Syntheses and Crystal Structures of Rare-Earth Oxyapatites Ca2RE8(SiO4)6O2 (RE = Pr,Tb, Ho,Tm)

Journal of Chemical Crystallography - Four different rare-earth oxyapatites of Ca2RE8(SiO4)6O2 (RE?=?Pr, Tb, Ho, Tm) were synthesized using a solution-based method followed by drying,...     

Imidazotetrazines as Weighable Diazomethane Surrogates for Esterifications and Cyclopropanations

Diazomethane is one of the most versatile reagents in organic synthesis, but its utility is limited by its hazardous nature. Although alternative methods exist to perform the unique chemistry of diazomethane, these suffer from diminished reactivity and/or correspondingly harsher conditions. Herein, we describe the repurposing of imidazotetrazines (such as temozolomide, TMZ, the standard of care for glioblastoma) for use as synthetic precursors of alkyl diazonium reagents. TMZ was employed to conduct esterifications and metal‐catalyzed cyclopropanations, and results show that methyl ester formation from a wide variety of substrates is especially efficient and operationally simple. TMZ is a commercially available solid that is non‐explosive and non‐toxic, and should find broad utility as a replacement for diazomethane.     

A Biosilification Fusion Protein for a ‘Self‐immobilising’ Sarcosine Oxidase Amperometric Enzyme Biosensor

Monomeric sarcosine oxidase (mSOx) fusion with the silaffin peptide, R5, designed previously for easy protein production in low resource areas, was used in a biosilification process to form an enzyme layer electrode biosensor. mSOx is a low activity enzyme (10–20 U/mg) requiring high amounts of enzyme to obtain an amperometric biosensor signal, in the clinically useful range <1 mM sarcosine, especially since the K_m is >10 mM. An amperometric biosensor model was fitted to experimental data to investigate dynamic range. mSOx constructs were designed with 6H (6×histidine) and R5 (silaffin) peptide tags and compared with native mSOx. Glutaraldehyde (GA) cross‐linked proteins retained ～5 % activity for mSOx and mSOx‐6H and only 0.5 % for mSOx‐R5. In contrast R5 catalysed biosilification on (3‐mercaptopropyl) trimethoxysilane (MPTMS) and tetramethyl orthosilicate (TMOS) particles created a ‘self‐immobilisation’ matrix retaining 40 % and 76 % activity respectively. The TMOS matrix produced a thick layer (>500 μm) on a glassy carbon electrode with a mediated current due to sarcosine in the clinical range for sarcosinemia (0–1 mM). The mSOx‐R5 fusion protein was also used to catalyse biosilification in the presence of creatinase and creatininase, entrapping all three enzymes. A mediated GC enzyme linked current was obtained with dynamic range available for creatinine determination of 0.1–2 mM for an enzyme layer ～800 nm.     

Downfalls of Chemical Probes Acting at the Kinase ATP-Site: CK2 as a Case Study

Protein kinases are a large class of enzymes with numerous biological roles and many have been implicated in a vast array of diseases, including cancer and the novel coronavirus infection COVID-19. Thus, the development of chemical probes to selectively target each kinase is of great interest. Inhibition of protein kinases with ATP-competitive inhibitors has historically been the most widely used method. However, due to the highly conserved structures of ATP-sites, the identification of truly selective chemical probes is challenging. In this review, we use the Ser/Thr kinase CK2 as an example to highlight the historical challenges in effective and selective chemical probe development, alongside recent advances in the field and alternative strategies aiming to overcome these problems. The methods utilised for CK2 can be applied to an array of protein kinases to aid in the discovery of chemical probes to further understand each kinase’s biology, with wide-reaching implications for drug development.     

The development and validation of a novel LC–MS/MS method for the quantification of cenicriviroc in human plasma and cerebrospinal fluid

A high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometric method was developed and validated for cenicriviroc (CVC) quantification in human plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The method involved precipitation with acetonitrile and injecting supernatants onto the column. Separation was achieved on an XBridge C₁₈ column with a gradient elution of 0.1% formic acid in water and acetonitrile. Analyte detection was conducted in positive ion mode using selected reaction monitoring. The m/z transitions were: CVC (697.3 → 574.3) and CVC-d7 (704.4 → 574.3). Calibration curve ranged from 5 to 1000 ng/mL for plasma and from 0.241 to 15.0 ng/mL for CSF. The intra- and inter-day precision and accuracy were <15% for both plasma and CSF across four different concentrations. CVC recovery from plasma and artificial CSF was >90%. The method was utilized for the measurement of patients’ plasma and CSF samples taking a dose of 50, 150 and 300 mg q.d.     

