氨基酸官能团的太赫兹振动模式研究

对比于氨基酸的红外分析法,太赫兹波的电子能量更低,可实现无损检测。氨基酸分子内原子振动、分子间氢键的作用、以及晶体中晶格的低频振动均处于太赫兹波段,使其在太赫兹波段具有吸收峰,且不同的氨基酸分子太赫兹吸收峰不同,故可用氨基酸在太赫兹波段的这种“指纹特性”实现氨基酸类物质的定性分析。量子化学分析方法可以应用量子力学的基本原理和方法,研究稳定和不稳定分子的结构、性能及其之间的关系,还可以针对分子与分子间的相互作用、相互碰撞及相互反应等问题进行研究。通过量子化学计算方法计算氨基酸分子的太赫兹吸收谱,可以为氨基酸分子的太赫兹吸收峰匹配分子振动模式,对氨基酸定性分析有一定参考性与指向性,并为实验获取的样品太赫兹时域光谱提供理论支撑,在实验获得太赫兹吸收谱的基础上进行量子化学计算,还能为实验结果进行验证。首先利用太赫兹时域光谱技术获取了谷氨酰胺、苏氨酸、组氨酸的太赫兹吸收谱,分别构建这三种氨基酸样品在实物中以两性离子形式存在的单分子构型,利用量子化学计算方法在完成结构优化后进行太赫兹吸收谱模拟计算。计算结果表明三种氨基酸单分子的太赫兹吸收谱计算结果与实验获取的太赫兹吸收谱差异较大,但在高频段吸收峰峰位基本吻合。通过GaussView分别查看了这三种氨基酸分子在太赫兹段内的吸收峰对应频率处的振转情况,发现在高频段内三种氨基酸分子官能团均只发生转动而未见振动,并且转动模式基本一致。通过对氨基酸官能团的太赫兹吸收谱进行量子化学计算,将官能团在高频段内吸收峰对应频率处的振转模式与三种氨基酸分子在该段内吸收峰对应频率处的振转模式做了对比。研究表明,在氨基酸单分子构型下由量子化学方法计算所得的太赫兹吸收谱中,高频段内计算得出的模拟吸收峰与实验获取的太赫兹吸收峰基本吻合;振转模式分析发现,谷氨酰胺、苏氨酸、组氨酸在太赫兹高频段内的氨基酸官能团振转模式相同,三种氨基酸分子在高频段内的吸收峰主要来源于氨基酸官能团。因此,结合量子化学计算与太赫兹吸收谱可以实现氨基酸类物质的定性分析。     

Metabolic Profiling of Amino Acids by Liquid Chromatography–Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC–MS) to Characterize the Significance of Glutamine in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC)

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is considered to be aggressive based on its low overall survival and disease-free rates. Currently, there is no molecular-targeted therapy. The identification of a suitable biomarker is still a research focus for TNBC at the present time. Amino acid metabolism fulfills multiple important physiological roles in humans. Their metabolic abnormalities have been reported in numerous cancer studies and amino acid pathways may also be chemotherapeutic targets. This study reports the profiling analysis of amino acids in TNBC and non-TNBC cell lines for detecting biomarkers based on the strategy of N-phosphorylation labeling with liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS). Glutamine (Gln) was found to be significantly down-regulated in TNBC cells because it was largely absorbed and consumed in the TNBC cell lines. These results indicate faster proliferation of TNBC and higher consumption of glutamine to meet the material and energy demand, suggesting its potential role in TNBC progression. Hence, glutamine may be regarded as a biomarker and Gln-targeted approaches may become a new therapeutic strategies for TNBC.     

Nanosized cation exchanger for the electrophoretic separation and preconcentration of catecholamines and amino acids

The first example of application of nanosized polystyrene-based cation exchanger (NSCE) with sulfo groups as a dynamic coating of capillary walls was demonstrated. The conditions of dynamic coating formation were optimized and ensured the long-term stability of the coating. Capillary-to-capillary and day-to-day repeatabilities were 4% and 3%, correspondingly. The NSCE coating stability at various pH and influence of pH on the EOF mobility were investigated. The developed NSCE-modified coated capillaries provided improved resolution (R_s = 0.9–3.2 for catecholamines and R_s = 1.7–2.8 for amino acids) and efficiencies (330–520 ×10³ t.p./m) of basic analytes, which are 1.5 times higher compared to untreated capillary. The optimized conditions were as follows: 50 mM phosphate buffer solution at pH 2.2 with 5 μM NSCE. The effect of the NSCE concentration in BGE on the electrophoretic mobilities of the analytes was investigated. The various online concentration techniques were tested in order to decrease the LODs. The simultaneous application of NSCE capillaries and field-amplified sample stacking provided the lowest LODs of catecholamines and amino acids and allowed to determine these analytes in human urine.     

