An overview of the synthesis and applications of chiral 2,3-epoxy alcohols containing unsaturated chains is presented. One of the fundamental synthetic routes to these compounds is Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation, which is reliable, highly chemoselective and enables easy prediction of the product enantioselectivity. Thus, unsaturated epoxy alcohols are readily obtained by selective oxidation o...

A simple method for the installation of groundwater lysimeters in peat soils was developed which reduces both time and financial effort significantly. The method was applied on several sites in the Rhinluch, a fen peat land 60 km northwest of Berlin, Germany. Over a two-year period, upward capillary flow and evapotranspiration rates under grassland with different groundwater levels were measure...

An analytical solution of macrodispersivity was derived for the adsorbing solute transport in physically and chemically heterogeneous unsaturated soils under the condition of gravity-dominated flow. The unsaturated hydraulic conductivity and water content were treated as spatial random functions. The chemical adsorption was described by a linear equilibrium isotherm, and the adsorption coeffici...

Saturated fatty acids (FA) exert adverse health effects and are more likely to cause insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes than unsaturated FA, some of which exert protective and beneficial effects. Saturated FA, but not unsaturated FA, activate Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), which has been linked to obesity and insulin resistance in mice and humans. However, it is unknown how saturated and unsa...

Naturally occurring polyhydroxylated amines such as (+)-1-deoxynojirimycin, polyoxamic acid, anisomycin, (-)swainsonine, and alexine stereoisomers, which have interesting biological activities including glucosidase- and mannosidase-inhibitory activity, immunoregulatory activity, and antibacterial effects, were synthesized stereoselectively starting from (S)-pyroglutamic acid derivatives. α,β-Un...

Among the different types of diazocarbonyl substrates found in the literature to date, α,β-unsaturated diazoketones have proven to be very promising as multifunctional intermediates. Possessing a diazo group, a ketone function and a double bond all together in a single molecule, these compounds constitute versatile building blocks for synthesis. For example, double bond functionalization, follo...

The present study investigated the release profiles of insulin from Pluronic F-127 (PF-127) gel containing unsaturated fatty acids such as oleic acid (18:1), eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5) or docosahexaenoic acid (22:6) and the hypoglycemic effect of insulin following the buccal administration of the gel formulations in normal rats. Insulin release from the gels decreased in the presence of unsat...

Pironetin is a natural product with potent antiproliferative activity that forms a covalent adduct with α-tubulin via conjugate addition into the natural product's α,β-unsaturated lactone. Although pironetin's α,β-unsaturated lactone is involved in its binding to tubulin, the structure-activity relationship at different positions of the lactone have not been thoroughly evaluated. For a systemat...

Metabolites offer an important unexplored complementary approach to understanding the pluripotency of stem cells. Using MS-based metabolomics, we show that embryonic stem cells are characterized by abundant metabolites with highly unsaturated structures whose levels decrease upon differentiation. By monitoring the reduced and oxidized glutathione ratio as well as ascorbic acid levels, we demons...

Hematin catalysis of unsaturated lipide oxidation is probably a primary reaction in many types of pathological unsaturated fat oxidation in viva (l-3) and in the spoilage of frozen meat products by oxidative fat rancidity (4). Some of the properties of hematin catalysis have been described (4-8), but knowledge of the reaction mechanism and the reaction products is relatively meager. The catalyt...