Publications by authors named "Jesus M. Garcia"

The direct, asymmetric conjugate addition of unactivated α-branched nitroalkanes is developed based on the combined use of chiral amine/ureidoaminal bifunctional catalysts and a tunable acrylate template to provide tertiary nitrocompounds in 55-80% isolated yields and high enantioselectivity ( up to 96:4). Elaboration of the ketol moiety in thus obtained adducts allows a fast entry to not only carboxylic and aldehyde derivatives but also nitrile compounds and enantioenriched 5,5-disubstituted γ-lactams.

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Aminocatalytic asymmetric conjugate addition of aldehydes to Michael acceptors is a well established C-C bond forming methodology. However, various acrylic-type acceptors, including acrylic acid derivatives and acrolein, remain reluctant. Here we demonstrate that the internal H-bonding self-activation in α'-hydroxy enones allows them to react smoothly with enolizable aldehydes using commercially available aminocatalysts to afford adducts in good yields and high enantioselectivity.

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Various sets of enolizable alkynyl ketones (including methyl ynones with α-aryl, α-alkenyl, and α-alkoxy groups) were able to react smoothly with nitroolefins with the assistance of bifunctional Brønsted base/H-bond catalysts to provide adducts with two consecutive tertiary stereocenters in a highly diastereo- and enantioselective fashion. Further transformation of the obtained adducts into optically active acyclic and polycyclic molecules, including some with intricate carbon skeletons, was also demonstrated.

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Introduction: The Latino population in the US is rapidly growing and faces profound health disparities; however, engagement of Latinos in biomedical research remains low. Our community-based participatory research (CBPR) partnership has recruited 2,083 Spanish-speaking Latinos into 21 studies over 15 years. We sought to identify and describe the strategies we have used to successfully recruit and retain Spanish-speaking Latinos in research.

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The catalyst-controlled enantioselective direct addition reaction of enolizable esters and related carboxylic acid derivatives to π electrophiles remains a difficult synthetic transformation. In this study, the suitability of α-hydroxy ketones as ester equivalents capable of being activated by bifunctional Brønsted base catalysts in the context of conjugate addition reactions to nitroolefins is demonstrated. The scope of the reaction, which affords the corresponding Michael adducts with very high stereoselectivity (diastereomeric ratio (d.

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Sarcopenia is among the most deleterious effects of aging. The objective of this study was to analyze the relationship between performance tests and muscular volume over the life span of male and female participants. A correlation study was conducted with healthy individuals (50 males and 47 females) between the ages of 20 and 94; the study group included active older people, sedentary younger people, and young athletes.

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Raman spectroscopy has been used to study fragments of early Visigothic historiated manuscripts from the important mediaeval library at Santo Domingo de Silos which were a part of a Beato dating from the tenth to the mid-eleventh centuries. These fragments are from some of the oldest manuscripts in the scriptorium of the monastery. In this study, a comparison is made between the pigments and inks used on these manuscripts and those used in a previous study of the unique Visigothic Beato de Valcavado in Santa Cruz, Valladolid, completed in the year 970, which is noted for its quality of execution as well as its content and is remarkable eschatologically in being identifiable as the complete work of only a single scribe.

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An efficient, highly diastereo- and enantioselective assembly of acyclic carbonyl fragments possessing nonadjacent all-carbon tertiary/quaternary stereoarrays is reported based on a Brønsted base catalyzed Michael addition/α-protonation sequence involving α-cyanoacetates and 2,4-dimethyl-4-hydroxypenten-3-one as novel methacrylate equivalent.

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Introduction: skin fixing devices in peripheral, central or arterial catheters have several important drawbacks: site infection, stacking of material in the anatomical area which is very annoying for the patient and medical staff risk when fixating stitches are used.

Objective: to develop a fixing device that simplifies presently used systems, favoring asepsis and motility.

Methods: the device herein described is composed by a mechanical fixation, a closing system and coupling for intravenous catheters.

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Catalytic and asymmetric Michael reactions constitute very powerful tools for the construction of new C-C bonds in synthesis, but most of the reports claiming high selectivity are limited to some specific combinations of nucleophile/electrophile compound types, and only few successful methods deal with the generation of all-carbon quaternary stereocenters. A contribution to solve this gap is presented here based on chiral bifunctional Brønsted base (BB) catalysis and the use of α'-oxy enones as enabling Michael acceptors with ambivalent H-bond acceptor/donor character, a yet unreported design element for bidentate enoate equivalents. It is found that the Michael addition of a range of enolizable carbonyl compounds that have previously demonstrated challenging (i.

