Chlorination of 2-Chloroquinoline-3-carbaldehydes

Reactions of 2-chloroquinoline-3-carbaldehydes (1) with chlorine, thionyl chloride and sulphuryl chloride are investigated. Preparation of 2-chloroquinoline-3-carbonyl chlorides (2) and 2-chloro-3-dichloromethylquinolines (5) as products of these reactions is described.     

Local protein backbone folds determined by calculated NMR chemical shifts

NMR chemical shifts (CSs: δN(NH), δC(α), δC(β), δC', δH(NH), and δH(α)) were computed for the amino acid backbone conformers (α(L), β(L), γ(L), δ(L), ε(L), α(D), γ(D), δ(D), and ε(D) [Perczel et al., J Am Chem Soc 1991, 113, 6256]) modeled by oligoalanine structures. Topological differences of the extended fold were investigated on single β-strands, hairpins with type I and II β-turns, as well as double- and triple-stranded β-sheet models. The so-called "capping effect" was analyzed: residues at the termini of a homoconformer sequence unit usually have different CSs than the central residues of an adequately long homoconformer model. In heteroconformer sequences capping effect ruins the direct applicability of several chemical shift types (δH(NH), δC', and δN(NH)) for backbone structure determination of the parent residue. Experimental δH(α), δC(α), and δC(β) values retrieved from protein database are in good agreement with the relevant computed data in the case of the common backbone conformers (α(L), β(L), γ(L), and ε(L)), even though neighboring residue effects were not accounted for. Experimental and computed ΔδH(α)-ΔδC(α), ΔδH(α)-ΔδC(β), and ΔδC(α)-ΔδC(β) maps give qualitatively the same picture, that is, the positions of the backbone conformers relative to each other are very similar. This indicates that the H(α), C(α), and C(β) chemical shifts of alanine depend considerably on the backbone fold of the parent residue also in proteins. We provide tabulated CSs of the chiral amino acids that may predict the various structures of the residues.     

Chiral discrimination of β‐3‐homo‐amino acids using the kinetic method

Chiral discrimination of seven enantiomeric pairs of β‐3‐homo‐amino acids was studied by using the kinetic method and trimeric metal‐bound complexes, with natural and unnatural α‐amino acids as chiral reference compounds and divalent metal ions (Cu²⁺ and Ni²⁺) as the center ions. The β‐3‐homo‐amino acids were selected for this study because, first of all, chiral discrimination of β‐amino acids has not been extensively studied by mass spectrometry. Moreover, these β‐3‐homo‐amino acids studied have different aromatic side chains. Thus, the emphasis was to study the effect of the side chain (electron density of the phenyl ring, as well as the difference between phenyl and benzyl side chains) for the chiral discrimination. The results showed that by the proper choice of a metal ion and a chiral reference compound, all seven enantiomeric pairs of β‐3‐homo‐amino acids could be differentiated. Moreover, it was noted that the β‐3‐homo‐amino acids with benzyl side chains provided higher enantioselectivity than the corresponding phenyl ones. However, increasing or decreasing the electron density of the aromatic ring by different substituents in both the phenyl and benzyl side chains had practically no role for chiral discrimination of β‐3‐homo‐amino acids studied. When copper was used as the central metal, the phenyl side chain containing reference molecules (S)‐2‐amino‐2‐phenylacetic acid (L ‐Phg) and (S)‐2‐amino‐2‐(4‐hydroxyphenyl)‐acetic acid (L ‐4′‐OHPhg) gave rise to an additional copper‐reduced dimeric fragment ion, [Cu^I(ref)(A)]⁺. The inclusion of this ion improved noticeably the enantioselectivity values obtained. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Permanganate oxidation of unsaturated alcohols in alkaline media

A study was made on permanganate oxidation of olefinic and acetylenic alcohols in aqueous alkali media. Deprotonation constants of alcohols can be calculated from the kinetic data. The rate constant of alkoxide group oxidation exceeded that of the unsaturated bond. For oxidation of the alcoholic group a mechanism based on hydride ion transfer is proposed. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 34: 561–567, 2002     

Integration of mass spectrometry into early-phase discovery and development of central nervous system agents.

The early-phase discovery and development of useful central nervous system (CNS) agents present ample opportunities to exploit mass spectrometry and provide detailed compound/mixture characterization, or to make the process faster and/or more economic. Neuropeptide FF antagonists and centrally active thyrotropin-releasing hormone analogues were used as specific examples in this work. We evaluated the characterization of focused libraries of peptide derivatives by electrospray ionization, tandem mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry on a quadrupole ion trap and nanoelectrospray on a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer. Immobilized artificial-membrane chromatography was employed as a model to predict/rank new agents against lead compounds for their potential to reach the central nervous system in pharmacologically significant amounts. Measuring brain concentrations in rodents after the intravenous administration of test compounds was used as an in vivo approach, and we took advantage of microdialysis sampling that furnished samples without interfering tissue matrix and afforded the estimation of extracellular concentrations in a localized part of the brain. Overall, making atmospheric-pressure ionization mass spectrometry an integral part of the process has played a major role in increasing throughput, selectivity, specificity and detection sensitivity and thereby providing useful information about the extent or mechanism of transport and metabolic activation/inactivation in early-phase discovery and development of CNS agents.     

Quantum-chemical simulation of adsorption of B+ ions on a SiO2/Si(100) interface

Quantum-chemical simulation of adsorption and migration of B⁺ ions on a SiO₂/Si(100) interface has been performed. The dependences of the total energy of the cluster-B⁺ ion system on the reaction coordinate and geometric and electronic characteristics of the equilibrium states of a cluster with an adsorbed boron ion have been calculated.     

Dead-end street of protein folding: thermodynamic rationale of amyloid fibril formation

An increasing number of diseases, including Alzheimer's, have been found to be a result of the formation of amyloid aggregates that are practically independent of the original primary sequence of the protein(s). (Eakin, C. M.; Berman, A. J.; Miranker, A. D. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 2006, 13, 202-208.) Consequently, the driving force of the transformation from original to disordered amyloid fold is expected to lie in the protein backbone, which is common to all proteins. (Nelson, R.; Sawaya, M. R.; Balbirnie, M.; Madsen, A. O.; Riekel, C.; Grothe, R.; Eisenberg, D. Nature 2005, 435, 773-778. Wright, C. F.; Teichmann, S. A.; Clarke, J.; Dobson, C. M. Nature 2005, 438, 878-881.) However, the exact explanation for the existence of such a "dead-end" structure is still unknown. Using systematic first principle calculations on carefully selected but large enough systems modeling the protein backbone we show that the beta-pleated sheet structure, the building block of amyloid fibers, is the thermodynamically most stable supramolecular arrangement of all the possible peptide dimers and oligomers both in vacuum and in aqueous environments. Even in a crystalline state (periodical, tight peptide attechment), the beta-pleated sheet assembly remains the most stable superstructure. The present theoretical study provides a quantum-level explanation for why proteins can take the amyloid state when local structural preferences jeopardize the functional native global fold and why it is a beta-pleated sheetlike structure they prefer.