The Accumulation of Tissue Cholesterol and Its Relationship to Bile Acid and Sterol Turnover

Normal and hypophysectomized rats were divided into equal homogeneous groups to determine the effect of cholestyramine, corn oil and cholesterol on the excretion of fecal bile acids and sterols. Bile acid turnover rates, pool sizes, and spectrums were studied and compared

HNO Binding in a Heme Protein: Structures, Spectroscopic Properties, and Stabilities

HNO can interact with numerous heme proteins, but atomic level structures are largely unknown. In this work, various structural models for the first stable HNO heme protein complex, MbHNO (Mb, myoglobin), were examined by quantum chemical calculations. This investigation led to the discovery of two novel structural models that can excellently reproduce numerous experimental spectroscopic properties. They are also the first atomic level structures that can account for the experimentally observed high stabilities. These two models involve two distal His conformations as reported previously for MbCNR and MbNO. However, a unique dual hydrogen bonding feature of the HNO binding was not reported before in heme protein complexes with other small molecules such as CO, NO, and O2. These results shall facilitate investigations of HNO bindings in other heme proteins

Taxol semisynthesis: A highly enantio- and diastereoselective synthesis of the side chain and a new method for ester formation at C-13 using thioesters

A very simple, new, and straightforward approach to the Paclitaxel (Taxol) and Docetaxel (Taxotere) side chains has been developed using the imine addition reaction of thioester-derived boron enolates bearing chiral ligands. The addition reaction was studied extensively, using a combination of different thioesters (ROCH2COSPh, ROCH(2)60St-Bu), oxygen protecting groups (R = Bn, TBDMS, COPh, EE, TMS), chiral boron ligands [derived from both (-) and (+)-menthone], imines (PhCH=NSiMe3, PhCH=NCOPh), and in the presence or in the absence of additional Lewis acids (BF3-OEt2, Et2AlCl, TiCl4). The side chain was assembled in a few steps with the correct relative (syn) and absolute stereochemistry (2R,3S). The stereochemical outcome of the boron-mediated reaction was rationalized using chair vs boat transition state structures. A new direct route for attachment of the side chains to the baccatin nucleus using thioester chemistry has also been developed. By treatment of a mixture of a thioester (8, 12, or 17) and protected baccatin III (2b, 2c) with LHMDS, the 13-O acylated compounds were obtained in high yield (up to 90%). Hydrolysis of 18b gave Paclitaxel (1a) in 80% yield