Comparison of a Daily Steviol Glycoside Beverage compared with a Sucrose Beverage for Four Weeks on Gut Microbiome in Healthy Adults.

Background: Recent studies suggest that some nonnutritive sweeteners (NNS) have deleterious effects on the human gut microbiome (HGM). The effect of steviol glycosides on the HGM has not been well studied.

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the effects of stevia- compared with sucrose-sweetened beverages on the HGM and fecal short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) profiles.

β-Selective Glucosylation in the Absence of Neighboring Group Participation: Influence of the 3,4-O-Bisacetal Protecting System.

A 3,4-O-bisacetal 2,6-di-O-benzyl protected thioglucoside is converted to the corresponding glucosyl triflate with 1-benzenesulfinyl piperidine and trifluoromethanesulfonic anhydride. The moderate to excellent β-selectivity exhibited with this glucosyl triflate with a range of alcohols is generally higher than that observed with the more electronically disarmed corresponding 3,4-O-carbonate, for which a possible reason is advanced.

Dechalcogenative allylic selenosulfide and disulfide rearrangements: complementary methods for the formation of allylic sulfides in the absence of electrophiles. Scope, limitations, and application to the functionalization of unprotected peptides in aqueous media.

Primary allylic selenosulfates (seleno Bunte salts) and selenocyanates transfer the allylic selenide moiety to thiols giving primary allylic selenosulfides, which undergo rearrangement in the presence of PPh3 with the loss of selenium to give allylically rearranged allyl alkyl sulfides. This rearrangement may be conducted with prenyl-type selenosulfides to give isoprenyl alkyl sulfides. Alkyl secondary and tertiary allylic disulfides, formed by sulfide transfer from allylic heteroaryl disulfides to thiols, undergo desulfurative allylic rearrangement on treatment with PPh3 in methanolic acetonitrile at room temperature.

Enhanced diastereoselectivity in beta-mannopyranosylation through the use of sterically minimal propargyl ether protecting groups.

[reaction: see text] 2-O-Propargyl ethers are shown to be advantageous in the 4,6-O-benzylidene acetal directed beta-mannosylation reaction. The effect is most pronounced when the O3 protecting group is a bulky silyl ether or a glycosidic bond; however, even with a 3-O-benzyl ether, the use of a 2-O-propargyl ether results in a significant increase in diastereoselectivity. The beneficial effect of the propargyl ether is thought to be a combination of its minimal steric bulk, as determined by a measurement of the steric A-value and of its moderately disarming nature, as reflected in the pKa of propargyl alcohol.

Allylic selenosulfide rearrangement: a method for chemical ligation to cysteine and other thiols.

Alkylation of potassium selenosulfate with allylic halides gives Se-allyl seleno Bunte salts. On reaction with thiols at room temperature, these afford mixed dialkyl selenosulfides, which undergo 2,3-sigmatropic rearrangement with loss of selenium, either spontaneously or with assistance by triphenylphosphine, thereby providing mixed dialkyl sulfides and a new permanent chemical ligation method. The process is illustrated through the lipidation of cysteine-containing tripeptides and by the allylation of 1-thioglucose tetraacetate.

Is there a homolytic substitution chemistry (SH2) of sulfones?

[reaction: see text] A series of 2-alkylsulfonyl-2'-biphenyl radicals, in which the alkyl group is primary, secondary, or tertiary, were generated and the products of their reactions investigated. Dibenzothiophene S,S-dioxide was not identified among the products, which arose mainly from intramolecular hydrogen abstraction from the alkyl group or addition to the solvent, benzene. On this basis, it is concluded that homolytic substitution at sulfonyl sulfur, if possible at all, is too slow to take precedence over a number of competing decomposition pathways.

Switching between novel samarium(II)-mediated cyclizations by a simple change in alcohol cosolvent.

Gamma,delta-unsaturated ketones undergo two very different stereoselective cyclization reactions mediated by samarium(II) iodide depending upon the alcohol cosolvent used in the reaction. Switching between an unprecedented aldol spirocyclization and a novel cyclobutanol-forming process can be achieved simply by changing the alcohol cosolvent from methanol to tert-butyl alcohol. [reaction: see text]

Service industries, globalization, and urban restructuring within the Asia-Pacific: new development trajectories and planning responses.

While industralization programmes have been central to the development of Asia-Pacific states and city-regions over the past half-century, service industries are increasingly important as instruments of urban growth and change. The purpose of this paper is to establish service industries as increasingly significant aspects of urban development within the Asia-Pacific, and to propose a conceptual and analytical framework for scholarly investigation within this important research domain. To this end the paper explores a sequence of related themes and issues, concerning the larger developmental implications of urban services growth (or ), the facets of urban transformation associated with tertiarization, and a preliminary typology of urban service functions which acknowledges the rich diversity of service vocations and stages of development within the Asia-Pacific.

Samarium(II)-mediated reactions of gamma,delta-unsaturated ketones. Cyclization and fragmentation processes.

[reaction: see text] On treatment with samarium(II) iodide, gamma,delta-unsaturated ketones undergo very different processes depending upon the nature of the reaction conditions. Employing samarium(II) iodide and MeOH, functionalized syn-cyclopentanol products are obtained stereoselectively. Mechanistic studies suggest that this cyclization occurs via a sequential reduction/intramolecular aldol reaction.