Mini-Reviews in Organic Chemistry - Volume 8, Issue 4, 2011

The links between cigarette smoking and diseases such as lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cardiovascular disease are now well established. Significant efforts have been made over the last 50 years to establish links between specific smoke constituents and the onset of these smoking related diseases. In recent years risk assessment approaches have also been developed to prioritise key toxicants among Read More

This short review summarises some fundamental aspects of cigarette combustion and smoke formation, including how cigarettes burn, how cigarette smoke is formed and the complex and reactive nature of it's composition. Particular emphasis has been placed on important factors which have to be controlled when generating, trapping and analyzing cigarette smoke. Examples are provided which demonstrate the s Read More

Oxidative stress, the accumulation of oxygen free radicals (reactive oxygen species) above and beyond the capacity of a cell to utilise antioxidant systems to detoxify these potentially damaging molecules, is a common feature of many human disorders. Cigarette smoke is not only a source of free radicals but is also a potent stimulator of the intracellular production of free radicals, by the mitochondrial electron transport chain Read More

Free radicals (FR) are chemical species of significant importance to biological systems. FRs are generated by endo- as well as exogenous factors. Biological systems are equipped with appropriate metabolic pathways to remove cellular FR as well as repair the damages caused by them. Their cellular/physiological load profoundly influences the metabolism, physiology and overall well being of biological systems. Therefore, they Read More

Oxidative stress has been implicated in the development of smoking-related diseases such as lung cancer, cardiovascular disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Damage to biological tissues from interactions with free radicals found within the smoke and induced within cells by smoke exposure, is thought to contribute to smoking-related disease development. Many of these radical components are very short-liv Read More

Tobacco smoke contains many thousands of chemicals including a large number of carcinogens. The exposure of human tissues and organs to these carcinogens and their metabolism in relation to smoking-related cancer has been reviewed. The assault on DNA and RNA as well as other cellular components by the ROS is the base for oxidation. Free radicals (ROS) are implicated in chemical carcinogenesis via various met Read More

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is one of the most important constituents in the metabolic chain transforming cigarette smoke in the human organism. The present analytical review provides a survey of the state-of-art in the study of H2O2 chemistry and biochemistry (both as a reactive and signaling species) in the context of cigarette smoking, taking into account both endogenous and exogenous (environmental, dietary, etc. Read More

Free radicals in the particulate phase of cigarette smoke were first measured by direct electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy over 60 years ago. Early efforts to measure free radicals in cigarette smoke were prompted by the theory that radicals could be involved in carcinogenesis. It was thought that free radicals could be either direct acting or produced by other components of cigarette smoke such Read More

Cigarette smoke free radicals have been the subject of many years of investigation. Recently, individual acyl and carbamoyl radicals in fresh whole cigarette smoke were isolated, identified, and quantified by HPLC-mass spectrometry for the first time. These carbon-centered radicals do not conform to the established “steady-state model” for radical formation in gas-phase cigarette smoke. In separate studies, NO2 in fresh w Read More

A critical examination of the literature on gas-phase free radicals and TPM-associated EPFRs in cigarette smoke is presented. These radicals participate in catalytic cycles that generate ROS that can result in oxidative stress. It seems that primary radicals originate from the direct decomposition of tobacco constituents and are linked to the chemical structure of the constituents and the temperature of pyrolysis. On Read More

The hydroxyl radical (˙OH) has been considered to be one of the most reactive oxygen species that are produced in biological systems. Frequently, ˙OH formation is ascribed to the transition metal-catalyzed Fenton reaction. During the study of the molecular mechanism for the genotoxicity of the wood preservative pentachlorophenol (PCP), we found that ˙OH could be produced by H2O2 and PCP metabolite tetrachloro-1,4-ben Read More

In this review, the features of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra of biomass chars prepared from single biopolymers (cellulose, pectin, lignin, etc.) to complex plant materials (tobacco) are summarized, and the interaction of biomass chars with air, O2 and/or H2O as detected by EPR is critically examined. The effects of inorganic components are emphasized for understanding the creation and annihilation of fr Read More

In the synthesis of primary (hetero)aryl amines through copper-catalysis, the ammonia surrogates or aqueous ammonia nucleophilic partners can be replaced by sodium azide. Recent efforts in copper-mediated transformation of (hetero)aryl halides to (hetero) aryl amines using azide anion as the amino source are discussed in these highlights.

Recently an aqueous medium has attracted the interest of chemists for many organic synthesis, and sometimes, surprising discoveries have been made using water. Among the various organic reactions investigated in aqueous medium, the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds has been the most widely studied because heterocyclic compounds are rich sources of diverse physical, chemical, and biological properties. They are Read More