Gas-phase basicities of serine and dipeptides of serine and glycine

The gas-phase basicities of serine and dipeptides containing amino acid residues of serine and glycine were determined by proton transfer reactions in a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer. The gas-phase basicity (GB) of L-serine was found to be 205.9 kcal/mol, with addition of a hydroxymethyl group (?CH₂OH) increasing the basicity by 4.5 kcal/mol relative to the simplest amino acid glycine (GB = 201.4 kcal/mol). This is attributed to a combination of intramolecular hydrogen bonding, induction, and symmetry effects. For the dipeptides, addition of a hydroxymethyl group does not result in a large increase in basicity relative to the basicity of glycylglycine (GB = 208.0 kcal/mol). The gas-phase basicities determined for glycyl-l-serine, l-serylglycine, and l-sery-l-serine are 209.3,210.6, and 210.9 kcal/mol, respectively. In comparison to glycylglycine, addition of the hydroxymethyl group at the N terminus has a greater impact on basicity than its placement at the C terminus. These data suggest that the protonation site for these dipeptides is the N-terminal amino nitrogen.     

Gas-phase basicity of glycine,alanine, proline,serine, lysine,histidine and some of their peptides by the thermokinetic method

The thermokinetic method is applied to a set of six amino acids (glycine, alanine, proline, serine, lysine, histidine) and 30 of their di- and tri-peptides for which experimental proton transfer rate constants were available. The comparison between the presently determined gas-phase basicities, GBs, of the amino acids with values obtained from equilibrium constant determination is generally good (a mean deviation of appoximately 3 kJ mol(-1) is observed). Derived proton affinities values are discussed. The gas-phase basicities of peptides provided by the present study correct several previously estimated values thus offering a more firm basis for structural discussion. Composite reaction efficiency curves indicate the existence, for several peptides, of at least two non-interconverting populations of protonated forms.     

Unique charge-separated intermolecular and eight-membered intramolecular H-bonds in bis-(thio)barbiturates

Reaction of symmetrical and unsymmetrical (thio)barbituric acids with aldehydes in the presence of triethylamine afforded a new form of bis-(thio)barbiturate containing charge-separated inter- and eight-membered intramolecular H-bonds. The reaction products were obtained as bis-(thio)barbiturates containing eight-membered intramolecular H-bond in the presence of l-(+)-tartaric acid (TA). The intramolecular H-bond strength (kcal/mol) and corresponding pKa value for 4ab′ were estimated to be 37 kcal/mol and ?1.3, respectively.     

A new chiral electrochemical sensor for the enantioselective recognition of penicillamine enantiomers

A new chiral electrochemical sensor has been successfully prepared through chemical linking l-methotrexate (l-Mtx) onto the gold electrode surface. Cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were used to investigate the enantioselective interaction between l-Mtx and Pen enantiomers. The results showed that the l-Mtx-modified gold electrode can selectively recognize penicillamine (Pen) enantiomers using Zn(II) as central ion, and larger response signal was observed from d-Pen owing to the selective formation of Zn complexes. The interaction time between the modified electrode and Pen enantiomers containing Zn(II) was considered. And the electrochemical response of the modified electrode to a series of different concentration of Pen in the presence of Zn(II) was also monitored. In addition, the enantiomeric composition of d- and l-Pen enantiomer mixtures was monitored by measuring the current responses of the sample.     

Evaluation of noncovalent interactions between peptides and polyether compounds via energy-variable collisionally activated dissociation

Energy-variable collisionally activated dissociation (CAD) was used to analyze noncovalent interactions of protonated peptide/polyether complexes in a quadrupole ion trap complexes were formed with a series of four polyether host molecules and thirteen peptide molecules. Comparison of dissociation thresholds revealed correlations between the gas-phase basicities of the peptides and polyether molecules and the onset of dissociation. The dissociation thresholds of complexes containing the tripeptides or pentapeptides were inversely proportional to the gas-phase basicities of the sites of protonation of the peptides. Intramolecular hydrogen bonding of the pentapeptides affected the observed dissociation thresholds as well. The dissociation thresholds also scaled proportionally to the gas-phase basicities of the polyethers in the complexes, and the importance of the conformational flexibility of the polyether ligand was confirmed for one of the histidine-containing tripeptide complexes.     

