From Maleic Anhydrides to Substituted Resorcinols

Symmetrically substituted maleic anhydrides react at -78 °C with lithiomethyl phenyl sulfone to give the corresponding 4-hydroxy-4-(phenylsulfonylmethyl)-buteno-4-lactones, which, on treatment with Mel/K2CO3 in acetone, are transformed into 5-methyl-5-phenylsulfonylcyclopent-2-ene-1,4-diones. These compounds rearrange in the presence of an excess of lithiomethyl phenyl sulfone at -78 °C and then butyllithium at -5 °C to ambient temperature into 4,5-disubstituted 6-methyl-2-phenylsulfonyl-resorcinols

Formation of Substituted Benzo[a]heptalenes via Bergman Cyclization of Vicinal Di(ethynyl)-heptalenes

By Hafner's synthesis, dimethyl heptalene-4,5-dicarboxylates are easily available from azulenes and dimethyl acetylene-dicarboxylate. Treatment with Takai reagent leads to 4-acetylheptalene-5-carboxylates, which by the procedure of Negishi et al. are further transformed into 4-ethynyl-heptalene-5-carboxylates. Reduction to heptalene-5-methanols, followed by Swern oxidation yields the corresponding heptalene-5-carbaldehydes. Treatment with trimethylsilyldiazomethane in the presence of butyllithium gives 4,5-di(ethynyl)-heptalenes, which on heating in chlorobenzene in the presence of cyclohexa-1,4-diene are transformed into benzo[a]heptalenes

Ethanol and its Halal status in food industries

Background Ethanol is an important organic solvent and substrate which extensively used in research and industries. It is the main ingredient produced during fermentation of carbohydrates derived from fruits and other biomass substances. Halal status of ethanol is controversial and it is rational use is ambiguous. Scope and Approach In this review, the issue of ethanol in food industries is addressed. Ethanol is a sensitive, controversial and main issue in the production of Halal (Permitted, Allowed) products. Setting the limit of ethanol in Halal food industries is needed to facilitate food production and complied with certain religious demands. This review gives an overview of ethanol, types, application, advantages, and disadvantages. An attempt to set a limit of ethanol in food industries, supported by scientific facts and Islamic rules, is described. Key Findings and Conclusion Halal status of ethanol is highly controversial but rarely classified based on its source and concentration. Any ethanol produced by anaerobic fermentation and ranging between 1 and 15% is considered to be Haram (non-Halal, Forbidden), whereas ethanol produced by natural fermentation and less than 1% is considered as preserving agent and its Halal status is allowed. Any ethanolic solution higher than 15% is treated as a toxic solution but still could be used in industries, meanwhile, an ethanolic solution prepared by dilution from absolute or denatured ethanol is allowed for industrial used but toxic for human consumption. However, any concentration varied from 0.1 to 100% prepared with the intention to be used as a beverage drink is consider non-Halal

Evaluation Schweizer Guidelines für die Indikation der Hysterektomie im Zusammenhang mit dem Outcome für Patientinnen

