Siderophore Transport in Mycobacteria Analyzed by Mössbauer Spectroscopy: Possible Routes to Novel Antibiotics against These Organisms?

Iron uptake of the ⁵⁷Fe-siderophores ferricrocin, rhizoferrin and citrate in M. smegmatis was analyzed by in situ Mössbauer spectroscopy. Siderophore dependent uptake and metabolic utilization patterns of ⁵⁷Fe were found. Rhizoferrin is accumulated in the organism and, therefore, represents a suitable candidate for the synthesis of novel siderophore-antibiotics conjugates.     

Mössbauer and molecular orbital study of the myoglobin-CO complex

Experimental Mössbauer spectra of the Fe⁵⁷-enriched CO complex of sperm whale myoglobin (MbCO) at T= 4.2 K with and without applied magnetic field (H⊥γ) were measured to derive the sign of the electric field gradient (EFG), the quadrupole splitting ΔE _Q, and the isomer shift δ of the heme iron. We find a positive EFG, δE _Q = 0.363 mm/sec, and δ + 0.266 mm/sec. Molecular orbital calculations were carried out to obtain theoretical estimates of EFG and ΔE _Q for several steric arrangements of the CO ligand relative to the heme group. Our results are most consistent with the conclusion that the iron is situated in the heme plane, and that a bent geometry with a Fe-C-O angle of about 135 ° is more favorable than a more symmetric structure with a linear Fe-C-O geometry.     

Spin coupling in distorted high-valent Fe(IV)-porphyrin radical complexes

In order to study structural influences on the interaction of Fe(IV) (S=1) and porphyrin cation radical (S=1/2) in high-valent iron porphyrin complexes of the type ¦X-(TMP)Fe=O¦⁺(Cl^–), X=I, Br₂, Br₄ were generated by mCPBA oxidation of corresponding Fe(III) porphyrins. The halogen substitution at the peripheral positions of the porphyrin leads to distortion of the planar porphyrin ring of ¦(TMP)Fe=O¦⁺. The new species have beeen investigated by temperature-dependent EPR and field-dependent Mössbauer spectroscopy; for the evaluation of spectra, we adopted the spin-Hamiltonian formalism including exchange interaction explicitly. As in ¦(TMP)Fe=O¦⁺, strong ferromagnetic spin coupling was observed with|J₀|D=0.9–1 and a zero-field spltting ofD32 cm^–1. For consistent parametrization of EPR and Mössbauer results, anisotropic coupling had to be introduced. Compared to ¦(TMP)Fe=O¦⁺ [1], analysis of the spectroscopic data shows that zero-field splitting and spin coupling is only slightly affected by the halogen distortion of the porphyrin structure.     

Determination of the pesticides Chlorpropham,Propham, Propoxur,and Terbucarb by low temperature phosphorimetry

Summary Simple, direct, and sensitive low temperature phosphorimetric methods for the determination of Chlorpropham, Propham, Propoxur, and Terbucarb in EPA solvent are described. The minimum detectable amounts are 0.01 p. p. m. for Chlorpropham and Propham and 0.02 and 0.3 p. p. m. for Propoxur and Terbucarb respectively. The ranges of linearity of the analytical calibration graphs are 0.05-7.5, 0.05–10, 0.5–50, and 1–50 p. p. m. for Chlorpropham, Propham, Propoxur, and Terbucarb respectively. The procedure for Chlorpropham has been applied to the analysis of a solid commercial formulation.

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Bestimmung der Pesticide Chlorpropham, Propham, Propoxur und Terbucarb bei Tief-Temperatur-Phosphorimetrie

Zusammenfassung Einfache, direkte und empfindliche Methoden für die Bestimmung der genannten Pesticide in dem Lösungsmittel Diethylether-i-Pentan-abs. Ethanol wurden beschrieben. Die geringsten nachweisbaren Mengen sind 0,01 ppm für Chlorpropham und Propham sowie 0,02 und 0,3 ppm für Propoxur und Terbucarb. Die Eichkurven verlaufen zwischen 0,05 und 7,5, 0,05 und 10, 0,5 und 50 sowie zwischen 1 und 50 ppm für Chlorpropham, Propham, Propoxur bzw. Terbucarb linear. Das Verfahren für Chlorpropham wurde zur Analyse eines festen Handelsproduktes angewendet.

     

Fake molecular-orbital calculations

The FAKE method of approximate molecular-orbital calculations is presented and illustrated by application to a number of molecules. The method is of the extended Huckel type but uses accurately computed kinetic-energy matrix elements and avoids scale factors of the Wolfsberg—Helmholtz type. It also includes neighbor-atom charge effects and single-center off-diagonal matrix elements. These features permit FAKE occupied-orbital energies and charge distributions to come into close agreement with corresponding ab initio quantities.     