Application of Hydrazino Dinitrophenyl-Amino Acids as Chiral Derivatizing Reagents for Liquid Chromatographic Enantioresolution of Carbonyl Compounds

A new series of chiral derivatizing reagents (CDRs) consisting of five hydrazino dinitrophenyl (HDNP)-amino acids (CDR 1?C5) was prepared by a two-step synthesis procedure starting from 1,5-difluoro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (DFDNB). In the first step, five fluoro-dinitrophenyl (FDNP)-reagents, namely FDNP-l-Leu, FDNP-l-Val, FDNP-l-Phe, FDNP-l-Ala and FDNP-d-Phg were synthesized by substituting one of the fluorine atoms in DFDNB moiety with amino acids l-Leu, l-Val, l-Phe, l-Ala and d-Phg, respectively. In the following step, the remaining fluorine atom of the FDNP reagents was substituted with hydrazine hydrate to obtain five HDNP reagents (i.e. CDR 1?C5; HDNP-l-Leu, HDNP-l-Val, HDNP-l-Phe, HDNP-l-Ala and HDNP-d-Phg). These five CDRs were used for synthesis of diastereomers of six racemic carbonyl compounds which were resolved by high-performance liquid chromatography using C18 column and gradient eluting mixture of acetonitrile or methanol with triethylammonium phosphate buffer with UV detection at 348 nm. Microwave irradiation was used for synthesis of both the CDRs and the diastereomers. The newly synthesized CDRs were observed to be superior in comparison to their counterparts having amino acid amides as chiral auxiliaries in terms of cost effectiveness and providing better resolution of diastereomers. The method was validated for limit of detection, linearity, accuracy and precision.     

Specific features of the reaction of l-cysteine with pyridoxal and N-pyridoxylidene-β-alanine

The mechanisms of condensation of l-cysteine, l-methionine, and l-serine with pyridoxal and of transaldimination of N-pyridoxylidene-??-alanine with l-cysteine were studied by the kinetic method. Unlike methionine and serine, the condensation of cysteine with pyridoxal and transaldimination with Npyridoxylidene-??-alanine involves intermediate formation of stable product having a thiazolidine ring. Its structure was determined by elemental analysis, UV, and IR spectroscopy, and quantum-chemical calculations. The thiazolidine fragment in the pyridoxal condensation product with l-cysteine is turned through an angle of ??90° with respect to the pyridine ring plane due to mutual repulsion of the negatively charged oxygen atom in the ortho position of the pyridine ring and sulfur and nitrogen atoms in the thiazolidine ring.     

The yjjN of E. coli codes for an l-galactonate dehydrogenase and can be used for quantification of l-galactonate and l-gulonate

Escherichia coli is able to utilize l-galactonate as a sole carbon source. A metabolic pathway for l-galactonate catabolism is described in E. coli, and it is known to be interconnected with d-galacturonate metabolism. The corresponding gene encoding the first enzyme in the l-galactonate pathway, l-galactonate-5-dehydrogenase, was suggested to be yjjN. However, l-galactonate dehydrogenase activity was never demonstrated with the yjjN gene product. Here, we show that YjjN is indeed an l-galactonate dehydrogenase having activity also for l-gulonate. The K _m and k _cat for l-galactonate were 19.5?±?0.6 mM and 0.51?±?0.03 s^?1, respectively. In addition, YjjN was applied for a quantitative detection of the both of these substances in a coupled assay. The detection limits for l-galactonate and l-gulonate were 1.65 and 10 μM, respectively.     

