Establishment of Aromatic Pairs at the Surface of Chondroitinase ABC I: the Effect on Activity and Stability

Removal of chondroitin sulfate glycosaminoglycan (GAG) chains with chondroitinase ABC I (chABC I) in CNS injury models promotes both saxon regeneration and plasticity. It has been suggested that direct interaction between an aromatic pair appears to contribute about ??1.3 kcal/mol to the stability of a folded protein, so introducing an aromatic pair by point mutation might increase the enzyme activity and thermal stability as in the case of mesophilic xylanase, although using this approach destabilized T4 lysozyme. In this study, we used site-directed mutagenesis to investigate the effect of new aromatic pairs on activity and stability of chABC I. We replaced Ile295, Ser581, and Gly730 adjacent to pre-existing aromatic residues with Tyr to obtain new aromatic pairs, i.e., Tyr295/His372, Tyr576/Tyr581, and Tyr623/Tyr730. Results showed that K_m values of S581Y and G730Y variants decreased relative to wild-type enzyme while their catalytic efficiency (k_cat/K_m) increased but I295Y variant was inactive. Also, long-term and thermal stability of the active mutants was decreased. Fluorescence and circular dichroism studies showed that these mutations resulted in a more flexible enzyme structures: a finding which was confirmed by thermal and limited proteolytic studies. In conclusion, the activity of chABC I can be improved by introducing appropriate aromatic pairs at the enzyme surface. This approach did not provide any promising results regarding the enzyme stability.     

Solid-phase extraction and determination of ultra trace amounts of lead,mercury and cadmium in water samples using octadecyl silica membrane disks modified with 5,5′-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid) and atomic absorption spectrometry

A simple and fast method for preconcentration and determination of ultra trace amounts of lead(II), mercury(II) and cadmium(II) in water samples is presented. Lead, mercury and cadmium adsorbed quantitatively during passage of water samples (pH?=?7, flow rate?=?20 mL min^?1) through octadecyl silica membrane disks modified with 5,5′-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid). The retained lead, mercury and cadmium are then stripped from the disk with a minimal amount of 1 M hydrochloric acid solution as eluent, and determined by atomic absorption spectrometry. The influence of flow rates of the eluent and sample solution, the amount of ligand, type and least amount of eluent, pH of sample, effect of other ions and breakthrough volume are determined. The breakthrough volume of the method is greater than 2000 mL for lead and greater than 1500 mL for mercury and cadmium, which results in an enrichment factor of 200 for lead and an enrichment factor of 150 for both mercury and cadmium. The limit of detection of the proposed method is 177, 2 and 13 ng l^?1 for lead, mercury and cadmium, respectively.     

Synthesis of New Multibenzo Oxygen–Sulfur Donor Macrocycles Containing Lactams at Room Temperature

Some new oxygen–sulfur, multibenzo macrocyclic ligands containing amide groups have been prepared using the macrocyclization process with the reaction of 2,2′-thiobis-[4-methyl(2-aminophenoxy)phenyl ether] as a symmetrical diamine with appropriate dicarboxylicacid dichlorides in moderate yields. This macrocyclization led to the formation of di- and tetramide macrocycles. These reactions were routinely carried out at ambient temperature in CH₂Cl₂ as solvent in high dilution without template effect conditions. It is found that sulfur the atom affects the rigidity of the macrocycles and diastereotopicity of nuclei in the ring of these series of macrocyclic compounds.     

Synthesis and spectroscopic studies of some new ortho functionalized triazene compounds and their reactivity with mercury (II) ion

In this work, a series of triazene derivatives in which the substituents have a wide range of electronic characters were synthesized to understand the effect of the substituent identity in controlling the changes in their electronic absorption spectra and NMR chemical shifts, as well as their tendency for interaction with some heavy metals. Elemental analysis and ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, and FT-IR spectroscopies were used to elucidate the chemical structures of the new compounds. Thermal analysis and protolysis of these triazenes were evaluated. The thermodynamic parameters were calculated from thermal data using Coats-Redfern method. Complexation of these compounds with mercury (II) ion in acetonitrile and deuterated dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO-d₆) solution were studied by UV–vis and ¹H NMR spectroscopy, respectively. Stoichiometry and formation constants of the complexes were calculated by the mole ratio titration method. The effects of the nature of the substituents on the formation constants were discussed.     

Heat and mass transfer and thermodynamic analysis of power-law fluid flow in a porous microchannel

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Transfer of heat and mass and thermodynamic irreversibilities are investigated in a porous, parallel-plate microreactor in which the working fluid is...