Metal- and ligand-directed one-pot syntheses,crystal structures,and properties of novel oxo-centered tetra- and hexametallic clusters

Starting from closely related metal-ligand combinations, completely different oligomeric metal clusters are synthesized. Whereas, picoline-tetrazolylamide HL(1) (1) and zinc or nickel acetate afforded [2x2] grids [M(4)(L(1))(8)] (2), slightly different N-(2-methylthiazole-5-yl)-thiazole-2-carboxamide HL(2) (5 a) and nickel acetate yielded the monometallic complex [Ni(L(2))(2)(OH(2))(2)] (6). In contrast, reaction of 5 a with zinc acetate produced the tetrametallic zinc cluster [Zn(4)O(L(2))(4)(OAc)(2)] (7). Even more surprising, when 3-methyl-substituted HL(3) (5 b) instead of 2-methyl-substituted HL(2) (5 a) was allowed to react under identical conditions with zinc acetate, the cluster [Zn(4)O(L(3))(4)Cl(2)] (8) crystallized from dichloromethane. Clusters 7 and 8 are isostructural. As for 7, in 8 two of the edges of the tetrahedron of zinc ions are doubly bridged, two are singly bridged, and the other two are nonbridged. On the other hand, when iron(II) acetate under aerobic conditions was allowed to react with 5 a, the unprecedented complex [[Fe(3)O(L(2))(2)(OAc)(4)](2)O] (9) was isolated. Cluster 9 is composed of two trimetallic, triangular mu(3)-O(2-)-centered [Fe(3)O(L(2))(2)(OAc)(4)](+) modules, linked by an almost linear mu(2)-O(2-) bridge. The M?ssbauer spectrum together with cyclic voltammetric and square-wave voltammetric measurements of 9 are reported, and 6-9 were characterized unequivocally by single-crystal X-ray structure analyses.     

Self-assembly of tetrahedral and trigonal antiprismatic clusters [Fe4(L4)4] and [Fe6(L5)6] on the basis of trigonal tris-bidentate chelators

In a one-pot reaction, the tetranuclear iron chelate complex [Fe4(L4)4] 6 was generated from benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylic acid trichloride (4), bis-tert-butyl malonate (5a), methyllithium, and iron(II) dichloride under aerobic conditions. Alternatively, hexanuclear iron chelate complex [Fe(L5)6] 7 was formed starting from bis-para-tolyl malonate (5b) by employing identical reaction conditions to those applied for the synthesis of 6. The clusters 6 and 7 are present as racemic mixtures of homoconfigurational (delta,delta,delta,delta)/(lambda,lambda,lambda,lambda)-fac or (delta,delta,delta,delta,delta,delta)/(lambda,lambda,lambda,lambda,lambda,lambda)-fac stereoisomers. The structures of 6 and 7 were unequivocally resolved by single-crystal X-ray analyses. The all-iron(III) character of 6 and 7 was determined by M?ssbauer spectroscopy.     

U6 is unsuitable for normalization of serum miRNA levels in patients with sepsis or liver fibrosis

MicroRNA (miRNA) levels in serum have recently emerged as potential novel biomarkers for various diseases. miRNAs are routinely measured by standard quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR); however, the high sensitivity of qPCR demands appropriate normalization to correct for nonbiological variation. Presently, RNU6B (U6) is used for data normalization of circulating miRNAs in many studies. However, it was suggested that serum levels of U6 themselves might differ between individuals. Therefore, no consensus has been reached on the best normalization strategy in ‘circulating miRNA''. We analyzed U6 levels as well as levels of spiked-in SV40-RNA in sera of 44 healthy volunteers, 203 intensive care unit patients and 64 patients with liver fibrosis. Levels of U6 demonstrated a high variability in sera of healthy donors, patients with critical illness and liver fibrosis. This high variability could also be confirmed in sera of mice after the cecal ligation and puncture procedure. Most importantly, levels of circulating U6 were significantly upregulated in sera of patients with critical illness and sepsis compared with controls and correlated with established markers of inflammation. In patients with liver fibrosis, U6 levels were significantly downregulated. In contrast, levels of spiked-in SV40 displayed a significantly higher stability both in human cohorts (healthy, critical illness, liver fibrosis) and in mice. Thus, we conclude that U6 levels in the serum are dysregulated in a disease-specific manner. Therefore, U6 should not be used for data normalization of circulating miRNAs in inflammatory diseases and previous studies using this approach should be interpreted with caution. Further studies are warranted to identify specific regulatory processes of U6 levels in sepsis and liver fibrosis.