Academic literature on the topic 'Lanzhou Shi'

ABSTRACT Purpose The objective of this study is to establish a nomogram that correlates optimized APACHE II score with sepsis-related indicators, aiming to provide a robust model for early prediction of sepsis prognosis in clinical practice and serve as a valuable reference for improved diagnosis and treatment strategies. Methods This retrospective study extracted sepsis patients meeting the inclusion criteria from the MIMIC-IV database to form the training group. An optimized Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II score integrated with relevant indicators was developed using a nomogram for predicting the prognosis of sepsis patients. External validation was conducted using data from the Intensive Care Unit at Lanzhou University Second Hospital. Results The study enrolled 1805 patients in the training cohort and 203 patients in the validation cohort. A multifactor analysis was conducted to identify factors affecting patient mortality within 28 days, resulting in the development of an Optimized Score by simplifying evaluation indicators from APACHE II score. The results showed that the Optimized Score (AUC = 0.715) had a higher area under receiver operating characteristic curve than SOFA Score (AUC = 0.637) but slightly lower than APACHE II score (AUC = 0.720). Significant indicators identified through multifactor analysis included platelet count, total bilirubin level, albumin level, prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, mechanical ventilation (MV) use and renal replacement therapy (RRT) use. These seven indicators were combined with Optimized Score to construct a nomogram Based on these seven indicators. The nomogram demonstrated good clinical predictive value in both training cohort (AUC = 0.803) and validation cohort (AUC = 0.750). Calibration curves and decision curve analyses also confirmed its good predictive ability, surpassing the APACHE II score and SOFA score in identifying high-risk patients. Conclusions The Nomogram was established in this study using the MIMIC-IV database and validated with external data, demonstrating its robust discriminability, calibration, and clinical practicability for predicting 28-day mortality in sepsis patients. These findings aim to provide substantial support for clinicians' decision-making.

The curtain rose. The howling of desert wind filled the performance hall in the Shanghai Grand Theatre. Into the center stage, where a scenic construction of a mountain cliff and a desert landscape was dimly lit, entered the character of the Daoist priest Wang Yuanlu (1849–1931), performed by Chen Yizong. Dressed in a worn and dusty outfit of dark blue cotton, characteristic of Daoist priests, Wang began to sweep the floor. After a few moments, he discovered a hidden chambre sealed inside one of the rock sanctuaries carved into the cliff.Signaled by the quick, crystalline, stirring wave of sound from the chimes, a melodious Chinese ocarina solo joined in slowly from the background. Astonished by thousands of Buddhist sūtra scrolls, wall paintings, and sculptures he had just accidentally discovered in the caves, Priest Wang set his broom aside and began to examine these treasures. Dawn had not yet arrived, and the desert sky was pitch-black. Priest Wang held his oil lamp high, strode rhythmically in excitement, sat crossed-legged in a meditative pose, and unfolded a scroll. The sound of the ocarina became fuller and richer and the texture of the music more complex, as several other instruments joined in.Below is the opening scene of the award-winning, theatrical dance-drama Dunhuang, My Dreamland, created by China’s state-sponsored Lanzhou Song and Dance Theatre in 2000. Figure 1a: Poster Side A of Dunhuang, My Dreamland Figure 1b: Poster Side B of Dunhuang, My DreamlandThe scene locates the dance-drama in the rock sanctuaries that today are known as the Dunhuang Mogao Caves, housing Buddhist art accumulated over a period of a thousand years, one of the best well-known UNESCO heritages on the Silk Road. Historically a frontier metropolis, Dunhuang was a strategic site along the Silk Road in northwestern China, a crossroads of trade, and a locus for religious, cultural, and intellectual influences since the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.–220 C.E.). Travellers, especially Buddhist monks from India and central Asia, passing through Dunhuang on their way to Chang’an (present day Xi’an), China’s ancient capital, would stop to meditate in the Mogao Caves and consult manuscripts in the monastery's library. At the same time, Chinese pilgrims would travel by foot from China through central Asia to Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, playing a key role in the exchanges between ancient China and the outside world. Travellers from China would stop to acquire provisions at Dunhuang before crossing the Gobi Desert to continue on their long journey abroad. Figure 2: Dunhuang Mogao CavesThis article approaches the idea of “abroad” by examining the present-day imagination of journeys along the Silk Road—specifically, staged performances of the various Silk Road journey-themed dance-dramas sponsored by the Chinese state for enhancing its cultural and foreign policies since the 1970s (Kuang).As ethnomusicologists have demonstrated, musicians, choreographers, and playwrights often utilise historical materials in their performances to construct connections between the past and the present (Bohlman; Herzfeld; Lam; Rees; Shelemay; Tuohy; Wade; Yung: Rawski; Watson). The ancient Silk Road, which linked the Mediterranean coast with central China and beyond, via oasis towns such as Samarkand, has long been associated with the concept of “journeying abroad.” Journeys to distant, foreign lands and encounters of unknown, mysterious cultures along the Silk Road have been documented in historical records, such as A Record of Buddhist Kingdoms (Faxian) and The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions (Xuanzang), and illustrated