Glycoconjugated Metallohelices have Improved Nuclear Delivery and Suppress Tumour Growth In Vivo

Monosaccharides are added to the hydrophilic face of a self‐assembled asymmetric Fe^II metallohelix, using CuAAC chemistry. The sixteen resulting architectures are water‐stable and optically pure, and exhibit improved antiproliferative selectivity against colon cancer cells (HCT116 p53^+/+) with respect to the non‐cancerous ARPE‐19 cell line. While the most selective compound is a glucose‐appended enantiomer, its cellular entry is not mainly glucose transporter‐mediated. Glucose conjugation nevertheless increases nuclear delivery ca 2.5‐fold, and a non‐destructive interaction with DNA is indicated. Addition of the glucose units affects the binding orientation of the metallohelix to naked DNA, but does not substantially alter the overall affinity. In a mouse model, the glucose conjugated compound was far better tolerated, and tumour growth delays for the parent compound (2.6 d) were improved to 4.3 d; performance as good as cisplatin but with the advantage of no weight loss in the subjects.     

Reactivity of tetrahydrochromeno[2,3‐b]indoles: chromic indicators of cyanide

The synthesis and reactivity of a tetrahydrochromeno[2,3‐b]indoles are reported. Evidence for reversible ring‐opening is based on H/D exchange and trapping experiments. These compounds readily undergo reaction with tetra‐n‐butylammonium cyanide. The cyanide reaction is 10–100× faster when the solution is irradiated with 350 nm light. Reaction with trimethylsilyl cyanide occurs only with UV irradiation demonstrating photoreactivity. The rate of tetrahydrochromeno[2,3‐b]indole ring‐opening is greater for (i) Me substitution at the hemiaminal carbon (compared to Ph), and (ii) substitution of fluorine at the 9‐position of the indole. Under acidic conditions, the ring‐opened indolium ion is observed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Photophysical effect of the coordination of water by ruthenium(II) bipyridyl complexes containing hemilabile phosphine-ether ligands

A substantial concentration-dependent red shift of the absorption and emission spectra (77 K) of [Ru(bpy)(2)(POMe-P,O)](2+) (1) (POMe = (2-methoxyphenyl)diphenylphosphine) is reported. NMR experiments show this shift to be due to equilibration of 1 with an aquo complex (1b) (K(eff) = (6 +/- 3) x 10(-3)) that forms upon displacement of the coordinated ether in the hemilabile POMe ligand. The excited-state lifetimes of 1 and 1b at 77 K in solid 2:1 ethanol/acetone solution are tau = 2.13 +/- 0.02 and 1.95 +/- 0.02 mus, respectively. The preparation and X-ray crystal structure of a related complex, [Ru(bpy)(2)(PO(i)Pr-P)(OH(2))](PF(6))(2) (2b) (PO(i)Pr-P = (2-(2-propoxy)phenyl)diphenylphosphine), is also reported. In solution, this species exists as an equilibrium mixture of complexes that cannot be readily separated. This species also has concentration-dependent absorption spectra in 2:1 ethanol/acetone solution, with a significant red shift (20 nm) at lower concentrations.     

Polar,non-coordinating ionic liquids as solvents for the alternating copolymerization of styrene and CO catalyzed by cationic palladium catalysts

The palladium-catalyzed copolymerization of styrene and CO in an ionic liquid solvent, 1-hexylpyridinium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide, gave improved yields and increased molecular weights compared to polymerizations run in methanol.     

Fastest Coupling of Random Walks

A new coupling of one-dimensional random walks is describedwhich tries to control the coupling by keeping the separationof the two random walks of constant sign. It turns out thatamong such monotone couplings there is an optimal one-step couplingwhich maximises the second moment of the difference (assumingthis is finite), and this coupling is ‘fast’ inthe sense that for a random walk with a unimodal step distributionthe coupling time achieved by using the new coupling at eachstep is stochastically no larger than any other coupling. Thisis applied to the case of symmetric unimodal distributions.     

Linear integral equations and nonlinear difference-difference equations

This paper studies the dynamics of members of the two-parameter family of maps x → μx(1 ? x^v), emphasizing the evolution from snapback repeller to crisis bifurcations. The example of the square root map $\text{v =}\text{1}\text{2}$ is taken to represent the subfamily where v is fixed and taken from the range $\text{1}\text{2}\text{≤ v ≤ 1}$. A map from such a subfamily is shown to be conjugate with a map with negative Schwarzian derivative. This allows a characterization of crisis as the demise of a snapback repeller on a proper subinterval.     

Diffusion and solubility of methane in polyisobutylene

Diffusion coefficients and solubilities of methane in polyisobutylene have been measured at four temperatures between 102 and 188°C. in the pressure range 23–341 atm. Diffusion coefficients extrapolated to atmospheric pressure range from 1.72 × 10^?6 cm.²/sec. at 102°C. to 1.5 × 10^?5 cm.²/sec. at 188°C. corresponding to an activation energy for diffusion of 8.7 ± 0.4 kcal./mole. Solubilities are small, about one molecule of methane for every forty carbon atoms in the polyisobutylene at 300 atm. partial pressure of methane. Solubilities vary little with temperature, but show an apparent minimum between 127 and 188°C. With improved methods of data analysis, diffusion coefficients and solubilities have been recalculated from previously reported studies on nitrogen in branched polyethylene and methane in branched polyethylene, linear polyethylene, and polystyrene. Recalculated diffusion coefficients are essentially the same as those reported previously, but the recalculated solubilities are decreased from 2 to 30%. The solubilities of all five systems show strong deviations from Henry's law, i.e., increases in partial pressure of methane and nitrogen with respect to solubility exceed linearity. The partial pressure (or fugacity)—solubility data may be interpreted in terms of a sorption model in which sorbed molecules are accommodated in widely dispersed, unoccupied volumes or sites in the polymer. An almost equivalent, solution model in which the first sorbed molecules to enter the polymer are accommodated to a large extent in existing volumes in the polymer, with successively sorbed molecules swelling the polymer to a greater extent (i.e., partial molal volume of sorbed molecules, V ₁, increasing with concentration) can also account for these data.     

The estimation of leucine aminopeptidase produced by molting nematodes with labeled leucinamide as substrate

Leucine aminopeptidase activity was measured using l-[U-¹⁴C]leucinamide as substrate. The leucine freed by hydrolysis was separated by high voltage electrophoresis and estimated in a scintillation counter. The method was especially useful for studying the production of LAP during the molting of infective juveniles of the nematodes, H. contortus, because activity could be measured without purifying or concentrating the enzyme.     

A study of a New Zealand oil shale by differential thermal analysis

The heats of combustion of 95 samples of oil shale from the Nevis Valley have been determined from DTA peak areas obtained by combustion in 1.5 atm oxygen. The heats of combustion of the oil shale ranged from 0.2 to 8.5 MJ kg⁻¹, with an average of 2.6 MJ kg⁻¹, while that of the kerogen was calculated to be 34.2 MJ kg⁻¹. Up to four peaks were obtained in the DTA combustion curve, suggesting that different parts of the kerogen molecule were being oxidised at different temperatures.

In nitrogen, DTA endotherms were observed due to decarbonation of siderite (ca. 455°C), and dehydroxylation of kaolinite (ca. 570°C) and chlorite (ca. 760°C), and an exotherm due to formation of mullite (ca. 980°C).