (RF) was used to measure the difference between the relative value of the OAC and that of the absorbed dose. Moreover, the distribution of OH radical (•OH) concentration obtained by Monte Carlo simulation (“PHITS” ver. 3.24 JAEA, Japan) and that of the OAC were compared.In the direction of beam travel, the relative distribution of the OAC was lower than that of the absorbed dose. This discrepancy could be attributed to a decrease in the concentration of •OH produced by irradiation owing to the recombination reaction, which does not accurately reflect the absorbed dose. By contrast, the distributions in the plane perpendicular to the beam travel were consistent. The RF increased from ± 3% to ± 13% along the beam travel direction. The small RF in the plane perpendicular to the beam travel could be attributed to the constant distribution of linear energy transfer, regardless of the irradiation position, and the generation of radicals proportionally to the absorbed dose. The increase in RF along the beam travel direction was ascribed to ring artifacts in the irradiated region.The measurement of the absorbed dose distribution in the beam travel direction should be improved. The observed discrepancy is attributed to the reduced reactivity of the SHD due to a high liner energy transfer near the Bragg peak. However, the absorbed dose distribution can be effectively evaluated in the plane perpendicular to the direction of beam travel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diphenylprolinol silyl ether was found to promote asymmetric, catalytic and direct α-benzoyloxylation of aldehydes with benzoyl peroxide to afford oxidized products in good yields with excellent enantioselectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methods for improving the antioxidant activity of phenolic compounds have been widely investigated; however, most studies have focused on the structure–activity correlations of substituents on the aromatic rings of catechols or flavonoids. We investigated the influence of side chain functional groups on the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity of xanthorrhizol and curcuphenol analogues. These compounds were synthesised by the side chain functional group conversion of curcumene, followed by direct oxidation of the aromatic ring. We determined the DPPH radical scavenging activity from the half-maximal effective concentration (EC50) obtained from a DPPH assay in methanol. The positional relationships of the side chain with the aromatic ring and phenolic OH group were determined using density functional theory calculations, and the stability of different conformations was compared. Electron transfer-proton transfer was determined to be the dominant mechanism in the DPPH reaction with xanthorrhizol analogues, based on the correlation between the EC50 and ionisation potential. The radical cation was greatly stabilised in the structure where the side chain functional group was close to the aromatic ring. Stabilisation also depended on the phenolic OH group position. In future antioxidant design, aromatic ring substituent conversion and the use of functional groups far from the OH group or ring should be explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reaction of cinnamaldehyde with cyclopentadiene in the presence of DPPL as catalyst leads to substituted cyclopentadiene Michael-type adducts (III) and (IV), whilst the reaction with DTFP catalyst affords Diels-Alder adducts (V) and (VI). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are two reaction modes of α,β ‐ unsaturated aldehydes when using a diarylprolinol silyl ether as a catalyst—one involves a Michael ‐ type reaction mode and the other a Diels – Alder cycloaddition mode. As the LUMO of the iminium ion derived from trifluoromethyl ‐ substituted diarylprolinol silyl ether is lower than that derived from diphenylprolinol silyl ether, the former is reactive in the cycloaddition reaction. On the other hand, the generation of an iminium ion from α,β ‐ unsaturated aldehyde is faster in the reaction of diphenylprolinol silyl ether, leading to a Michael ‐ type reaction. For more details see the Full Paper by Y. Hayashi et al. on page 12337 ff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Review: 93 refs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]