Accurate determination of microgram quantities of uranium by direct and differential polarography

Summary A procedure for the accurate determination of small amounts of pure uranium (5–1,000 g) by direct or comparative polarography is described. The accuracies obtainable for different total quantities are given.

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Zusammenfassung Direkte und differentielle polarographische Verfahren zur Bestimmung von kleinen Mengen Uran (5–1000 g) werden beschrieben und die für verschiedene Gesamtmengen erreichbaren Genauigkeiten angegeben.

     

Light activates reduction of methotrexate by NADPH in the ternary complex with Escherichia coli dihydrofolate reductase

Methotrexate (MTX), a strong inhibitor of dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), has been widely used for chemotherapy for many types of cancer as well as for juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. It mimics folate substrates and binds tightly to the active site of DHFR, perhaps in a conformation close to the transition state of the folate catalyzed reaction. Absorption, fluorescence and ultrasensitive Raman difference spectroscopies show that light-activated MTX reacts with NADPH in the enzyme active site, producing 5,8-dihydromethotrexate (5,8-dihydro-MTX) and NADP+. The reaction, which proceeds with a hydride transfer between C4 (pro-R side) of the nicotinamide ring and N5 of the pteridine ring, is similar to that between folate and NADPH except that the hydride is transferred to C6 in this case. Hence, MTX is catalytically competent in its excited state. Most experiments were performed on the Escherichia coli enzyme, but preliminary studies show that the reaction also occurs with human DHFR.     

高效毛细管电泳法测定二氢叶酸还原酶活力的研究

通过胶束电动毛细管电泳法研究分离二氢叶酸还原酶体系中二氢叶酸、四氢叶酸、 NADP、 NADPH和酶5种组分,在含0.002%Brij-35的pH 9.18 50 mmol/L 的硼砂缓冲溶液中,5种组分在18min内得到基线分离.通过对其产物四氢叶酸峰面积的定量测定,计算出二氢叶酸还原酶的米氏常数,建立了毛细管电泳法对二氢叶酸还原酶活力的测定方法.     

CdSe量子点修饰电极电化学发光法测定叶酸

制备了水溶性的CdSe量子点,用紫外光谱和荧光光谱对其进行了表征.并将其修饰到金电极的表面,得到了CdSe量子点修饰电极(CdSe/GE),研究了其电化学发光性质.结果表明:在强碱介质中,CdSe/GE对鲁米诺电化学发光具有增敏作用,在此发光体系中加入叶酸后,会产生进一步增强的电化学发光信号,由此建立了电化学发光检测叶酸的新方法.考察了缓冲溶液pH值、鲁米诺的浓度和扫速等条件对电化学发光强度的影响.在优化的实验条件下,叶酸在1×10~(-13)~1.1×10~(-4) mol/L浓度范围内与相对发光强度(ΔI)呈现良好的线性关系,检测限为6.0×10~(-14) mol/L(S/N=3),并用于市售叶酸片剂中叶酸的测定,得到令人满意的实验结果.     

The polarographic determination of microgram quantities of oxalic acid

A brief critical summary of possible methods for the determination of micro quantities of oxalic acid in solution is presented, and details are given of a satisfactory polarographic procedure for the determination of this material down to a level of 10 microg per ml in the final solution. This method involves the adjustment of the pH of the sample solution, followed by precipitation of the oxalic acid as europium oxalate. The excess europium is then determined polarographically. The method is applicable in the presence of 1M ammonium nitrate and in the presence of ammonium salts of other common acids. Iron and chromium interfere and must be absent.     

Flow-injection spectrophotometric determination of ascorbic acid by reduction of vanadotungstophosphoric acid

Ascorbic acid may be determined spectrophotometrically at 360 nm based on reduction of vanadotungstophosphoric acid using flow-injection analysis. The carrier stream was distilled water and the reagent streams were buffer solution (pH 3.0), 1.735 × 10^?3 M dodecatungstophosphoric acid and 1.735 × 10^?3 M sodium vanadate. The injection rate was 80 h^?1. The calibration graph was linear up to 80 μg ml^?1 ascorbic acid and the relative standard deviation for the determination of 20 μg ml^?1 ascorbic acid was 1.5% (n=10). The detection limit was 1.0 μg ml^?1 ascorbic acid, based on an injection volume of 250 μl. The system was applied to the determination of ascorbic acid in vitamin C tablets.     

