One-step highly diastereoselective synthesis of gamma-aminoalkyl-substituted gamma-butyrolactones by an asymmetric samarium-mediated ketyl-alkene coupling reaction.

The samarium(II) iodide mediated reaction of N,N-dibenzyl-protected (S)-alpha-amino aldehydes with (1S,2R)-N-methylephedrinyl acrylate gave the (4R,1'S)-gamma-(aminoalkyl)-gamma-butyrolactones in good yields with high diastereoselectivities (up to 80% de); (4R,1'S)-gamma-amino-(2-phenylethyl)-gamma-butyrolactone (6a), which should be a potent precursor for gamma-secretase inhibitors, was obtained with high de value.

An adult patient with acute hepatitis type B which was protracted and complicated by polyarteritis nodosa: a case report.

Polyarteritis nodosa (PAN), an extra-hepatic complication of hepatitis type B, is usually treated with a combination of immunosuppressive and antiviral drugs. Less commonly, interferon (IFN) has been used alone. A 57-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with epididymitis and acute hepatitis with genotype A, hepatitis B virus (HBV). He became a carrier with complicating PAN. The administration of interferon alpha2b (IFNalpha2b) at a dose of 6 MU/day for 4 weeks alleviated abdominal and neuronal symptoms related to PAN, although HBV replication was not eliminated. This is the first case of PAN with HBV of genotype A and which was treated with IFN alone. This case indicates the possibility that IFN is efficacious for extra-hepatic complications of hepatitis type B and suggests that differences in genotype may be associated with variation in the likelihood of progression to persistent infection and the incidence of extra-hepatic complications in Japan.