A comparative study of two polymorphs of L‐aspartic acid hydrochloride

Two polymorphs of L‐aspartic acid hydrochloride, C₄H₈NO₄⁺·Cl⁻, were obtained from the same aqueous solution. Their crystal structures have been determined from single‐crystal data collected at 100 K. The crystal structures revealed three‐ and two‐dimensional hydrogen‐bonding networks for the triclinic and orthorhombic polymorphs, respectively. The cations and anions are connected to one another via N—H...Cl and O—H...Cl interactions and form alternating cation–anion layer‐like structures. The two polymorphs share common structural features; however, the conformations of the L‐aspartate cations and the crystal packings are different. Furthermore, the molecular packing of the orthorhombic polymorph contains more interesting interactions which seems to be a favourable factor for more efficient charge transfer within the crystal.     

New polymer organogelators with L‐isoleucine and L‐valine as a gelation‐causing segment: Organogelation by a combination of supramolecular polymer and conventional polymer

New polymer organogelators, which are composed of poly(ethylene glycol), poly(propylene glycol), and poly(dimethylsiloxane)s as a polymer segment and L ‐isoleucine and L ‐valine derivatives as a gelation‐causing segment, were synthesized, and their organogelation properties were examined in organic solvents and oils. These polymer organogelators formed organogels in many organic solvents and oils, and their gels were thermally stable and had a high mechanical strength. Furthermore, the effects of the polymer backbone on the organogelation is discussed using FTIR spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscope observation, and analysis of thermal stability and strength of the organogel. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 353–361, 2008     

New 1:1 and 2:1 salts in the `dl‐norvaline–maleic acid' system as an example of assembling various crystal structures from similar supramolecular building blocks

Molecular salts and cocrystals of amino acids have potential applications as molecular materials with nonlinear optical, ferroelectric, piezoelectric, and other various target physical properties. The wide choice of amino acids and coformers makes it possible to design various crystal structures. The amino acid–maleic acid system provides a perfect example of a rich variety of crystal structures with different stoichiometries, symmetries and packing motifs built from the molecular building blocks, which are either exactly the same, or differ merely by protonation or as optical isomers. The present paper reports the crystal structures of two new salts of the dl ‐norvaline–maleic acid system with 1:1 and 2:1 stoichiometries, namely dl ‐norvalinium hydrogen maleate, C₅H₁₂NO₂⁺·C₄H₃O₄⁻, (I), and dl ‐norvalinium hydrogen maleate–dl ‐norvaline, C₅H₁₂NO₂⁺·C₄H₃O₄⁻·C₅H₁₁NO₂, (II). These are the first examples of molecular salts of dl ‐norvaline with an organic anion. The crystal structure of (I) has the same C ₂²(12) structure‐forming motif which is common for hydrogen maleates of amino acids. The structure of (II) has dimeric cations. Of special interest is that the single crystals of (I) which are originally formed on crystallization from aqueous solution transform into single crystals of (II) if stored in the mother liquor for several hours.     

Polycondensation of activated L‐valine and L‐leucine esters with various lewis acids

To develop a novel polycondensation method for the preparation of poly (amino acid)s, we screened a transition metal or a rare‐earth triflate as a Lewis acid for the polycondensation of activated amino acid esters in N,N‐dimethylformamide solutions at room temperature. The polymerizations of 4‐nitrophenyl L ‐leucinate ( 1a ) and 4‐nitrophenyl L ‐valinate ( 1b ) scarcely proceeded without any Lewis acid at room temperature. In the presence of 5 mol % metal triflates, especially scandium(III) trifluoromethanesulfonate, the polymerizations of both monomers were promoted effectively. The products, which were collected by the reaction mixture being poured into water, were recognized as poly(L ‐valine)s by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography analysis, and ¹H NMR spectroscopy. These results showed that a metal triflate as a Lewis acid could coordinate to a carbonyl oxygen of activated L ‐valinate and L ‐leucinate even in a highly polar solvent, such as N,N‐dimethylformamide; therefore, the polymerizations of activated L ‐valinate and L ‐leucinate were promoted. Because steric hindrance derived from the isobutyl group in 1b was less than that of the isopropyl unit in 1a , the effect of the metals was not as sensitive for the polymerization of 1b . © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 543–547, 2007     

Theoretical study of the gas-phase structures of sodiated and cesiated leucine and isoleucine: zwitterionic structure disfavored in kinetic method experiments

