Structure-activity relationships of anti-HIV-1 peptides with disulfide linkage between D- and L-cysteine at positions i and i+3, respectively, derived from HIV-1 gp41 C-peptide

The constrained a-helical structure of a C-peptide is useful for enhancing anti-HIV-1 activity. The i and i+3 positions in an a-helical structure are located close together, therefore D-Cys (dC) and L-Cys (C) were introduced at the positions, respectively, to make a dC-C disulfide bond in 28mer C-peptides. Accordingly, this study tested whether a dC-C disulfide bond would increase the a-helicity and anti-HIV-1 activity of peptides. A C-peptide can be divided into three domains, the N-terminal hydrophobic domain (HPD), middle interface domain (IFD), and C-terminal hydrogen domain (HGD), based on the binding property with an N-peptide. In general, the dC-C modifications in HPD enhanced the anti-HIV-1 activity, while those in IFD and HGD resulted in no or much less activity. The modified peptides with no activity clearly showed much less a-helicity than the native peptides, while those with higher activity showed an almost similar or slightly increased alpha-helicity. Therefore, the present results suggest that the introduction of a dC-C bridge in the N-terminal hydrophobic domain of a C-peptide may be useful for enhancing the anti-HIV-1 activity.     

Tris(chloranilato)ferrate(III) anionic building block containing the (Dihydroxo)oxodiiron(III) dimer cation: synthesis and characterization of [(TPA)(OH)FeIIIOFeIII(OH)(TPA)][Fe(CA)3]0.5(BF4)0.5.1.5MeOH.H2O [TPA = tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine; CA = chloranilate

[(TPA)(OH)FeIIIOFeIII(OH)(TPA)][Fe(CA)3]0.5(BF4)0.5.1.5MeOH.H2O (1) which possesses both the [FeIII(CA)3]3- (CA= chloranilate) and hydroxooxoiron(III) ions has had its structure determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The 2-300 K magnetic susceptibility of 1 provides the magnetic parameters, g = 2.07, J/kB = -165 K (115 cm-1), theta = -1 K, and the spin impurity, rho = 0.05, which indicates a strong antiferromagnetic interaction between iron(III) ions via the oxo anion.     

Construction of segregated arrays of multiple donor and acceptor units using a dendritic scaffold: remarkable dendrimer effects on photoinduced charge separation

Dendritic molecules appended with multiple zinc porphyrin units (DPm, m [number of zinc porphyrin units] = 6, 12, and 24) trap bipyridine compounds carrying multiple fullerene units (Py2Fn, n [number of C60 units] = 1-3), affording coordination complexes DPm superset Py2Fn having a photoactive layer consisting of spatially segregated donor and acceptor arrays on their surface. Complexes DPm superset Py2Fn are stable enough (K [average binding affinity] = 1.1 x 10(6)-4.4 x 10(6) M(-1) in CHCl3 at 25 degrees C) to be isolated by gel permeation chromatography. UHV-STM microscopy enables clear visualization of a petal-like structure of DP12 superset Py2F3. Photoexcitation of the zinc porphyrin units in DPm superset Py2Fn results in a zinc porphyrin-to-fullerene electron transfer to generate a charge separation. The charge-separation rate constant (kCS) in CH2Cl2 at 20 degrees C increases from 0.26 x 10(10) to 2.3 x 10(10) s(-1) upon increment of m and n, whereas the charge-recombination rate constant (kCR) remains almost unchanged at 4.5 x 10(6)-6.7 x 10(6) s(-1). Consequently, DP24 supersetPy2F3 furnishes the largest ratio of kCS/kCR (3400) among the family.     

Phase of the composition CaBaLaCu2FeO7.5: Synthesis, structure, M?sbauer spectra

The phase of the composition CaBaLaCu₂FeO_7.5 is synthesized from the previously obtained CaCuO₂, La₂Cu₂O₅, and BaFeO₂ double oxides enriched up to 14.7% in ⁵⁷Fe. The phase has the orthorhombic crystal system with the unit cell parameters as follows: a = 0.3882(3) nm, b = 0.3911(3) nm, c = 1.1823(8) nm. Based on the M?sbauer spectra analysis, the conclusion is drawn that iron atoms occupy only Cu(1) sites in the lattice, while more than 90% of them are in the Fe⁴⁺ valence state (80% of these atoms have the tetragonal pyramidal coordination).     

