A Two‐Dimensional Coordination Compound as a Zinc Ion Selective Luminescent Probe for Biological Applications

A 2D coordination compound {[Cu₂(HL)(N₃)]?ClO₄}_∞ ( 1 ; H₃L=2,6‐bis(hydroxyethyliminoethyl)‐4‐methyl phenol) was synthesized and characterized by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction to be a polymer in the crystalline state. Each [Cu₂(HL)(N₃)]⁺ species is connected to its adjacent unit by a bridging alkoxide oxygen atom of the ligand to form a helical propagation along the crystallographic a axis. The adjacent helical frameworks are connected by a ligand alcoholic oxygen atom along the crystallographic b axis to produce pleated 2D sheets. In solution, 1 dissociates into [Cu₂(HL)₂(H₃L)]?2H₂O ( 2 ); the monomer displays high selectivity for Zn²⁺ and can be used in HEPES buffer (pH 7.4) as a zinc ion selective luminescent probe for biological application. The system shows a nearly 19‐fold Zn²⁺‐selective chelation‐enhanced fluorescence response in the working buffer. Application of 2 to cultured living cells (B16F10 mouse melanoma and A375 human melanoma) and rat hippocampal slices was also studied by fluorescence microscopy.     

Iron-carbon nanohybrid particles as environmentally benign electrode for supercapacitor

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - In this work, we report the synthesis and electrode applications of iron-carbon nanohybrid particles prepared by carbonization of a nanocomposite of FeOOH...     

Physicochemical properties and supercapacitor behavior of electrochemically synthesized few layered graphene nanosheets

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - The study emphasizes on the scalable production and comparison of few layered graphene nanosheets (FLGNSs). The FLGNSs have been electrochemically...     

Metabolic footprinting of tumorigenic and nontumorigenic uroepithelial cells using two-dimensional gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry

In this study, gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and two-dimensional gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC-TOFMS) were employed for the metabolic footprinting of a pair of immortalized human uroepithelial cells namely HUC-1 (nontumorigenic) and HUC T-2 (tumorigenic). Both HUC-1 and HUC T-2 cell lines were cultivated in 1 mL of Ham’s F-12 media. Subsequent to 48 h of incubation, 200 μL of cell culture supernatant was protein-precipitated using 1.7 mL of methanol and an aliquot of 1.5 mL of the mixture was separated, dried, trimethylsilyl-derivatized, and analyzed using GC-MS and GC×GC-TOFMS. Metabolic profiles were analyzed using multivariate data analysis techniques to evaluate the changes of the metabolomes. Both GC-MS and GC×GC-TOFMS analyses showed distinct differences in metabolic phenotypes of the normal and tumorigenic human bladder cells (partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) of GC×GC-TOFMS data; two latent variables, R ² X = 0.418, R ² Y = 0.977 and Q ² (cumulative) = 0.852). Twenty metabolites were identified as being statistically different between the two cell types. These metabolites revealed that several key metabolic pathways were perturbed in tumorigenic urothelial cells as compared to the normal cells. Application of GC×GC-TOFMS offered several advantages compared to classical one-dimensional GC-MS which include enhanced chromatographic resolution (without increase in analytical run time), increase in sensitivity, improved identification of metabolites, and also separation of reagent artifacts from the metabolite peaks. Our results reinforced the advantages of GC×GC-TOFMS and the role of metabolomics in characterizing bladder cancer biology using in vitro cell culture models.     

Synthesis,crystal structure,magnetic property and DNA cleavage activity of a new terephthalate-bridged tetranuclear copper(II) complex

A new terephthalate-bridged tetranuclear copper(II) complex has been synthesized and structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography: [Cu₄(L)₂(tp)(dmf)₂] (1) (H₃L = 1,3-bis(salicylideneamino)propan-2-ol, tp = terephthalate and dmf = N,N′-dimethylformamide). The dinucleating pentadentate character of the ligand (H₃L) and the desired pair-of-dimers arrangement, through the incorporation of the bridging terephthalate moiety, is clearly evident from the structure of 1. The copper atoms are coordinated in a slightly distorted square pyramidal arrangement within each dinucleating half of the complex and are bridged mono-atomically by the secondary alkoxo oxygen of the ligand and di-atomically by the terephthalate moiety. The apical position is occupied by the oxygen atom of the dmf. The structure of 1 reveals a short intramolecular Cu–Cu separation (ca. 3.1 Å), in combination with long intramolecular copper separations (ca. 11 Å). The variable temperature-dependent susceptibility measurement (2–300 K) of 1 reveals a dominant ferromagnetic coupling, 2J = 18.70 cm⁻¹. Complex 1 binds to double-stranded CT (calf-thymus) DNA giving a K_app value of 1.25 × 10⁷ M⁻¹ and displays efficient cleavage of supercoiled pUC19 DNA in the presence of H₂O₂ following a hydroxyl radical pathway.     

Selective fluorescence zinc ion sensing and binding behavior of 4-methyl-2,6-bis(((phenylmethyl)imino)methyl)phenol: biological application

Zinc ion fluorescence sensing and the binding properties of 4-methyl-2,6-bis(((phenylmethyl)imino)methyl)phenol (HL) have been investigated. It displays high selectivity for Zn2+ and can be used as zinc ion-selective luminescent probe for biological application under physiological conditions. The increase in emission in the presence of Zn2+ is accounted for by the formation of hexanuclear complex [Zn6(L)2(OH)2(CH3COO)8] characterized by X-ray crystallography. An approximately 6-fold Zn2+-selective chelation-enhanced fluorescence response in HEPES buffer (pH 7.4) is attributed due to the strong coordination of Zn(II) that would impose rigidity and hence decrease the nonradiative decay of the excited state. By incubation of cultured living cells (B16F10 mouse melanoma and A375 human melanoma) with HL, intracellular Zn2+ concentration could be monitored.