Enantiomeric Cyclic Peptides with Different Caco‐2 Permeability Suggest Carrier‐Mediated Transport

Recently, oral absorption of cyclic hexapeptides was improved by N‐methylation of their backbone amides. However, the number and position of N‐methylations or of solvent exposed NHs did not correlate to intestinal permeability, measured in a Caco‐2 model. In this study, we investigate enantiomeric pairs of three polar and two lipophilic peptides to demonstrate the participation of carrier‐mediated transporters. As expected, all the enantiomeric peptides exhibited identical lipophilicity (logD_7.4) and passive transcellular permeability determined by the parallel artificial membrane permeability assay (PAMPA). However, the enantiomeric polar peptides exhibited different Caco‐2 permeability (P_app) in both directions a–b and b–a. The same trend was observed for one of the lipophilic peptide, whereas the second lipophilic enantiomer pair showed identical Caco‐2 permeability (within the errors). These findings provide the first evidence for the involvement of carrier‐mediated transport for peptides, especially for those of polar nature.     

Complexes of 2,2′,2″-Nirtilotriphenol. Part IV. Cage Compounds with Phosphorus(III) and Phosphorus(V)

The ligand 2,2′,2″-nitrilotriphenol reacts with P(III) and P(V) compounds to form corresponding phosphorus complexes. Syntheses and NMR data of 2,2′,2″-nitrilotriphenyl phosphite ( II ), 2,2′,2″-nitrilotriphenyl phosphate ( III ) and of a hydrolysis product of II , 2,2′-[N-(2-hydroxyphenyl)imino]diphenly phosphonate ( IV ), are reported, as well as crystal structures of II and IV . Phosphite II shows a bicycloundecane framework; no N?Pinteraction is present. The phosphonate IV shows two coordinated and one dangling phenol group; the N-atom does not interact with the P-atom. Strong acids protonate II as well as III to form cations: in these, NMR evidence indicates coordination of the N-atom to the P-atom.     

Uniform oriented matroids without the isotopy property

We give an easy general construction for uniform oriented matroids with disconnected realization space. This disproves the longstanding isotopy conjecture for simple line arrangements or order types in the plane.The research of Bernd Sturmfels and Neil White was supported in part by the Institute for Mathematics and Its Applications with funds provided by the National Science Foundation.     

Synthesis of the Oviposition-Deterring Pheromone (ODP) in Rhagoletis cerasi L. Preliminary communication

For the assignment of the configuration at C(8) and C(15) of the natural oviposition-deterring pheromone 1 in Rhagoletis cerasi L., the four possible stereoisomers of 1 are synthesized. By condensing the C₆ building blocks (5R)- 4 and (5S)- 4 with the boron enolates of the C₁₀ building blocks (4S)- 13 and (4R)- 13 , followed by decarboxylative dehydration, all stereoisomers of 16 are available (Scheme 5). Glucosylation of 16 followed by formation of the taurin amide gives, after deprotection, the four stereoisomers (8R,15S)- 1 , (8R,15R)- 1 , (8R,15S) -1 , and (8S,15S)- 1 (Scheme 6).     

Measurements of side-chain 13C-13C residual dipolar couplings in uniformly deuterated proteins

13C-only spectroscopy was used to measure multiple residual (13)C-(13)C dipolar couplings (RDCs) in uniformly deuterated and (13)C-labeled proteins. We demonstrate that (13)C-start and (13)C-observe spectra can be routinely used to measure an extensive set of the side-chain residual (13)C-(13)C dipolar couplings upon partial alignment of human ubiquitin in the presence of bacteriophages Pf1. We establish that, among different broadband polarization transfer schemes, the FLOPSY family can be used to exchange magnetization between a J coupled network of spins while largely decoupling dipolar interactions between these spins. An excellent correlation between measured RDCs and the 3D structure of the protein was observed, indicating a potential use of the (13)C-(13)C RDCs in the structure determination of perdeuterated proteins.     

Ultraviolet emission spectra of sunbeds

It is well known that UV radiation contributes to the development of skin cancer. Exposure to solar radiation is predominantly responsible for the high incidence rate of skin cancer, but there are also indications that sunbeds are involved. The aim of the present investigation was to determine the UV emission spectra of sunbeds. It included the most common sunbed models, which cover more than 50% of the Swiss market. The UV emission spectra of sunbeds have special characteristics and are different from the sun spectrum, which can be seen in high-resolution spectral measurements. Sunbed emission spectra are similar to the sun spectrum in the UVB (280-320 nm) range but reach values 10 to 15 times higher in the UVA (320-400 nm) range. An average erythema-effective irradiance of 0.33 W/m2 was determined for sunbeds. This corresponds to a UV index of 13, which is significantly higher than the UV index of 8.5 of the high summer sun at noon at intermediate latitudes. The measurements were spread over the whole effective area of the sunbeds, and an inhomogeneous distribution of the irradiances with variations of up to 30% from the average value was found.     

Determination of internuclear distances in uniformly labeled molecules by rotational-resonance solid-state NMR

Rotational-resonance magic-angle spinning NMR experiments are frequently used to measure dipolar couplings and to determine internuclear distances. So far most measurements were performed on samples containing isolated spin pairs. Thus, extensive structure elucidation, for example in biomolecules, requires the preparation of a whole set of doubly labeled samples. Here, we describe the analysis of the rotational-resonance polarization-exchange curves obtained from a single, uniformly labeled sample. It is shown experimentally that, at a magnetic field of 14.09 T, the rotational-resonance conditions in uniformly (13)C-labeled threonine are sufficiently narrow to permit the measurement of five distances between the four carbon spins with an accuracy of better than 10%. The polarization-exchange curves are analyzed using a modified two-spin model consisting of the two active spins. The modified model includes an additional offset in the final polarization, which comes from the coupling to the additional, passive, spins. The validity of this approach is experimentally verified for uniformly (13)C-labeled threonine. The broader applicability of such a model is demonstrated by numerical simulations which quantify the errors as a function of the most relevant parameters in the spin system.     

Stereochemistry of Polynuclear Cadmium(II)thioglycolates: Crystal Structure of [ICd8(SCH2CH2OH)12]3+ · 3I− · H2O

Crystals of the title compound are triclinic, a = 27.87 Å, b = 10.77 Å, c = 12.94 Å, α 73.1°, β 116.1°, γ 120.0°, space group P1 . The structure consists of octanuclear ions: Eight Cd(II) ions are found at the corners of a distorted cube, the center of the cube is occupied by an iodide, the twelve thioglycolate sulfur atoms bridge the twelve edges of the cube thereby forming a distorted icosahedron. Cadmium ions are either five or seven coordinate. The phase problem for this structure was solved using a combination of very high and very low E-values.     

NMR spectra of a microcrystalline protein at 30 kHz MAS

Proteins are not always available in amounts desirable for solid-state magic-angle spinning (MAS) nuclear-magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. To maximize the signal-to-noise ratio achievable with small samples, the filling factor must be optimized by using small-diameter MAS rotors. These rotors have the added benefit of allowing higher radio frequency field amplitudes during polarization transfer steps and during decoupling periods as well as allowing higher spinning frequencies. We demonstrate the advantages of relatively fast MAS (30 kHz using a 2.5 mm rotor) compared to MAS at 12 kHz for the 10.4 kDa model protein Crh with 93 residues and show that the signal-to-noise ratio in two-dimensional correlation spectra can be significantly improved by taking advantage of optimized pulse sequences available with rapid MAS.