Quantitative determination of low concentrations of peptides in aqueous solutions by14C-labelling

Calibration of a counting rate method with standard solutions of¹⁴C-labelled peptides allows the accurate determination of 1·10⁻⁶ to 1·10⁻²M concentrations of peptides in aqueous solution. By the use of this method and the equilibrium dialysis technique it is shown that binding constants of different peptides to DNA that differ by as little as ΔK=|0.3|mM⁻¹ can be measured. Statistical error considerations show that such a result is significant. The use of colored complexes formed between 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene and LYS-LYS and LYS-TRYP-LYS enabled the affinity constants of these peptides with calf-thymus DNA to be determined. The advantages of the determination of peptide concentrations, by the use of radioactive counting, over colorimetric methods as well as the importance of this highly sensitive method for the measurement of peptide concentrations and hence binding constants are discussed.     

Detection of antibiotics in food: Extraction of fluoroquinolones by DNA

The ability of DNA to extract fluoroquinolones from model solutions and real probes of food was demonstrated and investigated quantitatively. The interaction between fluoroquinolones and different types of DNA was studied by equilibrium dialysis. The first application of this direct approach allowed us to determine binding constants and binding stoichiometries in different conditions. The binding of enrofloxacin to heat-denatured DNA (d-DNA) from herring sperm is pH- and magnesium-dependent; the highest fraction of bound drugs was found at pH 7 and a magnesium concentration of 0.5–1 mM. Results for three types of DNA: d-DNA, double-stranded DNA and single-stranded DNA were compared. The unwound DNA showed almost doubled binding constants and stoichiometries, thus indicating preferable interaction of enrofloxacin with single-strand regions of DNA. The binding of other fluoroquinolones (lomefloxacin, ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin, danofloxacin and sarafloxacin) with d-DNA is very similar to that of enrofloxacin: the binding constants are in the range from 0.94 × 10⁵ to 2.40 × 10⁵ M⁻¹, and the stoichiometries range from 4.1 to 6.9 fluoroquinolone molecules per 100 DNA bases. The binding properties were quantitatively the same for extraction of fluoroquinolones from model aqueous solutions and from liquid food (milk). The results indicate the efficiency of DNA for selective extraction of fluoroquinolones from real samples for further analysis. This selective binding also allows us to consider DNA as a natural receptor for development of analytical techniques for fluoroquinolones.     

Mechanism of the dimerization of enzymes upon adsorption on silicate adsorbents using the example of lysozyme and β-galactosidase

It is shown by the kinetic analysis of lysozyme and β-galactosidase adsorption on silochrome, silica gel, and mesoporous silica that the adsorption follows a two-stage scheme, including reversible pre-adsorption and the irreversible binding of dimmers. The corresponding rate constants of adsorption, desorption, and dimerization were calculated. It was found that β-galoctosidase adsorbed on silica gel and mesoporous silica retained ∼20% of its activity, while β-galoctosidase adsorbed on silochrome retained more than 30% of its activity.     

Micellar catalytic effects in the oxidation of methyl phenyl sulfide with hydrogen peroxide and the hydrogen peroxocarbonate anion

The kinetics and mechanism of the catalysis by ammonium hydrogen carbonate oxidation of methyl phenyl sulfide with hydrogen peroxide has been investigated. Using the classical pseudo-phase model of micellar catalysis, the basic parameters of the catalytic process have been determined: the binding constants of H₂O₂, the HCO ₄ ⁻ anion, and the substrate to the surface of the micelles, and also the second order rate constants for the oxidation of methyl phenyl sulfide in the micellar phase. __________ Translated from Teoreticheskaya i éksperimental’naya Khimiya, Vol. 42, No. 5, pp. 281–287, September–October, 2006.     

A New Approach for Titration Calorimetric Data Analysis on the Binding of Magnesium Ion with Myelin Basic Protein

The interaction of the myelin basic protein (MBP) from the bovine central nervous system with divalent magnesium ion was studied by isothermal titration calorimetry at 27 °C in aqueous solution. A simple rapid method for determination of the dissociation binding constants for Mg²⁺-MBP interaction was introduced using the isothermal titration calometric data. The binding isotherm for Mg²⁺-MBP interaction is easily obtained by carrying out a titration calorimetric experiment using only one set of concentrations of MBP. There are two identical independent intrinsic association constants equal to 0.021 μmol⋅L⁻¹ in the first- and second-binding sites, respectively.     