in classical literature, such as The Travels of Marco Polo (Polo) and the 16th century Chinese novel Journey to the West (Wu). These journeys—coming and going from multiple directions and to different destinations—have inspired contemporary staged performance for audiences around the globe.Home and Abroad: Dunhuang and the Silk RoadDunhuang, My Dreamland (2000), the contemporary dance-drama, staged the journey of a young pilgrim painter travelling from Chang’an to a land of the unfamiliar and beyond borders, in search for the arts that have inspired him. Figure 3: A scene from Dunhuang, My Dreamland showing the young pilgrim painter in the Gobi Desert on the ancient Silk RoadFar from his home, he ended his journey in Dunhuang, historically considered the northwestern periphery of China, well beyond Yangguan and Yumenguan, the bordering passes that separate China and foreign lands. Later scenes in Dunhuang, My Dreamland, portrayed through multiethnic music and dances, the dynamic interactions among merchants, cultural and religious envoys, warriors, and politicians that were making their own journey from abroad to China. The theatrical dance-drama presents a historically inspired, re-imagined vision of both “home” and “abroad” to its audiences as they watch the young painter travel along the Silk Road, across the Gobi Desert, arriving at his own ideal, artistic “homeland”, the Dunhuang Mogao Caves. Since his journey is ultimately a spiritual one, the conceptualisation of travelling “abroad” could also be perceived as “a journey home.”Staged more than four hundred times since it premiered in Beijing in April 2000, Dunhuang, My Dreamland is one of the top ten titles in China’s National Stage Project and one of the most successful theatrical dance-dramas ever produced in China. With revenue of more than thirty million renminbi (RMB), it ranks as the most profitable theatrical dance-drama ever produced in China, with a preproduction cost of six million RMB. The production team receives financial support from China’s Ministry of Culture for its “distinctive ethnic features,” and its “aim to promote traditional Chinese culture,” according to Xu Rong, an official in the Cultural Industry Department of the Ministry. Labeled an outstanding dance-drama of the Chinese nation, it aims to present domestic and international audiences with a vision of China as a historically multifaceted and cosmopolitan nation that has been in close contact with the outside world through the ancient Silk Road. Its production company has been on tour in selected cities throughout China and in countries abroad, including Austria, Spain, and France, literarily making the young pilgrim painter’s “journey along the Silk Road” a new journey abroad, off stage and in reality.Dunhuang, My Dreamland was not the first, nor is it the last, staged performances that portrays the Chinese re-imagination of “journeying abroad” along the ancient Silk Road. It was created as one of many versions of Dunhuang bihua yuewu, a genre of music, dance, and dramatic performances created in the early twentieth century and based primarily on artifacts excavated from the Mogao Caves (Kuang). “The Mogao Caves are the greatest repository of early Chinese art,” states Mimi Gates, who works to increase public awareness of the UNESCO site and raise funds toward its conservation. “Located on the Chinese end of the Silk Road, it also is the place where many cultures of the world intersected with one another, so you have Greek and Roman, Persian and Middle Eastern, Indian and Chinese cultures, all interacting. Given the nature of our world today, it is all very relevant” (Pollack). As an expressive art form, this genre has been thriving since the late 1970s contributing to the global imagination of China’s “Silk Road journeys abroad” long before Dunhuang, My Dreamland achieved its domestic and international fame. For instance, in 2004, The Thousand-Handed and Thousand-Eyed Avalokiteśvara—one of the most representative (and well-known) Dunhuang bihua yuewu programs—was staged as a part of the cultural program during the Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece. This performance, as well as other Dunhuang bihua yuewu dance programs was the perfect embodiment of a foreign religion that arrived in China from abroad and became Sinicized (Kuang). Figure 4: Mural from Dunhuang Mogao Cave No. 45A Brief History of Staging the Silk Road JourneysThe staging of the Silk Road journeys abroad began in the late 1970s. Historically, the Silk Road signifies a multiethnic, cosmopolitan frontier, which underwent incessant conflicts between Chinese sovereigns and nomadic peoples (as well as between other groups), but was strongly imbued with the customs and institutions of central China (Duan, Mair, Shi, Sima). In the twentieth century, when China was no longer an empire, but had become what the early 20th-century reformer Liang Qichao (1873–1929) called “a nation among nations,” the long history of the Silk Road and the colourful, legendary journeys abroad became instrumental in the formation of a modern Chinese nation of unified diversity rooted in an ancient cosmopolitan past. The staged Silk Road theme dance-dramas thus participate in this formation of the Chinese imagination of “nation” and “abroad,” as they aestheticise Chinese history and geography. History and geography—aspects commonly considered constituents of a nation as well as our conceptualisations of “abroad”—are “invariably aestheticized to a certain degree” (Bakhtin 208). Diverse historical and cultural elements from along the Silk Road come together in this performance genre, which can be considered the most representative of various possible stagings of the history and culture of the Silk Road journeys.In 1979, the Chinese state officials in Gansu Province commissioned the benchmark dance-drama Rain of Flowers along the Silk Road, a spectacular theatrical dance-drama praising the pure and noble friendship which existed between the peoples of China and other countries in