Synthesis and incorporation into cyclic peptides of tolan amino acids and their hydrogenated congeners: construction of an array of A-B-loop mimetics of the Cε3 domain of human IgE

The disruption of the human immunolobulin E-high affinity receptor I (IgE-FcεRI) protein-protein interaction (PPI) is a validated strategy for the development of anti asthma therapeutics. Here, we describe the synthesis of an array of conformationally constrained cyclic peptides based on an epitope of the A-B loop within the Cε3 domain of IgE. The peptides contain various tolan (i.e., 1,2-biarylethyne) amino acids and their fully and partially hydrogenated congeners as conformational constraints. Modest antagonist activity (IC(50) ～660 μM) is displayed by the peptide containing a 2,2'-tolan, which is the one predicted by molecular modeling to best mimic the conformation of the native A-B loop epitope in IgE.     

An optimized method for the synthesis of amino-functionalized phosphatidylcholine

Phosphatidylcholine analogues were synthesised as affinity ligands for the capture of membrane proteins. Several protecting group strategies were investigated to synthesize the amino-functionalized phosphatidylcholine: 11-aminoundecyl 2-(trimethylammonio)ethyl phosphate (4). The acid-mediated deprotection of the Boc group generated a mixture of the target products which could only be purified by HPLC. However, an alternative strategy, using the hydrazine-labile phthalimide group route, followed by a gel filtration step proved straightforward to afford the desired amino-functionalized phosphatidylcholine product in high yield and purity.     

A Digital-Image-Processing-Based Computer System to Measure the Area Under Curves

Experimental Techniques -     

Di- and tri-nuclear osmium carbonyl chloride complexes: x-ray structures of Os2(CO)8Cl2 and Os3(CO)12Cl2

Summary Os₂(CO)₈Cl₂ (1) is orthorhombic P2₁2₁2₁ witha=9.3599(9),b=9.879(2),c=16.014(3), V=1480³, D_c=3.03 Mgm^–3 for Z=4. Structure solved by Patterson methods. Final R=0.038, R_w=0.038 [w=(²F)] for 1270 observed reflections and 141 parameters. Os₃(CO)₁₂Cl₂ (2) is monoclinic C2/m witha=12.105(3), b=10.612(3),c=8.798(1) , =117.02(2)°, V=1006³, D_c=3.22 Mgm^–3 for Z=2. Structure solved by Patterson methods. Final R=0.036, R_w=0.037 (w=(²F)^–) for 821 observed reflections and 75 parameters.Complex(1) has an osmium-osmium single bond 2.897(1), with the chloride ligands in equatorial positions,(2) has a linear triosmium chain with osmium-osmium single bonds 2.893(1) and the chloride ligands occupy equatorial sites on the terminal osmium atoms. Both(1) and(2) are isostructural with their osmium carbonyl iodide analogues.     

Low-molecular-weight human serum proteome using ultrafiltration, isoelectric focusing, and mass spectrometry

Identification of the serum proteome is a daunting analytical task due to the complex nature of the sample which has an extremely large dynamic range of protein components. This report addresses this issue by using centrifugal ultrafiltration to enrich the low-molecular-weight (LMW) serum proteome while decreasing the amount of abundant high-molecular-weight proteins. Reduction of the complex nature of the sample was achieved by fractionation of the LMW serum proteins using solution-phase isoelectric focusing (IEF). Multiple enzyme digestions are performed and analyzed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Analysis of the tandem mass spectra resulted in the identification of 262 proteins belonging to LMW serum proteome. Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of this methodology to isolate and identify LMW proteins with improved confidence in the MS data acquired. In addition, our methodology can be combined with other multidimensional chromatography techniques performed on the peptide level to increase the number of identified proteins.