Effects of Temperature and Common Ions on Binding of Puerarin to BSA

The effects of temperature and common ions on binding of puerarin to bovine serum albumin (BSA) are investigated. The binding constants (K _a) between puerarin and BSA are 1.13×10⁴ L⋅mol⁻¹ (20 °C) and 1.54×10⁴ L⋅mol⁻¹ (30 °C), and the number of binding sites (n) is (0.95±0.02). However, at a higher temperature (40 °C) the stability of the puerarin–BSA system decreases, which results in a lower binding constant (1.58×10³ L⋅mol⁻¹) and number of binding sites (n=0.73) of the puerarin–BSA system. However, the presence of Cu²⁺ and Fe³⁺ ions increases the binding constants and the number of binding sites in the puerarin–BSA complex.     

Effect of Hydrogenation on Ring C of Flavonols on Their Affinity for Bovine Serum Albumin

In this paper, the effect of hydrogenation on ring C of flavonols on the affinity for bovine serum albumin was investigated. Two differently substituted B-ring hydroxylation flavonols (myricetin and quercetin) and their dihydrides (dihydromyricetin and dihydroquercetin) were used to study their affinities for BSA by quenching the intrinsic BSA fluorescence in solution. From the spectra, the bimolecular quenching constants, the binding constants, the number of binding sites and the binding distances were calculated. The hydroxylation on ring B and hydrogenation on ring C of flavonols significantly affected the binding/quenching process; in general, the hydroxylation increased the affinity and the hydrogenation decreased the affinity. For myricetin and quercetin, the binding constants (K _a) for BSA were 1.84×10⁸ L⋅mol⁻¹ and 3.83×10⁷ L⋅mol⁻¹. For dihydromyricetin, the binding constant was 1.36×10⁴ L⋅mol⁻¹, while dihydroquercetin hardly quenched the BSA intrinsic fluorescence. These results showed that hydrogen bonding and conjugative effects may play an important role in binding of flavonols to BSA. These results also showed that the properties of flavonols are related to their chemical structure.     

Application of automated docking to the binding of naphthalenes to βCD in water: correlation with spectrofluorimetric data

Automated semi-rigid docking has been explored as an alternative approach for the theoretical study of the inclusion complexes with cyclodextrins. To this purpose we have chosen as a model for the binding to βCD some naphthalene derivatives (naphthalene, 2-ethylnaphthalene, 2-acetylnaphthalene, 1-naphthyl acetate, 2-naphthyl acetate and 1-naphthol). For comparison purposes, the binding constants in water and the associated thermodynamic parameters have been obtained under the same experimental conditions by steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy. The calculations of the automated docking regarding the topology of the guest inside the cavity produce a cluster of structures that qualitatively agrees with fluorescence results and literature data. However, the predicted values of the free energy of binding are lower than the experimental ones by ca. −10 kJ mol⁻¹, and very close to the experimental enthalpy of binding deduced from the temperature dependence of the association constants. The differences are ascribed mainly to the assumption of rigidity of the CD into the auto-docking scheme.     

Spectroscopic investigation of binding between octaethylporphyrin Zinc(II) with bis-nitrogen ligands: 4,4′-bipyridine and pyrazine

The binding of bis-nitrogen ligands, 4,4′-bipyridine and pyrazine, to Zn(OEP), where OEP is octaethylporphyrin, has been characterized by electronic spectroscopy. The solvent effect and temperature on the binding constants have been studied. Also, based on variable temperature experiment, thermodynamic data for ligand binding to porphyrin have been reported. It is estimated that interaction between porphyrin and 4,4′-bipyridine and pyrazine is exothermic and has energy of −45 ± 1.5 kJ mol⁻¹ and −31 ± 1.7 kJ mol⁻¹, respectively.     

