A methylenic group binds guanidinoacetic acid to glycine and serine in two novel copper(II) complexes: Synthesis,X-ray structure and spectroscopic characterization

New condensed amino acids were observed in two Cu(II) complexes, both involving guanidinoacetic acid (GAA). The copper(II) complexes, 1 and 2, were synthesized and characterized by X-ray crystallography and infrared spectroscopy. Vibrational assignments were performed with the aid of density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Both complexes present an elongation of the carbon chain of the starting amino acid, GAA. One methylenic group binds GAA to the other amino acid, which can be glycine or serine. Complex 1 presents a new condensed synthetic amino acid, glycine-3-N-methylguanidino acetic acid (Gly-mGAA) that is the result/product of the reaction between GAA and glycine, with an addition of one carbon in the chain. In complex 2, a similar ligand to Gly-mGAA was observed, but in this case it is a product of the reaction between GAA and serine, that is, serine-3-N-methylguanidino acetic acid (Ser-mGAA). Gly-mGAA and Ser-mGAA coordinate to Cu(II) through two nitrogen atoms and two oxygen atoms. In addition, we attempt to propose the mechanism for formation of Ser-mGAA and Gly-mGAA in two steps. The first one involves a deamidination reaction between two GAA species, producing the intermediate N,N′-guanidinodiacetic acid. The second step involves a decarboxylation process between GAA and Ser or Gly.     

Design of radical-resistant amino acid residues: a combined theoretical and experimental investigation

Ab initio calculations have been used to design radical-resistant amino acid residues. Optimized structures of free and protected amino acids and their corresponding alpha-carbon-centered radicals were determined with B3-LYP/6-31G(d). Single-point RMP2/6-31G(d) calculations on these structures were then used to obtain radical stabilization energies, to examine the effect of steric repulsion between the side chains and amide carbonyl groups on the stability of alpha-carbon-centered peptide radicals. Relative to glycine, the destabilization for alanine and valine residues was found to be approximately 9 and 18 kJ mol(-1), respectively, which correlates with the reactivity of analogous amino acid residues in peptides toward hydrogen atom abstraction in conventional free radical reactions. To design amino acid residues that would resist radical reactions, strategies by which the steric effects could be magnified were considered. This resulted in the identification of tert-leucine and 3,3,3-trifluoroalanine as suitable molecules. With these amino acid residues, the destabilization of the alpha-carbon-centered radicals relative to that of glycine is increased substantially to approximately 36 and 41 kJ mol(-1), respectively. The theoretical predictions have been supported by experimental observations: a tert-leucine derivative was shown to be very slow to react with N-bromosuccinimide, while the corresponding trifluoroalanine derivative was found to be inert.     

TLC separation and derivative spectrophotometry of some amino acids

Chromatographic systems for the separation of amino acid mixtures on RP-18 as a stationary phase have been elaborated. The best results were obtained using methanol-water (1:1, v/v; 1:3, v/v; 1:5, v/v) as a mobile phase. The following amino acids have been examined: asparagine, arginine monohydrochloride, cystine, cysteine chloride, glycine, histidine monohydrochloride, hydroxyproline, isoleucine, leucine, lysine monochloride, methionine, ornithine monohydrochloride, phenylalanine, proline, threonine, tryptophan, tyrosine, serine, valine. Histidine (as monohydrochloride) and methionine were determined by first-, second- and third-derivative spectrophotometry in a mixture of several amino acids.     

Electrospray ionization mass spectrometric observation of ligand exchange of zinc pyrithione with amino acids

Zinc pyrithione (ZnPT) is widely used as an antidandruff or antifouling reagent. However, this compound is considered toxic, such as the teratogenic effect, to aquatic lives, and it is important to clarify the mechanism of its toxicity. In this study, the interactions between ZnPT and amino acids were observed using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI‐MS) in order to obtain information on the activity of ZnPT within the living body. The ZnPT complex ([ZnPT‐ligand+Amino acid]⁺), in which the ligand of ZnPT was exchanged by the amino acid, was detected in ZnPT solutions mixed with one of 20 amino acids by ESI‐MS. Histidine and cysteine, in particular, showed a high reactivity with ZnPT, while serine and glycine showed a low reactivity. The complexes of ZnPT and a peptide were also observed by the ESI‐MS measurement of the solution containing ZnPT with the peptide. These results would be useful to understand the mechanism of ZnPT toxicities to living creatures. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tuning the nucleophilic attack and the reductive action of glycine on graphene oxide under basic medium

