Borylstannylation of alkynes with inverse regioselectivity: copper-catalyzed three-component coupling using a masked diboron

A variety of terminal alkynes are facilely convertible into cis-boryl(stannyl)alkenes with inverse regioselectivity to those of the previous borylstannylation by the copper-catalyzed three-component reaction using a masked diboron. The synthetic utility of the resulting boryl(stannyl)alkenes has been demonstrated by chemoselective coupling reactions

Alternate Method of Phycocyanin Extraction

Phycocyanin is an abundant protein-pigment complex in many photosynthetic microbes and the feedstock for several emerging products in the food and pharmaceutical industries. The purpose of this project was to research the effectiveness of sonication technology to improve the efficiency and yields of phycocyanin production from the cyanobacterium Spirulina platensis. Sonication is the application of sound energy to agitate and break particles or cells. When used to augment the current methods of phycocyanin production, it has the potential benefit of reducing cell extraction volumes and increasing the yield of phycocyanin. Experiments were conducted to determine the effects of sonication time on the release of phycocyanin from concentrated S. platensis cell suspensions. The results show that sonication of a cell suspension containing 80 g dry weight S. platensis per 400 mL water for ~ 400 seconds provides maximum release of phycocyanin. The conventional method requires several hours of soaking 90 g dry weight S. platensis per 1000 mL water and achieves a lower degree of extraction. In summary, sonication can improve the efficiency of the conventional phycocyanin production process by shortening the time needed for initial release of phycocyanin from cells and with a smaller volume (more concentrated) cell suspension

Membrane lipid-modulated mechanism of action and non-cytotoxicity of novel fungicide aminoglycoside FG08

A novel aminoglycoside, FG08, that differs from kanamycin B only by a C8 alkyl chain at the 4″-O position, was previously reported. Unlike kanamycin B, FG08 shows broad-spectrum fungicidal but not anti-bacterial activities. To understand its specificity for fungi, the mechanism of action of FG08 was studied using intact cells of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and small unilamellar membrane vesicles. With exposure to FG08 (30 µg mL−1), 8-fold more cells were stained with fluorescein isothiocyanate, cells had 4 to 6-fold higher K+ efflux rates, and 18-fold more cells were stained with SYTOX Green in comparison to exposure to kanamycin B (30 µg mL−1). Yeast mutants with aberrant membrane sphingolipids (no sphingoid base C4 hydroxyl group, truncated very long fatty acid chain, or lacking the terminal phosphorylinositol group of mannosyl-diinositolphosphorylphytoceramide were 4 to 8-fold less susceptible to growth inhibition with FG08 and showed 2 to 10-fold lower SYTOX Green dye uptake rates than did the isogenic wild-type strain. FG08 caused leakage of pre-loaded calcein from 50% of small unilamellar vesicles with glycerophospholipid and sterol compositions that mimic the compositions of fungal plasma membranes. Less than 5 and 10% of vesicles with glycerophospholipid and sterol compositions that mimic bacterial and mammalian cell plasma membranes, respectively, showed calcein leakage. In tetrazolium dye cytotoxicity tests, mammalian cell lines NIH3T3 and C8161.9 showed FG08 toxicity at concentrations that were 10 to 20-fold higher than fungicidal minimal inhibitory concentrations. It is concluded that FG08’s growth inhibitory specificity for fungi lie in plasma membrane permeability changes involving mechanisms that are modulated by membrane lipid composition

Fungicidal Activities and Mechanisms of Action of Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae Lipodepsipeptide Syringopeptins 22A and 25A

The plant-associated bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae simultaneously produces two classes of metabolites: the small cyclic lipodepsinonapeptides such as the syringomycins and the larger cyclic lipodepsipeptide syringopeptins SP22 or SP25. The syringomycins inhibit a broad spectrum of fungi (but particularly yeasts) by lipid-dependent membrane interaction. The syringopeptins are phytotoxic and inhibitory to Gram-positive bacteria. In this study, the fungicidal activities of two major syringopeptins, SP22A and SP25A, and their mechanisms of action were investigated and compared to those of syringomycin E. SP22A and SP25A were observed to inhibit the fungal yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida albicans although less effectively than syringomycin E. S. cerevisiae mutants defective in ergosterol and sphingolipid biosyntheses were less susceptible to SP22A and SP25A but the relative inhibitory capabilities of SRE vs. SP22A and SP25A were maintained. Similar differences were observed for capabilities to cause cellular K+ and Ca2+ fluxes in S. cerevisiae. Interestingly, in phospholipid bilayers the syringopeptins are found to induce larger macroscopic ionic conductances than syringomycin E but form single channels with similar properties. These findings suggest that the syringopeptins target the yeast plasma membrane, and, like syringomycin E, employ a lipid-dependent channel-forming mechanism of action. The differing degrees of growth inhibition by these lipodepsipeptides may be explained by differences in their hydrophobicities. The more hydrophobic SP22A and SP25A might interact more strongly with the yeast cell wall that would create a selective barrier for their incorporation into the plasma membrane

Sustainable Relationships within Organisations in an Age of Transition of Economy: Focus on Employees’ Trust in Organisations.

This exploratory research aims to provide an overview of employees’ current views regarding their organisations, with a focus on evaluating their trust in their workplace. A quantitative approach was applied to a dataset collected from Japanese businesspeople. From the analysis, it was found that the respondents’ perspectives differed depending on three demographic variables: gender, education, and annual income. Descriptive analysis results indicate that males express more positivity and support for the organisational directions in the new lifestyle phase resulting from the COVID-19 impact, that more highly educated respondents are more positive than other cohorts, and that higher-income respondents are more positive than others. These findings imply that organisations need to design different communicative approaches with different employee groups if they are to establish sustainable relationships with employers and cope with the disruptive environment

High-throughput powder diffraction measurement system consisting of multiple MYTHEN detectors at beamline BL02B2 of SPring-8

In this study, we developed a user-friendly automatic powder diffraction measurement system for Debye–Scherrer geometry using a capillary sample at beamline BL02B2 of SPring-8. The measurement system consists of six one-dimensional solid-state (MYTHEN) detectors, a compact auto-sampler, wide-range temperature control systems, and a gas handling system. This system enables to do the automatic measurement of temperature dependence of the diffraction patterns for multiple samples. We introduced two measurement modes in the MYTHEN system and developed new attachments for the sample environment such as a gas handling system. The measurement modes and the attachments can offer in situ and/or time-resolved measurements in an extended temperature range between 25 K and 1473 K and various gas atmospheres and pressures. The results of the commissioning and performance measurements using reference materials (NIST CeO2 674b and Si 640c), V2O3 and Ti2O3, and a nanoporous coordination polymer are presented