Study on the intermolecular complexation behavior between p-sulfonatocalix[4]arene with l-tyrosine

The formation of the complexation behavior of host molecules water-soluble p-sulfonatocalix[4]arene (p-SCX4) with l-tyrosine (l-Tyr) guest molecule has been studied by spectrophotometric including fluorescence and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Experimental conditions including concentration of p-SCX4 and medium acidity were investigated in detail. The results showed that p-SCX4 forms 1:1 complexes with l-Tyr in water. Their stability constant determined by spectrofluorometric titration is 15761 L mol. Moreover, to obtain information about the binding mechanism of the interaction, ¹H NMR studies were carried out showing that the water-soluble p-SCX4 was found to be able to complex the aromatic l-Tyr, and the part of benzene ring of amino acid penetrated into the hydrophobic cavity of calix[4]arene and charged aliphatic chain of l-Tyr stick out of the cavity. In addition, the thermodynamic parameters for the complexation of p-SCX4 with l-Tyr were determined through Van’t Hoff analysis. The obtained data further confirmed the binding mode of p-SCX4 with l-Tyr. The related mechanism is proposed to explain the complexation processes.     

Thermodynamic and structural aspects of the interaction of l-histidine with urea and dimethylformamide in water

The solubility of l-histidine in water and aqueous solutions of dimethylformamide (DMF) at 25°C was determined. The thermal effects of solution of l-histidine in aqueous solutions of urea and DMF were measured. The standard enthalpies, free energies, and entropies of solution and transfer of the amino acid from water to aqueous solutions of amides were calculated. It was shown that the interaction of l-histidine with urea is attractive, and that with DMF, repulsive, with the change in the free energy determined by the enthalpy term in both cases. The enthalpy-entropy compensation taking place to a certain extent in the interaction of l-histidine and l-phenylalanine with amide was revealed. This effect is the most pronounced in the interaction of predominantly hydrophobic DMF and l-phenylalanine.     

Enantioselective extraction of fenvaleric acid enantiomers by two-phase (W/O) recognition chiral extraction

To establish an extraction method for fenvaleric acid (FA) enantiomers using l-iso-butyl-l-tartaric esters and hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) as chiral selector, the distribution of FA enantiomers was examined in methanol aqueous solution containing HP-β-CD and 1,2-dichloroethane organic solution containing l-iso-butyl-l-tartaric esters. The influences of the concentration of l-iso-butyl-l-tartaric esters and HP-β-CD, organic diluent, pH, extraction temperature and the concentration of methanol aqueous solution on the partition coefficient (k) and separation factor (α) of FA were investigated. The experiment results showed that the complex formed by l-iso-butyl-l-tartaric esters with S-enantiomer is stabler than that with R-enantiomer. With the increase of the concentration of l-iso-butyl-l-tartaric ester, k and α increased; With the increase of the concentration of HP-β-CD, k increased firstly, and then decreased, but α increased all the while, k was the highest when the concentration of HP-β-CD was 4 mmol L^?1. 1,2-dichloroethane organic diluent was better than the others. With the increase of pH, k and α decreased; with further increasing concentration of methanol aqueous solution, k and α decreased, k and α were the highest when the concentration of methanol aqueous solution was 10%. The extraction temperature had a great influence on k and α, too.     

Activity and Synergistic Antimicrobial Activity Between Diketopiperazines Against Bacteria In Vitro