The most stable charge-solvated (CS) and zwitterionic (ZW) structures of sodiated and cesiated leucine and isoleucine were studied by density functional theory methods. According to the Boltzmann distribution in gas phase, both forms of LeuNa+ and IleNa+ exist, but in LeuCs+ and IleCs+, the ZW forms are dominant. Results for the sodiated compounds are consistent with the relationship found between decrease in relative stability of CS versus ZW form and aliphatic amino acid side chain length. The observed degeneracy in energy for IleNa+ conformers is at odds with kinetic method results. Additional calculations showed that kinetic method structural determinations for IleNa+ do not reflect relative order of populations in the lowest energy conformers. Since complexation of cationized amino acids into ion-bound dimers disfavors ZW structure by approximately 8 kJ mol(-1), it is suggested that for energy close conformers of sodium-cationized amino acids, the kinetic method may not be reliable for structural determinations.     

Synthesis and characterization of L‐leucine containing chiral vinyl monomer and its polymer,poly(2‐(methacryloyloxyamino)‐4‐methyl pentanoic acid)

A chiral monomer containing L ‐leucine as a pendant group was synthesized from methacryloyl chloride and L ‐leucine in presence of sodium hydroxide at 4 °C. The monomer was polymerized by free radical polymerization in propan‐2‐ol at 60 °C using 2,2′‐azobis isobutyronitrile (AIBN) as an initiator under nitrogen atmosphere. The polymer, poly(2‐(Methacryloyloxyamino)‐4‐methyl pentanoic acid) is thus obtained. The molecular weight of the polymer was determined to be: M_w is 6.9 × 10³ and M_n is 5.6 × 10³. The optical rotation of both chiral monomer and its polymer varies with the solvent polarity. The amplification of optical rotation due to transformation of monomer to polymer is associated with the ordered conformation of chiral monomer unit in the polymeric chain due to some secondary interactions like H‐bonding. The synthesized monomer and polymer exhibit intense Cotton effect at 220 nm. The conformation of the chain segments is sensitive to external stimuli, particularly the pH of the medium. In alkaline medium, the ordered chain conformation is destroyed resulting disordered random coils. The ordered coiling conformation is more firmly present on addition of HCl. The polymer exhibits swelling‐deswelling characteristics with the change of pH of the medium, which is reversible. The Cotton effect decreases linearly with the increase of temperature which is reversible on cooling. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 2228–2242, 2009     

Metastable atom‐activated dissociation mass spectrometry: leucine/isoleucine differentiation and ring cleavage of proline residues

Extensive backbone fragmentation resulting in a‐, b‐, c‐, x‐, y‐ and z‐type ions is observed of singly and doubly charged peptide ions through their interaction with a high kinetic energy beam of argon or helium metastable atoms in a modified quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer. The ability to determine phosphorylation‐sites confirms the observation with previous reports and we report the new ability to distinguish between leucine and isoleucine residues and the ability to cleave two covalent bonds of the proline ring resulting in a‐, b‐, x‐, y‐, z‐ and w‐type ions. The fragmentation spectra indicate that fragmentation occurs through nonergodic radical ion chemistry akin to electron capture dissociation (ECD), electron transfer dissociation (ETD) and electron ionization dissociation mechanisms. However, metastable atom‐activated dissociation mass spectrometry demonstrates three apparent benefits to ECD and ETD: (1) the ability to fragment singly charged precursor ions, (2) the ability to fragment negatively charged ions and (3) the ability to cleave the proline ring that requires the cleavage of two covalent bonds. Helium metastable atoms generated more fragment ions than argon metastable atoms for both substance P and bradykinin regardless of the precursor ion charge state. Reaction times less than 250 ms and efficiencies approaching 5% are compatible with on‐line fragmentation, as would be desirable for bottom‐up proteomics applications. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

L‐Lysine: Exploiting Powder X‐ray Diffraction to Complete the Set of Crystal Structures of the 20 Directly Encoded Proteinogenic Amino Acids

During the last 75 years, crystal structures have been reported for 19 of the 20 directly encoded proteinogenic amino acids in their natural (enantiomerically pure) form. The crystal structure is now reported for the final member of this set: L ‐lysine. As crystalline L ‐lysine has a strong propensity to incorporate water under ambient atmospheric conditions to form a hydrate phase, the pure (non‐hydrate) crystalline phase can be obtained only by dehydration under rigorously anhydrous conditions, resulting in a microcrystalline powder sample. For this reason, modern powder X‐ray diffraction methods have been exploited to determine the crystal structure in this final, elusive case.     

