Kuraray Co., Ltd.

Other

Tetsuo Takigawa

Masao Mizuno

Naoshi Nakagawa

Masayasu Inoue

Iwao Ebashi

Takashi Takahashi

Takashi Nishida

Jiro Tsuji

Masao Tsuji

Masafumi Okada

Koichi Ibata

Michiya Shimamura

Shigeaki Suzuki

Lorne M Golub

Yoshiji Fujita

Thomas F McNamara

Takashi Onishi

Fumio Mori

Robert A Greenwald

Nangavarum S Ramamurthy

Tsutomu Kameyama

Goro Kobayashi

Hisashi Iwata

Tsutomu Kawai

Akira Kageyu

Takashi Hamasaki

Jiro Kitamura

Provided is a long chain carboxylic acid imide ester (I) represented by the following general formula (I) ##STR1## wherein W is a divalent long chain hydrocarbon group which may optionally be interrupted by one or more groups each independently selected from the group consisting of an oxygen atom, a sulfur atom, and a group of --N(R.sup.1)-- (R.sup.1 being a lower alkyl group) and X represents a divalent hydrocarbon group which may optionally be substituted, or salts thereof. The above long chain carboxylic acid imide ester or its salts is useful for modifying enzymes or proteins having biological activities to give their derivatives which have, while retaining most of the original biological activities, an extremely prolonged plasma half-life as compared with the proteins and have no antigenecities and can be administered to animals.

Long chain carboxylic acid imide ester

Provided are novel superoxide dismutase derivatives represented by the following general formula (I) ##STR1## wherein [SOD] is a superoxide dismutase residue derived by removal of two mercapto groups, and W is a divalent long chain hydrocarbon residue which may optionally be interrupted by one or more groups each independently selected from the group consisting of an oxygen atom, a sulfur atom and a group of -N(R)- (R being a lower alkyl group). The SOD derivatives retain most of the enzymatic activities of unmodified SOD and have much longer plasma half-life than unmodified SOD. They are effective for treating various diseases caused by active oxygen species. Also provided are chemical modifiers to prepare the above SOD derivatives.

Long chain carboxylic acid maleimides

There are provided pregnane derivatives represented by formula ##STR1## wherein A.sup.1 represents a hydrogen atom or a hydroxyl group, A.sup.2 represents a substituent such as a hydroxyl group when A.sup.1 represents a hydrogen atom, or A.sup.2 represents a hydrogen atom when A.sup.1 represents a hydroxyl group, or A.sup.1 and A.sup.2 are combined together to form an oxo group; D.sup.1 represents a substituent such as a hydroxyl group, and D.sup.2 represents a hydrogen atom, or D.sup.1 and D.sup.2 are combined together to form an epoxy group or a single bond; D.sup.3, D.sup.5 and D.sup.7 each represents a hydrogen atom, D.sup.4 represents a hydroxyl group, and D.sup.6 represents a substituent such as a hydroxyl group, or D.sup.3 and D.sup.4 may be combined together to form an epoxy group or a single bond, or D.sup.4 and D.sup.5 may be combined together to form a single bond, or D.sup.5 and D.sup.6 may be combined together to form an epoxy group or a single bond, or D.sup.6 and D.sup.7 may be combined together to form a single bond; and X.sup.1 and X.sup.2 each represents a lower alkoxyl group or, when combined together, they represent a lower alkylenedioxy or oxo group, and a process for their preparation. The pregnane derivatives are useful as intermediates for synthesizing vitamin D.sub.3 derivatives having a hydroxyl group in the 1.alpha.-position.

Pregnane derivatives and processes for production thereof

Provided is a long chain carboxylic acid imide ester (I) represented by the following general formula (I) ##STR1## wherein W is a divalent long chain hydrocarbon group which may optionally be interrupted by one or more groups each independently selected from the group consisting of an oxygen atom, a sulfur atom and a group of --N(R.sup.1)-- (R.sup.1 being a lower alkyl group) and X represents a divalent hydrocarbon group which may optionally be substituted, or salts thereof. The above long chain carboxylic acid imide ester or its salts is useful for modifying enzymes or proteins having biological activities to give their derivatives which have, while retaining most of the original biological activities, an extremely prolonged plasma half-life as compared with the proteins and have no antigenecities and can be administered to animals.

Provided is a method of treating humans or animals suffering from a condition or disease characterized by excessive collagen destruction, which comprises administering to said human or animal an effective amount of a 12a-deoxytetracycline represented by the following general formula ##STR1## The method is effective in the treatment of various articular diseases characterized by excessive collagen destruction.

