Electrochemical probing of ground state electronic interactions in polynuclear complexes of a new heteroditopic ligand

The synthesis and electronic properties of dinuclear ([(bipy)2Ru(I)M(terpy)][PF6]4(bipy = 2,2'-bipyridine, terpy = 2,2':6',2'-terpyridine; M = Ru, Os)) and trinuclear ([[(bipy)2Ru(I)]2M][PF6]6 M = Ru, Os, Fe, Co) complexes bridged by 4'-(2,2'-bipyridin-4-yl)-2,2':6',2'-terpyridine (I) have been investigated and are compared with those of mononuclear model complexes. The electrochemical analysis using cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry reveals that there are no interactions in the ground state between adjacent metal centres. However, there is strong electronic communication between the 2,2'-bipyridine and 2,2':6',2'-terpyridine components of the bridging ligand. This conclusion is supported by a step-by-step reduction of the dinuclear and trinuclear complexes and the assignment of each electrochemical process to localised ligand sites within the didentate and terdentate domains. The investigation of the electronic absorption and emission spectra reveals an energy transfer in the excited state from the terminating bipy-bound metal centres to the central terpy-bound metal centre. This indicates that the bridge is able to facilitate energy transfer in the excited state between the metal centres despite the lack of interactions in the ground state.     

Nickel-manganese sulfido carbonyl cluster complexes. synthesis, structure, and properties of the unusual paramagnetic complexes Cp2Ni2Mn(CO)3(mu 3-E)2, E = S, Se

The reaction of Mn(2)(CO)(7)(mu-S(2)) with [CpNi(CO)](2) yielded the paramagnetic new compound Cp(2)Ni(2)Mn(CO)(3)(mu(3)-S)(2) (1) and a new hexanuclear metal product Cp(2)Ni(2)Mn(4)(CO)(14)(mu(6)-S(2))(mu(3)-S)(2) (2). Structurally, compound 1 contains two triply bridging sulfido ligands on opposite sides of an open Ni(2)Mn triangular cluster. EPR and temperature-dependent magnetic susceptibility measurements of 1 show that it contains one unpaired electron. The electronic structure of 1 was determined by Fenske-Hall molecular orbital calculations which show that the unpaired electron occupies a low lying antibonding orbital delocalized unequally across the three metal atoms. The selenium homologue Cp(2)Ni(2)Mn(CO)(3)(mu(3)-Se)(2) (3) was obtained from the reaction of a mixture of Mn(2)(CO)(10) and [CpNi(CO)](2) with elemental selenium and Me(3)NO.2H(2)O. It also has one unpaired electron. Compound 1 reacted with elemental sulfur to yield the dinickeldimanganese compound, Cp(2)Ni(2)Mn(2)(CO)(6)(mu(4)-S(2))(mu(4)-S(5)), 4, which can also be made from the reaction of Mn(2)(CO)(7)(mu-S(2)) with [CpNi(CO)](2) and sulfur. Compound 4 was converted back to 1 by sulfur abstraction using PPh(3). The reaction of Mn(2)(CO)(10) with [CpNi(CO)](2) in the presence of thiirane yielded the ethanedithiolato compound CpNiMn(CO)(3)(mu-SCH(2)CH(2)S) (5), which was also obtained from the reaction of Mn(4)(CO)(15)(mu(3)-S(2))(mu(4)-S(2)) with [CpNi(CO)](2) in the presence of thiirane. Compound 5 reacted with additional quantities of thiirane to yield the new compound CpNiMn(CO)(3)[mu-S(CH(2)CH(2)S)(2)], 6, which contains a 3-thiapentanedithiolato ligand that bridges the two metal atoms. Compound 6 was also obtained from the reaction of Mn(2)(CO)(10) with [CpNi(CO)](2) and thiirane. The molecular structures of the new compounds 1-6 were established by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses.     