the Tang dynasty (618-907 C.E.). While its plot also revolves around the Dunhuang Caves and the life of a painter, staged at one of the most critical turning points in modern Chinese history, the work as a whole aims to present the state’s intention of re-establishing diplomatic ties with the outside world after the Cultural Revolution. Unlike Dunhuang, My Dreamland, it presents a nation’s journey abroad and home. To accomplish this goal, Rain of Flowers along the Silk Road introduces the fictional character Yunus, a wealthy Persian merchant who provides the audiences a vision of the historical figure of Peroz III, the last Sassanian prince, who after the Arab conquest of Iran in 651 C.E., found refuge in China. By incorporating scenes of ethnic and folk dances, the drama then stages the journey of painter Zhang’s daughter Yingniang to Persia (present-day Iran) and later, Yunus’s journey abroad to the Tang dynasty imperial court as the Persian Empire’s envoy.Rain of Flowers along the Silk Road, since its debut at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on the first of October 1979 and shortly after at the Theatre La Scala in Milan, has been staged in more than twenty countries and districts, including France, Italy, Japan, Thailand, Russia, Latvia, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and recently, in 2013, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York.“The Road”: Staging the Journey TodayWithin the contemporary context of global interdependencies, performing arts have been used as strategic devices for social mobilisation and as a means to represent and perform modern national histories and foreign policies (Davis, Rees, Tian, Tuohy, Wong, David Y. H. Wu). The Silk Road has been chosen as the basis for these state-sponsored, extravagantly produced, and internationally staged contemporary dance programs. In 2008, the welcoming ceremony and artistic presentation at the Olympic Games in Beijing featured twenty apsara dancers and a Dunhuang bihua yuewu dancer with long ribbons, whose body was suspended in mid-air on a rectangular LED extension held by hundreds of performers; on the giant LED screen was a depiction of the ancient Silk Road.In March 2013, Chinese president Xi Jinping introduced the initiatives “Silk Road Economic Belt” and “21st Century Maritime Silk Road” during his journeys abroad in Kazakhstan and Indonesia. These initiatives are now referred to as “One Belt, One Road.” The State Council lists in details the policies and implementation plans for this initiative on its official web page, www.gov.cn. In April 2013, the China Institute in New York launched a yearlong celebration, starting with "Dunhuang: Buddhist Art and the Gateway of the Silk Road" with a re-creation of one of the caves and a selection of artifacts from the site. In March 2015, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s top economic planning agency, released a new action plan outlining key details of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative. Xi Jinping has made the program a centrepiece of both his foreign and domestic economic policies. One of the central economic strategies is to promote cultural industry that could enhance trades along the Silk Road.Encouraged by the “One Belt, One Road” policies, in March 2016, The Silk Princess premiered in Xi’an and was staged at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing the following July. While Dunhuang, My Dreamland and Rain of Flowers along the Silk Road were inspired by the Buddhist art found in Dunhuang, The Silk Princess, based on a story about a princess bringing silk and silkworm-breeding skills to the western regions of China in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) has a different historical origin. The princess's story was portrayed in a woodblock from the Tang Dynasty discovered by Sir Marc Aurel Stein, a British archaeologist during his expedition to Xinjiang (now Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region) in the early 19th century, and in a temple mural discovered during a 2002 Chinese-Japanese expedition in the Dandanwulike region. Figure 5: Poster of The Silk PrincessIn January 2016, the Shannxi Provincial Song and Dance Troupe staged The Silk Road, a new theatrical dance-drama. Unlike Dunhuang, My Dreamland, the newly staged dance-drama “centers around the ‘road’ and the deepening relationship merchants and travellers developed with it as they traveled along its course,” said Director Yang Wei during an interview with the author. According to her, the show uses seven archetypes—a traveler, a guard, a messenger, and so on—to present the stories that took place along this historic route. Unbounded by specific space or time, each of these archetypes embodies the foreign-travel experience of a different group of individuals, in a manner that may well be related to the social actors of globalised culture and of transnationalism today. Figure 6: Poster of The Silk RoadConclusionAs seen in Rain of Flowers along the Silk Road and Dunhuang, My Dreamland, staging the processes of Silk Road journeys has become a way of connecting the Chinese imagination of “home” with the Chinese imagination of “abroad.” Staging a nation’s heritage abroad on contemporary stages invites a new imagination of homeland, borders, and transnationalism. Once aestheticised through staged performances, such as that of the Dunhuang bihua yuewu, the historical and topological landscape of Dunhuang becomes a performed narrative, embodying the national heritage.The staging of Silk Road journeys continues, and is being developed into various forms, from theatrical dance-drama to digital exhibitions such as the Smithsonian’s Pure Land: Inside the Mogao Grottes at Dunhuang (Stromberg) and the Getty’s Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China's Silk Road (Sivak and Hood). They are sociocultural phenomena that emerge through interactions and negotiations among multiple actors and institutions to envision and enact a Chinese imagination of “journeying abroad” from and to the country.ReferencesBakhtin, M.M. The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1982.Bohlman, Philip V. “World Music at the ‘End of History’.” Ethnomusicology 46 (2002): 1–32.Davis, Sara L.M. Song and Silence: Ethnic Revival on China’s Southwest Borders. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005.Duan, Wenjie. “The History of Conservation of Mogao Grottoes.” International Symposium on the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Property: The Conservation of Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes and the Related Studies. Eds. Kuchitsu and Nobuaki. Tokyo: Tokyo National Research Institute of Cultural Properties, 1997. 1–8.Faxian. A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms. Translated by James Legge. New York: Dover Publications, 1991.Herzfeld, Michael. Ours Once More: Folklore, Ideology, and the Making of Modern Greece. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1985.Kuang, Lanlan. Dunhuang bi hua yue wu: "Zhongguo jing guan" zai guo ji yu jing zhong de jian gou, chuan bo yu yi yi (Dunhuang Performing Arts: The Construction and Transmission of “China-scape” in the Global Context). Beijing: She hui ke xue wen xian chu ban she, 2016.Lam, Joseph S.C. State Sacrifice and Music in Ming China: Orthodoxy, Creativity and Expressiveness. New York: State University of New York Press, 1998.Mair, Victor. T’ang Transformation Texts: A Study of the Buddhist Contribution to the Rise of Vernacular Fiction and Drama in China. Cambridge, Mass.: Council on East Asian Studies, 1989.Pollack, Barbara. “China’s Desert Treasure.” ARTnews, December 2013. Sep. 2016 <http://www.artnews.com/2013/12/24/chinas-desert-treasure/>.Polo, Marco. The Travels of Marco Polo. Translated by Ronald Latham. Penguin Classics, 1958.Rees, Helen. Echoes of History: Naxi Music in Modern China. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.Shelemay, Kay Kaufman. “‘Historical Ethnomusicology’: Reconstructing Falasha Liturgical History.” Ethnomusicology 24 (1980): 233–258.Shi, Weixiang. Dunhuang lishi yu mogaoku yishu yanjiu (Dunhuang History and Research on Mogao Grotto Art). Lanzhou: Gansu jiaoyu chubanshe, 2002.Sima, Guang 司马光 (1019–1086) et al., comps. Zizhi tongjian 资治通鉴 (Comprehensive Mirror for the Aid of Government). Beijing: Guji chubanshe, 1957.Sima, Qian 司马迁 (145-86? B.C.E.) et al., comps. Shiji: Dayuan liezhuan 史记: 大宛列传 (Record of the Grand Historian: The Collective Biographies of Dayuan). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1959.Sivak, Alexandria and Amy Hood. “The Getty to Present: Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China’s Silk Road Organised in Collaboration with the Dunhuang Academy and the Dunhuang Foundation.” Getty Press Release. Sep. 2016 <http://news.getty.edu/press-materials/press-releases/cave-temples-dunhuang-buddhist-art-chinas-silk-road>.Stromberg, Joseph. “Video: Take a Virtual 3D Journey to Visit China's Caves of the Thousand Buddhas.” Smithsonian, December 2012. Sep. 2016 <http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/video-take-a-virtual-3d-journey-to-visit-chinas-caves-of-the-thousand-buddhas-150897910/?no-ist>.Tian, Qing. “Recent Trends in Buddhist Music Research in China.” British Journal of Ethnomusicology 3 (1994): 63–72.Tuohy, Sue M.C. “Imagining the Chinese Tradition: The Case of Hua’er Songs, Festivals, and Scholarship.” Ph.D. Dissertation. Indiana University, Bloomington, 1988.Wade, Bonnie C. Imaging Sound: An Ethnomusicological Study of Music, Art, and Culture in Mughal India. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.Wong, Isabel K.F. “From Reaction to Synthesis: Chinese Musicology in the Twentieth Century.” Comparative Musicology and Anthropology of Music: Essays on the History of Ethnomusicology. Eds. Bruno Nettl and Philip V. Bohlman. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991. 37–55.Wu, Chengen. Journey to the West. Tranlsated by W.J.F. Jenner. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 2003.Wu, David Y.H. “Chinese National Dance and the Discourse of Nationalization in Chinese Anthropology.” The Making of Anthropology in East and Southeast Asia. Eds. Shinji Yamashita, Joseph Bosco, and J.S. Eades. New York: Berghahn, 2004. 198–207.Xuanzang. The Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions. Hamburg: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation & Research, 1997.Yung, Bell, Evelyn S. Rawski, and Rubie S. Watson, eds. Harmony and Counterpoint: Ritual Music in Chinese Context. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996.

White clover (Trifolium repens L.) belongs to the Fabaceae family legume and is cultivated in China for its medicinal properties and ornamental value. White clover is grown around the world for forage, turf , green manure and soil conservation purposes (Zhang el al. 2016). In October 2021, an investigation of a 1,000 m2 plant nursery in Lanzhou, China (36°06′N, 103°83′E) found that 80% of White clover plants were infected, and powdery mildew covered 95% of the leaf area. The disease had seriously destroyed the forage quality and reduced the ornamental value. Initially, thin, radial, irregular white colonies appeared on leaves and gradually spread to stems. The white colonies then expanded and thickened to cover upper surface of the leaf, and microscopic hyphae appeared on the bottom of the leaf. In severe cases, the infection resulted in dieback of the leaf. A small area of sporulating fungus was stripped off from the leaf surface with tape and mounted in sterile water for microscopic examination (Mukhtar et al. 2017). Conidiophores were cylindrical, consisting of a foot cell followed by three to four short cells, measuring 75 to 160 × 7 to 10 μm. Conidiophores had straight, cylindric foot cells ranging from 25 to 40 µm long. Singly produced conidia were hyaline and ranged in shape from oblong to cylindrical. Conidia lacked distinct fibrotic bodies and measured 30 to 45 × 15 to 25 μm in length. Long, unbranched germ tubes formed from