Fatty acids from the Okhotsk sea sponge <Emphasis Type="Italic">Forcepia uschakowi</Emphasis>

The fatty-acid (FA) composition of total lipids from the Okhotsk sea marine sponge Forcepia uschakowi was studied. A total of 56 acids were identified by GC and GC—MS. The principal saturated acids were 16∶0 and 18∶0. The main monoene acid was 15-Me-24∶1(14), which was observed for the first time in sponge lipids. Polyunsaturated acids represented of 64.1% of the total FA of F. uschakowi. Of these, the principal ones were non-methylene-separated acids 26∶2(5,9) and 26∶3(5,9,19), which are typical of sponges, and bromo-acid 6-Br-26∶2(5,9). __________ Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 5, pp. 422–424, September–October, 2007.     

A mass spectrometric study of the pyrolysis of gibberellic acid

The behaviour of gibberellic acid (GA₃) under electron impact and chemical ionization conditions has been examined. The tendency of GA₃ to undergo pyrolysis by the loss of the elements of water and carbon dioxide has been identified. Two methods of sample introduction can be used to minimize the occurrence of this pyrolysis. Accurate mass measurement allows the composition of the pyrolysis product to be determined and metastable techniques confirm the structure of this product to be epi-allogibberic acid rather than its isomer allogibberic acid. This result corrects a misconception in the literature and illustrates the advantage of metastable methods compared with accurate mass measurements, for the determination of small structural differences within a molecule.     

The design, synthesis and evaluation of high affinity macrocyclic carbohydrate inhibitors

Carbohydrate-protein interactions have been investigated for a model system of a monoclonal antibody, SYA/J6, which binds a trisaccharide epitope of the O-polysaccharide of the Shigella flexneri variant Y lipopolysaccharide. The thermodynamics of binding for the methyl glycoside of the native trisaccharide epitope, Rha-Rha-GlcNAc () to SYA/J6 over a range of temperatures exhibits strong, linear enthalpy-entropy compensation and a negative heat capacity change (DeltaC(p)=-152 cal mol(-1) degree(-1)). At 293 K the free energy of association is the sum of favourable enthalpy and entropy contributions (DeltaH=-3.9 kcal mol(-1) and -TDeltaS=-2.9 kcal mol(-1)). Crystal structures for SYA/J6 Fab detailed the position of the native trisaccharide epitope, Rha-Rha-GlcNAc, and facilitated a strategy to design a tighter binding, low molecular weight ligand. This involved pre-organization of the native trisaccharide in its bound conformation by addition of intramolecular constraints (a beta-alanyl or glycinyl tether). ELISA measurements indicated that the glycinyl tethered trisaccharide was not an optimal candidate for further analysis, while microcalorimetry provided data showing that the beta-alanyl tethered trisaccharide displayed a 15-fold increase in affinity for SYA/J6. Tethering resulted in a favourable entropic contribution to binding, relative to the native trisaccharide (-TDeltaDeltaS=-1.2 kcal mol(-1)). Potential energy and dynamics calculations using the AMBER Plus force fields indicated that trisaccharide adopted a rigid conformation similar to that of the bound conformation of the native trisaccharide epitope. While this strategy resulted in modest free energy gains by minimizing losses due to conformational entropy, thermodynamic data are consistent with significant contributions from solvent reorganization.     

SENSITIZED PHOTOOXYGENATION ACCORDING TO TYPE I MECHANISM (RADICAL MECHANISM) — PART III. EXPERIMENTS WITH CONTINUOUS ILLUMINATION

Abstract— The photochemical reaction in the system thionine (sensitizer), allylthiourea (ATU, acceptor), and oxygen was studied with continuous illumination. In oxygen-free aqueous solution thionine is photoreduced to leucothionine. With oxygen, however, a photooxygenation of the acceptor takes place. At the same time the quantum yield of the bleaching reaction of thionine decreases markedly in comparison with that of the oxygen-free solution. At about 100 sec after the beginning of illumination, the overall quantum yield of the bleaching reaction diminishes further because the leucothionine formed during the reaction now becomes transformed into thionine. The quantum yields do not change significantly over the range of oxygen concentrations studied (initial concentration 1 × 10^-5 to 5 × 10^-5 M ). In addition they are independent of the light intensity. The influence of the pH and the acceptor concentration were also investigated.
The sensitizer is not only bleached reductively, but is also partly destroyed by oxidation. The results are in agreement with the reaction scheme elucidated by flash photolysis measurements.
In accordance with this reaction scheme, the primary reaction (a) of the reductive bleaching of the sensitizer, (b) of the photooxygenation of the acceptor and (c) of the oxidative destruction of the sensitizer, is identical in all cases. This process is the redox reaction between the sensitizer triplet and the acceptor, where a semithionine and an ATU-radical are formed. The reaction represents an example of a Type I photooxygenation according to the notation of Gollnick.     