Amino acids are important compounds for GO functionalization because they can improve GO properties for many applications ranging from biomedicine to depollution. However, amino acids can act as nucleophiles or as reducing agents for GO functionalization or reduction, respectively. Hence, we systematically studied the GO functionalization/reduction using glycine as a model amino acid under basic conditions at room temperature. Attenuated total reflectance–Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy were used to characterize the modified GO with glycine. We found that low glycine concentrations produced an epoxide ring opening reaction, whereas an increase in glycine concentration led to GO reduction. The basic medium allowed to conserve the carboxylic acid groups, whereas the GO reduction mechanism was governed by the partial hydrolysis of epoxide groups and the subsequent reduction of carboxylic acids to carbonyls. This article opens up the opportunity to study and control the conditions in which different amino acids could be used for either GO functionalization or GO reduction.     

Use of amino-carbonyl reaction and chemiluminescence detection to the flow-injection determination of some amino acids

Some amino acids were found to react with carbonyl functional groups of humic acid. Products of this reaction give strong chemiluminescence during their oxidation with N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) in alkaline solution. Humic acids from different sources produced similiar signal magnitude. This effect was employed to the flow-injection determination of glycine and arginine in pharmaceutical formulations with considerable selectivity against different amino compounds. The proposed method is fast and simple. Detection limit is 0.20 and 0.25 mg.l(-1) for glycine and arginine respectively, and 115 samples per h can be determined.     

低浓度下离子交换树脂吸附氨基酸的机理

详细地研究了在低浓度下, 酸(碱)式或盐式强酸性阳离子和强碱性阴离子交换树脂吸附氨基酸的机理·结果表明, 氨基酸通过离子交换、离子转移和物理吸附等三种机理被离子交换树脂吸附。     

The enthalpies of interaction of polyvinylbenzyltrimethylammonium hydroxide with amino acids in aqueous solutions

The enthalpies of interaction of polyvinylbenzyltrimethylammonium (PVTA) hydroxide with glycine, glutamic acid, and tyrosine anions were determined calorimetrically. The interaction of PVTA with amino acid anions was shown to be an exothermic process. The enthalpy of interaction depended on the nature and concentration of the amino acid. The reaction became less exothermic and the time of the establishment of equilibrium increased as the concentration of amino acids grew.     

Viscosities and apparent molar volumes of some amino acids in water and in 6M guanidine hydrochloride at 25°C

Apparent molar volumes and viscosity B- and D- coefficients of amino acids glycine, valine, proline, serine and arginine have been determined in water and in aqueous 6M guanidine hydrochloride (GuHCl) solution at 25°C. Transfer volumes and transfer viscosity B-coefficients were evaluated for the amino acids studied in going from water to 6M GuHCl. These transfer properties which were all positive were interpreted in terms of strong interactions of GuHCl molecules with the charged centers of amino acid molecules. A comparison of results obtained in this work for GuHCl and those obtained from literature for urea has shown that GuHCl has stronger interactions than urea with amino acids. This finding explained the previous experimental observations on GuHCl being a stronger denaturing agent than urea for proteins.     

17O-NMR. of Enriched Acetic Acid,Glycine, Glutamic Acid and Aspartic Acid in Aqueous Solution. II. Relaxation Studies

The ¹⁷O-NMR. line widths of the enriched amino acids glycine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid and, for comparative reasons, acetic acid were measured in aqueous solution between pH 1 and 14. The ¹⁷O-NMR. line-width maxima of glycine at pH≈?11 and acetic acid at pH≈?5 are shown to arise from traces of paramagnetic metal ions. The increase in line width in case of glycine on going from the zwitterion 10 the cataion is attributed to an increase in the ¹⁷O-quadrupole coupling constant. No evidence for an intermolecular or intramolecular association of glycine in the zwitterionic form was found. When the paramagnetic impurities were eliminated by addition of EDTA, both the longitudinal and transverse relaxation times remained unchanged on deprotonation of the amino group. The overlapping of the α, β- and α, γ-carboxyl resonances of aspartic and glutamic acid, respectively, created difficulties for their line-width analysis.     

Reduction of interferences in the determination of germanium by hydride generation and atomic emission spectrometry

Effects of interferences and methods for the reduction of interferences in the determination of germanium were studied. Simultaneous signal enhancement and reduction of interference were achieved using l-cysteine, l-cystine, penicillamine and thioglycerol. Amino acids such as glycine and alanine showed some capacity to reduce interferences, but this was both different in mechanism from, and inferior to, the reagents mentioned above. Histidine, on the other hand, proved to be superior to l-cysteine in its ability to reduce interferences from high levels of nickel. Sodium citrate, sodium oxalate, thiourea and thiosemicarbazide also reduced interferences to some extent. Mechanisms are proposed to explain reduction of interferences and enhancement of signals by the thiol-containing compounds and to explain the behaviour of amino acids as interference-reducing reagents.     

