New modes of DODH: Oxorhenium compounds act as deoxydehydration(DODH)/acid dual-purpose catalysts to transform biomass-derived diol substrates into a variety of commodity chemical precursors. The power of this approach is highlighted by a tandem [1,3]-OH shift/DODH of 2-ene-1,4-diols and 2,4-diene-1,6-diols, and by a DODH/esterification sequence of sugar acids to unsaturated esters for the prod...

Oxidation of acenaphthene, acenaphthylene, and fluorene was examined with recombinant strain Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1(pRE695) expressing naphthalene dioxygenase genes cloned from plasmid NAH7. Acenaphthene underwent monooxygenation to 1-acenaphthenol with subsequent conversion to 1-acenaphthenone and cis- and trans-acenaphthene-1,2-diols, while acenaphthylene was dioxygenated to give cis-ace...

Cu/nitroxyl catalysts have been identified that promote highly efficient and selective aerobic oxidative lactonization of diols under mild reaction conditions using ambient air as the oxidant. The chemo- and regioselectivity of the reaction may be tuned by changing the identity of the nitroxyl cocatalyst. A Cu/ABNO catalyst system (ABNO = 9-azabicyclo[3.3.1]nonan-N-oxyl) shows excellent reactiv...

Considerable evidence both in vitro and in vivo suggests that alcohols exert their intoxicating properties through an interaction with membranes. A wide range of alcohols and diols with divergent structures induce a virtually identical spectrum of intoxication signs. Because of their pharmacological similarities to ethanol, a number of aliphatic diols were tested to determine whether this class...

Density functional theory is employed to study the reaction mechanisms of different epoxide-transforming enzymes. Calculations are based on quantum chemical active site models, which are build from X-ray crystal structures. The models are used to study conversion of various epoxides into their corresponding diols or substituted alcohols. Epoxide-transforming enzymes from three different familie...

A library of bidentate diols, as well as tridentate triols and aminodiols, derived from (+)-sabinol, was synthesized in a stereoselective manner. Sabinol was transformed into allylic trichloroacetamide via Overman rearrangement of the corresponding trichloroacetimidate. After changing the protecting group to Boc, the enamine was subjected to stereospecific dihydroxylation with OsO₄/NMO, resulti...

New enantiopure, C(2)-symmetric biphenyl-2,2'-diols based on (-)-menthone (BIMOL), (-)-verbenone (BIVOL) and (-)-carvone (BICOL and hydrogenated BIMEOL), are accessible via short, synthetic routes. All diols form intramolecular hydrogen bonds and hence can be employed as chelating ligands for catalyst design, as it demonstrated for the (-)-fenchone based BIFOL. The sense of asymmetry of the bip...

BACKGROUND We characterized an endocrine disruptor from ground corncob bedding material that interferes with male and female sexual behavior and ovarian cyclicity in rats and stimulates estrogen receptor (ER)-positive and ER-negative breast cancer cell proliferation. The agents were identified as an isomeric mixture of tetrahydrofurandiols (THF-diols; 9,12-oxy-10,13-dihydroxy-octadecanoic acid ...

A bicyclic guanidine-catalyzed Michael addition of 3-benzyl substituted oxindoles to N-maleimides has been developed to produce oxindole derivatives with a quaternary carbon chiral center at the 3-position in excellent yields and enantio- and diastereoselectivities. This is the first incorporation of N-benzylic α-branched succinimides into 3,3-disubstituted oxindoles.