A Quantitative Determination of the Interaction of Pentamethylenetetrazole with the Sodium Ion by Sodium-23 NMR

The importance of the sodium ion transport in biological systems is well known. Numerous studies have dealt with compounds which affect ion transport across membrane systems. However, the mechanism of ion transport across the membrane is still not clear. Hence it is of interest to investigate the interaction of the sodium ion with biologically active compounds in a system where the complex membrane is absent. Such a method of investigation must be able to detect very weak interactions. Sodium-23 nuclear magnetic resonance fits well into this classification. This technique has been used by others¹ and by us² to investigate electrolyte solutions and biological or model systems. We have been interested in the chemistry of cyclopolymethy-lenetetrazoles for some time.³ These compounds are characterized by their strong stimulating action on the central nervous system and, in     

Anhydrous thallium hydrogen L-glutamate: polymer networks formed by sandwich layers of oxygen-coordinated thallium ions cores shielded by hydrogen L-glutamate counterions

Anhydrous thallium hydrogen L-glutamate [Tl(L-GluH)] crystallizes from water (space group P2(1)) with a layer structure in which the thallium ions are penta- and hexacoordinated exclusively by the oxygen atoms of the γ-carboxylate group of the hydrogen L-glutamate anions to form a two-dimensional coordination polymer. The thallium-oxygen layer is composed of Tl(2)O(2) and TlCO(2) quadrangles and is only 3 ? high. Only one hemisphere of the thallium ions participates in coordination, indicative of the presence of the 6s(2) lone pair of electrons. The thallium-oxygen assemblies are shielded by the hydrogen l-glutamate anions. Only the carbon atom of the α-carboxylate group deviates from the plane spanned by the thallium ions, the γ-carboxylate groups and the proton bearing carbon atoms, which are in trans conformation. Given the abundance of L-glutamic and L-aspartic acid in biological systems on the one hand and the high toxicity of thallium on the other hand, it is worth mentioning that the dominant structural motifs in the crystal structure of [Tl(L-GluH)] strongly resemble their corresponding analogues in the crystalline phase of [K(L-AspH)(H(2)O)(2)].     

Compartmental Approach for Evaluation of Plasma Kinetics and 13Co2-Exhalation after Oral Loading with L-[1-13C]Leucine

Abstract

A seven compartment model was applied for evaluation of oral L-[1-¹³C]leucine loading tests (38 μmol/kg body wt.) in healthy volunteers. The model comprises transport and absorption in stomach and gut into a central L-leucine-compartment which is connected to a protein compartment and to the compartment of the corresponding 2-oxo acid. CO₂ release from the latter occurs in a fast and a slow compartment into the central CO₂ compartment for exhalation. Using the fmins routine of MATLAB for parameter estimation, a good agreement was obtained between calculated and actually measured kinetics of ¹³C-labelled metabolites and a mean in vivo L-leucine oxidation of 0.365 ± 0.071 μmol/kg per min (n = 5) was computed. Plausibility of the model was checked by predicting in vivo leucine oxidation rates from primed continuous infusion tests (priming: L-[1-¹³C]leucine, 5 μmol/kg; NaH¹³CO₂, 1.2 μmol/kg; infusion: L-[1-¹³C]leucine, 5 μmol/kg per h). In 5 tested volunteers, the experimental L-leucine oxidation rate amounted to 0.358 ± 0.105 μmol/kg per min versus predicted 0.324±0.099 μmol/kg per min. Possible causes for some observed intraindividual variations are discussed.     

13C-13C and (15)N-(13)C correlation spectroscopy of membrane-associated and uniformly labeled human immunodeficiency virus and influenza fusion peptides: amino acid-type assignments and evidence for multiple conformations

