On the biosynthetic pathway of papaverine via (S)-reticuline theoretical vs. experimental study

The electronic structures, optical properties and molecular structures of a series of isoquinoline alkaloids resulting in the formation of papaverine, through a proposed biosynthetic pathway via S(+)-reticuline were elucidated. The mechanism of papaverine synthesis was studied by electronic absorption, diffuse reflectance, fluorescence and CD spectroscopy, as well as ESI and MALDI Orbitrap imaging mass spectrometry. Quantum chemical DFT calculations in the gas phase and solution were performed with a view to study the electronic transitions of the interacting species, corresponding proposed intermediates, and the expected mass spectrometric fragments. The complete study and understanding of the mechanism of the biosynthetic pathway in the poppy plants appears important for the functional oriented drug-design and synthesis of corresponding structurally related alkaloids.     

Novel pyrrolo-quinazolino-quinoline analogues of the natural alkaloids and their inclusion molecular complexes in the native cyclodextrins: experimental versus theoretical study

A series ten novel analogs based on a novel template pyrrolo-quinazolino-quinolines, containing Luotonin-A (Luot-A) and 14-aza-camptothecin (14-aza-CPT) molecular core as well as their inclusion complexes in the native α- (α-CD), β- (β-CD) and γ- (β-CD) cyclodextrins were obtained. The physical properties of the alkaloids and corresponding molecular complexes with cyclodextrins are elucidated experimentally by the electronic absorption and CD-spectroscopy, electrospray ionization and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance method. The experimental data are supported by the theoretical quantum chemical calculations of the molecular and electronic structures as well as physical properties in condense phase.     

Physical properties and inclusion interactions of new stilbazolium salts: experimental versus theoretical study

The experimental and theoretical spectroscopic and spectrometric elucidation in solid-state and gas-phase on the interacting ionic species of applied oriented synthetic derivatives on the base of the stilbazolium salts as molecular template was reported. The correlation between the molecular structure, and vibrational properties within THz-regime (10-0.3 THz) was performed. The collective vibrations, and gas-phase stabilized ionic species were comprehensive studied by the Raman spectroscopy and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry, using the embedded organic dyes in host matrixes. The performed solid-state quantum chemical calculations contributed to further understanding of the nature of the guest–host interacting systems as well as to explain the observed optical phenomena within the THz-region.     

Identification of active sites of biomolecules. 1. Methyl-alpha-mannopyranoside and Fe(III)

Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics (CPMD) simulations, DFT chemical reactivity index calculations, and mass spectrometric measurements are combined in an integrated effort to elucidate the details of the coordination of a transition-metal ion to a carbohydrate. The impact of the interaction with the FeIII ion on the glycosidic linkage conformation of methyl-alpha-d-mannopyranoside is studied by classical molecular dynamics (MD) and CPMD simulations. This study shows that FeIII interacts with specific hydroxyl oxygen atoms of the carbohydrate, affecting the ground state carbohydrate conformation. These conformational details are discussed in terms of a set of supporting experiments involving electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, and CPMD simulations clearly indicate that the specific conformational preference is due to intramolecular hydrogen bonding. Classical MD simulations proved insensitive to these important chemical properties. Thus, we demonstrate the importance of chemical reactivity calculations and CPMD simulations in predicting the active sites of biological molecules toward metal cations.     

Chemical ionization mass spectrometric characteristics of morphine alkaloids

The ion-molecular reaction behavior of ten morphine alkaloids with several commonly used reagent gases are studied under chemical ionization mass spectrometry conditions. These studies emphasize the correlation of the structural characteristics of the 10 alkaloids with the following four mass spectrometric parameters: (i) mass shifts of the protonated ion as a result of replacing ammonia with deuterated ammonia as the reagent gas, (ii) relative tendencies of the adduct ion and the protonated ion to lose molecules of water, (iii) relative intensity ratio of the adduct ion and the protonated ion and (iv) tendency of a compound to undergo a reduction reaction.     