the ends of the conidia and nipple-shaped appressoria developed on epiphytic mycelia. Based on these morphological characteristics, the pathogen was initially identified morphologically as Erysiphe polygoni (Braun and Cook 2012). To validate the identity, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the pathogen (SY77) rDNA was amplified by PCR and sequenced using the ITS1/ITS4 primers (White et al. 1990). The resulting sequences were registered to GenBank (GenBank Accession No.OM280998). The ITS sequence of the SY77 was 100% (640/640) identical to E. polygoni (LC009892) on Polygonum aviculare in the United Kingdom and 99% (638/640) identical to E. polygoni (MK685172) on Antigonon leptopus in Taiwan. MEGA 7.0 was used to conduct the neighbor-joining phylogenetic analysis using the ITS sequences from GenBank. The data indicated that the strain SY77 and E. polygoni clustered together on the same branch. Pathogenicity tests were conducted by gently pressing the infected leaves onto five healthy potted White clover plants, while five non-inoculated plants were used as controls (Michael et al. 2021). The plants were maintained in a growth chamber (25 ℃, 14 h light, and 10 h dark period, RH > 80%). After 10 days, the inoculated plants developed powdery mildew symptoms, whereas the control plants remained symptom-free. The fungus on the inoculated plants was re-isolated, re-identified, and confirmed as E. polygoni based on morphological observations and molecular identification. There is no previous report on E. polygoni causing powdery mildew on White clover in China. The powdery mildew caused by E. polygoni on Red clover has been reported in China and Bulgaria, respectively (Yuan el al.1991; Galina el al. 2017). To our knowledge, this is the first report of powdery mildew caused by E. polygoni on White clover in China. References: 1. Zheng, L., et al. 2018. Plant Dis. 102:628. 2. Mukhtar, G., et al. 2017. Plant Dis.101:1, 246. 3. Braun, U., and Cook, R. T. A. 2012. Taxonomic Manual of the Erysiphales (Powdery Mildews), CBS Biodiversity Series No.11. CBS, Utrecht. 4. Michael, R. F., et al. 2021.Plant Dis. First look.( doi.org/ 10.1094/PDIS-09-21-2060-PDN). 5. Yuan, Q. H., el al.1991. Pratacult Sci.05:59 (in Chinese). 6. Galina, N., et al, 2017. BIOTECHNOL Anim Husb.33.127.

Thorsten Bach of the Technische Universität München used (Chem. Commun. 2014, 50, 3353) the chiral medium-mediated photochemical 2+2 cycloaddition that he devel­oped to prepare 3 by combining 1 with 2. Oxidative cleavage led to (−)-pinolinone 4. Robert A. Batey of the University of Toronto rearranged (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 10862) furfural 5 in the presence of 6 to give the enone 7. Acylation fol­lowed by intramolecular conjugate addition delivered agelastatin A 8. Hee-Yoon Lee of KAIST prepared (Org. Lett. 2014, 16, 2466) the tosylhydrazone Na salt 9 from citronellal. Thermolysis led, via a dialkyl diazo intermediate, to the tricy­clic 10. Direct comparison of synthetic material with the natural product panaginsene 11 enabled the assignment of the relative configuration of the pendant methyl group. Hanfeng Ding of Zhejiang University eliminated (Org. Lett. 2014, 16, 3376) HBr from 12 to give, after rearrangement, the cycloheptadiene salvileucalin D 13. Irradiation converted 13 to the cyclobutene salvileucalin C 14. In a recent chapter of his continuing work on the morphine alkaloids, Tomas Hudlicky of Brock University described (Adv. Synth. Catal. 2014, 356, 333) the intra­molecular [3+2] cycloaddition of the nitrone derived from 15 to give 16. This was readily carried on to ent-codeine 17. Xingang Xie and Xuegong She of Lanzhou University used (Org. Lett. 2014, 16, 1996) Shi epoxidation and Itsuno–Corey reduction to prepare 18 in enantiomerically-pure form. Cationic cyclization converted 18 to 19, that was oxidized to (−)-walsucochin B 20.

Thomas R. Hoye of the University of Minnesota devised (Nature 2013, 501, 531) the reagent 2, that cyclized to a benzyne that in turn dehydrogenated the alkane 1 to the alkene 3, and 4. Abigail G. Doyle of Princeton University developed (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 12990) a reagent combination for the allylic fluorination of a terminal alkene 5 to the branched product 6. Yan Zhang and Jianbo Wang of Peking University oxidized (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 10573) the methyl group of 7 to give the nitrile 8. Hanmin Huang of the Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics found (Org. Lett. 2013, 15, 3370) conditions for the carbonylation of the benzylic site of 9, leading to coupling with 10 to form the amide 11. Yu Rao of Tsinghua University effected (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 13606) the direct methoxylation of 12, to give 13. Pd-mediated methoxylation had previously been described (Chem. Sci. 2013, 4, 4187) by Bing-Feng Shi of Zhejiang University. M. Christina White of the University of Illinois, Urbana found (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 14052) that with variant ligands on the Fe catalyst, the oxidation of 14 could be directed selectively to either 15 or 16. C–H bonds can also be converted to C–N bonds. Sukbok Chang of KAIST oxi­dized (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 12861) the unsaturated ester 17 with 18 to form the enamide 18. Gong Chen of Pennsylvania State University cyclized (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 11124) the amide 20 to the γ-lactam 21. Professor Shi reported (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 13588) a related approach to β-lactams. Ethers are easily oxidized. Taking advantage of this, Yun Liang of Hunan Normal University coupled (Synthesis 2013, 45, 3137) the bromoalkyne 23 with tetrahydro­furan 22 to give 24. Guangbin Dong of the University of Texas, Austin devised (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 17747) a protocol for the β-arylation of ketones, includ­ing the preparation of 27 by the coupling of 25 with 26.