Method to reduce connective tissue destruction

Provided are novel superoxide dismutase derivatives represented by the following general formula (I) ##STR1## wherein [SOD] is a superoxide dismutase residue derived by removal of two mercapto groups, and W is a divalent long chain hydrocarbon residue which may optionally be interrupted by one or more groups each independently selected from the group consisting of an oxygen atom, a sulfur atom and a group of --N(R)-- (R being a lower alkyl group). The SOD derivatives retain most of the enzymatic activities of unmodified SOD and have much longer plasma half-life than unmodified SOD. They are effective for treating various diseases caused by active oxygen species. Also provided are chemical modifiers to prepare the above SOD derivatives.

Superoxide dismutase derivatives

Steroid compounds

A method of producing .alpha.-dihydropolyprenyl monophosphates from .alpha.-dihydropolyprenols through .alpha.-dihydropolyprenyl dichlorophosphates in good yield and with ease is provided. A method of producing .alpha.-dihydropolyprenyl dichlorophosphates which are intermediate compounds useful for the first-mentioned method is also provided.

Method of producing .alpha.-dihydropolyprenyl monophosphates

A compound which is 4-(3,5-dihydroxy-3-methylpentylamide)butyric acid or its pharmaceutically acceptable salt or ester; this compound being produced by reacting a salt or an ester of gamma-aminobutyric acid with beta-hydroxy-beta-methyl-delta-valerolactone, and as required, converting the resulting compound in the form of a salt or ester to a free acid, or as required, converting the resulting compound in the form of a free acid to its pharmaceutically acceptable salt or ester; and useful as a medicament for preventing or treating an impediment in cerebral function.

Gamma-aminobutyric acid derivatives, process for production thereof, and

Polyprenols or esters thereof, which are similar in the trans and cis configurations to dolichol, or mixtures thereof are obtained from the leaves of plants belonging to the genus Pinus L. of the family Pinaceae by extraction, if necessary followed by hydrolysis, esterification or transesterification or a combination thereof. These polyprenyl compounds and mixtures thereof are useful as favorable starting materials for the synthesis of dolichol.

Method of preparing polyprenyl compounds or mixtures thereof

Novel polyprenyl compounds have the general formula: ##STR1## represents a cis-isoprene unit, n is an integer of 11-19, Z.sup.1 is --CH.sub.2 OH or a functional precursor thereof, and either one of R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 is a hydrogen atom and the other is --S(O).sub.m R.sup.3 in which m is an integer of 0 (zero), 1 or 2 and R.sup.3 is a phenyl, naphthyl, pyridyl or thiazolinyl group or such group substituted with at least one lower alkyl and/or halogen substituent. The topic novel polyprenyl compounds can be synthesized from derivatives of the polyprenol which is obtainable from leaves of Ginkgo biloba or Cedrus deodara, among others, by extraction, if necessary followed by hydrolytic treatment. The novel polyprenyl compounds can be converted to mammalian dolichols or precursors thereof by reductive elimination of the --S(O).sub.m R.sup.3 group.

Certain polyprenyl intermediates

There are provided polyprenyl compounds of the formula ##STR1## wherein ##STR2## represent a trans-isoprene unit and a cis-isoprene unit, respectively, n is an integer of 11-19, Z.sup.1 and Z.sup.2 combinedly represent .dbd.O, .dbd.CH--COOH,.dbd.CH--COOR.sup.1, .dbd.CH--CN, .dbd.C(CN)COOR.sup.2, .dbd.CH--CO--NH.sub.2, .dbd.CH--CO--N(R.sup.3) (R.sup.4), .dbd.CH--CO--NHR.sup.5, .dbd.CH--CH.sub.2 --N(R.sup.3) (R.sup.4), .dbd.CH--CH.sub.2 --NHR.sup.5 or .dbd.CH--CHO or Z.sup.1 is a hydrogen atom and Z.sup.2 is --CH.sub.2 COOH, --CH.sub.2 COOR.sup.6, --CH(CN)COOR.sup.2, --CH.sub.2 CN, --CH.sub.2 --CO--NH.sub.2, --CH.dbd.CH--N(R.sup.3) (R.sup.4) or --CH.sub.2 --CH.dbd.N--R.sup.5, R.sup.1, R.sup.2 and R.sup.6 each being a lower alkyl group, R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 each independently being a lower-alkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl or aralkyl group or R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 combinedly representing an alkylene group containing 2-5 carbon atoms, and R.sup.5 being a lower-alkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl or aralkyl group. These polyprenyl compounds can be synthesized starting with a polyprenol obtainable from leaves of a plant such as Ginkgo biloba or Cedrus deodara by extraction and as necessary followed by hydrolysis, or a reactive derivative thereof. The polyprenyl compounds are useful as intermediates for the synthesis of dolichol without the use of an expensive C.sub.5 chain extender.

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Kurashiki, Japan

Tetsuo Takigawa