Electronic substituent effects in the electron impact mass spectrometry of 2-(arylazo)-4-phenylphenols

A mass spectrometric study of a set of six novel 2-(arylazo)-4-phenylphenols 1-6 was performed. The electron impact spectra were acquired and analyzed for five of the compounds in order to establish a fragmentation pattern. The suggested pathways were investigated and confirmed by means of tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) experiments together with high-resolution accurate mass data. However, the sixth molecule, a sodium sulfonate salt, was studied using fast atom bombardment (FAB) ionization in positive and negative modes. In addition, some electronic substituent effects were investigated by analyzing Hammett-McLafferty linear free energy correlations for some peaks derived from the corresponding molecular ions. Also, the role of the O-H...N hydrogen bond present in the target compounds was analyzed. The roles of these H-bonds were consistent with the corresponding acidity constant values obtained experimentally as well as by theoretical quantum chemistry calculations using HF/6-31 + G(d,p) and B3LYP/6-31G(d,p). Some spectrometric data were correlated with topological properties derived from the atoms-in-molecules (AIM) theory.     

Novel peripherally substituted zinc phthalocyanine: synthesis,characterization, investigation of photophysicochemical properties and theoretical study

The new thiohexanoic acid substituted zinc phthalocyanine was synthesized and characterized by FT-IR, ¹H–NMR, electronic spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry as well as DFT calculation studies. The photochemical properties (singlet-oxygen quantum yields and photodegradation quantum yields) and photophysical properties (fluorescence quantum yields and fluorescence behavior) of the compound were studied in dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), dimethylformamide (DMF) and tetrahydrofuran (THF). Singlet-oxygen quantum yields ranged from 0.29 to 0.43. However, energy-minimized structure, vibrational frequency, electronic distribution and molecular orbitals were obtained by DFT calculations which were supported by experimental results.     

Formation and reactions of clusters in the gas phase: small peptides and carboxylic acids

The cluster formation of seventeen small dipeptides with different primary structures and vanillic acid was investigated by means of a neutral laser desorption and supersonic beam expansion followed by multi photon ionization time of flight mass spectrometry. The structures of these clusters have been characterized by mass spectrometric methods as well as by DFT calculations. It is shown that the structure of the cluster from a dipeptide and vanillic acid is described by a hydrogen bond between the phenolic group of the vanillic acid and the N-terminal amino function of the dipeptide. The intensity of the cluster ion and the main fragmentation product, the protonated peptide ion, can be linked to the proton affinity of the peptide. Furthermore the fragmentation reactions of the protonated peptide are accompanied by extensive hydrogen rearrangements yielding both a and y fragments. The intensities of these fragments follow the proton affinity of the dipeptide.     

Study of a supramolecular structure of continental type petroleum asphaltenes

Supramolecular, electronic, and chemical structures of petroleum asphaltene molecules are studied. The investigations are carried out by quantum chemistry and molecular mechanics methods. The quantum chemical calculation of the structure-chemical parameters of dimers and trimers of petroleum asphaltenes is made using DFT/B3LYP. The refined values of the ionization potential and electron affinity of petroleum asphaltene molecules, their dimers and trimers agree well with the electron spectroscopy data. The results of the study of geometric structures of petroleum asphaltene dimers and trimers confirm the non-planar structure of asphaltenes.     

快原子轰击和电喷雾电离质谱表征烷基苯磺酸盐

用负离子化快原子轰击（ＦＡＢ）和电喷雾电离（ＥＳＩ）质谱并结合碰撞活化解离（ＣＡＤ）质谱方法对烷基苯磺酸盐（ＡＢＳ）进行鉴定。试样在负离子电喷雾电离（ＥＳＩ）过程中不产生碎片峰,但是在ＦＡＢ过程中产生许多碎片、比较这些谱图,就可以区别碎片峰和分子离子峰。线性或支化烷基苯磺酸盐的结构与相对含量可以在离子ＥＳＩ／ＣＡＤ－ＭＳ方法中得到。负离子ＥＳＩ－ＭＳ是快速、有效和可靠的鉴定ＡＢＳ的方法。     

An experimental and computational study on the dissociation behavior of hydroxypyridine N‐oxides in atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometry

A tandem mass spectrometric study of protonated isomeric hydroxypyridine N‐oxides was carried out with a hybrid quadrupole/time‐of‐flight mass spectrometer coupled with different atmospheric pressure ionization sources. The behavior observed in the collision‐induced dissociation (CID) mass spectra of the parent cations, was similar irrespective of the source employed. However, there were intrinsic differences in the intensities of the two fragments observed for each isomer. The major fragment because of elimination of a hydroxyl radical, dominated the CID spectra (in contrast with weaker water loss) at different energy thresholds. Therefore, it was possible to differentiate both isomers at collision energies above 13 eV by comparing the ratio of intensities of the major fragment relative to the precursor cation. In addition, quantum chemical calculations at the B3LYP/6‐31 + + G(d,p) level of theory were performed for the protonated isomers of hydroxypyridine N‐oxide and their radical cation products in order to gain insight into the major routes of dissociation. The results suggest that dissociation from the lowest triplet excited state of the protonated species would provide a reasonable rationalization for the difference in behavior of both isomers. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Optical Resolution and Structure Determination of New Indolizidine Alkaloids from Elaeocarpus sphaericus

Two new indolizidine alkaloids, (±)‐3‐oxoisoelaeocarpine ( 1 ) and (±)‐elaeocarpine N‐oxide ( 2 ), along with three known alkaloids, (±)‐isoelaeocarpine ( 3 ), (±)‐elaeocarpine ( 4 ), and (?)‐isoelaeocarpiline ( 5 ), were isolated from an EtOH extract of the branches and leaves of Elaeocarpus sphaericus. The structures of these compounds were determined by spectroscopic and chemical methods. Furthermore, enantiomers of compounds 1 and 3 were separated on a chiral CD‐Ph column, and their absolute configurations were determined by TD‐DFT (=time‐dependent density‐functional theory) quantum‐chemical calculations of their electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra.     

Electronic structure of high-valent transition metal corrolazine complexes. The young and innocent?

This is a first quantum chemical study of corrolazine complexes. DFT calculations suggest that despite their extremely contracted central cavities, compared with porphyrins, a variety of corrolazine complexes may be expected to exist as stable compounds. The calculations also indicate that corrolazine complexes may be regarded as strongly electron-deficient analogues of corrole complexes. Thus, the calculated valence ionization potentials of P(V) and Cu(III) corrolazine derivatives are dramatically higher than those of analogous corrole derivatives. In addition, DFT calculations on Fe(IV) and Mn(IV) corrole and corrolazine derivatives suggest that compared with the often noninnocent corrole ligands, corrolazines are electronically more innocent and stabilize "purer" high-valent states of transition metal ions.     

Chemical ionization of aliphatic nitro compounds

The chemical ionization mass spectra of various aliphatic nitro compounds have been studied. Almost all the nitro compounds form stable [M+H]⁺ ions in sharp contrast to the instability of their ions produced by other ionization techniques. The fragmentations of the [M+H]⁺ ions are discussed, the mechanisms and structures of fragment ions proposed being supported by quantum mechanical calculations. Correlations between chemical ionization mass spectra and structures of compounds studied are outlined. Reliable identification of mono- and polynitroalkanes and some related derivatives may be made by analysis of their chemical ionization mass spectra.     

Expression of tropane alkaloids in the hairy root culture of Atropa acuminata substantiated by DART mass spectrometric technique

Agrobacterium rhizogenes-mediated 'hairy root' cultures were established in Atropa acuminata. The chemical profiling of the hairy roots was carried out by a new mass spectrometric technique, direct analysis in real time (DART). The intact hairy roots were directly analyzed by holding them in the gap between the DART ion source and mass spectrometer. Two alkaloids, atropine and scopolamine, were characterized. The structural confirmation of the two alkaloids was made through their accurate molecular formula determinations. This is the first report of establishing hairy roots in A. acuminata as well as application of the DART technique for the chemical profiling of its hairy roots.     

Applications of mass spectrometry to food proteins and peptides

The application of mass spectrometry (MS) to large biomolecules has been revolutionized in the past decade with the development of electrospray ionization (ESI) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) techniques. ESI and MALDI permit solvent evaporation and sublimation of large biomolecules into the gaseous phase, respectively. The coupling of ESI or MALDI to an appropriate mass spectrometer has allowed the determination of accurate molecular mass and the detection of chemical modification at high sensitivity (picomole to femtomole). The interface of mass spectrometry hardware with computers and new extended mass spectrometric methods has resulted in the use of MS for protein sequencing, post-translational modifications, protein conformations (native, denatured, folding intermediates), protein folding/unfolding, and protein-protein or protein-ligand interactions. In this review, applications of MS, particularly ESI-MS and MALDI time-of-flight MS, to food proteins and peptides are described.     