Marco Lombardo of the Università degli Studi di Bologna devised (Adv. Synth. Catal. 2012, 354, 3428) a silyl-bridged hydroxyproline catalyst that mediated the enantioselective addition of 2 to cinnamaldehyde 1 to give 3. Yoann Coquerel and Jean Rodriguez of Aix Marseille Université showed (Adv. Synth. Catal. 2012, 354, 3523) that a hybrid epi-cinchonine catalyst directed the enantioselective and diastereoselective addition of the amide 4 to the nitro alkene 5 to give 6. Magnus Rueping of RWTH Aachen observed (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 12864) that a chiral Brønsted acid mediated the diastereoselective and enantioselective formation of 9 by the addition of 8 to cyclopentadiene 7. Marco Bandini, also of the University of Bologna, combined (Chem. Sci. 2012, 3, 2859) organocatalysis with gold catalysis to effect the cyclization of 10 to 11. Min Shi of the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry prepared (Chem. Commun. 2012, 48, 2764) the quaternary cyclic amino acid derivative 14 by adding 13 to the acceptor 12. Makoto Tokunaga of Kyushu University prepared (Org. Lett. 2012, 14, 6178) the ketone 17 by the hydrolytic enantioselective protonation of the enol ester 15. Hiyoshizo Kotsuki of Kochi University developed (Synlett 2012, 23, 2554) a dual catalyst combination that effectively mediated the enantioselective addition of malonate even to the congested acceptor 18. Yoshitaka Hamashima and Toshiyuki Kan of the University of Shizuoka established (Org. Lett. 2012, 14, 6016) a protocol for the enantioselective brominative cyclization of 21, readily available by the reductive alkylation of benzoic acid. Polycarbocyclic ring systems can also be prepared by organocatalysis. Ying-Chun Chen of Sichuan University tuned (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 19942) cinchona-derived catalysts to selectively convert 23 into either exo (illustrated) or endo 25. Peng-Fei Xu of Lanzhou University developed (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 12339) a supramolecular iminium catalyst for the intramolecular Diels-Alder cycloaddition of 26. In a spectacular illustration of the power of organocatalysis, Varinder K. Aggarwal of the University of Bristol dimerized (Nature 2012, 489, 278) succinaldehyde from the hydrolysis of commercial 28 directly to the unsaturated aldehyde 29. Diastereoselective conjugate addition led to prostaglandin F2α 30.

David M. Jenkins of the University of Tennessee devised (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 19342) an iron catalyst for the aziridination of an alkene 1 with an aryl azide 2. Yoshiji Takemoto of Kyoto University cyclized (Org. Lett. 2011, 13, 6374) the prochiral oxime derivative 4 to the azirine 5 in high ee. Organometallics added to 5 syn to the pendant ester. Hyeung-geun Park of Seoul National University used (Adv. Synth. Catal. 2011, 353, 3313) a chiral phase transfer catalyst to effect the enantioselective alkylation of 6 to 7. Yian Shi of Colorado State University showed (Org. Lett. 2011, 13, 6350) that a chiral Brønsted acid mediated the enantioselective cyclization of 8 to 9. Mattie S.M. Timmer of Victoria University of Wellington and Bridget L. Stocker of Malaghan Institute of Medical Research effected (J. Org. Chem. 2011, 76, 9611) the oxidative cyclization of 10 to 11. They also showed (Tetrahedron Lett. 2011, 52, 4803, not illustrated) that the same cyclization worked well to construct piperidine derivatives. Jose L. Vicario of the Universidad del País Vasco extended (Adv. Synth. Catal. 2011, 353, 3307) organocatalysis to the condensation of 12 with 13 to give the pyrrolidine 14. Jinxing Ye of the East China University of Science and Technology used (Adv. Synth. Catal. 2011, 353, 343) the same Hayashi catalyst to condense 15 with 16 to give 17. André B. Charette of the Université de Montreal expanded (Org. Lett. 2011, 13, 3830) 18, prepared by Petasis-Mannich coupling followed by ring-closing metathesis, to the piperidine 20. Marco Bella of the “Sapienza” University of Roma effected (Org. Lett. 2011, 13, 4546) enantioselective addition of 22 to the prochiral 21 to give 23. Ying-Chun Chen of Sichuan University and Chun-An Fan of Lanzhou University cyclized (Adv. Synth. Catal. 2011, 353, 2721) 24 to 25 in high ee. Andreas Schmid of TU Dortmund showed (Adv. Synth. Catal. 2011, 353, 2501) that ω-laurolactam hydrolases could be used to cyclize the ester 26, but not the free acid, to the macrolactam 27.

