Identification of pyrrolo-pyridine derivatives as novel class of antibacterials

Molecular Diversity - A series of 5-oxo-4H-pyrrolo[3,2-b]pyridine derivatives was identified as novel class of highly potent antibacterial agents during an extensive large-scale high-throughput...     

Point Mutations of Nicotinic Receptor α1 Subunit Reveal New Molecular Features of G153S Slow-Channel Myasthenia

Slow-channel congenital myasthenic syndromes (SCCMSs) are rare genetic diseases caused by mutations in muscle nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subunits. Most of the known SCCMS-associated mutations localize at the transmembrane region near the ion pore. Only two SCCMS point mutations are at the extracellular domains near the acetylcholine binding site, α1(G153S) being one of them. In this work, a combination of molecular dynamics, targeted mutagenesis, fluorescent Ca²⁺ imaging and patch-clamp electrophysiology has been applied to G153S mutant muscle nAChR to investigate the role of hydrogen bonds formed by Ser 153 with C-loop residues near the acetylcholine-binding site. Introduction of L199T mutation to the C-loop in the vicinity of Ser 153 changed hydrogen bonds distribution, decreased acetylcholine potency (EC₅₀ 2607 vs. 146 nM) of the double mutant and decay kinetics of acetylcholine-evoked cytoplasmic Ca²⁺ rise (τ 14.2 ± 0.3 vs. 34.0 ± 0.4 s). These results shed light on molecular mechanisms of nAChR activation-desensitization and on the involvement of such mechanisms in channelopathy genesis.     

Study of all stages of the Diels–Alder reaction of cyclopentadiene with 2,3-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone and monoadducts: Kinetics,thermochemistry, and high pressure effect

The kinetic parameters and enthalpies of the Diels–Alder reactions between cyclopentadiene and 2,3-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone leading to the formation of two different monoadducts and bisadduct were determined. The stability of adducts is compared. Monoadduct appears to be thermodynamically more stable than the bisadduct. Comparison with the other Diels–Alder reactions studied previously allows us to conclude that the heat effects upon formation of the considered Diels–Alder adducts are the lowest in comparison with all the studied dienophiles.     

Experimental Evidence for the Incorporation of Two Metals at Equivalent Lattice Positions in Mixed-Metal Metal–Organic Frameworks

Metal–organic frameworks containing multiple metals distributed over crystallographically equivalent framework positions (mixed-metal MOFs) represent an interesting class of materials, since the close vicinity of isolated metal centers often gives rise to synergistic effects. However, appropriate characterization techniques for detailed investigations of these mixed-metal metal–organic framework materials, particularly addressing the distribution of metals within the lattice, are rarely available. The synthesis of mixed-metal FeCuBTC materials in direct syntheses proved to be difficult and only a thorough characterization using various techniques, like powder X-ray diffraction, X-ray absorption spectroscopy and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, unambiguously evidenced the formation of a mixed-metal FeCuBTC material with HKUST-1 structure, which contained bimetallic Fe−Cu paddlewheels as well as monometallic Cu−Cu and Fe−Fe units under optimized synthesis conditions. The in-depth characterization showed that other synthetic procedures led to impurities, which contained the majority of the applied iron and were impossible or difficult to identify using solely standard characterization techniques. Therefore, this study shows the necessity to characterize mixed-metal MOFs extensively to unambiguously prove the incorporation of both metals at the desired positions. The controlled positioning of metal centers in mixed-metal metal–organic framework materials and the thorough characterization thereof is particularly important to derive structure–property or structure–activity correlations.     

Micro-Mesoporous Carbons from Cyclodextrin Nanosponges Enabling High-Capacity Silicon Anodes and Sulfur Cathodes for Lithiated Si-S Batteries