Interaction of Cu(II) and Cd(II) ions with DNA from Spirulina platensis

Equilibrium dialysis and atomic absorption analysis were used to obtain adsorption isotherms and determine the stoichiometric binding constants of Cu(II) and Cd(II) ions to DNA from Spirulina platensis in solutions. The stoichiometric constants of Cu(II) and Cd(II) ions with DNA from S. platensis in 3 mM NaCI are 15.56⋅10⁴ and 14.40⋅10⁴, respectively. Effect of ionic strength and DNA GC content on binding constants of Cu(II)- and Cd(II)-DNA complexes were studied out. It was showed that the binding constants of Cu(II)- and Cd(II)-DNA complexes decrease with increase of ionic strength. The empirical dependences of logK on the GC content has been derived for Cd(II)- and Cu(II)-DNA complexes.     

Direct ab initio dynamics calculations on the rate constants for the hydrogen-abstraction reaction of C2H5F with O (3P)

The hydrogen-abstraction reaction C₂H₅F+O → C₂H₄F+OH has been studied by a dual-level direct dynamics method. For the reaction, three reaction channels, one for α-abstraction and two for β-abstraction, have been identified. The potential-energy surface information is obtained at the MP2(full)/6-311G(d,p) and PMP2(full)/6-311G(3df,3pd) (single-point) levels. By canonical variational transition-state theory, rate constants for each reaction channel are calculated with a small-curvature tunneling correction. The total rate constant is calculated from the sum of the individual rate constants and the temperature dependence of the branching ratios is obtained over a wide range of temperatures from 300 to 5,000 K. The agreement of the rate constants with experiment is good in the experimental temperature range from 1,000 to 1,250 K. The calculated results indicate that at low temperatures α-abstraction is most likely to be the major reaction channel, while β-abstraction channels will significantly contribute to the whole reaction rate as the temperature increases. Received: 23 January 2002 / Accepted: 23 June 2002 / Published online: 20 September 2002     

Inclusion Complexes of Cyclodextrins with Galangin: a Thermodynamic and Reactivity Study

The formation of the complexes of galangin (GAL) with native β-cyclodextrin (βCD), and with its substituted counterparts such as dimethyl-βCD (DMβCD) and hydroxypropyl-βCD (HPβCD), was studied by fluorescence spectra in aqueous medium. The binding association constants (K _a) of the complexes were determined at different temperatures. The formation constants obtained have the following trend upon complex formation at the three temperatures studied: HPβCD > DMβCD > βCD. The thermodynamic data for the inclusion of GAL in DMβCD and HPβCD indicated that is mainly enthalpy driven whereas for βCD it is an entropy-driven process.     

Cascade ultrafiltration and competing ligand exchange for kinetic speciation of aluminium, iron, and nickel in fresh water

Kinetic speciation of nickel, aluminium, and iron in fresh water has been investigated by cascade ultrafiltration followed by competing ligand exchange of the ultrafiltered fractions. Graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry was used to measure the kinetics of metal complex dissociation. Dissolved metal species were fractionated by cascade ultrafiltration. Metal speciation in each ultrafiltered fraction was then characterized as free metal ions, “labile” metal complexes (with dissociation rate constants ≥10⁻³ s⁻¹), “slowly labile” metal complexes (with dissociation rate constants >10⁻⁶ s⁻¹), and “inert” metal complexes (with dissociation rate constants <10⁻⁶ s⁻¹). The experimental results were compared with the predictions of a computer-based equilibrium speciation model, the Windermere humic aqueous model (WHAM) V. Cascade ultrafiltration coupled with kinetic speciation of the metal species in each molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) fraction provided a more comprehensive picture and insight into the physical and the chemical characteristics of the metal species than either ultrafiltration or measurement of dissociation kinetics alone.     

