Glutathione modified CdTe quantum dots as a label for studying DNA interactions with platinum based cytostatics

Cisplatin, carboplatin, and oxaliplatin represent three generations of platinum based drugs applied successfully for cancer treatment. As a consequence of the employment of platinum based cytostatics in the cancer treatment, it became necessary to study the mechanism of their action. Current accepted opinion is the formation of Pt‐DNA adducts, but the mechanism of their formation is still unclear. Nanomaterials, as a progressively developing branch, can offer a tool for studying the interactions of these drugs with DNA. In this study, fluorescent CdTe quantum dots (QDs, λ_em = 525 nm) were employed to investigate the interactions of platinum cytostatics (cisplatin, carboplatin, and oxaliplatin) with DNA fragment (500 bp, c = 25 μg/mL). Primarily, the fluorescent behavior of QDs in the presence of platinum cytostatics was monitored and major differences in the interaction of QDs with tested drugs were observed. It was found that the presence of carboplatin (c = 0.25 mg/mL) had no significant influence on QDs fluorescence; however cisplatin and oxaliplatin quenched the fluorescence significantly (average decrease of 20%) at the same concentration. Subsequently, the amount of platinum incorporated in DNA was determined by QDs fluorescence quenching. Best results were reached using oxaliplatin (9.4% quenching). Linear trend (R² = 0.9811) was observed for DNA platinated by three different concentrations of oxaliplatin (0.250, 0.125, and 0.063 mg/mL). Correlation with differential pulse voltammetric measurements provided linear trend (R² = 0.9511). As a conclusion, especially in the case of oxaliplatin‐DNA adducts, the quenching was the most significant compared to cisplatin and nonquenching carboplatin.     

Evidence for Kinetic Nucleation in Helical Nanofiber Formation Directed by Chiral Solvent for a Perylene Bisimide Organogelator

The self‐assembly behavior of an achiral perylene bisimide (PBI) organogelator that bears two 3,4,5‐tridodecyloxybenzoylaminoethyl substituents at the imide positions has been investigated in chiral solvents (R)‐ and (S)‐limonene in great detail by circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM). CD spectroscopic studies on dilute solutions revealed a preferential population of one‐handed helical assemblies in chiral solvent with an enantiomeric excess close to 100 %, whereas AFM images of more than 100 nanofibers of the organogel obtained from more concentrated solutions were found to consist of both handed helices with an enantiomeric excess of only 20 %. This discrepancy is attributed to the fast gelation process at high dye concentration that evidently proceeds through non‐equilibrated nuclei in a kinetic rather than thermodynamic self‐assembly process. Under these conditions the chiral induction from the homochiral solvent may not be adequate in effectively populating only one‐handed helices.     

Study of benznidazole–cyclodextrin inclusion complexes, cytotoxicity and trypanocidal activity

The current chemotherapy for Chagas disease is still based on benznidazole, which has low solubility, but complexation with cyclodextrins provides a way of increasing the solubility. The objective of this work was to characterize the inclusion complexes formed between benznidazole (BNZ) and randomly 2-methyled-β-cyclodextrin (RM-β-CD) in aqueous solution and study cytotoxicity and trypanocidal. BNZ:RM-β-CD solution complex systems were prepared and characterized using the phase solubility diagram, nuclear magnetic resonance and a photostability assays, also to investigate the in vitro trypanocidal activity with epimastigote forms of Trypanossoma cruzi and the study of cytotoxicity against mammal cells. The phase-solubility diagram displayed an A _L-type feature, providing evidence of the formation of soluble inclusion complexes. The continuous variation method showed the existence of a complex with 1:1 stoichiometry. Toxicity assays demonstrated that inclusion complexes were able to reduce the toxic effects caused by benznidazole alone and that this did not interfere with the trypanocidal activity of the benznidazole. The use of inclusion complexes benznidazole:cyclodextrin is thus a promising alternative for the development of a safe and stable liquid formulation and a new option for the treatment of Chagas disease.     

Vinylimidazole‐based asymmetric ion pair comonomers: Synthesis,polymerization studies and formation of ionically crosslinked PMMA

Vinylimidazole‐based asymmetric ion pair comonomers ( IPC s) which are free from nonpolymerizable counter ions have been synthesized, characterized and polymerized by free radical polymerization (FRP), atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), and reversible addition‐fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) mediated polymerizations in solution and by dispersion polymerization in water. The asymmetric nature of IPC s is due to the fact that cationic component of these IPCs is derived from vinylimidazole (VIm) and anionic component is derived from either styrenesulfonate (SS) or 2‐acrylamido‐2‐methyl‐1‐propanesulfonate. Although under ATRP, conversions are either very low or negligible, FRP and RAFT produces polymers with high to moderate monomer conversions but with different solubility characteristics. This investigation provides insight to the polymerization behavior of each component of the asymmetric IPCs and also its effects on composition and solubility characteristics of the resulting polymers. The IPCs studied here are high temperature ionic liquid and thus the polymers synthesized from these IPCs are highly ionic in nature and possess very strong intermolecular interactions which makes some of these IPC based polymers completely insoluble in organic and aqueous solvents. This highly ionic interaction is exploited to synthesize ionically crosslinked PMMA. MMA on copolymerization with 5–6 mol % of IPC yielded copolymer which is insoluble in common organic solvents like THF, DMF, etc., unlike homo PMMA. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2013, 51, 3260–3273     

A New Insight into the Stereoelectronic Control of the Pd0-Catalyzed Allylic Substitution: Application for the Synthesis of Multisubstituted Pyran-2-ones via an Unusual 1,3-Transposition

Pyran-2-ones 3 undergo a novel Pd⁰-catalyzed 1,3-rearrangement to afford isomers 6 . The reaction proceeds via an η²-Pd complex, the pyramidalization of which (confirmed by quantum chemistry calculations) offers a favorable antiperiplanar alignment of the Pd−C and allylic C−O bonds ( C ), thus allowing the formation of an η³-Pd intermediate. Subsequent rotation and rate-limiting recombination with the carboxylate arm then gives isomeric pyran-2-ones 6 . The calculated free energies reproduce the observed kinetics semi-quantitatively.     

Expanding the Topological Landscape by a G-Column Flip of a Parallel G-Quadruplex

Canonical G-quadruplexes can adopt a variety of different topologies depending on the arrangement of propeller, lateral, or diagonal loops connecting the four G-columns. A novel intramolecular G-quadruplex structure is derived through inversion of the last G-tract of a three-layered parallel fold, associated with the transition of a single propeller into a lateral loop. The resulting (3+1) hybrid fold features three syn⋅anti⋅anti⋅anti G-tetrads with a 3’-terminal all-syn G-column. Although the ability of forming a duplex stem-loop between G-tracts seems beneficial for a propeller-to-lateral loop rearrangement, unmodified G-rich sequences resist folding into the new (3+1) topology. However, refolding can be driven by the incorporation of syn-favoring guanosine analogues into positions of the fourth G-stretch. The presented hybrid-type G-quadruplex structure as determined by NMR spectroscopy may provide for an additional scaffold in quadruplex-based technologies.