Improving efficiency for removal of ammoniacal nitrogen from wastewaters using hydrodynamic cavitation

The present study reports significant improvements in the removal of ammoniacal nitrogen from wastewater which is an important problem for many industries such as dyes and pigment, distilleries and fisheries. Pilot plant studies (capacity, 1 m³/h) on synthetic wastewater using 4-amino phenol as model nitrogen containing organic compound and two real industrial effluents of high ammoniacal nitrogen content were carried out using hydrodynamic cavitation. Two reactor geometries were evaluated for increased efficiency in removal-orifice and vortex diode. Effect of initial concentration (100–500 mg/L), effect of pressure drop (0.5–5 bar) and nature of cavitating device (linear and vortex flow for cavitation) were evaluated along with effect of salt content, effect of hydrogen peroxide addition and aeration. Initial concentration was found to have significant impact on the extent of removal: ~ 5 g/m³ removal for initial concentration of 100 mg/L and up to 12 g/m³ removal at high concentration of 500 mg/L. Interestingly, significant improvement of the order of magnitude (up to 8 times) in removal of ammoniacal nitrogen could be obtained by sparging air or oxygen in hydrodynamic cavitation and a very high removal of above 80% could be achieved. The removal of ammoniacal nitrogen by vortex diode was also found to be effective in the industrial wastewaters and results on two different effluent samples of distillery industry indicated up to 75% removal, though with longer time of treatment compared to that of synthetic wastewater. The developed methodology of hydrodynamic cavitation technology with aeration and vortex diode as a cavitating device was found to be highly effective for improving the efficiency of the conventional cavitation methods and hence can be highly useful in industrial wastewater treatment, specifically for the removal of ammoniacal nitrogen.     

Enhanced‐fluidity liquid chromatography using mixed‐mode hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography/strong cation‐exchange retention mechanisms

The potential of enhanced‐fluidity liquid chromatography, a subcritical chromatography technique, in mixed‐mode hydrophilic interaction/strong cation‐exchange separations is explored, using amino acids as analytes. The enhanced‐fluidity liquid mobile phases were prepared by adding liquefied CO₂ to methanol/water mixtures, which increases the diffusivity and decreases the viscosity of the mixture. The addition of CO₂ to methanol/water mixtures resulted in increased retention of the more polar amino acids. The “optimized” chromatographic performance (achieving baseline resolution of all amino acids in the shortest amount of time) of these methanol/water/CO₂ mixtures was compared to traditional acetonitrile/water and methanol/water liquid chromatography mobile phases. Methanol/water/CO₂ mixtures offered higher efficiencies and resolution of the ten amino acids relative to the methanol/water mobile phase, and decreased the required isocratic separation time by a factor of two relative to the acetonitrile/water mobile phase. Large differences in selectivity were also observed between the enhanced‐fluidity and traditional liquid mobile phases. A retention mechanism study was completed, that revealed the enhanced‐fluidity mobile phase separation was governed by a mixed‐mode retention mechanism of hydrophilic interaction/strong cation‐exchange. On the other hand, separations with acetonitrile/water and methanol/water mobile phases were strongly governed by only one retention mechanism, either hydrophilic interaction or strong cation exchange, respectively.     

Experimental strategy of the spectrophotometric approach using freeze-drying for PO43− determination in frozen and chilled chickens in the Saudi Arabia market

Herein, an efficient analytical method based on an extraction protocol was developed and validated for the spectrophotometric detection of phosphate (PO₄^3?) in chilled and frozen chicken samples. The preparation was a very simple sample that included freeze-drying, extraction with acidified amino acids and filtration of the final extract prior to spectrophotometric analysis. FT-IR spectrum of CS1 was confirmed that the selected solvent has successfully extracted PO₄^3? from the chilled chicken sample. Analytical performances were assessed in chilled of one of the merchant species and showed good recoveries with relative standard deviations (RSD) below 2%. The analytical validation parameters of the method in terms of limit of quantification (LOQ) and detection (LOD) were calculated and found to be 0.10 and 0.032 mg/L, respectively. This protocol has been effectively applied to PO₄^3? determination in chicken samples collected from Saudi supermarkets (Northern KSA), and PO₄^3? in all frozen samples was detected at high mg/kg levels ranging from 2.11 × 10⁴ to 2.90 × 10⁴ mg/kg, while in limit levels of PO₄^3? concentration were detected in the chilled samples except chilled sample 1 (CS1), which was 2.22 × 10⁴ mg/kg. The extraction and determination protocol suggested that this developed method could be validated for routine monitoring of PO₄^3? in food quality control laboratories and safety monitoring.     