Cyclic heterotetrameric and low‐dimensional hydrogen‐bonded polymeric structures in the morpholinium salts of ring‐substituted benzoic acid analogues

The morpholinium (tetrahydro‐2H‐1,4‐oxazin‐4‐ium) cation has been used as a counter‐ion in both inorganic and organic salt formation and particularly in metal complex stabilization. To examine the influence of interactive substituent groups in the aromatic rings of benzoic acids upon secondary structure generation, the anhydrous salts of morpholine with salicylic acid, C₄H₁₀NO⁺·C₇H₅O₃⁻, (I), 3,5‐dinitrosalicylic acid, C₄H₁₀NO⁺·C₇H₃N₂O₇⁻, (II), 3,5‐dinitrobenzoic acid, C₄H₁₀NO⁺·C₇H₃N₂O₆⁻, (III), and 4‐nitroanthranilic acid, C₄H₁₀NO⁺·C₇H₅N₂O₄⁻, (IV), have been prepared and their hydrogen‐bonded crystal structures are described. In the crystal structures of (I), (III) and (IV), the cations and anions are linked by moderately strong N—H…O_carboxyl hydrogen bonds, but the secondary structure propagation differs among the three, viz. one‐dimensional chains extending along [010] in (I), a discrete cyclic heterotetramer in (III), and in (IV), a heterotetramer with amine N—H…O hydrogen‐bond extensions along b, giving a two‐layered ribbon structure. With the heterotetramers in both (III) and (IV), the ion pairs are linked though inversion‐related N—H…O_carboxylate hydrogen bonds, giving cyclic R₄⁴(12) motifs. With (II), in which the anion is a phenolate rather than a carboxylate, the stronger assocation is through a symmetric lateral three‐centre cyclic R₁²(6) N—H…(O,O′) hydrogen‐bonding linkage involving the phenolate and nitro O‐atom acceptors of the anion, with extension through a weaker O—H…O_carboxyl hydrogen bond. This results in a one‐dimensional chain structure extending along [100]. In the structures of two of the salts [i.e. (II) and (IV)], there are also π–π ring interactions, with ring‐centroid separations of 3.5516 (9) and 3.7700 (9) Å in (II), and 3.7340 (9) Å in (IV).     

Crystallographic report: The [bis(η5‐methylcyclopentadienyl)titanium(IV)‐bis(N‐methylglycine)] dichloride

The crystal network of [Cp′₂Ti(N?CH₃? Gly)₂]²⁺[Cl^?]₂ (Cp′ = (CH₃)C₅H₄) complex, which crystallizes as a solvate with CH₃OH, is built up with discrete cationic units connected through intermolecular H· · ·Cl bonds. The α‐amino acid ligands are attached through an intramolecular H· · ·O bond within one cationic unit. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synthesis,structural characterization and cytotoxic activity of diorganotin(IV) complexes of N‐(5‐halosalicylidene)‐α‐amino acid

Fourteen new diorganotin(IV) complexes of N‐(5‐halosalicylidene)‐α‐amino acid, R′₂Sn(5‐X‐2‐OC₆H₃CH?NCHRCOO) (where X = Cl, Br; R = H, Me, i‐Pr; R′ = n‐Bu, Ph, Cy), were synthesized by the reactions of diorganotin halides with potassium salt of N‐(5‐halosalicylidene)‐α‐amino acid and characterized by elemental analysis, IR and NMR (¹H, ¹³C and ¹¹⁹Sn) spectra. The crystal structures of Bu₂Sn(5‐Cl‐2‐OC₆H₃CH?NCH(i‐Pr)COO) and Ph₂Sn(5‐Br‐2‐OC₆H₃CH?NCH(i‐Pr)COO) were determined by X‐ray single‐crystal diffraction and showed that the tin atoms are in a distorted trigonal bipyramidal geometry and form five‐ and six‐membered chelate rings with the tridentate ligand. Bioassay results of a few compounds indicated that the compounds have strong cytotoxic activity against three human tumour cell lines, i.e. HeLa, CoLo205 and MCF‐7, and the activity decreased in the order Cy>n‐Bu>Ph for the R′ group bound to tin. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synthesis and characterization of macroinitiator‐amino terminated PEG and poly(γ‐benzyl‐L‐glutamate)‐PEO‐poly(γ‐benzyl‐L‐glutamate) triblock copolymer

