Advantages of deuterium modification of nitroxide spin labels for biological epr studies

The spin label, perdeuterio-N-(1-oxy 1-2,2,6,6-tetramenthyl-4-piperidinyl)maleimide (DMSL) was synthesized and its EPR and saturation transfer EPR spectra were compared to those of the hydrogen analogue, HMSL- The labels were studied as freely tumbling entities and also bound to bovine serum albumin (BSA). Significant gains in spectral resolution and detectability were observed for DMSL relative to HMSL.     

New spin labels and probes for biological studies

Conclusions A series of new and highly stable iminoxyl mono- and biradicals was obtained.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 6, pp. 1327–1329, June, 1973.     

Structural studies of {Li} 2-lithiopyrrolidines using NMR spectroscopy

A selection of N-substituted 2-lithiopyrrolidines were prepared and their structures were investigated by ⁶Li and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy. Evidence is presented for aggregation and dynamic solvation effects, depending on the nature of the N-substituent and substituents on the pyrrolidine ring. Studies were performed with N-Boc (coordinating carbonyl group), N-methoxyethyl (coordinating methoxy group) and N-alkyl (no coordinating group) heterocycles to represent three different classes of organolithiums: dipole-stabilized, unstabilized and chelated, and unstabilized.     

Structural studies on some iron 8-oxi-quinolinates using Mössbauer spectroscopy

Using Mössbauer spectroscopy the quinolinates of iron/II/ and iron/III/ have been studied. In iron/II/ quinolinate three sublattices were evidenced, two of them being attributed to Fe²⁺ ions and the third to Fe³⁺ impurities. In the iron/III/ quinolinate five structural sublattices were found, two of them containing Fe³⁺ ions, the other two Fe²⁺ ions and the fifth may be attributed to the interstitial Fe³⁺ ions.     

Positron annihilation spectroscopy studies of implanted polymer membranes

Two different polymer membranes, polyethylene and Nafion, have been sequentially implanted under vacuum at room temperature with 90 keV copper ions up to 10¹⁷ ions/cm²; after each implantation step, the targets were subjected to analysis with Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy and coincidence Doppler broadening spectroscopy. Both membranes revealed a similar behavior regarding the high fluence superficial implantation, but with different degree of magnitude. In order to endorse the Positrons annihilation spectroscopy results, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy‐dispersive energy has been performed on the same targets, despite its lower sensitivity.     

Structural characterization of two isomeric dimethoxyindoles of biological interest, using high- and low-energy collisional spectroscopy

It is not possible to distinguish isomers of biologically important dimethoxyindoles using electron-ionization mass spectra, but they may be distinguished by collisionally activated dissociation. In particular, energy-resolved mass spectrometry yields the best data for distinguishing between these isomers.     

Quantifying the effects of deuterium substitution on phospholipid mixing in bilayer membranes. A nearest-neighbor recognition investigation

Nearest-neighbor recognition measurements have established that the effects of deuterium substitution on phospholipid mixing are exceedingly small. Thus, the mixing behavior of an exchangeable phospholipid bearing two stearoyl chains with a homologue containing two myristoyl chains in gel-fluid bilayers, fluid bilayers, cholesterol-rich fluid bilayers, and gel-fluid bilayers that have been enriched with cholesterol correspond to a difference in the free energy of mixing that is less than 2.2 cal/mol of hydrogen in all cases. These findings provide the strongest evidence to date in support of the use of deuterated phospholipids as "nonperturbing" probes for structural and dynamic studies of bilayer membranes.     

Elucidation of the vicarious nucleophilic substitution of hydrogen mechanism via studies of competition between substitution of hydrogen, deuterium, and fluorine.

