Experimental and Theoretical Studies on the Rearrangement of 2‐Oxoazepane α,α‐Amino Acids into 2′‐Oxopiperidine β2,3,3‐Amino Acids: An Example of Intramolecular Catalysis

Enantiopure β‐amino acids represent interesting scaffolds for peptidomimetics, foldamers and bioactive compounds. However, the synthesis of highly substituted analogues is still a major challenge. Herein, we describe the spontaneous rearrangement of 4‐carboxy‐2‐oxoazepane α,α‐amino acids to lead to 2′‐oxopiperidine‐containing β^2,3,3‐amino acids, upon basic or acid hydrolysis of the 2‐oxoazepane α,α‐amino acid ester. Under acidic conditions, a totally stereoselective synthetic route has been developed. The reordering process involved the spontaneous breakdown of an amide bond, which typically requires strong conditions, and the formation of a new bond leading to the six‐membered heterocycle. A quantum mechanical study was carried out to obtain insight into the remarkable ease of this rearrangement, which occurs at room temperature, either in solution or upon storage of the 4‐carboxylic acid substituted 2‐oxoazepane derivatives. This theoretical study suggests that the rearrangement process occurs through a concerted mechanism, in which the energy of the transition states can be lowered by the participation of a catalytic water molecule. Interestingly, it also suggested a role for the carboxylic acid at position 4 of the 2‐oxoazepane ring, which facilitates this rearrangement, participating directly in the intramolecular catalysis.     

Cathepsin B-responsive nanodrug delivery systems for precise diagnosis and targeted therapy of malignant tumors

The tumor microenvironment (TME) significantly influences cancer evolution and therapeutic efficacy. Targeting biofunctional molecules to the TME has long been appreciated as a means of raising local drug concentrations and reducing systemic toxicities. The booming nanotechnology field has realized the importance of cathepsin B to derive a variety of intelligent enzyme-responsive nanosized drug delivery systems (nanoDDS) to improve treatment responses and clinical outcomes. In this tutorial review, after introducing the molecular structure and physiological/pathological functions of cathepsin B, the outstanding achievements of cathepsin B-responsive nanoplatforms in the precise diagnosis, targeted therapy, and synergistic theranostics of malignant tumors are systematically described. Finally, the challenges of enzyme-substrate incompatibility, low diagnostic sensitivity, mass production and biocompatibility of multifunctional nanoDDS are considered in order to successfully promote them to clinical applications     

Trends in the detection of pharmaceuticals and endocrine-disrupting compounds by Field-Effect Transistors (FETs)

Field-effect transistors (FETs) are one of the most widely-used electronic sensors for continuous monitoring and detection of contaminants such as pharmaceuticals and endocrine-disrupting compounds at low concentrations. FETs have been successfully utilized for the rapid analysis of these environmental pollutants due to their advantageous material properties like the disposability, rapid responses and simplicity. This paper presented an up-to-date overview of applied strategies with different bio-based materials in order to enhance the analytical performances of the designed sensors. Comparison and discussion were made between characteristics of recently engineered FET bio-sensors used for the detection of famous and selected pharmaceutical compounds in the literature. The recent progress in environmental research applications, comments on interesting trends, current challenge for future research in endocrine-disrupting chemicals’ (EDCs) detection using FETs biosensors were highlighted.     

Caesium carbonate supported on hydroxyapatite‐encapsulated Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 nanocrystallites as a novel magnetically basic catalyst for the one‐pot synthesis of pyrazolo[1,2‐b]phthalazine‐5,10‐diones

A novel nanomagnetic basic catalyst of caesium carbonate supported on hydroxyapatite‐coated Ni_0.5Zn_0.5Fe₂O₄ magnetic nanoparticles (Ni_0.5Zn_0.5Fe₂O₄@HAP‐Cs₂CO₃) was prepared. This new catalyst was fully characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission and scanning electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction and vibrating sample magnetometry techniques, and then the catalytic activity of this catalyst was investigated in the synthesis of 1H‐pyrazolo[1,2‐b]phthalazine‐5,10‐dione derivatives. Also, Ni_0.5Zn_0.5Fe₂O₄@HAP‐Cs₂CO₃ could be reused at least five times without significant loss of activity and could be recovered easily by applying an external magnet. Thus, the developed nanomagnetic catalyst is potentially useful for the green and economic production of organic compounds. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Local linear convergence analysis of Primal–Dual splitting methods

In this paper, we study the local linear convergence properties of a versatile class of Primal–Dual splitting methods for minimizing composite non-smooth convex optimization problems. Under the assumption that the non-smooth components of the problem are partly smooth relative to smooth manifolds, we present a unified local convergence analysis framework for these methods. More precisely, in our framework, we first show that (i) the sequences generated by Primal–Dual splitting methods identify a pair of primal and dual smooth manifolds in a finite number of iterations, and then (ii) enter a local linear convergence regime, which is characterized based on the structure of the underlying active smooth manifolds. We also show how our results for Primal–Dual splitting can be specialized to cover existing ones on Forward–Backward splitting and Douglas–Rachford splitting/ADMM (alternating direction methods of multipliers). Moreover, based on these obtained local convergence analysis result, several practical acceleration techniques are discussed. To exemplify the usefulness of the obtained result, we consider several concrete numerical experiments arising from fields including signal/image processing, inverse problems and machine learning. The demonstration not only verifies the local linear convergence behaviour of Primal–Dual splitting methods, but also the insights on how to accelerate them in practice.     