Evaluation of antioxidants using oxidation reaction rate constants

An evaluation method for the capacity of antioxidants to protect drugs against oxidation is presented. As a new viewpoint, to determine the priority of the competitive oxidations between the antioxidant and the protected drug, and to compare the drug-protection capacity of antioxidants, it is important to determine their oxidation rate constants using chemical kinetics instead of standard oxidation (or reduction) potentials. Sodium sulfite, sodium bisulfite and sodium pyrosulfite were used as models for the determination of oxidation reaction rate constants in aqueous solutions. In the experiments, sufficient air was continually infused into the solution to keep the concentration of dissolved oxygen constant. The residual concentrations of the antioxidants were determined by iodimetry, and the concentration of dissolved oxygen by oxygen electrode. The data were fitted by linear regressions to obtain the reaction rate constants. It was found that the degradation of sodium sulfite, sodium bisulfite or sodium pyrosulfite obeyed pseudo zero-order kinetics in the buffer solutions. Because of the ionization equilibrium, these three antioxidants have the same ion form in solutions at a definite pH value and therefore their apparent rate constants were essentially the same. The average apparent rate constants of the three antioxidants at 25°C are (1.34 ± 0.03) × 10⁻³ at pH 6.8, (1.20 ± 0.02) × 10⁻³ at pH 4.0 and (6.58 ± 0.02) × 10⁻³ mol·L⁻¹·h⁻¹ at pH 9.2, respectively. Translated from Acta Chimica Sinica, 2006, 64(6): 496–500 (in Chinese)     

Reactions of methylated quercetin derivatives with singlet molecular oxygen

The rate constants of the reactions of¹O₂ with 3,5,7,3′,4′-pentamethoxy-, 3-hydroxy-5,7,3′,4′-tetramethoxy-, and 5-hydroxy-3,7,3′,4′-tetramethoxyflavones in benzene were measured. The methylation of quercetin was found to result in an increase in the rate due to the enhancement of the electron-donating activity of the molecules.     

Interaction of Fluorescein with Felodipine: A Spectrofluorometric and Thermodynamic Study

The interaction between fluorescein and felodipine (FLD) was investigated by the spectrofluorometric method. The fluorescence of FLD was quenched by fluorescein and quenching is in accordance with the Stern-Volmer relation. The binding constants of fluorescein with FLD were obtained at different temperatures. The binding constant and number of binding sites at different temperatures were calculated yielding the corresponding thermodynamic parameters ΔS, ΔH and ΔG. The distance r between the donor (FLD) and acceptor (fluorescein) molecules was obtained according to the fluorescence resonance energy transfer. The optimum conditions for the fluorometric determination of fluorescein were studied and the quenching method was successfully applied to estimate the fluorescein concentration of the pharmaceutical sample directly.     

Reaction of the carbonate radical with substituted anilines

Rate constants for the reaction of carbonate radical with aniline and some parasubstituted anilines have been determined by the flash photolysis technique. Using σ⁺ para values the rate constants at pH 8.5 correlate very well with the Hammett equation yielding ρ= − 1. The carbonate radical oxidises aniline giving the anilino radical. The products so formed have been identified through studies under conditions of continuous irradiation.     

The special features of protein adsorption isotherms on silica adsorbents

The adsorption isotherms of hemoglobin, peroxidase, and β-galactosidase on silochrome and mesoporous and biporous silicas were comparatively studied. Adsorption developed in two stages, including fast “reversible” protein adsorption (equilibrium was reached in t ≤ 1–2 h) and a “slow stage” of irreversible binding in t ≫ 24 h (multipoint adsorption). The corresponding equilibrium constants were determined. The mechanism of unlimited linear association of peroxidase in the adsorption layer on the surface of silochrome was established.     

The effect of ring substitution on the O-neophyl rearrangement of 1,1-diarylalkoxyl radicals. A product and time-resolved kinetic study

[reaction: see text] A product and time-resolved kinetic study of the effect of ring substitution on the reactivity of 1,1-diarylalkoxyl radicals has been carried out. The radicals undergo an O-neophyl shift to give the isomeric 1-aryl-1-aryloxyalkyl radicals from which the corresponding aromatic ketones are formed. The rearrangement rate constants are influenced by ring substitution, increasing in the presence of electron-withdrawing substituents and decreasing in the presence of electron-donating ones. From the results of product and kinetic studies, the following migratory aptitudes have been obtained: 4-trifluoromethylphenyl > phenyl approximately = 4-methylphenyl > 4-methoxyphenyl. Excellent Hammett-type correlations between the sigma+ substituent constants and both the visible absorption band maxima and the rearrangement rate constants have been obtained. The experimental results indicate that the rearrangement is governed by electronic effects in the starting 1,1-diarylalkoxyl radicals, whereas the stability of the rearranged carbon-centered radical plays a minor role, in line with a reactant-like transition state, strongly supporting the hypothesis that the O-neophyl rearrangement of 1,1-diarylalkoxyl radicals proceeds through a concerted mechanism.