Hiroshi Tsuchikawa

[1,5]-H shift of aldehyde hydrogen in dienal compounds to produce ketenes.

In 3-ethoxycarbonyl-2,4-dienal compounds, a thermal [1,5]-H shift of aldehyde hydrogen easily proceeded to produce the corresponding vinyl ketenes due to the remarkable substituent effect caused by the C3 ester group. The produced ketenes were captured by an alcohol and olefins to afford the corresponding esters and four-membered ring compounds, respectively.

Total synthesis of (-)-hippodamine by stereocontrolled construction of azaphenalene skeleton based on extended one-pot asymmetric azaelectrocyclization.

The first asymmetric total synthesis of (-)-hippodamine has been accomplished via the concise construction of its azaphenalene core, which is featured by the 2,4,6-chiral piperidine synthesis based on one-pot asymmetric azaelectrocyclization in the partially activated substituent system and the subsequent intramolecular Mannich reaction.

Palladium-catalyzed asymmetric 6-endo cyclization of dienamides with substituent-driven activation.

Chiral 2-piperidinone compounds with various C-6 substituents were successfully synthesized via a Pd-catalyzed asymmetric 6-endo cyclization of dienamides, which were evidently activated by both N-p-toluenesulfonyl and C-3 ester substituents.

Kinetics of the ceramide kinase inhibitor K1, a suppressor of mast-cell activation.

In a previous study, we synthesized a novel inhibitor of ceramide kinase, K1. In this study, we determined that inhibition by K1 is non-competitive and that four intact six-membered rings are important to the inhibitory activity. Furthermore, we identified an effective in vivo concentration for K1, at which it did not influence any cellular lipid synthesis other than that of ceramide 1-phosphate (C1P) using RBL-2H3 cells, and found that K1 suppressed the activation of mast cells.