Summary: An electrospun nonwoven fabric of a cationic polysaccharide, chitosan, was successfully prepared. The present study focuses on the effect of the electrospinning solvent and the chitosan concentration on the morphology of the resulting nonwoven fabrics. The solvents tested were dilute hydrochloric acid, acetic acid, neat formic acid and trifluoroacetic acid. As the chitosan concentration was increased, the morphology of the deposition on the collector changed from spherical beads to interconnected fibrous networks. The addition of dichloromethane to the chitosan‐TFA solution improved the homogeneity of the electrospun chitosan fiber. Under optimized conditions, homogenous (not interconnected) chitosan fibers with a mean diameter of 330 nm were prepared.Effects of the coexisting dichloromethane (MC) in the prespun chitosan‐TFA solution on the morphology of the electrospun chitosan fibers. The volume ratio of TFA:MC was 70:30 (×5 000).magnified imageEffects of the coexisting dichloromethane (MC) in the prespun chitosan‐TFA solution on the morphology of the electrospun chitosan fibers. The volume ratio of TFA:MC was 70:30 (×5 000).

A pure ruthenium hydride complex with N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligand was efficiently generated from the reaction of a second-generation Grubbs ruthenium catalyst with vinyloxytrimethylsilane and unambiguously characterized. This ruthenium hydride complex showed high catalytic activity for the selective isomerization of terminal olefin and for the cycloisomerization of 1,6-dienes. These reactions of N-allyl-o-vinylaniline lead to novel synthetic methods for heterocycles such as indoles and 3-methylene-2,3-dihydroindoles, which are useful synthons for bioactive natural products. These procedures address an important issue in diversity-oriented synthesis.

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Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is an intracellular second messenger and an extracellular mediator through endothelial differentiation gene (EDG) receptors, which are a novel class of G-protein-coupled receptors. Although EDG has attracted much attention because of its various roles, no selective agonists or antagonists have yet been developed. This could account for the delay in clarifying the physiological roles of members of the EDG family. Because precise structural information on EDG receptors is not yet available, pharmacophore models were generated based on structural information for S1P using the rational drug design software Catalyst. Novel antagonists, 2-alkylthiazolidine-4-carboxylic acids, were retrieved from a three-dimensional database search using the pharmacophore models, and these showed activity for EDG3. On the basis of their nonphosphoric acid structure, more potent antagonists, 2-(m- or p-heptylphenyl)thiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid, were developed.

We describe the preparation of cellulose nanofibrous material directly from cellulose solution via electrospinning. The resulting nanofiber is composed of pure cellulose. The spinning procedure can be performed under ambient conditions at room temperature without post-spun treatment. By mixing drugs with the pre-spun cellulose solution, followed by electrospinning, the drug-loaded nanofiber was prepared and the releasing properties were examined with respect to biomedical applications.

Different characteristic surface structures such as capsules, regularly spaced droplets, and fibers are formed by electrostatic interaction between poly-L-lysine (PLL) and gellan gum via polyion complex (PIC) formation. Spherical droplet PIC capsules of varying diameters form in solutions. Some dyes adsorb on the surface of the capsules, and other dyes penetrate into the capsules. The strong PIC fiber can be spinnable by gravity and by wet spinning in ethanol. This fiber possesses a counterion pairing structure and exhibits the nervation/veining pattern and hollow yarn. The tensile strength of the fiber is 27.8 kg/mm 2 [1.40 g/denier (d)] and the knotting strength is 9.98 kg/mm 2 (1.13 g/d). By using an organic crosslinking agent, epichlorohydrin, the tensile strength can be increased to 38.5 kg/mm 2 (2.46 g/d) and the knotting strength can be increased to 12.2 kg/mm 2 (1.99 g/d). The PIC fiber can be dyed by five different dyeing procedures such as direct and vat dyeings. The PLL PIC fiber is water insoluble and has potential as a new synthetic polypeptide fiber technology.

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