Macroinitiator‐amino terminated poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) (NH₂‐PEO‐NH₂) was prepared by converting both terminal hydroxyl groups of PEG to more reactive primary amino groups. The synthetic route involved reactions of chloridize, phthalimide and finally hydrazinolysis. Furthermore, poly(γ‐benzyl‐L ‐glutamate)‐poly(ethylene oxide)‐poly(γ‐benzyl‐L ‐glutamate) (PBLG‐PEO‐PBLG) triblock copolymer was synthesized by polymerization of γ‐benzyl‐L ‐glutamate N‐carboxyanhydride (Bz‐L‐GluNCA) using NH₂‐PEO‐NH₂ as macroinitiator. The resultant NH₂‐PEO‐NH₂ and triblock copolymer were characterized by FT‐IR, ¹H‐NMR and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) techniques. The results demonstrated that the degree of amination of the NH₂‐PEO‐NH₂ could be up to 1.95. The molecular weight of the PBLG‐PEO‐PBLG triblock copolymer could be adjusted easily by controlling the molar ratio of Bz‐L ‐Glu NCA to the macroinitiator NH₂‐PEO‐NH₂. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Sulfur Containing Amino Acids at Renewable Ni‐Powder Doped Carbon Ceramic Electrode: Application to Amperometric Detection L‐Cystine,L‐Cysteine and L‐Methionine

A sol‐gel technique was used here to prepare a renewable carbon ceramic electrode modified with nickel powder. Cyclic voltammograms of the resulting modified electrode show stable and a well defined redox couple due to Ni(II)/Ni(III) system with surface confined characteristics. The modified electrode shows excellent catalytic activity toward L ‐cystine, L ‐cysteine and L ‐methionine oxidation at reduced overpotential in alkaline solutions. In addition the antifouling properties at the modified electrode toward the above analytes and their oxidation products increases the reproducibility of results. L ‐cystine, L ‐cysteine and L ‐methionine were determined chronoamperometricaly at the surface of this modified electrode at pH range 9–13. Under the optimized conditions the calibration curves are linear in the concentration range 1–450 μM, 2–90 μM and 0.2–75 μM for L ‐cystine, L ‐methionine and L ‐cysteine determination, respectively. The detection limit and sensitivity were 0.64 μM, 3.8 nA/ μM for L ‐cystine, 2 μM, 5.6 nA/ μM for L ‐methionine and 0.2 μM and 8.1 nA/μM for L ‐cysteine. The advantageous of this modified electrode is high response, good stability and reproducibility, excellent catalytic activity for oxidation inert molecules at reduced overpotential and possibility of regeneration of the electrode surface by potential cycling for 5 minutes. Furthermore, the modified electrode has been prepared without using specific reagents. This sensor can be used as an amperometric detector for disulfides detection in chromatographic or flow systems.     

Nano‐sized metal complexes of azo L‐histidine: Synthesis,characterization and their application for catalytic oxidation of 2‐amino phenol

A novel azo dye ligand formed by the coupling of L‐histidine with 2‐hydroxy‐1‐naphthaldyhide(H₂L) and its Ru³⁺, Pd²⁺ and Ni²⁺ nano‐sized complexes were obtained and described by elemental analysis, TGA, magnetic moment measurements, molar conductance, UV‐Vis, ESR, X‐ray powder diffraction, IR, SEM, TEM, ¹H‐nmr, ¹³C‐nmr, and EI‐mass spectral studies. The analytical results and spectral studies detected that the H₂L ligand acts as dibasic tetradentate via aldehyde oxygen, azo nitrogen and deprotonated OH and COOH groups. The data showed the paramagnetic Ru³⁺ complex has octahedral geometry while Pd²⁺ and Ni²⁺ have square planar structures. The molar conductance measurements display all complexes are nonelectrolyte. The crystallinity, morphology and average particle size data revealed the prepared complexes were formed in the Nano scale. The average particle size as calculated from TEM images are found to be 13.72, 64.52 and 115.00 nm for Ru³⁺, Pd²⁺ and Ni²⁺ chelates, respectively. The catalytic activities of these compounds were checked for oxidation of 2‐amino phenol to 2‐amino‐3H phenoxazine‐3‐one as heterogeneous catalysts. A 96, 31 and 21% catalytic conversion are found when using Ru(III), Pd(II) and Ni(II) complexes respectively.     

