The structure of the water chain in the 8 x cyclo-(WL)(4) peptide nanotube embedded in the POPE lipid bilayer is studied by molecular dynamics simulations. The distribution profiles of water molecules along the nanotube axis proposes a wavelike pattern of the water chain in the nanotube, arraying in the form of a 1-2-1-2 file, in contrast to the single file in other nanochannels studied widely. Cylindrical distribution functions of water at different zones and potential of mean force of a water molecule along the axis suggest that the primary reason for forming the water-chain pattern is steric constraints. A novel hydrogen bond network in the nanotube is present such that each water in the alpha-plane zones forms two hydrogen bonds (as a donor) with the two water molecules in the adjacent midplane zone, and each water molecule in the midplane zones forms one hydrogen bond with the water molecule in the adjacent alpha-plane zone and a poor hydrogen bond with the carbonyl groups in the nanotube. Strong orientations of the water dipoles near the two opening ends pointing to the opposite directions are found, and the potential energy of a water O or H atom along the axis is explored to explain the water dipole orientations' reversing in the nanotube. Defects of the hydrogen bond network exist in the central gaps of the cyclic peptide nanotube.

Molecular dynamics simulations have been performed on three transmembrane cyclic peptide nanotubes, i.e., 8 × (WL)(n=3,4,5)/POPE (with uniform lengths but various radii) to investigate the radial dependences of the water-chain structures, diffusions, and transportation properties. The diffusions of individual water molecules and collective coordinates of all the channel-water in the three systems are certified as unbiased Brownian motions. From the very good linear relationships between MSDs and time intervals, the diffusion coefficients and transportation permeabilities have been deduced efficiently. Under the hydrostatic pressure differences across the membrane, a net unidirectional water flow rose up, and the osmotic permeabilities were determined. The ratios of the osmotic and diffusion permeabilities (p(f)/p(d)) were examined for all the three channels.

A diastereoselective and modular approach to the synthesis of the 3-hydroxymethyl-2,3,5,6,7,7a-hexahydro-1H-pyrrolizine-1,2,7-triol structure, characteristic of several natural pyrrolizidine natural products has been developed. This approach culminated in the synthesis of (-)-7-epiaustraline and (+)-1,7-diepiaustraline. The oxazolidinone group has been found to be a useful protecting group in the RCM reaction and, as part of a pyrrolo[1,2-c]oxazol-3-one ring system, has functioned as a stereo-and regiodirecting group, in a key diastereoselective cis-dihydroxylation reaction and a regioselective nucleophilic ringopening of a S,S-dioxo-dioxathiole. Abstract: A diastereoselective and modular approach to the synthesis of the 3-hydroxymethyl-2,3,5,6,7,7a-hexahydro-1H-pyrrolizine-1,2,7-triol structure, characteristic of several natural

. Asymmetric synthesis of polyfunctionalized pyrrolidines and related alkaloids. Synlett: accounts and rapid communications in synthetic organic chemistry, 15 2670-2680. Asymmetric synthesis of polyfunctionalized pyrrolidines and related alkaloids AbstractThis account describes our recent studies on the development of a general method of preparing polyfunctionalized pyrrolidine, indolizidine, pyrrolizidine and pyrrolo[1,2-a]azepines and their related alkaloids. Abstract: This account describes our recent studies on the development of a general method of preparing polyfunctionalized pyrrolidine, indolizidine, pyrrolizidine and pyrrolo[1,2-a]azepines and their related alkaloids. Keywords CMMB

Five copper(II)-porphyrin cages were synthesized with Cu ions as a template. Cu II ions can be activated and stabilized as π-cation radicals in a highly deformed cage complex by electron transition from the metal ion to the π-a 1u orbital of the ring. This study indicates that the activation of the unpaired electron of the Cu II ion only requires the contraction of the core, because the excitation of the electron and the stability of the activated electron are related to the cage features of the mol- [a]