Peculiarities of the photo aging of aromatic polyesters

Conclusions In the photolysis of films of polyarylates F-1 and D-9, together with destruction and structuration, there is a formation of light-absorbing o-hydroxyketone and quinoid structures in the polymers, which determines the self-stabilization of the polyesters; moreover, the basic photochemical processes take place in a thin surface layer.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 10, pp. 2302–2304 October, 1969     

Structural changes in the monomeric despentapeptide (B30-B26) insulin crystal

Insulin modified by the removal of its 5 B chain C terminal residues is monomeric but remains substantially potent. The crystal structures of the beef and insulin (dpi) with two molecules in the asymmetric unit has been determined by x-ray analysis. The 3-dimensional structure ofdpi proves to be generally similar to that of native molecule in 2Zn insulin. More detailed comparison reveals that the slight differences in the two independent molecules of beefdpi are distributed uniformly throughout the structure in contrast to insulin in 2Zn insulin, where the structural changes are concentrated in specific regions. The loss of symmetry in thedpi crystal appears to be the inability of the A9 serine to pack effectively in the C2 cell. The efficient packing of the sheepdpi molecule whose crystal structure has also been determined and where A9 is glycine supports this conclusion.     

Fatty Acids from the Sponge <Emphasis Type="Italic">Tedania dirhaphis</Emphasis>

The fatty acid (FA) composition of total lipids from the marine sponge Tedania dirhaphis from the Sea of Okhotsk was studied. GC and GC-MS identified 50 acids, particular attention being paid to components with 14–22 C atoms. Acids 16-Me-19:0, 10,14-Me₂-15:1(Δ6), 18:1(Δ6), 18:1(Δ8), and 22:1(Δ16) were observed and identified for the first time in sponges. The main FA in lipids from T. dirhaphis was 28:3(Δ5,9,21), the relative content of which reached 63.3%.__________Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 3, pp. 233–236, May–June, 2005.     

Recherches dans la série des cyclitols XXXVII Etude par spectrométrie de masse

Low resolution mass spectra of cyclohexane-triols, -tetrols, -pentols and -hexols and of some of their deuterium labelled derivatives have been measured. The results indicate that for some geometrical isomers quantitative differences between ion intensities are significant, allowing to deduce the stereochemistry of the molecule from its mass spectrum. In all these compounds the electron impact induced elimination of water occurs mainly by interaction between OH groups. There is a correlation between the relative abundance of (M – H₂O)⁺ and (M ?2 H₂O)⁺ ions and the number of axial hydroxyls in the more stable conformation of the molecule. Difficulties encountered in deducing fragmentation patterns, and determination of number and position of deuterium atoms in the molecule of ms-inositol are discussed.     

Ketopiperazines: Conformationally Constrained Peptidomimetic of Arginine Amides

We have synthesized guanidine‐containing ketopiperazines designed to be conformational mimics of peptidomimetic arginine amides. D‐Allylglycine was converted by an efficient approach to give enantiopure ketopiperazines in which the trans stereochemistry of the C‐substituents resulted from stereospecific enolate alkylation.     

Identification of ligands that target the HCV-E2 binding site on CD81

Hepatitis C is a global health problem. While many drug companies have active R&D efforts to develop new drugs for treating Hepatitis C virus (HCV), most target the viral enzymes. The HCV glycoprotein E2 has been shown to play an essential role in hepatocyte invasion by binding to CD81 and other cell surface receptors. This paper describes the use of AutoDock to identify ligand binding sites on the large extracellular loop of the open conformation of CD81 and to perform virtual screening runs to identify sets of small molecule ligands predicted to bind to two of these sites. The best sites selected by AutoLigand were located in regions identified by mutational studies to be the site of E2 binding. Thirty-six ligands predicted by AutoDock to bind to these sites were subsequently tested experimentally to determine if they bound to CD81-LEL. Binding assays conducted using surface Plasmon resonance revealed that 26 out of 36 (72 %) of the ligands bound in vitro to the recombinant CD81-LEL protein. Competition experiments performed using dual polarization interferometry showed that one of the ligands predicted to bind to the large cleft between the C and D helices was also effective in blocking E2 binding to CD81-LEL.