Mark Gandelman of the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology devised (Adv. Synth. Catal. 2011, 353, 1438) a protocol for the decarboxylative conversion of an acid 1 to the iodide 3. Doug E. Frantz of the University of Texas, San Antonio effected (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 6128) conversion of a β-keto ester 4 to the diene 5 by way of the vinyl triflate. Pei Nian Liu of the East China University of Science and Technology and Chak Po Lau of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Adv. Synth. Catal. 2011, 353, 275) and Robert G. Bergman and Kenneth N. Raymond of the University of California, Berkeley (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 11964) described new Ru catalysts for the isomerization of an allylic alcohol 6 to the ketone 7. Xiaodong Shi of West Virginia University optimized (Adv. Synth. Catal. 2011, 353, 2584) a gold catalyst for the rearrangement of a propargylic ester 8 to the enone 9. Xue-Yuan Liu of Lanzhou University used (Adv. Synth. Catal. 2011, 353, 3157) a Cu catalyst to add the chloramine 11 to the alkyne 10 to give 12. Kasi Pitchumani of Madurai Kamaraj University converted (Org. Lett. 2011, 13, 5728) the alkyne 13 into the α-amino amide 15 by reaction with the nitrone 14. Katsuhiko Tomooka of Kyushu University effected (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 20712) hydrosilylation of the propargylic ether 16 to the alcohol 17. Matthew J. Cook of Queen’s University Belfast (Chem. Commun. 2011, 47, 11104) and Anna M. Costa and Jaume Vilarrasa of the Universitat de Barcelona (Org. Lett. 2011, 13, 4934) improved the conversion of an alkenyl silane 18 to the iodide 19. Vinay Girijavallabhan of Merck/Kenilworth developed (J. Org. Chem. 2011, 76, 6442) a Co catalyst for the Markovnikov addition of sulfide to an alkene 20. Hojat Veisi of Payame Noor University oxidized (Synlett 2011, 2315) the thiol 22 directly to the sulfonyl chloride 23. Nicholas M. Leonard of Abbott Laboratories prepared (J. Org. Chem. 2011, 76, 9169) the chromatography-stable O-Su ester 25 from the corresponding acid 24.

Although they have historically played a relatively lesser role in organic synthesis, the appearance of a number of interesting methods that utilize C–C bond cleavage has prompted coverage in this chapter. Christopher W. Bielawski at the University of Texas at Austin found (Chem. Sci. 2012, 3, 2986) that the diamidocarbene 1 inserted into the C(O)–C(O) bond of dione 2 to produce 3 at room temperature. The use of oxalate monoester 5 for the decarboxylative cross-coupling with pyridine 4 to produce 6 was reported (Tetrahedron Lett. 2012, 53, 5796) by Yi-Si Feng at Hefei University of Technology. The team of Junichiro Yamaguchi and Kenichiro Itami at Nagoya University developed (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 13573) a decarbonylative C–H coupling method that allowed for the merger of oxazoles 7 and 8 to form 9, an intermediate on the way to muscoride A. The decarboxylative alkenylation of alcohols, such as in the conversion of 10 and n-propanol to alcohol 11, was reported (Chem. Sci. 2012, 3, 2853) by Zhong-Quan Liu at Lanzhou University. Guangbin Dong at the University of Texas at Austin reported (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 134, 20005) a rhodium-catalyzed C–C bond activation strategy for the enantioselective conversion of benzocyclobutenone 12 to tricycle 13. Rhodium catalysis was also employed (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 17502) by Masahiro Murakami at Kyoto University in the ring expansion of benzocyclobutenol 14 to form 15, the regioselectivity of which is opposite to that of the thermal reaction. The tandem semipinacol-type migration/aldol reaction of cyclohexenone 16 to produce 17 was developed (Org. Lett. 2012, 14, 5114) by Yong-Qiang Tu and Fu-Min Zhang at Lanzhou University. A procedure for the synthesis of complex cyclopentenone 19 by the addition of vinyl Grignard to cyclobutanedione 18 was reported (J. Org. Chem. 2012, 77, 6327) by Teresa Varea at the University of Valencia in Spain. Michael A. Kerr at the University of Western Ontario found (J. Org. Chem. 2012, 77, 6634) that treatment of cyclopropane hemimalonate 20 with azide led to the formation of 21, which can be readily reduced to the corresponding γ-aminobutyric ester.

In the course of a synthesis of (-)-sclerophytin A 3, James P. Morken of Boston College showed (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2010, 132, 16380) that Oshima-Utimoto conditions transformed 1 into 2 with high stereo-and regiocontrol. En route to (+)-dictyosphaeric acid 6, Richard J. K. Taylor of the University of York found (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2010, 49, 5574) that the intramolecular Michael cyclization of 4 proceeded smooothly to give 5. Xingang Xie and Xuegong She of Lanzhou University devised (Synlett 2010, 2283) the In-mediated cyclization of 7 with benzaldehyde, to effect an elegant synthesis of goniothalesdiol A 9. The carbene-mediated cyclization of 10 to 11 developed (Org. Lett. 2010, 12, 4836) by David W. Lupton of Monash University set the stage for the synthesis of (-)-7-deoxyloganin 12. Jun’ichi Uenishi of Kyoto Pharmaceutical University showed (Org. Lett. 2010, 12, 4160) that the Pd-mediated cyclization of 13 proceeded with high diastereocontrol. Intramolecular esterification than led to (-)-apicularen A 15. Martin G. Banwell of the Australian National University established (Heterocycles 2010, 82, 313) that LiHMDS was effective for the cyclization of the alkynyl Weinreb amide 16 to 17. Reduction and deprotection completed the synthesis of the resorcylic lactone L-783, 277 18.