Manufactured globally on industrial scale, cyclodextrins (CD) are cyclic oligosaccharides produced by enzymatic conversion of starch. Their typical structure of truncated cone can host a wide variety of guest molecules to create inclusion complexes; indeed, we daily use CD as unseen components of food, cosmetics, textiles and pharmaceutical excipients. The synthesis of active material composites from CD resources can enable or enlarge the effective utilization of these products in the battery industry with some economical as well as environmental benefits. New and simple strategies are here presented for the synthesis of nanostructured silicon and sulfur composite materials with carbonized hyper cross-linked CD (nanosponges) that show satisfactory performance as high-capacity electrodes. For the sulfur cathode, the mesoporous carbon host limits polysulfide dissolution and shuttle effects and guarantees stable cycling performance. The embedding of silicon nanoparticles into the carbonized nanosponge allows to achieve high capacity and excellent cycling performance. Moreover, due to the high surface area of the silicon composite, the characteristics at the electrode/electrolyte interface dominate the overall electrochemical reversibility, opening a detailed analysis on the behavior of the material in different electrolytes. We show that the use of commercial LP30 electrolyte causes a larger capacity fade, and this is associated with different solid electrolyte interface layer formation and it is also demonstrated that fluoroethylene carbonate addition can significantly increase the capacity retention and the overall performance of our nanostructured Si/C composite in both ether-based and LP30 electrolytes. As a result, an integration of the Si/C and S/C composites is proposed to achieve a complete lithiated Si−S cell.     

Synthesis,X-ray and DFT Studies of 6-halo-3-(hydroxymethyl)cinnolin-4(1H)-ones

Chemistry of Heterocyclic Compounds - The Richter cyclization was used for the synthesis of 6-halo-3-(hydroxymethyl)cinnolin-4(1H)-ones. X-ray analysis revealed that these compounds exist as dimers...     

Practical synthesis of β-isothiocyanato ketones from chalcones

Practical synthesis of 1,3-diaryl-substituted 3-isothiocyanatopropan-1-ones based on the reaction of chalcones with thiocyanic acid generated in situ by treatment of thiocyanate ammonium with dilute sulfuric acid has been developed.     

A cationic cysteine-hydrazide as an enrichment tool for the mass spectrometric characterization of bacterial free oligosaccharides

In Campylobacterales and related ε-proteobacteria with N-linked glycosylation (NLG) pathways, free oligosaccharides (fOS) are released into the periplasmic space from lipid-linked precursors by the bacterial oligosaccharyltransferase (PglB). This hydrolysis results in the same molecular structure as the oligosaccharide that is transferred to a protein to be glycosylated. This allowed for the general elucidation of the fOS-branched structures and monosaccharides from a number of species using standard enrichment and mass spectrometry methods. To aid characterization of fOS, hydrazide chemistry has often been used for chemical modification of the reducing part of oligosaccharides resulting in better selectivity and sensitivity in mass spectrometry; however, the removal of the unreacted reagents used for the modification often causes the loss of the sample. Here, we develop a more robust method for fOS purification and characterize glycostructures using complementary tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) analysis. A cationic cysteine hydrazide derivative was synthesized to selectively isolate fOS from periplasmic fractions of bacteria. The cysteine hydrazide nicotinamide (Cyhn) probe possesses both thiol and cationic moieties. The former enables reversible conjugation to a thiol-activated solid support, while the latter improves the ionization signal during MS analysis. This enrichment was validated on the well-studied Campylobacter jejuni by identifying fOS from the periplasmic extracts. Using complementary MS/MS analysis, we approximated data of a known structure of the fOS from Campylobacter concisus. This versatile enrichment technique allows for the exploration of a diversity of protein glycosylation pathways.     

Photoswitchable Phosphonate–Fullerene Hybrids with Cholinesterase Activity

Modern progress in photopharmocology calls for new generation of compounds joining bioactivity, photoswitchable properties and high selectivity of response to light wavelength. Introduced here, phosphonate–fullerene hybrids are the first representatives of such compounds. Phosphonate–fullerene hybrids were synthesized on a base of fullerene C₆₀ and organophosphates with the function of photoswitchable cholinesterase activity—phosphorylated thiazolotriazole and aminomalonate compounds and studied with FTIR, UV–VIS spectroscopy and IPC-micro neurotoxin amperometric analysis. As a result of spectroscopic and bioactivity characterization, it was not only demonstrated butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) inhibition increase in phosphonate–fullerene hybrids compared with pure phosphonates but also pronounced response of inhibition degree to laser irradiation of hybrids. It was found opposite behavior of hybrids as a result of laser irradiation—BuChE inhibition drop-off for thiazolotriazole–fullerene and pronounced growth for aminomalonate–fullerene. The other remarkable peculiarity of presented phosphonate–fullerene hybrids is high selectivity of inhibition change degree to laser wavelength (266 or 325 nm).