Current Organic Chemistry - Volume 17, Issue 8, 2013

The most remarkable difference between a chemical reaction and a lipase reaction is the fact that lipase possesses several substrate specificities, in particular, fatty acid specificity on hydrolysis, esterification, or transesterification reaction of the ester bond. Several lipases act weakly on polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) such as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid. Through fatty acid specificity of lipases, Read More

Plasmalogens are unique vinyl ether glycerophospholipids that serve diverse structural roles in the membranes of cells and cell organelles. Additionally, the fatty acid substitutions at sn– 2 of the glycerol backbone are dynamically removed by lipases and replaced by acyltransferases. These fatty acid storage pools provide the free arachidonic acid and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) involved in signal transduction cascad Read More

DHA–lysophospholipids are raising considerable interest because they are recognized as being relevant to promote the biological effects of the dietary fatty acid, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). With a view to meet the growing demand in DHA–lysophospholipids, several research works have investigated their production. DHA-lysophospholipid production can be carried out either by chemical synthesis or enzymatic synthesis u Read More

Ether glycerophospholipids (GPLs) are a subclass of phospholipids, chemically characterized by the existence of an ether bond within the lipid molecules. Because ether GPLs are membrane structure components, they act as the wide-like resistance to membrane oxidation induced by chemical hypoxia and reactive oxygen species. The abnormal biosynthesis of ether GPLs in humans leads to the decreased supply of the Read More

Lysophospholipids (LPLs) are secreted physiologically by various cell types. They exhibit a broad range of biological activities, playing highly important roles in the development, activation and regulation of the immune system and are also related to cancerous cells proliferation. Consequently LPLs or their receptors have become attractive targets for developing drugs specially in the treatment of cancers. Then th Read More

Nanomaterial drug delivery systems are promising vehicles to improve chemotherapy and decrease side effects. In the last years, there have been more reports published in prestigious journals addressing the successful application of magnetite nanoparticles in tumors treatment. The antitumor effect of magnetic fluids was studied intensely by applying an external magnetic field to retain the nanoparticles in the tumor tissue, and Read More

In light of rapid progress in biochemistry and modern bioengineering, there is a great interest in understanding how modifying the structure of naturally occurring lipids can be used to improve their nutritional and health properties. Structured lipids (SLs) or custom-made lipids can supply functional fatty acids because of their specific positioning in the glycerol structure. Health benefits of n-3 fatty acids such as docosahexa Read More

Electrochemical oxidation of 4–methylesculetin has been studied in the presence of arylsulfinic acids as nucleophiles in aqueous/ acetonitrile solution mixture, using cyclic voltammetry and controlled-potential coulometry. The results indicate that the o-quinone derived from oxidation of 4–methylesculetin undergoes a 1,6-Michael addition reaction with unique selectivity, converts to the corresponding new sulfone derivative Read More

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) composition of Polish honeys obtained from various geographical regions was studied. Headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) using Divinylbenzene/Carboxen/Polydimethylsiloxane-coated fibers was used in combination with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography–time–of–flight mass spectrometry (GC× GC–TOFMS) because of the complexity of the samples. Acacia Read More

Discotic liquid crystals, as new organic semiconductors, possess not only the ability to self-organize to a highly ordered columnar mesophase, but also possess high charged carrier mobility and solution processed characteristic. The progress of synthetic organic chemistry and new molecular designing ideas will result in improved discotic liquid crystalline semiconductors. In this report, we have investigated the CuI-Et3N catalyz Read More

A versatile procedure for the γ -vinylogous aldol reaction of the dioxinone-derived silyl enolether, via enolate activation with an appropriate neutral Lewis base, was formulated. High levels of diastereo- and enantioselectivity using chiral 2-methylsulfinyl benzaldehyde were obtained, pointing out the dual role of the methylsulfinyl group as incorporated chiral inductor and activator of the silyloxydiene in the stereoselective vinylogo Read More