Human neural stem cell growth and differentiation in a gradient-generating microfluidic device

This paper describes a gradient-generating microfluidic platform for optimizing proliferation and differentiation of neural stem cells (NSCs) in culture. Microfluidic technology has great potential to improve stem cell (SC) cultures, whose promise in cell-based therapies is limited by the inability to precisely control their behavior in culture. Compared to traditional culture tools, microfluidic platforms should provide much greater control over cell microenvironment and rapid optimization of media composition using relatively small numbers of cells. Our platform exposes cells to a concentration gradient of growth factors under continuous flow, thus minimizing autocrine and paracrine signaling. Human NSCs (hNSCs) from the developing cerebral cortex were cultured for more than 1 week in the microfluidic device while constantly exposed to a continuous gradient of a growth factor (GF) mixture containing epidermal growth factor (EGF), fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF). Proliferation and differentiation of NSCs into astrocytes were monitored by time-lapse microscopy and immunocytochemistry. The NSCs remained healthy throughout the entire culture period, and importantly, proliferated and differentiated in a graded and proportional fashion that varied directly with GF concentration. These concentration-dependent cellular responses were quantitatively similar to those measured in control chambers built into the device and in parallel cultures using traditional 6-well plates. This gradient-generating microfluidic platform should be useful for a wide range of basic and applied studies on cultured cells, including SCs.     

Advantages and drawbacks of nanospray for studying noncovalent protein-DNA complexes by mass spectrometry

The noncovalent complexes between the BlaI protein dimer (wild-type and GM2 mutant) and its double-stranded DNA operator were studied by nanospray mass spectrometry and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). Reproducibility problems in the nanospray single-stage mass spectra are emphasized. The relative intensities depend greatly on the shape of the capillary tip and on the capillary-cone distance. This results in difficulties in assessing the relative stabilities of the complexes simply from MS(1) spectra of protein-DNA mixtures. Competition experiments using MS/MS are a better approach to determine relative binding affinities. A competition between histidine-tagged BlaIWT (BlaIWTHis) and the GM2 mutant revealed that the two proteins have similar affinities for the DNA operator, and that they co-dimerize to form heterocomplexes. The low sample consumption of nanospray allows MS/MS spectra to be recorded at different collision energies for different charge states with 1 microL of sample. The MS/MS experiments on the dimers reveal that the GM2 dimer is more kinetically stable in the gas phase than the wild-type dimer. The MS/MS experiments on the complexes shows that the two proteins require the same collision energy to dissociate from the complex. This indicates that the rate-limiting step in the monomer loss from the protein-DNA complex arises from the breaking of the protein-DNA interface rather than the protein-protein interface. The dissociation of the protein-DNA complex proceeds by the loss of a highly charged monomer (carrying about two-thirds of the total charge and one-third of the total mass). MS/MS experiments on a heterocomplex also show that the two proteins BlaIWTHis and BlaIGM2 have slightly different charge distributions in the fragments. This emphasizes the need for better understanding the dissociation mechanisms of biomolecular complexes.     

Total synthesis of (-)-(6S,7S,8S,9R,10S,2'S)-membrenone-A and (-)-(6S,7S,8S,9R,10S)- membrenone-B and structural assignment of membrenone-C

[reaction: see text] (-)-(6S,7S,8S,9R,10S,2'S)-Membrenone-A and (-)-(6S,7S,8S,9R,10S)-membrenone-B were prepared in 11 steps (3% and 2.4% overall yield, respectively). Key steps included a tin(II)-mediated aldol followed by a syn selective reduction, giving the C7-C9 stereocenters, a second chain extending aldol coupling, and a p-TsOH-promoted cyclization/dehydration giving the common gamma-dihydropyrone precursor. We have thus established that synthetic (-)-(6S,7S,8S,9R,10S,2'S)-membrenone-A, (-)-(6S,7S,8S,9R,10S)-membrenone-B, and (-)-(6S,7S,8S,9R,10S)-membrenone-C are the enantiomers of the natural products.     

Fast-response system for signal acquisition and processing in electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

An electrothermal atomic absorption (a.a.) spectrometer is modified to allow accurate correlation of absorbance and pyrometrically measured temperature with time. To by-pass the slow electronics of the spectrometer, the signal is fed from the preamplifier immediately after the photomultipier tube to a 12-bit A/D converter mounted in a 320K IBM-PC microcomputer. The wall temperature of the graphite furnace, measured with an automatic optical pyrometer, is recorded simultaneously with absorbance by feeding the pyrometer output to a second channel of the A/D board. Fast deuterium-arac background correction is also done. Background-corrected absorbance, background absorbance and temperature are recorded at 60 Hz. A simple algorithm allowed experimental activation energies to be calculated automatically. All programming was in BASIC or PASCAL.     