流动注射-电化学氧化荧光法测定叶酸

提出了一种流动注射在线电化学氧化荧光分析新方法,并用于叶酸的测定。该方法将电化学氧化与流动注射荧光光度法很好的结合起来,通过在流路中的流通电氧化池将弱荧光物质叶酸氧化成为具有较强荧光的蝶呤-6-羧酸,并进行测定。在0.02 mol/L,pH 8的NaH2PO4-Na2HPO4缓冲溶液中,电解质NaCl浓度为0.01 mol/L,氧化电位为1.100 V时,氧化产物蝶呤-6-羧酸的最大λex和λem分别为370和460 nm。在此条件下,叶酸的浓度和荧光信号的增强强度在1.0×10-7~1.0×10-5g/mL的范围内有很好的线性关系,检出限为4.2×10-8g/mL(3σ)。已用于B族复合维生素及奶粉中叶酸的测定。     

The role of large-scale motions in catalysis by dihydrofolate reductase

Dihydrofolate reductase has long been used as a model system to study the coupling of protein motions to enzymatic hydride transfer. By studying environmental effects on hydride transfer in dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) from the cold-adapted bacterium Moritella profunda (MpDHFR) and comparing the flexibility of this enzyme to that of DHFR from Escherichia coli (EcDHFR), we demonstrate that factors that affect large-scale (i.e., long-range, but not necessarily large amplitude) protein motions have no effect on the kinetic isotope effect on hydride transfer or its temperature dependence, although the rates of the catalyzed reaction are affected. Hydrogen/deuterium exchange studies by NMR-spectroscopy show that MpDHFR is a more flexible enzyme than EcDHFR. NMR experiments with EcDHFR in the presence of cosolvents suggest differences in the conformational ensemble of the enzyme. The fact that enzymes from different environmental niches and with different flexibilities display the same behavior of the kinetic isotope effect on hydride transfer strongly suggests that, while protein motions are important to generate the reaction ready conformation, an optimal conformation with the correct electrostatics and geometry for the reaction to occur, they do not influence the nature of the chemical step itself; large-scale motions do not couple directly to hydride transfer proper in DHFR.     

Determination of folic acid by chemiluminescence based on peroxomonosulfate-cobalt(II) system

Based on the chemiluminescence (CL) phenomena of folic acid in peroxomonosulfate-cobalt(II) system, a rapid and sensitive CL method was developed for determination of folic acid in pharmaceutical preparations and its urinary metabolism processes. Under the optimum conditions, the relative CL intensity was linear over the concentration ranging from 10⁻⁹ to 8 × 10⁻⁷ mol L⁻¹ (R² = 0.9991) with a detection limit as low as 6 × 10⁻¹⁰ mol L⁻¹ (S/N = 3) and relative standard deviation was 2.63% for 2 × 10⁻⁸ mol L⁻¹ folic acid (n = 11). This method has been successfully applied to the determination of folic acid in tablets and human urine. The blank CL emission was yielded owing to the formation of singlet oxygen molecular pair from the quenching experiment of 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane, and pterine-6-carboxylic acid might be the degradation intermediate in this system and it also acts an energy acceptor and sensitizes the chemiluminescence based on the studies of the CL and fluorescence spectra.     

Isotachophoretic analysis of the dihydrofolate reductase reaction in the presence of methotrexate and ascorbic acid

The antifolate methotrexate (MTX) is widely used in cancer chemotherapy. In this study, we show that MTX (MTX-Glu1) and MTX-polyglutamates (MTX-Glu2-5) strongly inhibited the growth of the leukemic cell line MOLT-4. This effect, however, was mitigated by ascorbic acid. We investigated whether ascorbic acid is able to reduce dihydrofolic acid (DHF) to tetrahydrofolic acid (THF) directly or by circumventing the MTX inhibition of dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR). The inhibition of this NADPH-dependent reduction of DHF by MTX-Glun in the absence or presence of ascorbate, was determined by analytical isotachophoresis. Using 0.01 M HCl/histidine, pH 6.0, as a leading electrolyte (L) and 0.005 M 2-(N-morpholino)ethanesulfonic acid (MES)/histidine, pH 6.0, as a terminating electrolyte (T), MTX-Glun derivatives including MTX-Glu1 could be easily separated, whereas the quantitative estimation of THF was not possible. A quantitative characterization of the DHFR reaction by measuring NADPH, NADP+ and ascorbate was achieved with another system (L: 0.01 M HCI/beta-alanine, pH 3.73; T: 0.01 M caproic acid, pH 3.27). Nanomolar concentrations of MTX-Glu1-5 inhibited consumption of NADPH and production of NADP+. Ascorbic acid was not able to reduce DHF, neither directly nor after inhibition of DHFR by MTX. However, ascorbic acid seemed to diminish the oxidation of THF and this may account for its capacity to reduce the inhibitory effect of MTX on MOLT-4 cells.     