煤直接液化油中混合酚的分离研究

利用分子筛择形特点，对煤直接液化油中的混合酚实施高效分离。本研究选取间甲酚和对甲酚作为分离煤直接液化油馏分段混合酚的模型化合物，采用化学液相沉积法对HZSM-5吸附剂的孔口结构进行改变，分析分子筛硅铝比及颗粒粒径对模型化合物间甲酚和对甲酚吸附分离性能的影响，以获得高性能固相吸附剂，并将其应用于180-190℃馏分段混合酚分离。结果表明，当分子筛硅铝比为25、粒径为3-5 μm时，分子筛的孔口结构调节效果最优；当正硅酸乙酯的最小用量为0.2 mL/g时，固相吸附剂的吸附量为0.03 g/g，对甲酚选择性高于95%。由于外表面沉积物对吸附剂的孔口结构变化，导致对甲酚选择性的提高。进一步采用HZSM-5（1）吸附剂对真实煤直接液化油混合酚的分离中发现，苯酚和对甲酚的选择性均达到100%。     

Identification of metabolites of rupestonic acid in rat urine by liquid chromatography combined with electrospray ionization quadrupole time‐of‐flight tandem mass spectrometry

Rupestonic acid, a potential anti‐influenza agent, is an important and characteristic compound in Artemisia rupestris L., a well‐known traditional Uighur medicine for the treatment of colds. In the present study, high‐performance liquid chromatography combined with electrospray ionization quadrupole time‐of‐flight tandem mass spectrometry was used to detect and identify the metabolites in rat urine after oral administration of rupestonic acid. A total of 10 metabolites were identified or partially characterized. The structure elucidations of the metabolites were performed by comparing the changes in accurate molecular masses and fragment ions with those of the parent compound. The results showed that the main metabolites of rupestonic acid in rat urine were formed by oxidation, hydrogenation and glucuronidation. A metabolism pathway was proposed for the first time based on the characterized structures. This metabolism study can provide essential information for drug discovery, design and clinical application of rupestonic acid. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Could chroman-4-one derivative be a better inhibitor of PTR1? – Reason for the identified disparity in its inhibitory potency in Trypanosoma brucei and Leishmania major

Most notable Kinetoplastids are of the genus Trypanosoma and Leishmania, affecting several millions of humans in Africa and Latin America. Current therapeutic options are limited by several drawbacks, hence the need to develop more efficacious inhibitors. An investigation to decipher the mechanism behind greater inhibitory potency of a chroman-4-one derivative (compound 1) in Trypanosoma brucei pteridine reductase 1 (TbPTR1) and Leishmania major pteridine reductase 1 (LmPTR1) was performed. Estimation of ΔG_bind revealed that compound 1 had a greater binding affinity in TbPTR1 with a ΔG_bind value of −49.0507 Kcal/mol than −29.2292 Kcal/mol in LmPTR1. The ΔGbind in TbPTR1 were predominantly contributed by “strong” electrostatic energy compared to the “weak” van der Waals in LmPTR1. In addition to this, the NADPH cofactor contributed significantly to the total energy of TbPTR1. A characteristic weak aromatic π interaction common in PTR1 was more prominent in TbPTR1 than LmPTR1. The consistent occurrence of high-affinity conventional hydrogen bond interactions as well as a steady interaction of crucial active site residues like Arg14/Arg17, Ser95/Ser111, Phe97/Phe113 in TbPTR1/LmPTR1 with chroman-4-one moiety equally revealed the important role the moiety played in the activity of compound 1. Overall, the structural and conformational analysis of the active site residues in TbPTR1 revealed them to be more rigid than LmPTR1. This could be the mechanism of interaction TbPTR1 employs in exerting a greater potency than LmPTR1. These findings will further give insight that will be assistive in modifying compound 1 for better potency and the design of novel inhibitors of PTR1.     

Theoretical study on the mechanism for the excited-state double proton transfer process of an asymmetric Schiff base ligand

Excited-state double proton transfer (ESDPT) in the 1-[(2-hydroxy-3-methoxy-benzylidene)-hydrazonomethyl]-naphthalen-2-ol (HYDRAVH₂) ligand was studied by the density functional theory and time-dependent density functional theory method. The analysis of frontier molecular orbitals, infrared spectra, and non-covalent interactions have cross-validated that the asymmetric structure has an influence on the proton transfer, which makes the proton transfer ability of the two hydrogen protons different. The potential energy surfaces in both S₀ and S₁ states were scanned with varying O-H bond lengths. The results of potential energy surface analysis adequately proved that the HYDRAVH₂ can undergo the ESDPT process in the S₁ state and the double proton transfer process is a stepwise proton transfer mechanism. Our work can pave the way towards the design and synthesis of new molecules.