Cooperative effects in phospholipid monolayers induced by a peptide from HIV-1 capsid protein

The study of interactions between biological molecules and model membranes is essential for the understanding of a number of physiological mechanisms involved in viral infections and dissemination. In this paper, the analysis of the interaction between a peptide from the p24 protein of Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 (HIV-1) and a phospholipid monolayer has pointed to a cooperative response in which very small amounts of peptide p24-1 (e.g. 0.05 mol%) can lead to measurable effects. Monolayer surface pressure and surface potential isotherms were affected for peptide concentrations as low as 0.05 mol%, with saturation at 0.5 mol%. The expansion effect from p24-1 is confirmed by changes in morphology of the monolayers using Brewster angle microscopy. Even though p24-1 is disordered in aqueous solutions, the interaction with dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) causes it to adopt an alpha-helix structure, as shown by circular dichroism (CD) data for multilamellar vesicles (MLV). The expansion of the phospholipid monolayer in a cooperative way may imply that p24-1 has potential antiviral activity, by participating in the cell rupture, with no need of specific receptors in the membrane.     

A synthetic strategy for the preparation of cyclic peptide mimetics based on SET-promoted photocyclization processes

A novel method for the synthesis of cyclic peptide analogues has been developed. The general approach relies on the use of SET-promoted photocyclization reactions of peptides that contain N-terminal phthalimides as light absorbing electron acceptor moieties and C-terminal alpha-amidosilane or alpha-amidocarboxylate centers. Prototypical substrates are prepared by coupling preformed peptides with the acid chloride of N-phthalimidoglycine. Irradiation of these substrates results in the generation of cyclic peptide analogues in modest to good yields. The chemical efficiencies of these processes are not significantly affected by (1) the lengths of the peptide chains separating the phthalimide and alpha-amidosilane or alpha-amidocarboxylate centers and (2) the nature of the penultimate cation radical alpha-heterolytic fragmentation process (i.e., desilylation vs decarboxylation). An evaluation of the effects of N-alkyl substitution on the amide residues in the peptide chain showed that N-alkyl substitution does not have a major impact on the efficiencies of the photocyclization reactions but that it profoundly increases the stability of the cyclic peptide.     

Methylation of Chitosan with Iodomethane: Effect of Reaction Conditions on Chemoselectivity and Degree of Substitution

N,N,N‐trimethylchitosan (TMC) was prepared by reacting purified chitosan with iodomethane, in the presence of sodium hydroxide, water and sodium iodide, at room temperature. The reaction medium was N‐methyl‐2‐pyrrolidone. Different samples of TMC were obtained by adding to the reaction medium a fixed volume (5.5 mL) of aqueous NaOH solutions at different concentrations (15, 20, 30 and 40 wt.‐%) and carrying out the reactions for 9 or 24 h. The features observed in the ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectra of these chitosan derivatives, in respect of the chemical shift, number and relative intensity of the signals, depended strongly on the excess of NaOH and H₃CI added to the reaction medium, but when the lowest excess was employed, the characteristics of the derivative were not affected by the reaction time to the same extent. The average degree of quaternization of these N‐methylated derivatives of chitosan ranged from 10.5% to 44.8%, according to the reaction conditions. Increasing the excess of NaOH, in reactions carried out for 9 h, resulted in TMC samples with progressively higher content of trimethylated sites however, the reaction yields were correspondingly lower and O‐alkylation was favored in these cases.

¹H NMR spectrum of sample [A_X]^24h dissolved in D₂O (C_p = 10 g/L).     

Synthesis and structural characterization of carborane-containing neutral, self-assembled Pt-metallacycles

[structure: see text] We have combined carborane chemistry with the newly developed directional bonding strategy to synthesize neutral macrocycles. The m- and p-carborane dicarboxylates were utilized as the donor linkers in conjunction with 1,8-bis[trans-Pt(PEt3)2NO3]anthracene 3, 2,9-bis[trans-Pt(PEt3)2NO3]phenanthrene 5, and cis-Pt(PEt3)2(NO3)2 unit 6. Three new platinum-based macrocycles, 4, 7, and 8, were thus synthesized. 31P{1H} NMR as well as the X-ray characterization of Pt-metallacycles reveal the formation of single highly symmetrical neutral species.     

Solvent-Free Microwave-Assisted Organic Reactions Preparation of β-Keto Esters

Microwave technique has been utilised in the preparation of β-keto esters. Two different procedures are described: transesterification of β-keto esters and ring opening of 2,2,6-trimethyl-1,3-dioxin-4-one.     

Pseudotetrahedral polyhaloadamantanes as chirality probes: synthesis,separation, and absolute configuration

Pseudotetrahedral, conformationally as well as configurationally stable 1-bromo-3-chloro-5-fluoro- (4) and 1-bromo-3-chloro-5-fluoro-7-iodoadamantane (5) (and some related compounds) were prepared by our recently devised phase-transfer catalytic halogenation protocol; the optical antipodes of 4 were separated by HPLC on chiral phase in ee > 99%, and the absolute configurations were assigned by matching observed and computed circular dichroism spectra. Structure 5 is the first chiral aliphatic hydrocarbon containing all stable (nonradioactive) halogens; its structure was proven by NMR spectroscopy and by X-ray crystal data. We emphasize that the combination of experiment and theory is very powerful in assigning absolute configurations even for molecules without typical chromophors, with small values for the optical rotation, and without an atom at the stereogenic center.     

A study on shielding gas contamination in laser welding of non-ferrous alloys

Laser welding of non-ferrous alloys is a high-productivity and cost-effective joining technology, which gained an undoubted interest especially in aerospace, chemical and medical industry, where high strength and corrosion resistant mechanical parts are required. Unfortunately some of the most used non-ferrous alloys are highly reactive with respect to the components of the environmental atmosphere: oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and humidity. This reactivity leads to the formation of porosities and to oxides and nitrides inclusion, which are responsible for a decrease of ductility and strength in welded joints.According to this a good shielding technique of the weld pool is of primary importance in order to obtain sound beads and reliable manufacturings. This paper deals with the opportunity of simulating the shielding gas behavior by means of Computational Fluid Dynamics software in order to understand the relationship among the outlet position, the shielding gas type and its flow rate.A simulation activity was carried out in order to evaluate the behavior of shielding gas concentration surrounding the weld pool. The simulated welding environment was simplified without considering the presence and the effect of the plasma plume. The main results concern the shielding gas contamination prediction with respect to the distance from the beam-material interaction zone.     

Cosmic-muon results from the NUSEX experiment

Summary Muon underground data collected in the NUSEX experiment at Mont Blanc have been analysed concerning the following topics: I) vertical muon intensity, II) prompt muon flux, III) muons from the direction of Cygnus X-3. Preliminary results from the analysis of more than 20 000 muons are presented and discussed.

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Riassunto Gli eventi di muoni rivelati sottoterra nell'esperimento NUSEX al Monte Bianco sono stati analizzati per studiare I) l'intensità verticale dei muoni, II) il flusso di muoni pronti, III) l'eccesso di muoni dalla direzione di Cygnus X-3. In questo lavoro sono presentati c discussi i risultati preliminari ottenuti dal'lanalisi di piú di 20.000 eventi.

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Резюме Был проведен анализ данных, собранных в экспеимемнте NUSEX на Мон Блане. Анализировались следующие вопросы: 1) интенсивность вертикальных мюонов, 2) поток мгновенных (быстрых) мюонов, 3) мюоны, движущиеся в направлении от Лебедь X-3. Приводятся и обсуждаются предварительные результаты анализа для более, чем 20 000 муонов.