Biomimetic Design of a Robustly Stabilized Folded State Enabling Seed-Initiated Supramolecular Polymerization under Microfluidic Mixing**

We have investigated the folding and assembly behavior of a cystine-based dimeric diamide bearing pyrene units and solubilizing alkyl chains. In low-polarity solvents, it forms a 14-membered ring through double intramolecular hydrogen bonds between two diamide units. The spectroscopic studies revealed that the folded state is thermodynamically unstable and eventually transforms into more energetically stable helical supramolecular polymers that show an enhanced chiral excitonic coupling between the transition dipoles of the pyrene units. Importantly, compared to an alanine-based monomeric diamide, the dimeric diamide exhibits a superior kinetic stability in the metastable folded state, as well as an increased thermodynamic stability in the aggregated state. Accordingly, the initiation of supramolecular polymerization can be regulated using a seeding method even under microfluidic mixing conditions. Furthermore, taking advantage of a self-sorting behavior observed in a mixture of l -cysteine- and d -cysteine-based dimeric diamides, a two-step supramolecular polymerization was achieved by stepwise addition of the corresponding seeds.     

Electrosynthesis of α-Amino Acids from NO and other NOx species over CoFe alloy-decorated Self-standing Carbon Fiber Membranes

The conversion of industrial exhaust gases of nitrogen oxides into high-value products is significantly meaningful for global environment and human health. And green synthesis of amino acids is vital for biomedical research and sustainable development of mankind. Herein, we demonstrate an innovative approach for converting nitric oxide (NO) to a series of α-amino acids (over 13 kinds) through electrosynthesis with α-keto acids over self-standing carbon fiber membrane with CoFe alloy. The essential leucine exhibits a high yield of 115.4 μmol h⁻¹ corresponding a Faradaic efficiency of 32.4 %, and gram yield of products can be obtained within 24 hours in lab as well as an ultra-long stability (>240 h) of the membrane catalyst, which could convert NO into NH₂OH rapidly attacking α-keto acid and subsequent hydrogenation to form amino acid. In addition, this method is also suitable for other nitrogen sources including gaseous NO₂ or liquidus NO₃⁻ and NO₂⁻. Therefore, this work not only presents promising prospects for converting nitrogen oxides from exhaust gas and nitrate-laden waste water into high-value products, but also has significant implications for synthetizing amino acids in biomedical and catalytic science.     

Engineered Biocatalytic Synthesis of β-N-Substituted-α-Amino Acids

Non-canonical amino acids (ncAAs) are useful synthons for the development of new medicines, materials, and probes for bioactivity. Recently, enzyme engineering has been leveraged to produce a suite of highly active enzymes for the synthesis of β-substituted amino acids. However, there are few examples of biocatalytic N-substitution reactions to make α,β-diamino acids. In this study, we used directed evolution to engineer the β-subunit of tryptophan synthase, TrpB, for improved activity with diverse amine nucleophiles. Mechanistic analysis shows that high yields are hindered by product re-entry into the catalytic cycle and subsequent decomposition. Additional equivalents of l -serine can inhibit product reentry through kinetic competition, facilitating preparative scale synthesis. We show β-substitution with a dozen aryl amine nucleophiles, including demonstration on a gram scale. These transformations yield an underexplored class of amino acids that can serve as unique building blocks for chemical biology and medicinal chemistry.     

A Versatile Strategy for Screening Custom-Designed Warhead-Armed Cyclic Peptide Inhibitors

Demand for peptide-based pharmaceuticals has been steadily increasing, but only limited success has been achieved to date. To expedite peptide-based drug discovery, we developed a general scheme for cell-based screening of cyclic peptide inhibitors armed with a user-designed warhead. We combined unnatural amino acid incorporation and split intein-mediated peptide cyclization techniques and integrated a yeast-based colorimetric screening assay to generate a new scheme that we call the custom-designed warhead-armed cyclic peptide screening platform (CWCPS). This strategy successfully discovered a potent inhibitor, CY5-6Q, that targets human histone deacetylase 8 (HDAC8) with a K_D value of 15 nM. This approach can be a versatile and general platform for discovering cyclic peptide inhibitors.