On the uniqueness of a local martingale with a given absolute value

Summary D. Gilat has shown that any non-negative submartingale (X, .) is equal in law to the absolute value of a martingale (M, .). This result may be strenthened so that the pairs (X,.) and (¦M¦,.) are synonomous. In this paper the question of uniqueness of M is considered. Conditions on a local martingale (M, .) are found that lead to an explicit formula for the finite-dimensional distributions of M in terms of the Doob-Meyer decomposition of the local martingale X. In many cases of interest the conditions on M are unnecessary. For example, if X is the pth power of an Itô integral it is shown that (M) is unique if p> 1 but not in general if p=1.     

Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with isotope dilution time-of-flight mass spectrometry for the measurement of dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls in foodstuffs. Comparison with other methods

A comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC x GC-TOF-MS) experimental setup was tested for the measurement of seven 2,3,7,8-substituted polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), ten 2,3,7,8-substituted polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), four non-ortho-polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), eight mono-ortho-PCBs, and six indicator PCBs (Aroclor 1260) in foodstuff samples. A 40m RTX-500 (0.18mm I.D., 0.10 microm df) was used as the first dimension (1D) and a 1.5 m BPX-50 (0.10mm I.D., 0.10 microm df) as the second dimension (2D). The GC x GC chromatographic separation was completed in 45 min. Quantification was performed using 13C-label isotope dilution (ID). Isotope ratios of the selected quantification ions were checked against theoretical values prior to peak assignment and quantification. The dynamic working range spanned three orders of magnitude. The lowest detectable amount of 2,3,7,8-TCDD was 0.2 pg. Fish, pork, and milk samples were considered. On a congener basis, the GC x GC-ID-TOF-MS method was compared to the reference GC-ID high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) method and to the alternative GC-ID tandem-in-time quadrupole ion storage mass spectrometry (QIST-MS/MS). PCB levels ranged from low picogram (pg) to low nanogram (ng) per gram of sample and data compared very well between the different methods. For all matrices, PCDD/Fs were at a low pg level (0.05-3 pg) on a fresh weight basis. Although congener profiles were accurately described, RSDs of GC x GC-ID-TOF-MS and GC-QIST-MS/MS were much higher than for GC-ID-HRMS, especially for low level pork and milk. On a toxic equivalent (TEQ) basis, all methods, including the dioxin-responsive chemically activated luciferase gene expression (DR-CALUX) assay, produced similar responses. A cost comparison is also presented.     

Formation of a [2 + 2]-heterotetranuclear macrocycle from reaction of a platina-homoditopic ligand with iron(II)

Reaction of 4'-(2-propyn-1-oxy)-2,2':6',2'-terpyridine (HC triple bond CCH2Oterpy) with trans-[PtI2(PEt3)2] regioselectively metallates the alkyne to give trans-[Pt(C triple bond CCH2Oterpy)2(PEt3)2] which, when treated with Fe(II), gives a [2 + 2]-metallocycle.     

EVIDENCE FOR A MAGNESIUM DEPENDENT ATPase IN BOVINE ROD OUTER SEGMENT DISK MEMBRANES*†

Abstract—In the presence of Mg²⁺ and adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a rapid. light-induced, light-scattering transient is observed from bovine rod outer segments (ROS). This light-scattering transient we have labelled 'A'. Ca²⁺ cannot replace Mg²⁺. nor can guanosine triphosphate (GTP) replace ATP. 'A' is observed at ATP concentrations as low as a few μM.
The half-time of 'A', 60 ms at 20° and 20 ms at 37°, is consistent with a process possibly involved in visual transduction.
'A' has the action spectrum of rhodopsin bleaching and its amplitude is strictly proportional to the fraction of rhodopsin bleached per flash. 'A' can be regenerated by 11- cis retinal.
Inhibition studics with ATP analogues, which cannot be hydrolysed and fail to evoke an 'A' response, reveal that an ATP hydrolysis process has to precede illumination in order for 'A' to occur.
On the basis of the above findings. it is proposed that there is a Mg²⁺ dependent ATPase in ROS that allows the disk membrane to assume a new membrane state which, upon illumination, is altered. giving rise to the structural phenomenon monitored as light-scattering transient 'A'.