Biomedical subjects

Reiko Wada

Publications and source records attributed to Reiko Wada.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Catalytic enantioselective allylation of ketoimines.

A general catalytic allylation of simple ketoimines was developed using 1 mol % of CuF.3PPh(3) as catalyst, 1.5 mol % of La(O(i)Pr)(3) as the cocatalyst, and stable and nontoxic allylboronic acid pinacol ester as the nucleophile. This reaction constituted a good template for developing the first catalytic enantioselective allylation of ketoimines. In this case, using LiO(i)Pr as the cocatalyst produced higher enantioselectivity and reactivity than La(O(i)Pr)(3). Thus, using the CuF-cyclopentyl-DuPHOS complex (10 mol %) and LiO(i)Pr (30 mol %) in the presence of (t)BuOH (1 equiv) produced high enantioselectivity up to 93% ee from a range of aromatic ketoimines. Mechanistic studies indicated that LiO(i)Pr accelerates the reaction by increasing the concentration of an active nucleophile, allylcopper.

Alkanes↗

PubMed2005

Catalytic enantioselective desymmetrization of meso-N-acylaziridines with TMSCN.

A catalytic enantioselective desymmetrization of meso-N-p-nitrobenzoylaziridines with TMSCN was developed using a chiral gadolinium catalyst generated from Gd(OiPr)3 and d-glucose-derived ligand 1. In this reaction, the addition of a catalytic amount of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) improved enantioselectivity. High enantioselectivity was obtained from a range of meso-aziridines at 0-60 degrees C. The product could be easily transformed into beta-amino acids. Thus, the developed catalytic enantioselective desymmetrization reaction allowed for efficient catalytic synthesis of chiral cyclic beta-amino acids. The incorporation of TFA into the catalyst complex was observed using ESI-MS. Generation of this new complex might be the origin of the improved enantioselectivity.

Amino Acids, Cyclic↗

PubMed2005

Exogenous administration of octanoic acid accelerates octanoylated ghrelin production in the proventriculus of neonatal chicks.

Ghrelin is modified by fatty acid at the third serine residue. In this study, derivation of fatty acid for acylation of ghrelin was investigated using a hatchling chicken model. We first studied ghrelin gene expression and production in the neonatal chick proventriculus and then investigated the effect of exogenous octanoic acid (OA) administration on acylated ghrelin production. In a free-feeding condition on day 2.5 after hatching, the density of ghrelin mRNA-expressing (ghrelin-ex) cells was greater than that of ghrelin-immunopositive (ghrelin-ip) cells, but no difference was found between those densities in adult chickens. Intraperitoneal or oral administration of OA for a few days significantly increased the density of ghrelin-ip cells without any changes in ghrelin-ex cells and elevated only octanoylated ghrelin levels in the proventriculus. The results indicate that fatty acid absorbed from food is directly utilized in acylated ghrelin production in the chicken.

Acetylation↗

PubMed2005

Enantioselective alkenylation and phenylation catalyzed by a chiral CuF complex.

A new method for CuF-catalyzed alkenylation and phenylation of aldehydes and an activated ketone using air- and moisture-stable alkenylsilanes and phenylsilane as a nucleophile is described. This methodology was extended to highly enantioselective catalytic alkenylation and phenylation using DTBM-SEGPHOS as a chiral ligand. Substrate generality is broad, and an alkenylsilane with a long alkyl chain and an internal alkenylsilane can be also used as a nucleophile. The key to success partly involves the accelerated regeneration of reactive alkenylcopper and phenylcopper through transmetalation from the silylated nucleophiles, and stabilization of the reactive copper reagents, both of which are effected by the diphosphine ligands.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2004

Catalytic enantioselective allylboration of ketones.

The first example of catalytic enantioselective allylboration and crotylboration of simple ketones is described. High enantioselectivity (up to 93% ee) was obtained using 3 mol % CuF-iPr-DuPHOS as a chiral catalyst and 4.5 mol % La(OiPr)3 as a cocatalyst. Mechanistic studies strongly suggested that the active nucleophile of the present reaction is an allylcopper, and that La(OiPr)3 facilitates the generation of an active allylcopper from the allylboronate, without affecting the transition-state structure of the ketone allylation step.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2004

Estrogen modulates ghrelin expression in the female rat stomach.