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An effective asymmetric route to functionalized 1,6- and 1,7-enynes has been developed based on a direct cross-aldol reaction between ω-unsaturated aldehydes and propargylic aldehydes (α,β-ynals) promoted by combined α,α-dialkylprolinol ether/Brønsted acid catalysis. This synergistic activation strategy is key to accessing the corresponding aldol adducts with high stereoselectivity, both enantio- and diastereoselectivity. The aldol reaction also proceeds well with propargylic ketones (α,β-ynones) thus enabling a stereocontrolled access to the corresponding tertiary alcohols.

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Organophosphate intoxication is a very infrequent cause of acute deterioration of renal function but, when it does occur, it seriously aggravates the clinical status and prognosis. The pathogenesis of renal injury in this context remains unknown, although it is suspected that direct damage occurs at renal tubules. It has not been demonstrated that substitutive kidney treatment and specific antidotes provide any clear benefit.

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Methylocystis parvus OBBP is an obligate methylotroph considered the type species of the genus Methylocystis. Two pmoCAB particulate methane monooxygenase operons and one additional singleton pmoC paralog were identified in the sequence. No evidence of genes encoding soluble methane monooxygenase was found.

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Approaching the Nature's efficiency in controlling both reactivity and stereoselectivity of organic reactions by means of a catalyst species remains a formidable challenge for chemists to face. Despite impressive advances in the design of novel catalysts and activation modes, current catalytic and asymmetric methodologies rarely meet desirable standards of robustness, substrate scope, and selectivity altogether. One trick to improve catalyst behaviour is to identify adequate substrate template-catalyst combinations so that optimum performance of the reaction system could be achieved.

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The Diels-Alder reaction constitutes one of the most powerful and convergent C-C bond-forming transformations and continues to be the privileged route to access cyclohexene substructures, which are widespread within natural products and bioactive constituents. Over the recent years, asymmetric catalytic Diels-Alder methodologies have experienced a tremendous advance, but still inherently difficult diene-dienophile combinations prevail, such as those involving dienes less reactive than cyclopentadiene or dienophiles like beta-substituted acrylates and equivalents. Here the main features of alpha'-hydroxy enones as reaction partners of the Diels-Alder reaction are shown, with especial focus on their potentials and limitations in solving the above difficult cases.

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An unprecedented highly selective direct conjugate addition of prochiral nitroalkanes (R not equal H) to acrylate equivalents is described. The method employs a unique Lewis acid/Brønsted base/MS ternary catalytic system and affords products with dr up to 97/3. With beta-substituted (R' not equal H) acceptors unprecedented levels of anti/syn selectivity (>or=96/4) are attained.

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A camphor-based alpha'-hydroxy enone reagent acts as a chiral acrylate equivalent in copper-catalyzed Michael reactions of beta-keto esters and affords products that possess all-carbon quaternary stereocenters of high enantiomeric purity.

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Remarkably high and regular enantioselectivities are obtained in Friedel-Crafts alkylation reactions involving alpha'-hydroxy enone templates and Cu(II)-bis(oxazoline) complexes as catalysts. The simple elaboration of adducts provides a route to enantioenriched aldehydes, carboxylic acids, and ketones containing the pyrrole and indole frameworks.

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Catalytic, asymmetric conjugate addition of carbamates to enoyl systems has been realized for the first time, providing a two-step access to virtually enantiopure N-protected beta-amino acids.

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A practical total synthesis of hapalosin, a compound with multidrug resistance-reversing activity, has been carried out using an unprecedented macrolactonization strategy. One of the features of the new approach is the straightforward and fully stereocontrolled access to the key gamma-amino beta-hydroxy carboxylic acid subunit via an efficient acetate aldol addition reaction with N-methyl alpha-aminoaldehydes, which relies on a camphor-derived chiral lithium acetate enolate reagent. The scope of this aldol reaction is investigated and its potential application to the synthesis of other structurally related, biologically relevant compounds illustrated.

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Control of stereochemistry during aldol addition reactions has attracted considerable interest over the years as the aldol reaction is one of the most fundamental tools for the construction of new carbon-carbon bonds. Several strategies have been implemented whereby eventually any single possible stereoisomeric aldol product can be accessed by choosing the appropriate procedure. With earlier methods, stoichiometric quantities of chiral reagents were required for efficient asymmetric induction, with the auxiliary most often attached covalently to the substrate carbonyl.

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