Polymer-assisted laser desorption/ionization analysis of small molecular weight compounds

The use of non-polar, small polymers as matrices for the analysis of low molecular weight compounds in polymer-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (PALDI-MS) is demonstrated. The matrices evaluated were either based on an oligothiophene or a benzodioxin backbone. Metallocenes, polycyclic hydrocarbons, a fluorosurfactant, and a subset of small organic compounds with various functionalities, served as model analytes. The mechanism of ionization charge transfer is discussed and ionization potentials for the matrices in the study have been estimated using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Some of the results are possibly contradictory to the generally accepted limiting conditions for gas-phase charge-transfer reactions. These results are interpreted in the light of energy pooling. Also a new mass calibration procedure for the low-mass region in positive ion mode is presented, and some aspects of the ionization/desorption process leading to radical cations are studied.     

Photoionization of atmospheric aerosol constituents and precursors in the 7-15 eV energy region: experimental and theoretical study

Photoionization mass spectrometry (PIMS) has been used to study the dissociative ionization of three anthropogenic atmospheric aerosol precursors (o-xylene, 2-methylstyrene, indene) and five of their main atmospheric degradation products (o-tolualdehyde, 2-methylphenol, o-toluic acid, phthalic acid, and phthaldialdehyde). Ionization and fragment appearance energies have been experimentally determined in the 7-15 eV photon energy regime. Moreover, intensive ab inito quantum chemical calculations have been performed to compute the first ionization energies and heats of formation of these compounds (including also phthalic anhydride). Several methods have been used, and the theoretical results are compared to the experimental values with the aim to find the best method to predict thermochemical data for similar molecules. The vacuum-UV fragmentation pathways following photoionization are discussed. The results of this work are important with respect to the analytical chemistry of these compounds since their basic gas phase ion energetics data are mostly unknown. They will help in interpreting real-time mass spectrometric measurements used for the study of organic aerosol formation in smog chambers and in the real atmosphere.     

Pyrolysis–desorption chemical ionization and high-energy tandem mass spectrometry of the O-specific antigen of Yersinia ruckeri

Application of pyrolysis-desorption chemical ionization mass spectrometry (Py-DCI-MS) is demonstrated for the structural characterization of the native O-specific antigen of Yersinia ruckeri. Under proper pyrolytic and chemical ionization conditions this antigenic polysaccharide yields anhydrohexosamine fragments which facilitate identification of the trimeric repeating unit sequence. Tandem mass spectrometric analyses of the trimeric repeating unit fragments provided additional evidence for the proposed structure and permitted rationalization of the observed fragment ions. Furthermore, Py-DCI-MS of smaller hexosamine subunits isolated during off-line pyrolysis experiments showed fragmentation characteristics almost identical with those observed in the mass spectra of the whole antigen, hence confirming the stability of the pyrolysis fragments.     

Aluminum halide—cobalt halide polynuclear complexes active in low-temperature conversion of alkanes: formation,molecular structures,and IR spectra

Low-temperature FT-IR studies of products of co-condensation of aluminum chloride and cobalt chloride in hydrocarbon matrices were carried out in the temperature range 80–250 K. DFT quantum mechanical calculations of the geometry and vibrational frequencies of aluminum chloride/cobalt chloride polynuclear molecular and ionic complexes of different compositon were carried out. Isomeric labile complexes Al₂Cl₆·CoCl₂ were detected under partial matrix isolation conditions and their behavior was monitored. The interaction of the 1: 1 and 2: 1 aluminum halide/cobalt halide molecular complexes at 120–170 K produces catalytically active species in low-temperature conversion of alkanes. According to the data of in situ spectral studies and to the results of quantum chemical calculations, these species represent ionic associates which simultaneously contain Co and Al atoms in both cationic and anionic fragments.