In the laboratory, Argentine ant, Linepithema humile (Mayr), mortality was positively correlated to the length of an aromatic cedar mulch section that had to be crossed before food could be reached. When ants could access food without crossing the mulch, mortality was not correlated to mulch section length. In the field, Argentine ants showed a tendency to avoid aromatic cedar mulch as a nestin...

Isolated short peptides usually are unable to maintain their original secondary structures due to the lack of the restriction from proteins. Here we show that two complementary pentapeptides from a β-sheet motif of a protein, being connected to an aromatic motif (i.e., pyrene) at their C-terminal, self-assemble to form β-sheet like structures upon mixing. Besides enabling the self-assembly to r...

The anaerobic metabolism of phthalate and other aromatic compounds by the denitrifying bacterium Pseudomonas sp. strain P136 was studied. Benzoate, cyclohex-1-ene-carboxylate, 2-hydroxycyclohexanecarboxylate, and pimelate were detected as predominant metabolic intermediates during the metabolism of three isomers of phthalate, m-hydroxybenzoate, p-hydroxybenzoate, and cyclohex-3-ene-carboxylate....

Rhenium complex, [ReBr(CO)3(thf)]2-catalyzed reactions between aromatic imines and either acetylenes or α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds gave indene derivatives in good to excellent yields. These reactions proceed via C–H bond activation, insertion of acetylenes or α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, intramolecular nucleophilic cyclization, and reductive elimination. Indene derivatives were a...

Aromatic amines are mammary carcinogens in rodents and exposure to aromatic amines may be associated with increased risk of breast cancer in women. Peroxidases present in milk can oxidize aromatic amines to reactive electrophiles which bind to DNA and induce mutations. Hydrogen peroxide, required for peroxidase-dependent oxidations, is supplied by milk xanthine oxidase and by the respiratory bu...

Anisotropy or alignment is a critical feature of functional soft materials in living organisms, but it remains a challenge for spontaneously generating anisotropic gel materials. Here we report a molecular design that increases intermolecular aromatic-aromatic interactions of hydrogelators during enzymatic hydrogelation for spontaneously forming an anisotropic hydrogel. This process, relying on...

Buckybowls are polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons that have a curved aromatic surface and are considered fragments of buckminsterfullerenes. The curved aromatic surface led to the loss of planar symmetry of the normal aromatic plane and may cause unique inherent chirality, so-called bowl chirality, which it is possible to thermally racemize through a bowl-to-bowl inversion process. In this short...

[6.8]3Cyclacene is an interesting belt-like structure displaying aromatic-non-aromatic alternation, which is useful to gain an understanding of the intramolecular and intermolecular interactions between the anisotropic cones in the magnetic behavior of such rings. From the analysis of certain components in an induced magnetic field and (13)C-NMR shielding under its own principal axis system (PA...

Cell suspensions of Methylosinus trichosporium oxidized the aromatic alcohols benzyl alcohol, vanillyl alcohol, and veratryl alcohol to the corresponding aldehydes, and with the exception of vanillyl alcohol, the aldehydes were further oxidized to the corresponding aromatic acids. No other transformation was observed, and the methoxyl moieties attached to the aromatic nucleus remained intact. M...