1,2-Diketones as photoinitiators of both cationic and free-radical photopolymerization under UV (392 nm) or Blue (455 nm) LEDs

The photoinitiation abilities of three 1,2-diketones [i.e., acenaphthenequinone ( ANPQ ), aceanthrenequinone ( AATQ ), and 9,10-phenanthrenequinone ( PANQ )]-based photoinitiating systems [PISs, with additives such as iodonium salt, N-vinylcarbazole (NVK), tertiary amine, and phenacyl bromide (R-Br)] for cationic photopolymerization and free-radical photopolymerization under the irradiation of ultraviolet (UV; 392 nm) or blue (455 nm) light-emitting diode (LED) bulb are investigated. All 1,2-diketones studied exhibit ground state absorption that match with the emission spectra of UV (392 nm) or blue LED (455 nm) better than that of the well-known blue-light-sensitive photoinitiator camphorquinone (CQ). In particular, AATQ /iodonium salt/NVK can show high photoinitiating ability (with epoxide conversion yield >70%) under the UV light irradiation due to the effect of NVK. In addition, 1,2-diketone/iodonium salt (and optional NVK) systems are capable of initiating free-radical photopolymerization of methacrylates, with conversions of 50–58%. Furthermore, some 1,2-diketone/tertiary amine (and optional R-Br) combinations are found to demonstrate high efficiency to initiate free-radical photopolymerization, and 71% of methacrylate conversion can be achieved with PANQ /tertiary amine/R-Br PIS. Some 1,2-ketone-based PISs can even exhibit higher efficiency than the CQ-based systems. The photochemical mechanism of the radical generation from the 1,2-diketone-based PISs is investigated and found to be consistent with the related photopolymerization efficiency. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 58, 792–802     

Synthesis and characterization of modular polyphosphonate homopolymers and copolymers

Linear polyphosphonates with the generic formula –[P(Ph)(X)OR′O]_n– (X = S or Se) have been synthesized by polycondensations of P(Ph)(NEt₂)₂ and a diol (HOR′OH = 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol, 1,4-benzenedimethanol, tetraethylene glycol, or 1,12-dodecanediol) followed by reaction with a chalcogen. Random copolymers have been synthesized by polycondensations of P(Ph)(NEt₂)₂ and mixture of two of the diols in a 2:1:1 mol ratio followed by reaction with a chalcogen. Block copolymers with the generic formula –[P(Ph)(X)OR′O]_{(x + 2)} –[P(Ph)(X)OR′O]_{(x + 3)}– (X = S or Se) have been synthesized by the polycondensations of Et₂N[P(Ph)(X)OR′O]_{(x + 2)}P(Ph)NEt₂ oligomers with HOR′O[P(Ph)(X)OR′O]_{(x + 3)}H oligomers followed by reaction with a chalcogen. The Et₂N[P(Ph)(X)OR′O]_{(x + 2)}P(Ph)NEt₂ oligomers are prepared by the reaction of an excess of P(Ph)(NEt₂)₂ with a diol while the HOR′O[P(Ph)(X)OR′O]_{(x + 3)}H oligomers are prepared by the reaction of P(Ph)(NEt₂)₂ with an excess of the diol. In each case the excess, x is the same and determines the average block sizes. All of the polymers were characterized using ¹H, ¹³C{¹H}, and ³¹P{¹H} NMR spectroscopy, TGA, DSC, and SEC. ³¹P{¹H} NMR spectroscopy demonstrates that the random and block copolymers have the expected arrangements of monomers and, in the case of block copolymers, verifies the block sizes. All polymers are thermally stable up to ~300°C, and the arrangements of monomers in the copolymers (block vs. random) affect their degradation temperatures and T_g profiles. The polymers have weight average MWs of up to 3.8 × 10⁴ Da.