Solution structure of folic acid. Molecular mechanics and NMR investigation

The structure of folic acid in solution was investigated by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and theoretical calculations. Dynamical information and geometrical constraints were obtained by carbon-13 relaxation study, homo-nuclear NOESY spectra and hetero-nuclear 1H-13C NOE experiments. This set of experimental data was used for the molecular mechanics and molecular dynamic calculations. The accuracy of the final structure was established by the R(NMR) factor, which was calculated comparing the experimental NOESY cross-peaks intensities and the corresponding values simulated by using the complete relaxation matrix analysis (CORMA) approach.     

Characterisation of glycidylmethacrylate/methacrylonitrile copolymers by NMR spectroscopy

Glycidylmethacrylate/methacrylonitrile (G/M) copolymers of different compositions were prepared and a copolymer composition was obtained from quantitative ¹³C NMR spectroscopy. Reactivity ratios for comonomers were calculated using the Kelen–Tudos (KT) and non linear error in variable (EVM) methods. The reactivity ratios obtained from KT and EVM are r_G=1.14±0.1, r_M=0.76±0.06 and r_G=1.12, r_M=0.75, respectively. Complete spectral assignment of ¹³C- and ¹H-NMR spectra were done with the help of Distortionless Enhancement by Polarization Transfer (DEPT) and 2D ¹³C–¹H heteronuclear single quantum coherence (HSQC).     

Calibration by NMR for quantitative analysis: p-toluenesulfonic acid as a reference substance

We have demonstrated the usefulness of p-toluenesulfonic acid (TsOH) as a reference substance to calibrate a water-soluble standard by NMR for quantitative analysis. In order to make TsOH convenient for this purpose, we first of all established its molar extinction coefficient under these conditions (epsilon = 351 at 262 nm). This was done by comparing it by quantitative NMR (qNMR) with a compound of known molar extinction coefficient, guanosine monophosphate. TsOH was then used as the standard in a second qNMR experiment to measure an aqueous solution of phosphoglycolate, a metabolite of interest in our laboratory. Perhaps due to its content of water, the purity of this compound was found to be 82%, lower than the value of 94% from the manufacturer.     

Characterisation of the 1H and 13C NMR spectra of methylcitric acid

Methylcitric acid (MCA) was synthesised in Reformatsky reaction (2RS, 3RS stereoisomers) and in the nucleophilic addition (2RS, 3SR stereoisomers). The stereoselectivity of these reactions was analysed. (1)H and (13)C NMR spectra of diastereoisomers of methylcitric acid were recorded and interpreted. The values of (1)H chemical shifts and (1)H-(1)H coupling constants were analysed. Proton-decoupled high-resolution (13)C NMR spectra of MCA diastereoisomers were measured in a series of dilute water solutions of various acidities. These data may provide a basis for unequivocal determination of the presence of MCA in the urine samples of patients' suffering from propionic acidemia, methylmalonic aciduria, or holocarboxylase synthetase deficiency. NMR spectroscopy enables determination of MCA diastereoisomers in body fluids and can be a complementary and useful diagnostic tool.     

Fast enantioselective amino acid quantitative C NMR determination by a praseodymium chiral shift reagent

The fast quantitative determination of enantiomers of amino acids by the use of a praseodymium-based water-soluble chiral shift reagent, utilizing natural abundance ¹³C NMR spectra, is described.     

Characterisation of sulphoxides by atmospheric pressure ionisation mass spectrometry

An observation that a series of proprietary compounds containing a methyl thiophenyl group all underwent metabolic S-oxidation, and that the product ion spectra of the resulting S-oxides showed methyl radical loss under low-energy atmospheric pressure ionisation tandem mass spectrometry (API-MS/MS) conditions, has led to an investigation of the fragmentation of commercially available sulphoxides. The phenyl methyl sulphoxides studied do lose methyl radicals under MS/MS conditions on triple quadrupole mass spectrometers. In addition, the phenyl sulphoxides, with simple substituents other than a methyl group, also showed a tendency to lose the substituent as a radical. It was concluded that radical loss from these simple sulphoxides was characteristic of S-oxidation of these molecules. Radical losses, such as those reported here, are used in-house to distinguish S-oxidation from N- and C-oxidation in metabolism studies.     

Characterisation of humic substances by acid catalysed transesterification

The chemical composition of low molecular weight moieties linked to the core structures of humic substances (HS) are of substantial importance for the understanding of the chemical structures and mode of interactions of HS with other substances in the environment. In this study a novel approach to characterise certain low molecular weight compounds bound to HS is suggested. The method includes transesterification (TE) of ester and amide bound structures, and esterification (E) of free carboxylic groups using acid catalysed methanolysis followed by gas chromatography (GC)-mass spectrometry (MS) and GC-FID analysis. Methanolysis of five HS of different origin, demonstrated the presence of multifunctional hydroxy-substituted benzoic acids, hexoses, and long chain fatty acids. Based on GC-FID and addition of the internal standard before methanolysis, the total amounts of low molecular weight material could be estimated. In case of HS from the aqueous sources the yields were below 1%, whereas in case of the HS derived from lignite the yield was significantly higher. The hydrophobic long chain fatty acids constituted about one-third of this material. Principal component analysis (PCA), which was used for extended data evaluation, differentiated between the samples in terms of chemical composition.     