The aim of the present study was to determine the synergistic effects of diketopiperazines [cyclo-(l-Pro-l-Leu) (1), cyclo-(d-Pro-l-Leu) (2), and cyclo-(d-Pro-l-Tyr) (3)] purified from a Bacillus sp. N strain associated with entomopathogenic nematode Rhabditis (Oscheius) sp. on the growth of bacteria. The minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration of the diketopiperazines was compared with that of the standard antibiotics. The synergistic antibacterial activities of the combination of diketopiperazines against pathogenic bacteria were assessed using the checkerboard assay and time?Ckill methods. The results of the present study showed that the combination effects of diketopiperazines were predominately synergistic (FIC index <0.5). Furthermore, time?Ckill study showed that the growth of the tested bacteria was completely attenuated with 4?C12?h of treatment with 50:50 ratios of diketopiperazines. These results suggest that the combination of diketopiperazines may be microbiologically beneficial. The three diketopiperazines are nontoxic to normal human cell line (L231 lung epithelial) up to 200?m???g/ml. The in vitro synergistic activity of cyclo-(l-Pro-l-Leu), cyclo-(d-Pro-l-Leu), and cyclo-(d-Pro-l-Tyr) against bacteria is reported here for the first time. These findings have potential implications in delaying the development of resistance as the antibacterial effect is achieved with lower concentrations of both drugs (diketopiperazines).     

The pivotal role of copper(II) in the enantiorecognition of tryptophan and histidine by gold nanoparticles

Stereoselective amino acid analysis has increasingly moved into the scope of interest of the scientific community. In this work, we report a study on the chiral recognition of d,l-Trp and d,l-His using l-Cys-capped gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and copper(II) ion. In the l-Cys-capped AuNPs, the thiol group of the amino acid interacts with AuNPs through the formation of Au–S bond, whereas the α-amino and α-carboxyl groups of the surface-confined cysteine can coordinate the copper(II) ion, which in turn, binds the l- or d-amino acid present in solution forming diastereoisomeric complexes. The resulting systems have been characterized by UV–Vis spectra and dynamic light scattering measurements, obtaining different results for l- and d-Trp, as well as for l- and d-His. The knowledge of the solution equilibria of the investigated systems allowed us to accurately calculate in advance the concentrations of the species present in solution and to optimize the system performances, highlighting the pivotal role of copper(II) ion in the enantiodiscrimination processes.     

Study of the interaction between ethanol and natural amino acids containing ionic side groups in water at T = 298.15 K

The enthalpies of solution of l-α-aspartic acid, l-α-glutamic acid, l-α-arginine, l-α-lysine, and l-α-histidine have been measured in aqueous ethanol solutions at 298.15 K. From the obtained experimental results, the standard enthalpies of solution of amino acids in water–ethanol solutions have been determined. These data were used to calculate the heterogeneous enthalpic pair interaction coefficients based on McMillan–Mayer’s formalism. These values were interpreted in the terms of the ionic or no polar effect of the side chains of l-α-amino acids on their interactions with a molecule of ethanol in water.     

Sensitive chemiluminescence method for the determination of glutathione, l-cysteine and 6-mercaptopurine

Glutathione (GSH), l-cysteine (l-Cys) and 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) inhibit the CL reaction of luminol–H₂O₂ catalyzed by gold colloids. In order to explore this, GSH, l-Cys and 6-MP were injected into the chemiluminescence system of luminol and H₂O₂ catalyzed by gold colloids. The results showed that gold colloids interact with GSH, l-Cys and 6-MP and decrease the CL emission. Based on this phenomenon, a simple, sensitive and convenient flow injection CL method was developed for the determination of GSH, l-Cys and 6-MP. This method provides a novel, and effective CL assay for GSH, l-Cys and 6-MP that has been applied to the determination of GSH in human serum.     

Exploiting thermodynamic data to optimize the enantioseparation of underivatized amino acids in ligand exchange capillary electrophoresis