A range of biological activity was observed for the group of 3,6-anhydro-2-deoxy hexosides, of which 3 is representative, isolated from Sauropus rostratus. Wei-Jia Xie and Xiao-Ming Wu of China Pharmaceutical University prepared (Org. Lett. 2014, 16, 5004) 3 by the dealkylative cyclization of 1 to 2. (+)-Ipomeamarone 6 is a phytoalexin isolated from mold-damaged sweet pota­toes. Yoshinosuke Usuki of Osaka City University assembled (Chem. Lett. 2014, 43, 1882) 6 by the diastereoselective cyclization of 4 to 5. Hiromichi Fujioka of Osaka University protected (Org. Lett. 2014, 16, 3680) the enone of 7 by the conjugate addition of triphenylphosphine. Diastereoselective reduc­tion of the other ketone followed by deprotection of the enone and cyclization led to 8, that was hydrogenated to decytospolide A 9. En route to cytospolide P 12, Rajib Kumar Goswami of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science had planned (J. Org. Chem. 2014, 79, 7689) the ring-closing metathesis of 10. This failed, but cyclization of the corresponding silyl ether to 11 was successful with the second-generation Hoveyda catalyst. Rongbiao Tong of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology set (J. Org. Chem. 2014, 79, 6987) the absolute configuration of (+)-didemniserinolipid B 15 by Sharpless asymmetric osmylation of the alkene 13. Oxidative Achmatowicz rearrangement/bicycloketalization then delivered 14. Xuegong She of Lanzhou University observed (Org. Lett. 2014, 16, 4440) remark­able diastereoselectivity in the reductive cyclization of 16 to 17. Oxidation of 17 led to regioselective cyclization to gymnothelignan N 18.

The intramolecular ene cyclization is still little used in organic synthesis. Theodore Cohen of the University of Pittsburgh trapped (J. Org. Chem. 2011, 76, 7912) the cyclization product from 1 with iodine to give 2, setting the stage for an enantiospecific total synthesis of (–)-α-kainic acid 3. Intramolecular alkene hydroamination has been effected with transition metal catalysts. Joseph M. Fox of the University of Delaware isomerized (Chem. Sci. 2011, 2, 2162) 4 to the trans cyclooctene 5 with high diastereocontrol. Deprotection of the amine led to spontaneous cyclization, again with high diastereocontrol to hyacinthacine A2 6. Yasumasa Hamada of Chiba University devised (Org. Lett. 2011, 13, 5744) a catalyst system for the enantioselective aziridination of cyclopentenone 7. The product 8 was carried on to the tricyclic alkaloid (–)-agelastatin A 9. Guillaume Barbe, now at Novartis in Cambridge, MA, effected (J. Org. Chem. 2011, 76, 5354) the enantioselective Diels-Alder cycloaddition of acrolein 11 to the dihydropyridine 10. Ring-opening ring-closing metathesis later formed one of the carbocyclic rings of (+)-luciduline 13, and set the stage for an intramolecular aldol condensation to form the other. Chun-An Fan of Lanzhou University employed (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 8161) a Cinchona-derived catalyst for the enantioselective Michael addition to prepare 14. Although 14 and 15 were only prepared in 77% ee, crystallization to remove the racemic component of a later intermediate led to (+)-lunarine 16 in high ee. Seth B. Herzon of Yale University used (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 8863) the enantioselective Diels-Alder addition with 18 to block one face of the quinone 17. Reduction of 19 followed by methylation delivered an iminium salt, only one face of which was open for the addition of an aryl acetylide. Thermolysis to remove the cyclopentadiene gave an intermediate that was carried on to (+)-runanine 20.

Vinod K. Singh of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur optimized (Org. Lett. 2011, 13, 6520) an organocatalyst for the enantioselective addition of thiophenol to an imide 1 to give 2 in high ee. Amir H. Hoveyda of Boston College developed (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 7079) a Cu catalyst for the preparation of 4 by the enantioselective hydroboration of a 1,1-disubstituted alkene 3. Yong-Qiang Tu of Lanzhou University effected (Chem. Sci. 2011, 2, 1839) enantioselective bromination of the prochiral 5 to give the bromoketone 6. Song Ye of the Institute of Chemistry, Beijing established (Chem. Commun. 2011, 47, 8388) the alkylated quaternary center of the dimer 8, by condensing a ketene 7 with CS2. Li Deng of Brandeis University added (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 10565) cyanide in a conjugate sense to an acyl imidazole 9 to give 11. Pier Giorgio Cozzi of the Università di Bologna prepared (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 7842) the thioacetal 14 by condensing 13 with an aldehyde 12, followed by reduction. Takahiro Nishimura and Tamio Hayashi of Kyoto University devised (Chem. Commun. 2011, 47, 10142) a Co catalyst for the enantioselective addition of a silyl alkyne 16 to an enone 15 to give the alkynyl ketone 17. Ping Tian and Guo-Qiang Lin of the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry described (Tetrahedron 2011, 67, 10186) improved catalysts for the enantioselective conjugate addition of dimethyl malonate 19 to the nitroalkene 18, to give 20. Keiji Maruoka, also of Kyoto University, established (Chem. Sci. 2011, 2, 2311) conditions for the enantioselective addition of an aldehyde 21 to the acceptor 22 to give, after reduction, an alcohol 23 that could readily be cyclized to the lactone. Jianrong (Steve) Zhou of Nanyang Technological University prepared (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 15882) the ester 26 by arylation, under Pd catalysis, of a ketene silyl acetal 24 with the triflate 25. Benjamin List of the Max-Planck-Institut, Mülheim employed (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 9471) a system of three catalysts to effect the enantioselective alkylation of an aldehyde 27 with the allyic alcohol 28 to give 29.