Ausgangslage: Die transparente Qualitätssicherung der Indikationsstellung und der Ergebnisse hat in der medizinischen Versorgung innerhalb der vergangenen zehn Jahren an Bedeutung gewonnen. Die Anwendung nationaler Leitlinien, welche die Angemessenheit der Hysterektomie präzisieren, sollte zu besseren Ergebnissen für Patientinnen führen. Es fand sich jedoch bisher kein Nachweis, der diese Annahme durch Ergebnisdaten untermauert. Ziele: Zu den Zielen des Projektes gehören die prospektive kontinuierliche Erfassung der Angemessenheit, der Notwendigkeit und der Ergebnisse zur Tracerprozedur Hysterektomie sowie die Validierung der Schweizer Richtlinien von 1997 zur Indikationsstellung der Hysterektomie basierend auf Veränderungen im physischen und psychosozialen Befinden der Patientinnen. Methoden: Aus 18 öffentlichen Spitälern der Schweiz wurden 370 Fälle mittels Fragebogen erfasst. Einschlusskriterien waren Patientinnen, welche zu einer elektiven vaginalen, laparoskopischen oder abdominalen Hysterektomie überwiesen wurden. Notfall- und karzinombedingte Hysterektomien wurden ausgeschlossen. Vor dem Eingriff wurde durch die jeweilige Klinik das Indikationsmuster bestimmt (n=286). Daten zur physischen und psychosozialen Befindlichkeit der Patientinnen wurden bis zu acht Wochen vor (Baseline, n=370) sowie 16 bis 32 Wochen nach dem Eingriff (Outcome, n=237) erhoben. Zur Beurteilung der Resultate wurde, basierend auf dem SF-36 (Fragebogen zum Gesundheitszustand), ein angepasster und gewichteter Score verwendet. Resultate: Für die Angemessenheitsauswertung ergaben sich folgende Ergebnisse: Die Indikation war bei 214 Patientinnen (74.82%) angemessen, bei 36 (12.58%) folgte sie dem Wunsch der Patientin und bei 36 (12.58%) wurde sie gemäss den Konsensleitlinien der SGGG (Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Gynäkologie und Geburtshilfe) als nicht angemessen eingestuft. Bei 87.4% der Patientinnen wurde die Indikation gemäss den Leitlinien für angemessen erachtet (angemessene Indikation und Indikation nach Präferenz der Patientin). Notwendigkeit gemäss Definition bestand in 162 Fällen (76.06%). Alle drei Patientinnengruppen zeigten nach der Hysterektomie im Vergleich zu den Ausgangswerten ein signifikant besseres Befinden. Die als angemessen erachtete Gruppe zeigte den grösseren Nutzen. Diskussion: Die Datenerhebungen aus dieser Arbeit liefern für die Schweiz erstmals Ergebnisse zur Indikationsstellung der Hysterektomie in Kombination mit Daten zur Adäquanz. Eine Angemessenheitsrate von 87.4% darf als adäquate Nutzung medizinischer Möglichkeiten gewertet werden. Die errechnete Notwendigkeitsrate von 76.06% zeigte keine Unternutzung. Es konnte eine positive Korrelation zwischen Angemessenheit und Endergebnis gezeigt werden. Die Leitlinien von 1997 scheinen immer noch ihre Gültigkeit zu haben

Rational and practical aspects of Halal and Tayyib in the context of food safety

Background Food plays a very important role in our daily life and most foods are based on regional, cultural and religious influences. Halal (permissible) food is emerging as one of the most important issues in food industries. Rational understanding of Halal, Tayyib (pure) and Khabith (impure) and their relationship with food safety is essential in determining Halal food status. Scope and approach Initially, Halal food was thought to be free from alcohol and pork. Later on, Tayyib was strongly introduced into Halal food production and led to include food safety requirements as part of Halal food certificates. However, the practical description of Tayyib and the rational merging with Halal have not been well clarified yet. In this context, we would like to give a practical overview of Halal, Tayyib and Khabith concepts, their values and relationship to food safety. Key findings and conclusion The rational understanding of Halal, Tayyib and Khabith in the context of food safety is essential. Considering Halal as a subject and Tayyib as a process facilitates Halal certification procedure. The main objective of Tayyib is to produce clean and pure, food and to create a comfortable feeling as the main goal, which can be achieved if food is produced according to Sharia (Islamic principles). Halal labeled food should reflect the concept of Halal and Tayyib, particularly the identification of all ingredients involved in the production, determination of Halal and toxicity status, and removal of repulsive, Najis (ritually unclean) and toxic ingredients