Relations of rates of the vicarious nucleophilic substitution of hydrogen (VNS) and S(N)Ar substitution of fluorine in 2-fluoronitrobenzenes with chloroalkyl aryl sulfone carbanions were determined from competitive experiments carried out at various concentrations of base. The observed dependence of the VNS/S(N)Ar rate ratio on the base concentration confirmed the two-step mechanism of the VNS, which consists of reversible formation of sigma(H) adducts of the alpha-chlorocarbanion to nitroarene, followed by base-induced beta-elimination of HCl. It was also evidenced that both of these processes can be the rate-limiting steps: the beta-elimination at low base concentration and the nucleophilic addition at high base concentration. Consistent with that conclusion is the finding that the kinetic isotope effect in the VNS reaction decreases from 4.2 (a value typical of a primary KIE) to 0.8 (a value typical of a secondary KIE) with increasing base concentration. Also reported is our discovery that the S(N)Ar substitution of the 2-fluoronitrobenzenes studied in this work was subject to base catalysis under some of the experimental conditions employed in our competitive experiments.     

Reversal of low-field CIDNP due to deuterium substitution

A perturbation method is applied to the problem of low-field CIDNP. It is shown that in the intermediate magnetic field region the most important deviation from the high-field formulae is due to a perturbation of the S—T₀ mixing by interaction with the T_± levels of the radical pair. In the case of a symmetrical radical pair this contribution decreases to zero and higher order contributions become dominant. An experimental example is the reversal of low-field CIDNP of ethane formed during the thermal decomposition of acetyl peroxide compared with that of ethane-d₃ during the decomposition of acetylperoxide-d₃. A qualitative rule is given for net CIDNP effects in the intermediate field region.     

Recent advances in neutron reflectivity studies of biological membranes

Biological membranes are critical living interfaces which not only compartmentalise cells but also provide specific surfaces on which biochemical reactions take place. Their study is essential for our understanding of life and disease and also for the development of new pharmaceuticals. Because they are dynamic structures reliant on the surrounding aqueous phase for their activity, techniques which can probe them at a molecular scale under physiological conditions are crucial to understand their function. Here, I describe some of the recent developments in neutron reflectivity in this research area and suggest where future developments in the technology might be usefully directed.     

Water concentration profiles in membranes measured by ESEEM of spin-labeled lipids

Electron spin-echo envelope modulation (ESEEM) spectroscopy of phospholipids spin-labeled systematically down the sn-2 chain was used to detect the penetration of water (D2O) into bilayer membranes of dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine with and without 50 mol % cholesterol. Three-pulse stimulated echoes allow the resolution of two superimposed 2H-ESEEM spectral components of different widths, for spin labels located in the upper part of the lipid chains. Quantum chemical calculations (DFT) and ESEEM simulations assign the broad spectral component to one or two D2O molecules that are directly hydrogen bonded to the N-O group of the spin label. Classical ESEEM simulations establish that the narrow spectral component arises from nonbonded water (D2O) molecules that are free in the hydrocarbon chain region of the bilayer membrane. The amplitudes of the broad 2H-ESEEM spectral component correlate directly with those of the narrow component for spin labels at different positions down the lipid chain, reflecting the local H-bonding equilibria. The D2O-ESEEM amplitudes decrease with position down the chain toward the bilayer center, displaying a sigmoidal dependence on position that is characteristic of transmembrane polarity profiles established by other less direct spin-labeling methods. The midpoint of the sigmoidal profile is shifted toward the membrane center for membranes without cholesterol, relative to those with cholesterol, and the D2O-ESEEM amplitude in the outer regions of the chain is greater in the presence of cholesterol than in its absence. For both membrane types, the D2O amplitude is almost vanishingly small at the bilayer center. The water-penetration profiles reverse correlate with the lipid-chain packing density, as reflected by 1H-ESEEM intensities from protons of the membrane matrix. An analysis of the H-bonding equilibria provides essential information on the binding of water molecules to H-bond acceptors within the hydrophobic interior of membranes. For membranes containing cholesterol, approximately 40% of the nitroxides in the region adjacent to the lipid headgroups are H bonded to water, of which ca. 15% are doubly H bonded. Corresponding H-bonded populations in membranes without cholesterol are ca. 20%, of which ca. 6% are doubly bonded.     

