A potential antagonist, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain RC-2, against Colletotrichum dematium, mulberry anthracnose fungus, was obtained from healthy mulberry leaves by in vitro and in vivo screening techniques. Application of culture filtrate of RC-2 inhibited disease on mulberry leaves, indicating that suppression was due to antifungal compounds in the filtrate. Development of mulberry anthracnose on mulberry leaves was inhibited only when the culture filtrate was applied before fungal inoculation, and it was not inhibited by application after inoculation. These results suggest that the antifungal compounds in the filtrate exhibit a preventive effect on the disease. Peptone significantly increased production of the antifungal compounds. The culture filtrate of RC-2 also inhibited the growth of several other phytopathogenic fungi and bacteria, such as Rosellinia necatrix, Pyricularia oryzae, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, and Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris, in vitro. From the culture filtrate of RC-2, seven kinds of antifungal compounds were isolated by high performance liquid chromatography analysis, and one of the compounds was determined as iturin A2, a cyclic peptide, by nuclear magnetic resonance and fast atom bombardment mass analysis.

The Raman spectra of water are measured at temperatures up to 510 °C and at pressures up to 40 MPa. The peak frequency increases with temperature, indicating the break of hydrogen bonding, and it changes only slightly at higher temperatures above the critical point. The peak frequency has a maximum near the critical pressure, and the extent of hydrogen bonding significantly changes with pressure in this near-critical region. The deviation of the maximum frequency Δf relative to that of the monomer is in good agreement with the chemical shifts with the literature NMR data. The extent of the hydrogen bonding can be estimated from the Δf values. The Δf values at the near-critical points are significantly lower compared with those in super- or sub-critical conditions, and the strength of the hydrogen bonding weakens uniquely in the near-critical region.

A high-pressure and high-temperature FTIR was used to study noncatalytic Beckmann and pinacol rearrangements using supercritical water (scH 2 O). Significant acceleration of Beckmann and pinacol rearrangements can be achieved by using scH 2 O, especially near the critical point, even in the absence of any acid catalysts. It has been demonstrated that scH 2 O acts effectively in the place of conventional acid catalysts for both the rearrangements. The rate of pinacol rearrangement using scH 2 O is significantly larger by a factor of 28200 than that in 0.871 M HCl solution at 46.7 MPa under distillation conditions. The activation energy for the former at 25 MPa was found to be markedly reduced to about one-third of that for the latter. The accelerated rates of reaction may be attributed to a great increase in the local proton concentration around the organic reactants. In addition, the nature of scH 2 O can be adjustable to weak acidity in the near-critical region, and then it does not catalyze the pinacol rearrangement, but opens a new reaction pathway from pinacol through a completely dehydrated product and then to a Diels-Alder adduct between the dehydrated products.

No abstract

Grinding a mixture of 3-chlorobiphenyl (BP-Cl) and CaO with or without the addition of quartz was conducted in air by a planetary ball mill to investigate the mechanochemical dechlorination of BP-Cl. The dechlorinating reaction proceeds with an increase in grinding time, and over 99% of BP-Cl is decomposed at 360 min. Washing the ground sample with different solvents results in different products. Addition of quartz to the grinding mixture facilitates dechlorination efficiency, especially in the case of a high weight ratio of BP-Cl to CaO.