Analysis of water extracts from airborne dust samples by capillary isotachophoresis

Application of capillary isotachophoresis (CITP) for the analysis of water extracts of the dust samples collected in different periods in air-filtration devices in Prague car traffic tunnels and in Parisian metro station is presented. The extracts were analyzed in cationic mode with a leading electrolyte (LE) of 10 mM KOH, 25 mM acetic acid, pH 4.4, and a terminating electrolyte (TE) of 10 mM β-alanine, adjusted to pH 4.4 with acetic acid, and in anionic mode with LE 10 mM HCl, 20 mM histidine, pH 5.8 and TE 10 mM 2-(N-morpholino)ethanesulphonic acid, pH 3.7. Extracted amounts of UV-absorbing substances, including pollen allergens and organic pollutants, the number of the found components and concentrations of some inorganic ions (e.g. Cl⁻, K⁺, Na⁺, Ca²⁺) in the dust samples were determined. It was found that the extracted amounts of anionic components and their number were much higher than those of cationic components. Significant differences have been found in the analyses of the extracts of different origin. Much more material and more components were present in the extracts of samples from the pollen-rich period than from the pollen-free period, especially in anionic CITP mode.     

5-Demethoxyfumagillol, a potent angiogenesis inhibitor isolated from Aspergillus fumigatus

A novel angiogenesis inhibitor, 5-demethoxyfumagillol (1), was obtained by isolation, purification and saponification of cultured broth of Aspergillus fumigatus. The structure was assigned as (3R,4R,6R)-4-[(2R,3R)-2-methyl-3-(3-methyl-but-2-enyl)-oxiranyl]-1-oxa-spiro[2,5]octan-6-ol (1) by spectroscopic analysis and confirmed by independent synthesis from fumagillol (3). In addition, 6-O-(chloroacetylcarbamoyl)-5-demethoxyfumagillol (7) showed a potential anti-angiogenic activity in CAPE cells in vitro.     

Discrete-Continuous Symmetrized Sobolev Inner Products

This paper deals with the bilinear symmetrization problem associated with Sobolev inner products. Let 007B;Q _n } _n=0 be the sequence of monic polynomials orthogonal with respect to a Sobolev inner product of order 1 when one of the measures is discrete and the other one is a nondiscrete positive Borel measure. Furthermore, assume that the supports of such measures are symmetric with respect to the origin so that the corresponding odd moments vanish. We consider the orthogonality properties of the sequences of monic polynomials 007B;P _n } _n=0 and {R _n } _n=0 such that Q _2n (x)=P _n (x ²), Q _2n+1(x)=xR _n (x ²). Moreover, recurrence relations for {P _n } _n=0 and {R _n } _n=0 are obtained as well as explicit algebraic relations between them.     

Phase equilibria of poly(ɛ-caprolactone)-<Emphasis Type="Italic">co</Emphasis>-poly(acryl methacrylate)-methylene chloride systems and the phase structure of polymer binary mixtures

Isothermal cross sections of amorphous separation diagrams of the ternary systems poly(ɛ-caprolactone)-co-poly(acryl methacrylate) Eudragite RS-methylene chloride and poly(ɛ-caprolactone)-co-poly(acryl methacrylate) Eudragite E-methylene chloride are obtained via the experimental methods of turbidity points and analytical transmission electron microscopy and the calculation semi-empirical method of constructing boundary lines of phase diagrams. It is shown that the composition of copoly(acryl methacrylate) affects the length of the solubility region in the ternary phase diagram and the character of the anisotropy of films prepared via solvent evaporation. The determination of coordinates of figurative points corresponding to the completion of phase separation shows that the mechanism of phase separation for both systems is of the spinodal type. The specific orientation of polycaprolactone crystallites during film preparation from the poly(ɛ-caprolactone)-Eudragite RS mixture is determined by the morphology of the film formed during solvent evaporation and the phase composition.     

Isolation and characterization of conformational isomers of N,N′‐bis(3,5‐dichlorosalicylidene)‐2,2′‐ethylenedianiline: crystal structure,photoluminescence, and density functional theory calculation

We have isolated two isomeric solids 1 and 2 of N,N′‐bis(3,5‐dichlorosalicylidene)‐2,2′‐ethylenedianiline and characterized by IR, UV/Vis, X‐ray powder diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis/differential thermal analysis, and X‐ray crystallography. Although the solids are same formulas, each shows different colors and crystal structures. Orange solid ( 1 ) shows endo conformation while yellow solid ( 2 ) exhibits exo form depending on packing modes. UV/Vis spectra of 1 and 2 appear very similar patterns in the solid state; however, the bands of 1 are slightly red‐shifted compared with those of 2 . 1 displays a strong fluorescent emission band at ~582 nm while 2 shows an intense fluorescent signal at ~563 nm. The charge density populations of 1 and 2 have been studied by computational simulations using density functional theory at pbe1pbe/6‐311G** level. The calculated highest occupied molecular orbital and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energies of 1 and 2 confirm that charge transfer occurs within the organic molecules. The energy difference of HOMO‐LUMO in 1 is smaller slightly than that of 2 about 0.05 eV (~17 nm). Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.