Reduction of nitroblue tetrazolium to formazan by folic acid

The reduction of nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) to formazan by folic acid, N-(4-aminobenzoyl) glutamic acid, and other amino acids was studied in this paper. The reduction involves only one of the two tetrazolium rings of NBT. The reaction is considerably more rapid with folic acid and N-(4-aminobenzoyl) glutamic acid than with the other amino acids under study. The electron donor moiety appears to be the carboxylic acid in the alpha position. N-ethyl-N′(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide notably increases the rate of the reaction and promotes the reduction of both tetrazolium rings.     

Ultraviolet photodegradation of folic acid

The vitamin folate is vital for all living creatures. Scientists have suggested that ultraviolet degradation of folate in vivo played a role in the evolution of mankind. In order to better understand the photodegradation of folate, we have provided a spectroscopic study of the ultraviolet photodegradation of aqueous folic acid under aerobic conditions. We found strong indications that the folic acid molecule is cleaved into p-aminobenzoyl-L-glutamic acid and 6-formyl pterin when exposed to ultraviolet radiation. When the irradiation continues, 6-formyl pterin is degraded to pterin-6-carboxylic acid. The photodegradation of folic acid is divided into three phases. In the first phase, the formation of photoproducts follows a zero order rate law. In the second phase the presence of photoproducts sensitizes the degradation of folic acid and the degradation process is accelerated. In the third phase the degradation of 6-formyl pterin to pterin-6-carboxylic acid is the dominating process. This reaction follows a first order rate law. We show that both 6-formyl pterin and pterin-6-carboxylic acid sensitize the photodegradation of folic acid. However, experiments performed in heavy water indicate that generation of singlet oxygen is probably not the explanation for the photosensitizing of folic acid.     

Rapid and simple solid-phase esterification of sialic acid residues for quantitative glycomics by mass spectrometry

A rapid and quantitative method for solid-phase methyl esterification of carboxy groups of various sialylated oligosaccharides has been established. The method employed a triazene derivative, 3-methyl-1-p-tolyltriazene, for facile derivatization of oligosaccharides immobilized onto general solid supports such as Affi-Gel Hz and gold colloidal nanoparticles in a multiwell plate. The workflow protocol was optimized for the solid-phase processing of captured sialylated/unsialylated oligosaccharides separated from crude sample mixtures by chemical ligation. From tryptic and/or PNGase F-digest mixtures of glycoproteins, purification by chemoselective immobilization, esterification and recovery were achieved in the same well of the filter plate within three hours when used in conjunction with "glycoblotting technology" (S.-I. Nishimura, K. Niikura, M. Kurogochi, T. Matsushita, M. Fumoto, H. Hinou, R. Kamitani, H. Nakagawa, K. Deguchi, N. Miura, K. Monde, H. Kondo, High-throughput protein glycomics: Combined use of chemoselective glycoblotting and MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometry: Angew. Chem. 2005, 117, 93-98; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2005, 44, 91-96). The recovered materials were directly applicable to subsequent characterization by mass spectrometric techniques such as MALDI-TOF for large-scale glycomics of both neutral and sialylated oligosaccharides. On-bead/on-gold nanoparticle derivatization of glycans containing sialic acids allowed rapid and quantitative glycoform profiling by MALDI-TOF MS with reflector and positive ion mode. In addition to its simplicity and speed, the method eliminates the use of unfavorable halogenated solvents such as chloroform and dichloromethane or volatile solvents such as diethyl ether and hexane, resulting in a practical and green chemical method for automated robotic adaptation.     

Elucidation of lignin structure by quantitative 2D NMR

Quick quantitative HSQC (QQ‐HSQC) was applied to quantitative evaluation of different inter‐unit linkages in an array of milled softwood and hardwood and technical lignins by using the guaiacyl C2 and syringyl C2–C6 signals as internal standards. The results were found to be highly reproducible and comparable with earlier literature reports. The advantage of QQ‐HSQC NMR analysis of lignin is contemporary detection and quantification of lignin inter‐unit linkages with a direct, non‐destructive method requiring short acquisition times.     