High-field EPR and ESEEM investigation of the nitrogen quadrupole interaction of nitroxide spin labels in disordered solids: toward differentiation between polarity and proticity matrix effects on protein function

The combination of high-field electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) with site-directed spin labeling (SDSL) techniques employing nitroxide radicals has turned out to be particularly powerful in revealing subtle changes of the polarity and proticity profiles in proteins enbedded in membranes. This information can be obtained by orientation-selective high-field EPR resolving principal components of the nitroxide Zeeman (g) and hyperfine ( A) tensors of the spin labels attached to specific molecular sites. In contrast to the g- and A-tensors, the (14)N ( I = 1) quadrupole interaction tensor of the nitroxide spin label has not been exploited in EPR for probing effects of the microenvironment of functional protein sites. In this work it is shown that the W-band (95 GHz) high-field electron spin echo envelope modulation (ESEEM) method is well suited for determining with high accuracy the (14)N quadrupole tensor principal components of a nitroxide spin label in disordered frozen solution. By W-band ESEEM the quadrupole components of a five-ring pyrroline-type nitroxide radical in glassy ortho-terphenyl and glycerol solutions have been determined. This radical is the headgroup of the MTS spin label widely used in SDSL protein studies. By DFT calulations and W-band ESEEM experiments it is demonstrated that the Q(yy) value is especially sensitive to the proticity and polarity of the nitroxide environment in H-bonding and nonbonding situations. The quadrupole tensor is shown to be rather insensitive to structural variations of the nitroxide label itself. When using Q(yy) as a testing probe of the environment, its ruggedness toward temperature changes represents an important advantage over the g xx and A(zz) parameters which are usually employed for probing matrix effects on the spin labeled molecular site. Thus, beyond measurenments of g xx and A(zz) of spin labeled protein sites in disordered solids, W-band high-field ESEEM studies of (14)N quadrupole interactions open a new avenue to reliably probe subtle environmental effects on the electronic structure. This is a significant step forward on the way to differentiate between effects from matrix polarity and hydrogen-bond formation.     

Probing lipids in biological membranes using SERS

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Investigation of the calcium-binding site of the oxygen evolving complex of photosystem II using 87Sr ESEEM spectroscopy

The proximity of the calcium/strontium binding site of the oxygen evolving complex (OEC) of photosystem II (PSII) to the paramagnetic Mn cluster is explored with (87)Sr three-pulse electron spin-echo envelope modulation (ESEEM) spectroscopy. CW-EPR spectra of Sr(2+)-substituted Ca(2+)-depleted PSII membranes show the modified g = 2 multiline EPR signal as previously reported. We performed three-pulse ESEEM on this modified multiline signal of the Mn cluster using natural abundance Sr and (87)Sr, respectively. Three-pulse ESEEM of the natural abundance Sr sample exhibits no detectable modulation by the 7% abundance (87)Sr. On the other hand, that of the (87)Sr enriched (93%) sample clearly reveals modulation arising from the I = (9)/(2) (87)Sr nucleus weakly magnetically coupled to the Mn cluster. Using a simple point dipole approximation for the electron spin, analysis of the (87)Sr ESEEM modulation depth via an analytic expression suggests a Mn-Ca (Sr) distance of 4.5 A. Simulation of three-pulse ESEEM with a numerical matrix diagonalization procedure gave good agreement with this analytical result. A more appropriate tetranuclear magnetic/structural model for the Mn cluster converts the 4.5 A point dipole distance to a 3.8-5.0 A range of distances. DFT calculations of (43)Ca and (87)Sr quadrupolar interactions on Ca (and Sr substituted) binding sites in various proteins suggest that the lack of the nuclear quadrupole induced splitting in the ESEEM spectrum of (87)Sr enriched PSII samples is related to a very high degree of symmetry of the ligands surrounding the Sr(2+) ion in the substituted Ca site. Numerical simulations show that moderate (87)Sr quadrupolar couplings decrease the envelope modulation relative to the zero quadrupole case, and therefore we consider that the 3.8-5.0 A range obtained without quadrupolar coupling included in the simulation represents an upper limit to the actual manganese-calcium distance. This (87)Sr pulsed EPR spectroscopy provides independent direct evidence that the calcium/strontium binding site is close to the Mn cluster in the OEC of PSII.