Effect of mutation on enzyme motion in dihydrofolate reductase

Hybrid quantum-classical molecular dynamics simulations of a mutant Escherichia coli dihydrofolate reductase enzyme are presented. Although residue 121 is on the exterior of the enzyme, experimental studies have shown that the mutation of Gly-121 to valine reduces the rate of hydride transfer by a factor of 163. The simulations indicate that the decrease in the hydride transfer rate for the G121V mutant is due to an increase in the free energy barrier. The calculated free energy barrier is higher for the mutant than for the wild-type enzyme by an amount that is consistent with the experimentally observed rate reduction. The calculated transmission coefficients are comparable for the wild-type and mutant enzymes. The simulations suggest that this mutation may interrupt a network of coupled promoting motions proposed to play an important role in DHFR catalysis. This phenomenon has broad implications for protein engineering and drug design.     

The determination of small quantities of metal ions using anthranilic acid

Metal ions which form insoluble anthranilates may, if present singly, be determined by dissolving the anthranilate in acid and titrating the liberated anthianilic acid with perchloratocerate. Or preferably the anthranilic acid may be determined absorptiometrically with N-(1-naphthyl) ethylenediamine hydrochloride after diazotisation. Under the conditions described quantities of the order of 1–5 micromoles of metal are conveniently determined by the volumetric method and one fifth of such amounts by absorptiometry. With the latter the use of larger Spekker cells would increase the sensitivity of the method.By making use of the insolubility of its complex in acetate buffers copper may be determined in the presence of other metals if these are not in excessive amounts. Various other determinations. are also possible.Attempts to use the fluorescence of the liberated anthranilic acid have indicated the method to be less satisfactory than absorptiometry.     

Simultaneous square-wave voltammetric determination of riboflavin and folic acid in pharmaceutical preparations

The square-wave voltammetric (SWV) behaviour of riboflavin and folic acid was studied at a static mercury drop electrode by square wave voltammetry. In 0.05M KCl (pH 5.89) a cathodic scan gave peaks at — 0.56 and — 0.87 V vs. Ag/AgCl for riboflavin and folic acid, respectively. The reduction peak currents are linearly dependent on the concentration of vitamins. Both vitamins can be simultaneously determined from the same voltammogram. The method proposed for the determination of riboflavin and folic acid in multivitamin tablets is very simple, rapid and does not involve time-consuming separation steps. The average contents of riboflavin and folic acid were found to be 14.8 ± 1.26% and 1.46 ± 2.66%, for tablet A and 9.86 ±1.40% and 1.47 ± 2.0% for tablet B, respectively.     

Kinetic spectrophotometric determination of ascorbic acid by reduction of toluidine blue

A simple kinetic method is described for the determination of ascorbic acid. The procedure is based on the reduction of toluidine blue with ascorbic acid. The rate of reaction is followed by measuring the decrease in absorbance of toluidine blue (lambda(max) = 600 nm) as a result of its decolorization upon reduction by ascorbic acid. Ascorbic acid in the range of 3-35 microg/ml was determined using slope and fixed time methods of analysis, while the variable time method allowed the determination of 5-50 microg/ml of ascorbic acid. The percent relative standard deviation of the method varied from 0.78 to 1.32% depending on the kinetic method used. The high sensitivity of the method also allows determination of low levels of ascorbic acid in some fruits and vegetables such as dew melon, water melon, parsley and coriander.     

Theoretical studies on pteridines. 2. Geometries,tautomer, ionization and reduction energies of substrates and inhibitors of dihydrofolate reductase

Ab initio SCF calculations with STO-3G and 3-21G basis sets are reported for approximately 85 pteridines of interest to the study of the reaction and inhibition mechanisms of dihydrofolate reductase. These include tautomeric, protonated, deprotonated, reduced and 6-substituted forms of the 2-amino-4-oxo- and 2,4-diamino-pteridines, many of which are not easily amenable to experimental investigation. Full geometry optimizations at the SCF/STO-3G level for 30 such pteridines have been performed. A step-wise computational protocol designed to identify the minimum level of theory necessary for reliable prediction of relative tautomer, reduction and ionization energies has been developed in an effort to minimize the cost of calculations for this reasonably large N-heterobicylic system. In general, SCF/STO-3G results were found to be inadequate while SCF/3-21G results obtained with STO-3G optimized geometries agreed with all available experimental evidence with the exception of the relative acidity of 6-methyl-7,8-dihydropterin. Correlation graphs relating experimental pK_a's to the calculated ionization energies are presented: these are of potential predictive value. An analysis is given of the importance of resonance substructures, such as the guanidinium and extended-guanidinium groups, in stabilizing some preferred tautomeric and ionized forms, and in explaining the observed geometry changes.