Determination of folic acid by capillary electrophoresis with chemiluminescence detection

A rapid and simple method is presented for the determination of folic acid (FA) by capillary electrophoresis (CE) with chemiluminescence (CL) detection. This method was based on enhance effect of FA on the CL reaction between luminol and BrO(-) in alkaline aqueous solution. Optimal separation and determination was obtained with an electrophoretic buffer of 35 mM sodium borate (pH 9.4) containing 0.8 mM luminol, and an oxidizer solution of 1.6 mM NaBrO in 100 mM NaCO(3) buffer solution (pH 12.0). Under the optimal conditions, the determination of FA was achieved in less than 20 min, and the detection limit was 2.0 x 10(-8) M (S/N=3). The relative standard deviations (RSDs) on peak area and migration time were in the 1.5 and 1.1%, respectively. The present CE-CL method was applied to the determination of FA in commercial pharmaceutical tablets, apple juices and human urine.     

Determination of folic acid in tablets by microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography

A microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography (MEEKC) method has been developed and validated for the determination of folic acid, a water-soluble vitamin, in a commercial tablet formulation. The analysis was performed using a microemulsion containing 0.5% (w/w) ethyl acetate, 1.2% (w/w) butan-1-ol, 0.6% (w/w) sodium dodecyl sulfate, 15% (v/v) 2-propanol and 82.7% (w/w) 10 mmol L(-1) sodium tetraborate aqueous buffer at pH 9.2. Direct UV detection at 214nm led to an adequate sensitivity without interference from sample excipients. For quantitative purposes, niacin was used as internal standard. Acceptable precision (<1.2% relative standard deviation (R.S.D.)), linearity (r = 0.9992; range from 160.0 to 240.0 microg/mL), sensitivity (limit of detection (LOD) = 2.98 microg/mL; limit of quantification (LOQ) = 9.05 microg/mL) and recovery (99.8 +/- 1.8% at three concentration levels) were obtained. Based on the performance characteristics, the proposed methodology was found suitable for the determination of folic acid in tablet formulations.     

Characterisation of natural indigo and shellfish purple by mass spectrometric techniques

Two analytical methods based on mass spectrometry were used in the characterisation of constituents of natural indigo prepared from the leaves of Indigofera tinctoria, and of shellfish purple prepared from the hypobranchial glandular secretions of Murex trunculus, following old recipes. On-line pyrolysis gas chromatography in the presence of hexamethyldisilazane followed by mass spectrometric analysis (Py-silylation/GC/MS), and direct exposure mass spectrometry (DE-MS), were used. Extensive fragmentation of indigoid dyes was obtained by Py-silylation/GC/MS. The following molecular markers were highlighted, which are useful for identification purposes: 1,2-dihydro-3H-indol-3-one for indigoid dyes, 1,3-dihydro-2H-indol-2-one for indirubine, and 6-bromo-1,2-dihydro-3H-indol-3-one for shellfish purple. Using DE-MS, 6,6'dibromoindigotine, monobromoindigotine and indigotine were identified as the main components, and the presence of tyrindoxyl, one of the dye precursors, was also assessed.     

Characterisation of archaeological waterlogged wood by pyrolytic and mass spectrometric techniques

Two techniques based on analytical pyrolysis and mass spectrometry, direct exposure-MS (DE-MS) and pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS), were used to characterise waterlogged archaeological wood and to study degradation patterns of wood in aqueous environments. The two techniques were applied to samples from the excavation of the Site of the Ancient Ships of Pisa San Rossore in Pisa (Italy), and data were compared to those relative to native sound wood of the same species (pine, elm, beech). Both the methods result valuable in the analysis of ancient wood artefacts, avoiding the long wet-chemical procedures that are commonly used in wood analysis, and allowing us to use a minimal sample size. DE-MS achieves a global mass spectral fingerprint of lignin and polysaccharides pyrolysis compounds in few minutes, and the results have been interpreted with the support of principal component analysis (PCA) of mass spectra. Py-GC/MS permits detailed molecular analysis of pyrolysis compounds and highlights some chemical modifications of lignin in archaeological samples, as demethylation of both guaiacyl and syringyl lignin units. Both the techniques demonstrate consistent loss of polysaccharides in archaeological wood.     

Methylation and amination of folic acid

The methylation of folic acid (2) with excess methyl iodide resulted in the formation of dimethyl 1,3-dimethylfolate ( 4 ), whereas, methylation of dimethyl folate ( 3 ) with an equimolar amount of methyl iodide gave mainly dimethyl 3-methylfolate ( 6 ). Both 4 and 6 underwent the Dimroth rearrangement in base to give the corresponding 2-deamino-2-methyiamino folic acids 5 and 7, respectively. Amination of 2 with hydroxylamine-O-sulfonic acid in dilute base gave a low yield of 3-amino folic acid (8), which underwent Dimroth rearrangement to give 2-deamino-2-hydrazino folic acid (9) in an acidic, but not a basic, medium.