CHANGES IN TOTAL DIFFUSE SPECTRAL REFLECTANCE OF AMINO ACIDS AND PROTEINS AFTER ULTRAVIOLET IRRADIATION

Abstract— Total diffuse reflectance spectra of air-dried surfaces of free and neutralized amino acid preparations before and after irradiation in vitro are reported. It was found that some free or neutralized amino acid surfaces underwent modification which resulted in changes in the diffuse reflectance spectra after U.V. exposure. It is suggested that these reflectance changes result from transformations in the side chains of the amino acids and that the transformations may differ from those occurring when amino acids in solution are irradiated. Histidine, cystine, hydroxyproline and some protein surfaces showed changes in reflectance of 330–400 nm light similar to those reported in skin after U.V. irradiation in viuo.     

Kinetic studies on the permanganic oxidation of amino acids. Effect of the length of amino acid carbon chain

The kinetic study of the permanganic oxidation of some amino acids (glycine, L-alanine, L-α-amino-n-butyric acid, L-norvaline, and L-norleucine) has been carried out in buffered acid medium at 1 < pH < 3 using a spectrophotometric technique. An autocatalytic effect due to Mn²⁺ ions was found in all cases. The purpose of this work is to study the influence of the length of carbon chain of the above amino acids. For it, structural factors such as steric, inductive, and hyperconjugation effects of the carbon chain were analyzed. It was found that the reactivity of these compounds is not affected by only one factor, but the influence of several factors and the formation of intermediate complexes could be included in these oxidative processes. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 29: 181–185, 1997.     

Preparation and study of colloid-chemical and optical properties of the nanocrystals of zinc sulfide modified with amino acids

The effect of some amino acids: cysteine, methionine, glycine, lysine, and aspartic acid, on the formation of nanoparticles of zinc sulfide in aqueous solutions at pH 5.5–10.0 was investigated. A method of obtaining stable sols of ZnS particles of 2–4 nm size with narrow distribution of the particle size was developed. The investigated nanoparticles are shown to be sphalerite, the cubic modification of zinc sulfide. The ZnS sols modified with methionine and glycine show intense luminescence at 415–425 nm.     

Nonoxidative crosslinking reactions in natural rubber. II. Radiotracer study of the reactions of amino acids in rubber latex

The reaction of amino acids with functional groups in natural rubber has been studied by use of tritium labeled glycine as a tracer. The rate of reaction, in the latex phase, is found to be pH-dependent with optimum rate at about pH 8. Reaction is considered to occur with rubber epoxide groups, since the level of incorporation of glycine correlates closely with the epoxide groups concentration. Competitive reactions with other amino acids and the effect of dimedone on glycine incorporation are also reported.     

Spectroscopy of hydrothermal reactions,part 26: Kinetics of decarboxylation of aliphatic amino acids and comparison with the rates of racemization

The kinetics of decarboxylation of six α‐amino acids (glycine, alanine, aminobutyric acid, valine, leucine, and isoleucine) and β‐aminobutyric acid were studied in aqueous solution at 310–330ˆC and 275 bar over the pH₂₅ range 1.5–8.5 by using an in situ FT‐IR spectroscopy flow reactor. Based on the rate of formation of CO₂, the first‐order or pseudo‐first‐order rate constants were obtained along with the Arrhenius parameters. The decarboxylation rates of amino acids follow the order Gly > Leu ≈ Ile ≈ Val > Ala > α‐Aib > β‐Aib. Differences in the concentration between 0.05 and 0.5 m had only a minor effect on the decarboxylation rate. The effect of the position of the amino group on the decarboxylation rate was investigated for α‐, β‐, and γ‐aminobutyric acid and the order was found to be α > β ≫ γ. Although the pH dependence is complex, the decarboxylation rates of α‐amino acids qualitatively have the inverse trend of the racemization rates. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 35: 602–610, 2003     

Development of fast disintegrating compressed tablets using amino acid as disintegration accelerator: evaluation of wetting and disintegration of tablet on the basis of surface free energy

A fast disintegrating compressed tablet was formulated using amino acids, such as L-lysine HCl, L-alanine, glycine and L-tyrosine as disintegration accelerator. The tablets having the hardness of about 4 kgf were prepared and the effect of amino acids on the wetting time and disintegration time in the oral cavity of tablets was examined on the basis of surface free energy of amino acids. The wetting time of the tablets increased in the order of L-lysine HCl, L-alanine, glycine and L-tyrosine, whereas the disintegration time in the oral cavity of the tablets increased in the order of L-alanine, glycine, L-lysine HCl and L-tyrosine. These behaviors were well analyzed by the introduction of surface free energy. When the polar component of amino acid was large value or the dispersion component was small value, faster wetting of tablet was observed. When the dispersion component of amino acid was large value or the dispersion component was small value, faster disintegration of tablet was observed, expect of L-tyrosine tablet. The fast disintegration of tablets was explained by the theory presented by Matsumaru.     