Stereoselective amino acid analysis has increasingly moved into the scope of interest of the scientific community. In this work, we report a study on the chiral separation of underivatized d,l-His by ligand exchange capillary electrophoresis (LECE), utilizing accurate ex ante calculations. This has been obtained by the addition to the background electrolytes (BGE) of NaClO₄ which renders the separations “all in solution processes”, allowing to accurately calculate in advance the concentrations of the species present in solution and to optimize the system performances. To this aim, the formation of ternary complexes of Cu²⁺ ion and l-lysine (l-Lys) or l-ornithine (l-Orn) with l- and d-histidine (His), and histamine (Hm) have been studied by potentiometry and calorimetry at 25 °C and with 0.1 mol dm^?3 (KNO₃) in aqueous solution. The ternary species [Cu(L)(l-His)H]⁺ and [Cu(L)(d-His)H]⁺ (where L?=?l-Lys or l-Orn) show a slight but still detectable stereoselectivity, and the determination of ΔH° and ΔS° values allowed the understanding of the factors which determine this phenomenon. The stereoselectivity showed by the protonated ternary species has been exploited to chirally separate d,l-His in LECE, by using the binary complexes of copper(II) with l-Lys or l-Orn as background electrolytes added with the appropriate amounts of NaClO₄.

Thermal study of l-alanine, l-threonine, and taurine crystals related to hydrogen bonding

In this study l-alanine, l-threonine, and taurine crystals were characterized through dilatometric technique and thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis. The dilatometric analysis shows that the thermal expansion of the crystals is correlated with the strengths of local hydrogen bonding in the amino acid structures at room temperature. Thermogravimetric analysis and differential thermal analysis of the l-alanine, taurine, and l-threonine crystals have been performed at high temperatures. No clear correlation between the hydrogen bonding strengths and endothermic peak positions was observed.     

Protonation Equilibria of Some Selected α-Amino Acids in DMSO–Water Mixture and Their Cu(II)-Complexes

The protonation constants of some α-amino acids (glycine (Gly), l-alanine (Ala), l-valine (Val), l-serine (Ser), l-leucine (Leu) and l-isoleucine (Ile)) were studied in water and DMSO–water solution mixtures containing 30, 50 and 70 vol-% DMSO; in addition the complex formation equilibria of their copper(II) complexes were studied by potentiometric technique using a combined pH electrode system calibrated in concentration units of the hydrogen ion at 25 ± 0.1 °C under a nitrogen atmosphere, and at an ionic strength of 0.10 mol·dm^?3 NaNO₃. The protonation constants and the overall stability constants of copper(II) complexes were influenced by changes in solvent composition, and their variations are discussed in terms of solvent and structural properties.     

In vitro and in silico inhibition of angiotensin-converting enzyme by carbohydrates and cyclitols

Fifteen carbohydrates (d-mannose, d-glucose, d-galactose, methyl-α-d-glucose, l-rhamnose, d-xylose, d-fructose, d-arabinose, dulcitol, mannitol, β-maltose, α-lactose, melibiose, sucrose, and raffinose) and four cyclitols [l-(+)-bornesitol, myo-inositol, per-O-acetyl-1-l-(+)-bornesitol, and quinic acid] were assayed for in vitro ACE inhibition. Of these molecules, per-O-Acetyl-1-l-(+)-bornesitol, quinic acid, methyl-α-d-glucose, d-rhamnose, raffinose, and the disaccharides were determined to be either inactive or weak ACE inhibitors, whereas l-(+)-bornesitol, d-galactose, d-glucose, and myo-inositol exhibited significant ACE inhibition. Molecular docking studies were performed to investigate interactions between active compounds and human ACE (Protein Data Bank, PDB 1O83). The results of various calculations showed that all active sugars bind to the same enzyme region, which is a tunnel directed towards the active site. With the exception of myo-inositol (K _i = 13.95 μM, IC₅₀ = 449.2 μM), the active compounds presented similar K _i and IC₅₀ values. d-Galactose (K _i = 19.6 μM, IC₅₀ = 35.7 μM) and l-(+)-bornesitol (K _i = 25.3 μM, IC₅₀ = 41.4 μM) were the most active compounds, followed by d-glucose (K _i = 32.9 μM, IC₅₀ = 85.7 μM). Our docking calculations are in agreement with the experimental data and show a new binding region for sugar-like molecules, which may be explored for the development of new ACE inhibitors.