Cyanoacetic Acid as a Masked Electrophile: Transition-Metal-Free Cyanomethylation of Amines and Carboxylic Acids.

Using cyanoacetic acid as a masked electrophile, a new cyanomethylation reaction of amines and carboxylic acids was developed, producing a variety of α-aminonitriles and cyanomethyl esters with good yields and excellent functionality tolerance. This protocol features simple manipulation, inexpensive reagents, and a wide substrate scope. Iodoacetonitrile was generated in situ from the iodination-decarboxylation of cyanoacetic acid in this transformation.

Nucleophilic attack of α-aminoalkyl radicals on carbon-nitrogen triple bonds to construct α-amino nitriles: an experimental and computational study.

A new reactivity pattern of α-aminoalkyl radicals, involving nucleophilic attack on C≡N triple bonds under thermal conditions, has been developed to construct α-amino nitriles. In contrast to previous C-H functionalization of tertiary amines involving α-aminoalkyl radicals, this methodology does not require the use of photocatalytic conditions or a transition-metal catalyst. Inexpensive and nontoxic phenylacetonitrile was chosen as cyano source for this α-aminonitrile forming reaction.

Chiral counteranion synergistic organocatalysis under high temperature: efficient construction of optically pure spiro[cyclohexanone-oxindole] backbone.

The combination of a cinchona-based chiral primary amine and a BINOL-phosphoric acid has been demonstrated as a powerful and synergistic catalyst system for the double Michael addition of isatylidene malononitriles with α,β-unsaturated ketones, to provide the novel chiral spiro [cyclohexane-1,3'-indoline]-2',3-diones in high yields (88-99%) with excellent diastereo- and enantioselectivities (94:6-99:1 dr's, 95-99% ee's).

SET-RAFT Polymerization of Progargyl Methacrylate and a One-Pot/One-Step Preparation of Side-chain Functionalized Polymers via Combination of SET-RAFT and Click Chemistry.

A clickable alkyne monomer, PgMA, was successfully polymerized in a well-controlled manner via single electron transfer initiation and propagation through the radical addition fragmentation chain transfer (SET-RAFT) method. The living nature of the polymerization was confirmed by the first-order kinetic plots, the linear relationships between molecular weights and the monomer conversions while keeping relatively narrow $\overline M _{\rm w} /\overline M _{\rm n}$ (≤1.55), and the successful chain-extension with MMA.

gp130-linked signal transduction promotes the differentiation and maturation of dendritic cells.

In order to explore the role of gp130-linked signal transduction in the differentiation and maturation of dendritic cells (DC), the mAb, B-S12, an agonist of gp130, was used for the activation of gp130 on DC. The effects of cytokines and of anti-gp130 mAb on the proliferation of DC, and their expression of IL-12 and CD80 (B7-1) by DC were evaluated. DC differentiating from peripheral blood mononuclear cells did not express the IL-6 receptor alpha chain, but expressed gp130.