Many viruses which cause disease including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and influenza are "enveloped" by a membrane and infection of a host cell begins with joining or "fusion" of the viral and target cell membranes. Fusion is catalyzed by viral proteins in the viral membrane. For HIV and for the influenza virus, these fusion proteins contain an approximately 20-residue apolar "fusion peptide" that binds to target cell membranes and plays a critical role in fusion. For this study, the HIV fusion peptide (HFP) and influenza virus fusion peptide (IFP) were chemically synthesized with uniform (13)C, (15)N labeling over large contiguous regions of amino acids. Two-dimensional (13)C-(13)C and (15)N-(13)C spectra were obtained for the membrane-bound fusion peptides and an amino acid-type (13)C assignment was obtained for the labeled residues in HFP and IFP. The membrane used for the HFP sample had a lipid headgroup and cholesterol composition comparable to that of host cells of the virus, and the (13)C chemical shifts were more consistent with beta strand conformation than with helical conformation. The membrane used for the IFP sample did not contain cholesterol, and the chemical shifts of the dominant peaks were more consistent with helical conformation than with beta strand conformation. There were additional peaks in the IFP spectrum whose shifts were not consistent with helical conformation. An unambiguous (13)C and (15)N assignment was obtained in an HFP sample with more selective labeling, and two shifts were identified for the Leu-9 CO, Gly-10 N, and Gly-10 Calpha nuclei. These sets of two shifts may indicate two beta strand registries such as parallel and antiparallel. Although most spectra were obtained on a 9.4 T instrument, one (13)C-(13)C correlation spectrum was obtained on a 16.4 T instrument and was better resolved than the comparable 9.4 T spectrum. More selective labeling and higher field may, therefore, be approaches to obtaining unambiguous assignments for membrane-associated fusion peptides.     

Copper and iron interactions with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. A study by fast-atom bombardment tandem mass spectrometry

Fast atom bombardment, combined with high-energy collision-induced tandem mass spectrometry, has been used to investigate gas-phase metal-ion interactions with captopril, enalaprilat and lisinopril, all angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors.Suggestions for the location of metal-binding sites are presented. For captopril, metal binding occurs most likely at both the sulphur and the nitrogen atom. For enalaprilat and lisinopril, binding preferably occurs at the amine nitrogen. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

ESI‐MS/MS of expanded porphyrins: a look into their structure and aromaticity

Electrospray mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry was used to investigate the gas‐phase properties of protonated expanded porphyrins, in order to correlate those with their structure and conformation. We have selected five expanded meso‐pentafluorophenyl porphyrins, respectively, a pair of oxidized/reduced fused pentaphyrins (22 and 24 π electrons), a pair of oxidized/reduced regular hexaphyrins (26 and 28 π electrons) and a regular doubly N‐fused hexaphyrin (28 π electrons). The gas‐phase behavior of the protonated species of oxidized and reduced expanded porphyrins is different. The oxidized species (aromatic Hückel systems) fragment more extensively, mainly by the loss of two HF molecules. The reduced species (Möbius aromatic or Möbius‐like aromatic systems) fragment less than their oxidized counterparts because of their increased flexibility. The protonated regular doubly fused hexaphyrin (non‐aromatic Hückel system) shows the least fragmentation even at higher collision energies. In general, cyclization through losses of HF molecules decreases from the aromatic Hückel systems to Möbius aromatic or Möbius‐like aromatic systems to non‐aromatic Hückel systems and is related to an increase in conformational distortion. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Temperature dependence and resonance assignment of 13C NMR spectra of selectively and uniformly labeled fusion peptides associated with membranes

HIV-1 and influenza viral fusion peptides are biologically relevant model fusion systems and, in this study, their membrane-associated structures were probed by solid-state NMR (13)C chemical shift measurements. The influenza peptide IFP-L2CF3N contained a (13)C carbonyl label at Leu-2 and a (15)N label at Phe-3 while the HIV-1 peptide HFP-UF8L9G10 was uniformly (13)C and (15)N labeled at Phe-8, Leu-9 and Gly-10. The membrane composition of the IFP-L2CF3N sample was POPC-POPG (4:1) and the membrane composition of the HFP-UF8L9G10 sample was a mixture of lipids and cholesterol which approximately reflects the lipid headgroup and cholesterol composition of host cells of the HIV-1 virus. In one-dimensional magic angle spinning spectra, labeled backbone (13)C were selectively observed using a REDOR filter of the (13)C-(15)N dipolar coupling. Backbone chemical shifts were very similar at -50 and 20 degrees C, which suggests that low temperature does not appreciably change the peptide structure. Relative to -50 degrees C, the 20 degrees C spectra had narrower signals with lower integrated intensity, which is consistent with greater motion at the higher temperature. The Leu-2 chemical shift in the IFP-L2CF3N sample correlates with a helical structure at this residue and is consistent with detection of helical structure by other biophysical techniques. Two-dimensional (13)C-(13)C correlation spectra were obtained for the HFP-UF8L9G10 sample and were used to assign the chemical shifts of all of the (13)C labels in the peptide. Secondary shift analysis was consistent with a beta-strand structure over these three residues. The high signal-to-noise ratio of the 2D spectra suggests that membrane-associated fusion peptides with longer sequences of labeled amino acids can also be assigned with 2D and 3D methods.