Structure,energetics and reactivity of ternary complexes of amino acids with Cu(II) and 2,2'-bipyridine by density functional theory. A combination of radical-induced and spin-remote fragmentations

The structures, electron distributions and dissociation energies of gas-phase ternary complexes of Cu(II) with 2,2'-bipyridine and leucine, isoleucine and lysine were addressed by density functional theory using the hybrid B3LYP functional, effective core potentials and the 6-31 + G(d) and LANL2DZ basis sets. The calculations confirm the previously suggested structures, in which amino acid carboxylates coordinate to the Cu atom by the carboxylate and alpha-amino groups in square-planar complexes. The dissociation energies for consecutive eliminations of CO(2) and alkyl radicals from isomeric singly charged complexes of leucine and isoleucine correlate with the ion relative abundances observed in collisionally activated dissociation mass spectra. Doubly charged lysine complexes show extremely low dissociation energies that are consistent with the <1 eV center-of-mass collision energies that were used in previous CAD studies. The calculated charge and spin densities point to radical-induced dissociations of singly charged complexes with an open-electron shell. In contrast, the unpaired electron is virtually inert in doubly charged, open-shell complexes that undergo charge-induced, spin-remote dissociations in the amino acid residues.     

Synthesis,characterization, and physical properties of new copolymers of poly(amino acid)–urethane—copolymers of γ‐methyl‐L‐glutamate‐N‐carboxyanhydride and urethane prepolymer

New copolymers of amino acid and urethane (PAU), in which a polyurethane segment was combined with poly(γ‐methyl‐L‐glutamate) (PMLG) of various contents, were synthesized by the copolymerization of the polyurethane prepolymer (UPP) having isocyanate groups at both terminals of the chain and γ‐methyl‐L ‐glutamate‐N‐carboxyanhydride (NCA) to improve the elastic recovery and adhesion of PMLG for application of PMLG to synthetic leather. The copolymerization of the UPP with NCA was carried out by applying the reactivity of isocyanate and the polymerization mechanism of NCA using the primary amine and tertiary amine as initiators. Infrared (IR) and ¹³C‐NMR spectra of these PAUs as well as the chemical analysis of the PAU intermediates showed that the PAUs would have a multiblock–triblock structure: namely, the PAUs consisted of the block copolymer segments of urethane and a small amount of PMLG at the center of the copolymer chain and most of the PMLG at both terminals of the copolymer chain. The elastic recovery and adhesion of these PAUs were significantly larger than those of the PMLG with the maintenance of a good sense of touch, which was a unique asset of PMLG. Furthermore, it was found that the PAUs had intermediary moisture permeability between that of PMLG and polyurethane. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 37: 383–389, 1999     

Conformational study of the 3,6‐dihydro‐2H‐1,4‐oxazin‐2‐one fragment in 8‐tert‐butyl‐7‐methoxy‐8‐methyl‐9‐oxa‐6‐azaspiro[4.5]decane‐2,10‐dione stereoisomers

Unnatural cyclic α‐amino acids play an important role in the search for biologically active compounds and macromolecules. Enantiomers of natural amino acids with a d configuration are not naturally encoded, but can be chemically synthesized. The crystal structures of two enantiomers obtained by a method of stereoselective synthesis, namely (5R ,8S )‐8‐tert‐butyl‐7‐methoxy‐8‐methyl‐9‐oxa‐6‐azaspiro[4.5]decane‐2,10‐dione, (1), and (5S ,8R )‐8‐tert‐butyl‐7‐methoxy‐8‐methyl‐9‐oxa‐6‐azaspiro[4.5]decane‐2,10‐dione, (2), both C₁₄H₂₁NO₄, were determined by X‐ray diffraction. Both enantiomers crystallize isostructurally in the space group P 2₁, with one molecule in the asymmetric unit and with the same packing motif. The crystal structures are stabilized by C—H…O hydrogen bonds, resulting in the formation of chains along the [100] and [010] directions. The conformation of the 3,6‐dihydro‐2H‐1,4‐oxazin‐2‐one fragment was compared with other crystal structures possessing this heterocyclic moiety. The comparison showed that the title compounds are not exceptional among structures containing the 3,6‐dihydro‐2H‐1,4‐oxazin‐2‐one fragment. The planar moiety was more frequently observed in derivatives in which this fragment was not condensed with other rings.