Photochemical addition of amino acids and peptides to homopolyribonucleotides of the major DNA bases

Abstract— The photochemical quantum yields for addition of glycine and the L-amino acids commonly occurring in proteins (excluding proline) to polyadenylic acid, polycytidylic acid, polyguanylic acid and polyribothymidylic acid have been determined in deoxygenated phosphate buffer at Λ 254 nm and pH 7, using a fluorescamine assay technique. Polyadenylic acid was reactive with eleven of the twenty amino acids tested, with phenylalanine, tyrosine, glutamine, lysine and asparagine having the highest quantum yields. Polyguanylic acid reacted with sixteen amino acids; phenylalanine, arginine, cysteine, tyrosine, and lysine displayed the largest quantum yields. Polycytidylic acid showed reactivity with fifteen amino acids with lysine, phenylalanine, cysteine, tyrosine and arginine having the greatest quantum yields. Polyribothymidylic acid, reactive with fifteen of nineteen amino acids surveyed, showed the highest quantum yields for cysteine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, lysine and asparagine. None of the polynucleotides were reactive with aspartic acid or glutamic acid.
The quantum yields for photoaddition of eighteen dipeptides of the form glycyl X (X being one of the amino acids commonly occurring in proteins, including proline), and of L-alanyl-L-tryptophan, L-seryl-L-seryl-L-serine, L-threonyl-L-threonyl-L-threonine, L-cystine- bis -glycine, and N_α-acetyllysine to polyadenylic acid, polycytidylic acid and polyguanylic acid were measured. All of these were found to add photochemically to each of these polymers. Polyribothymidylic acid, tested with eleven of these peptides and with N_α-acetyllysine, was found to be reactive with all.     

Formation and Fragmentation of Protonated Molecules after Ionization of Amino Acid and Lactic Acid Clusters by Collision with Ions in the Gas Phase

Collisions between O³⁺ ions and neutral clusters of amino acids (alanine, valine and glycine) as well as lactic acid are performed in the gas phase, in order to investigate the effect of ionizing radiation on these biologically relevant molecular systems. All monomers and dimers are found to be predominantly protonated, and ab initio quantum–chemical calculations on model systems indicate that for amino acids, this is due to proton transfer within the clusters after ionization. For lactic acid, which has a lower proton affinity than amino acids, a significant non‐negligible amount of the radical cation monomer is observed. New fragment‐ion channels observed from clusters, as opposed to isolated molecules, are assigned to the statistical dissociation of protonated molecules formed upon ionization of the clusters. These new dissociation channels exhibit strong delayed fragmentation on the microsecond time scale, especially after multiple ionization.     

甘氨酸和L-丝氨酸在LiNO3, NaNO3和KNO3水溶液中的体积性质

用Anton Paar DMA 55精密数字密度计测定了甘氨酸和L-丝氨酸在LiNO3, NaNO3和KNO3水溶液中的密度, 计算了氨基酸的表观摩尔体积、极限偏摩尔体积、迁移偏摩尔体积、理论水化数和体积作用系数. 根据静电相互作用和结构水合作用模型讨论了氨基酸的侧链和阳离子的性质对迁移偏摩尔体积的影响. 结果表明, 甘氨酸和L-丝氨酸在3种硝酸盐水溶液中的迁移体积均为正值, 并且随着盐溶液浓度的增大而增大. 氨基酸两性离子端基和阴阳离子间的静电作用对迁移体积的贡献是主要的, 静电作用削弱了两性离子带电中心对周围水分子的电致收缩效应, 造成氨基酸的理论水化数随盐溶液浓度的增加而减小. L-丝氨酸的侧链与离子之间的亲水-亲水相互作用对迁移体积有小的正贡献, 使得在同一种盐溶液中L-丝氨酸的迁移体积较甘氨酸的大. 同一种氨基酸在NaNO3和KNO3水溶液中的迁移体积较在LiNO3水溶液中的大, 主要是由于Li＋难以去水化. 在低浓度的盐溶液中氨基酸与盐之间的相互作用以1∶1形式为主, 随着溶液浓度的增大, 1∶2形式的相互作用逐渐增大