Ghrelin was recently identified as an endogenous ligand for GH secretagogue receptor. In this study, we investigated the effects of ovariectomy on the numbers of ghrelin-immunopositive and -expressing cells, ghrelin mRNA levels, and plasma ghrelin concentrations in 4- and 9-week-old female rats. Three days after ovariectomy, the number of ghrelin cells and plasma ghrelin level significantly increased in both 4- and 9-week-old rats and the ghrelin mRNA level also increased in 4-week-old rats. These responses were reversed by 17beta-estradiol replacement. We also found that ghrelin-immunopositive cells express estrogen receptor alpha. These results suggested that estrogen is involved in the regulation of ghrelin expression.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Existence of ghrelin-immunopositive and -expressing cells in the proventriculus of the hatching and adult chicken.

Ghrelin was isolated from the rat stomach as an endogenous ligand for the growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHS-R) and has been found in the gastrointestinal tract of many vertebrates. Although the sequence and structure of chicken ghrelin has recently been determined, morphological characteristics of ghrelin cells in the chicken gastrointestinal tract are still obscure. In this study, we investigated ghrelin expression and distribution of ghrelin-producing cells in the hatching and adult chicken gastrointestinal tract by RT-PCR, immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. Ghrelin mRNA expression was observed mainly in the proventriculus in the hatching chicken and in the proventriculus, pylorus and duodenum of the adult chicken by RT-PCR. Ghrelin-immunopositive (ghrelin-ip) cells in the proventriculus were located at the mucosal layer but not in the myenteric plexus or smooth muscle layer. The number of ghrelin-ip cells in the adult chicken was greater than that in the hatching chicken. Interestingly, in the adult chicken, the number of ghrelin-ip cells were almost the same as that of ghrelin mRNA-expressing (ghrelin-ex) cells; however, in the hatching chicken, the number of ghrelin-ex cells was greater than that of ghrelin-ip cells. These results clearly demonstrate that ghrelin-producing cells exist in the chicken gastrointestinal tract, especially in the proventriculus, from hatching to adult stages of development, as well as in mammals.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

Development of hydrophilic fluorogenic derivatization reagents for thiols: 4-(N-acetylaminosulfonyl)-7-fluoro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole and 4-(N-trichloroacetylaminosulfonyl)-7-fluoro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole.

Sensitive, reactive, and hydrophilic fluorogenic reagents for thiols with the benzofurazan skeleton, 4-(N-acetylaminosulfonyl)-7-fluoro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (AcABD-F) and 4-(N-trichloroacetylaminosulfonyl)-7-fluoro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (TCAcABD-F) have been developed. These reagents reacted with thiols within 10 min at 60 degrees C. AcABD-F and TCAcABD-F themselves do not fluoresce but are strongly fluorescent after the reaction with thiol compounds. The generated derivatives were highly water-soluble, since they dissociated a proton and ionized in the neutral pH region. The derivatives with four biologically important thiol compounds were separated on a reversed-phase HPLC column and detected fluorometrically at 504 nm with excitation at 388 nm. The detection limit attained for homocysteine with AcABD-F was 25 fmol on column (11 nM) (signal-to-noise ratio = 3), and that for glutathione with TCAcABD-F was 45 fmol on column (20 nM).

Benzoxazoles↗

PubMed2002

Dramatic switching of protein kinase C agonist/antagonist activity by modifying the 12-ester side chain of phorbol esters.

A dramatic switching of PKC agonist and antagonist activity was observed by modification of the hydrophilicity of the 12-ester side chain of phorbol. Thus, phorbol ester 4 that contains a glycol at the 12-ester chain demonstrated a pure and significant antagonist ability of PKC; however, 3 that contains an alkanol at the 12-ester chain demonstrated a potent PKC agonist activity. On the basis of the structural difference between 3 and 4 and results of the partition assay in the Hela cell/PBS buffer system, we propose that 4 acts as a translocation poison of the PKC-phorbol ester complex. The approach of controlling the agonist/antagonist activity of phorbol esters by the nature (i.e., hydrophilicity, charge, and rigidity, etc.) of the 12-ester chain may be very useful for developing selective PKC inhibitors and a potential pharmaceutical compound for anticancer therapies.

Cell Membrane↗

PubMed2002

A general catalytic allylation using allyltrimethoxysilane.

A general and mild catalytic allylation of carbonyl compounds, applicable to aldehydes, ketones, and imines is developed using allyltrimethoxysilane as the allylating reagent. The reaction proceeds smoothly with 1-10 mol % of CuCl and TBAT in THF at ambient temperature. Mechanism studies indicated that the copper alkoxide, allylfluorodimethoxysilane, and allyltrimethoxysilane are essential to promote the reaction efficiently. Preliminary extension of the reaction to the first catalytic enantioselective allylation of ketones using an allylsilane produced the product with 61% ee from acetophenone, using a CuCl-p-tol-BINAP-TBAT catalyst (15 mol %).

Journal Article↗