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Extremely high enantioselectivity (>99.5% ee) and chemical yield (>99%) are achieved in an asymmetric autocatalytic reaction. A (5-pyrimidyl)alkanol with a tert-butylethynyl group at its 2-position (1) is a very efficient asymmetric autocatalyst in the enantioselective alkylation in Equation (1).

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Dedicated to Professor Dieter Seebach on the occasion of his 65th birthday 1,3-Disubstituted chiral allenes without any heteroatoms act as chiral initiators in the addition of (i-Pr) 2 Zn to pyrimidine-5-carbaldehyde to afford, in combination with the subsequent asymmetric autocatalysis, chiral pyrimidin-5-yl alkanols with up to 98% ee. The absolute configuration of the pyrimidin-5-yl alkanol formed depend on that of the chiral allene.

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Hormonal changes due to menopause can cause various health problems including weight gain and depressive symptoms. Multiple lines of evidence indicate that oestrogen receptors (ERs) play a major role in postmenopausal obesity and depression. However, little is known regarding the ER subtype-specific effects on obesity and depressive symptoms. To delineate potential effects of ERβ activation in postmenopausal women, we investigated the effects of a novel oestrogen receptor β-selective ligand (C-1) in ovariectomized mice. Uterine weight, depressive behaviour, and weight gain were examined in sham-operated control mice and ovariectomized mice administered placebo, C-1, or 17β-oestradiol (E2). Administration of C-1 or E2 reduced body weight gain and depressive-like behaviour in ovariectomized mice, as assessed by the forced swim test. In addition, administration of E2 to ovariectomized mice increased uterine weight, but administration of C-1 did not result in a significant increase in uterine weight. These results suggest that the selective activation of ERβ in ovariectomized mice may have protective effects against obesity and depressive-like behaviour without causing an increase in uterine weight. The present findings raise the possibility of the application of ERβ-ligands such as C-1 as a novel treatment for obesity and depression in postmenopausal women.

An ultra-remote intramolecular (point-to-point) asymmetric control through 38 bonds (1,39-asymmetric induction) has been achieved by using the principle of direct supramolecular orientation of catalytic and reactive moieties in asymmetric autocatalysis. We found the highly stereoselective diisopropylzinc addition reaction using designed molecules possessing pyrimidine sites at each terminal of a conformationally flexible simple methylene chain.