Ichiro Okura

Bio: Ichiro Okura is an academic researcher from Tokyo Institute of Technology. The author has contributed to research in topics: Hydrogenase & Viologen. The author has an hindex of 40, co-authored 249 publications receiving 4325 citations. Previous affiliations of Ichiro Okura include Osaka City University.

Photostable Optical Oxygen Sensing Material: Platinum Tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl)porphyrin Immobilized in Polystyrene

Abstract: An oxygen sensing material based on platinum tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl) porphyrin (PtTFPP) has been developed and characterized using luminescence quenching by oxygen of PtTFPP molecules immobilized in polystyrene (PS) polymer. This is a photostable sensing material that exhibits minimal deterioration (only 9.2% decrease of initial intensity after continuous illumination for 50 h with excitation at 508 nm). The signal changes of the PtTFPP/PS membrane are large enough to allow quantification of oxygen with good sensitivity (I 0 /I 100 >3). Response times are 18 s for de-oxygenated to oxygenated conditions and 1 min for the reverse conditions.

Functional validation of the genetic polymorphisms of human ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter ABCG2: identification of alleles that are defective in porphyrin transport

Abstract: The ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter ABCG2 has been implicated to play a significant role in the response of patients to medication and/or the risk of diseases. To clarify the possible physiological or pathological relevance of ABCG2 polymorphisms, we have functionally validated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) of ABCG2. In the present study, based on the currently available data on SNPs and acquired mutations, we have created a total of 18 variant forms of ABCG2 (V12M, G51C, Q126stop, Q141K, T153M, Q166E, I206L, F208S, S248P, E334stop, F431L, S441N, R482G, R482T, F489L, F571I, N590Y, and D620N) by site-directed mutagenesis and expressed them in insect cells. Because porphyrins are considered to be endogenous substrates for ABCG2, we have investigated the porphyrin transport activity of those variant forms in vitro. We herein provide evidence that the variants Q126stop, F208S, S248P, E334stop, and S441N are defective in porphyrin transport, whereas F489L exhibited impaired transport, approximately 10% of the activity observed for the wild type. Furthermore, Flp-In-293 cells expressing those variants were photosensitive. Thus, among those genetic polymorphisms of ABCG2, at least the hitherto validated alleles of Q126stop, S441N, and F489L are suggested to be of clinical importance related to the potential risk of porphyria.

Cu-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition.

Abstract: The Huisgen 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction of organic azides and alkynes has gained considerable attention in recent years due to the introduction in 2001 of Cu(1) catalysis by Tornoe and Meldal, leading to a major improvement in both rate and regioselectivity of the reaction, as realized independently by the Meldal and the Sharpless laboratories. The great success of the Cu(1) catalyzed reaction is rooted in the fact that it is a virtually quantitative, very robust, insensitive, general, and orthogonal ligation reaction, suitable for even biomolecular ligation and in vivo tagging or as a polymerization reaction for synthesis of long linear polymers. The triazole formed is essentially chemically inert to reactive conditions, e.g. oxidation, reduction, and hydrolysis, and has an intermediate polarity with a dipolar moment of ∼5 D. The basis for the unique properties and rate enhancement for triazole formation under Cu(1) catalysis should be found in the high ∆G of the reaction in combination with the low character of polarity of the dipole of the noncatalyzed thermal reaction, which leads to a considerable activation barrier. In order to understand the reaction in detail, it therefore seems important to spend a moment to consider the structural and mechanistic aspects of the catalysis. The reaction is quite insensitive to reaction conditions as long as Cu(1) is present and may be performed in an aqueous or organic environment both in solution and on solid support.

Activation of c-h bonds by metal complexes

Abstract: ion. The oxidative addition mechanism was originally proposed22i because of the lack of a strong rate dependence on polar factors and on the acidity of the medium. Later, however, the electrophilic substitution mechanism also was proposed. Recently, the oxidative addition mechanism was confirmed by investigations into the decomposition and protonolysis of alkylplatinum complexes, which are the reverse of alkane activation. There are two routes which operate in the decomposition of the dimethylplatinum(IV) complex Cs2Pt(CH3)2Cl4. The first route leads to chloride-induced reductive elimination and produces methyl chloride and methane. The second route leads to the formation of ethane. There is strong kinetic evidence that the ethane is produced by the decomposition of an ethylhydridoplatinum(IV) complex formed from the initial dimethylplatinum(IV) complex. In D2O-DCl, the ethane which is formed contains several D atoms and has practically the same multiple exchange parameter and distribution as does an ethane which has undergone platinum(II)-catalyzed H-D exchange with D2O. Moreover, ethyl chloride is formed competitively with H-D exchange in the presence of platinum(IV). From the principle of microscopic reversibility it follows that the same ethylhydridoplatinum(IV) complex is the intermediate in the reaction of ethane with platinum(II). Important results were obtained by Labinger and Bercaw62c in the investigation of the protonolysis mechanism of several alkylplatinum(II) complexes at low temperatures. These reactions are important because they could model the microscopic reverse of C-H activation by platinum(II) complexes. Alkylhydridoplatinum(IV) complexes were observed as intermediates in certain cases, such as when the complex (tmeda)Pt(CH2Ph)Cl or (tmeda)PtMe2 (tmeda ) N,N,N′,N′-tetramethylenediamine) was treated with HCl in CD2Cl2 or CD3OD, respectively. In some cases H-D exchange took place between the methyl groups on platinum and the, CD3OD prior to methane loss. On the basis of the kinetic results, a common mechanism was proposed to operate in all the reactions: (1) protonation of Pt(II) to generate an alkylhydridoplatinum(IV) intermediate, (2) dissociation of solvent or chloride to generate a cationic, fivecoordinate platinum(IV) species, (3) reductive C-H bond formation, producing a platinum(II) alkane σ-complex, and (4) loss of the alkane either through an associative or dissociative substitution pathway. These results implicate the presence of both alkane σ-complexes and alkylhydridoplatinum(IV) complexes as intermediates in the Pt(II)-induced C-H activation reactions. Thus, the first step in the alkane activation reaction is formation of a σ-complex with the alkane, which then undergoes oxidative addition to produce an alkylhydrido complex. Reversible interconversion of these intermediates, together with reversible deprotonation of the alkylhydridoplatinum(IV) complexes, leads to multiple H-D exchange