Good agricultural practices and its compatibility with Halal standards

Background Food from agriculture is fundamental to our survival and play a very important role in our daily life. It acts as a source of energy and provides us with essential nutrients. The consumers' attitudes towards food and agriculture are changing based on regional, cultural and religious influences. Food production following Halal principles is emerging as one of the most important challenges and holds a leading position in the global business today. Scope and approach Halal's main objective is to ensure that the process and ingredients are entirely clean, pure and comply with Islamic principles. A transparent system of Halal auditing has been developed to ensures a manufactured product that complies with all Halal requirements. To harmonize and facilitate the process of Halal certification, a compatible system between Halal standard and agricultural good practice or other recognized safety standards, need to be established. Key findings and conclusion The future demand for Halal products is high and has a strong presence in developed and developing countries. To harmonize Halal system with others, all issues related to Halal production of food and agriculture are presented. Highly critical topics such as manure, pesticides, lubricant, and genetically modified product have been highlighted and their Halal status with regards to their nature, process, and composition have been discussed. Furthermore, Halal compatibility with good agricultural practices has been determined

Bis-chlorination of a hexapeptide-PCP conjugate by the halogenase involved in vancomycin biosynthesis

Vancomycin is an important nosocomial antibiotic containing a glycosylated, cross-linked and doubly chlorinated heptapeptide backbone. During the biosynthesis of the vancomycin aglycone, two ß-hydroxytyrosine (Bht) residues are inserted at positions-2 and -6 into the heptapeptide backbone by a non-ribosomal peptide synthetase. A single flavin-dependent chlorinase (VhaA) is responsible for chlorinating both Bht residues at some ill-defined point in the assembly process. We show here using in vitro assays that VhaA is able to introduce a chlorine atom into each aromatic ring of both Bht residues at positions-2 and -6 of a peptide carrier protein-bound hexapeptide. The results suggest that VhaA can recognize and chlorinate two quite different sites within a linear hexapeptide intermediate during vancomycin biosynthesis

Cannabis and Its Permissibility Status

Cannabis has been used and misused to treat many disorders. Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) are the most important components of cannabis and could be used for recreational and medical purposes. The permissibility (Halal) status of cannabis is controversial, and its rational use is ambiguous. Global awareness and interest in cannabis use are increasing and its permissibility status, especially for recreational and medical purposes, needs to be addressed. Rationalizing the scientific value and Halal status of cannabis is useful for the rational use and maintenance of the compatible system. It is rare in Muslim countries to discuss the permissibility status of cannabis from the perspective of its value and composition. Using the analogy concept, the CBD component extracted from a cannabis plant in a clean and pure form is permissible to use in industry, particularly in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. If THC component is present in 99%, the mixture is considered permissible as long as THC is not intentionally added or intentionally left, but is mainly present due to the limited capabilities and efficiency of the purification methods. However, any amount of THC prepared with the intention to be used as an intoxicant is considered non-Halal

A new alkylation method for heptalene-4,5-dicarboxylates and of one of their pseudoester forms

Dimethyl heptalene-4,5-dicarboxylates† undergo preferentially a Michael addition reaction at C(3) with α-lithiated alkyl phenyl sulfones at temperatures below −50°, leading to corresponding cis-configured 3,4-dihydroheptalene-4,5-dicarboxylates (cf. Table 1, Schemes 3 and 4). The corresponding heptalenofuran-1-one-type pseudoesters of dimethyl heptalene-4,5-dicarboxylates (Scheme 5) react with [(phenylsulfonyl)methyl]lithium almost exclusively at C(1) of the furanone group (Scheme 6). In contrast to this expected behavior, the uptake of 1-[phenylsulfonyl)ethyl]lithium occurs at C(5) of the heptalenofuran-1-ones as long as they carry a Me group at C(11) (Schemes 6 and 7). The 1,4- as well as the 1,6-addition products eliminate, on treatment with MeONa/MeOH in THF, benzenesulfinate, thus leading to 3- and 4-alkylated dimethyl heptalene-4,5-dicarboxylates, respectively (Schemes 8–13). The configuration of the addition reaction of the nucleophiles to the inherently chiral heptalenes is discussed in detail (cf. Schemes 14–19) on the basis of a number of X-ray crystal-structure determinations as well as by studies of the temperature-dependence of the 1H-NMR spectra of the addition products