Geometric determinants of directional cell motility revealed using microcontact printing

Mammalian cells redirect their movement in response to changes in the physical properties of their extracellular matrix (ECM) adhesive scaffolds, including changes in available substrate area, shape, or flexibility. Yet, little is known about the cell's ability to discriminate between different types of spatial signals. Here we utilize a soft-lithography-based, microcontact printing technology in combination with automated computerized image analysis to explore the relationship between ECM geometry and directional motility. When fibroblast cells were cultured on fibronectin-coated adhesive islands with the same area (900 micrometers2) but different geometric forms (square, triangle, pentagon, hexagon, trapezoid, various parallelograms) and aspect ratios, cells preferentially extended new lamellipodia from their corners. In addition, by imposing these simple geometric constraints through ECM, cells were directed to deposit new fibronectin fibrils in these same corner regions. These data indicate that mammalian cells can sense edges within ECM patterns that exhibit a wide range of angularity and that they use these spatial cues to guide where they will deposit ECM and extend new motile processes during the process of directional migration.     

2D correlation analysis of the continuum in single molecule surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy

The role and the nature of the continuum in Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) are unclear. Here, two-dimensional (2D) covariance and correlation analysis is applied to single molecule SERS spectra on silver colloids with and without rhodamine 6G (native colloid). The resulting 2D covariance and correlation maps show that the sharp molecular Raman peaks from rhodamine 6G and the molecule responsible for the SERS peaks from the native colloid are correlated to different continua even though both continua are present in each data set. This suggests that two distinct active sites on the silver colloids produce the two different continua, and that each site has some molecular specificity.     

Manganese(II) chemistry of a new N3O-donor chelate ligand: synthesis, X-ray structures, and magnetic properties of solvent- and oxalate-bound complexes

The synthesis and characterization of a new N3O donor ligand N-benzyl-N-((6-pivaloylamido-2-pyridyl)methyl)-N-(2-pyridylmethyl)amine (bpppa) is reported. Treatment of bpppa with Mn(II)(ClO4)2.6H2O in acetonitrile solution yielded the mononuclear [(bpppa)Mn(CH3CN)(H2O)](ClO4)2 (1) which was characterized by X-ray crystallography, elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and a solution magnetic moment measurement. Admixture of equimolar equivalents of bpppa and Mn(II)(ClO4)2.6H2O in methanol solution, followed by addition of 0.5 or 1 equivalents of sodium oxalate, yielded the binuclear complex [{(bpppa)Mn}2([mu]-C2O4)](ClO4)2 (2), which was characterized by X-ray crystallography, elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and solid-state magnetic measurements. While 1 is mononuclear, the formation of the binuclear oxalate derivative indicates that use of the bpppa ligand does not enable isolation of a complex that is structurally relevant to a proposed 1:1 Mn(II)-oxalate adduct in the catalytic cycle of the oxalate degrading enzyme oxalate decarboxylase.     

Micellar and associated thermodynamic properties of binary mixtures of alkyl triphenyl phosphonium bromides in ethylene glycol and water mixtures

Micellar properties of binary combinations of a family of cationic alkyl triphenyl phosphonium bromides with varying chain length (C₁₀–C₁₆) were investigated in aqueous and aqueous ethylene glycol mixtures employing conductometric technique. The results of the mixed systems were analyzed in the light of the Regular Solution Theory and the Gibbs–Duhem equation to evaluate the composition of the mixed micelle, the activity coefficients, and the interaction parameter (β). The excess free energy and the other related thermodynamic parameters of mixing were calculated and discussed in terms of the stability of the mixed micelles in the presence of an ethylene glycol additive. Electronic supplementary material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at and is accessible for authorized users.     

Lewis acid adducts of [PCl2N]3

Reaction of aluminum trichloride or gallium trichloride with the extremely weak base hexachlorotriphosphazene gives adducts in which the group 13 element is bound to a phosphazene nitrogen atom. In solution, the adducts exhibit fluxional behavior. The phosphazene ring of the adducts is distorted into a slight chair conformation.     

Determination of undecenoic acid in dermatological preparations by liquid chromatography with direct UV detection

Separation on a ODS reversed-phase column with acetonitrile—0.1% phosphoric acid (65 + 35) as mobile phase provides a simple and rapid method for the determination of undecenoic acid in dermatological preparations. Common preservatives, bactericides and antiseptics do not interfere. Tolnaftate was employed as the internal standard throughout the assay. A linear relationship was established between the peak-area ratio of undecenoic acid to the internal standard and concentration of undecenoic acid over the range 0.01–0.1 ng ml^?1.     

The RAMESES algorithm for multiple equilibria-V. Error statements

The equations of multiple equilibria systems can be expressed succinctly in matrix algebra terms. This is the basis of the RAMESES algorithm for the solution of those equations. This matrix algebra leads directly to the differential equations for the interdependence of the vector variables of species concentration, component concentration and equilibrium constants, with or without certain constraints. The laws of propagation of errors then give an immediate expression of the covariance matrix for the dependent vector.     

Electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry characterization of heterotetrameric sarcosine oxidase

Electrospray ionization (ESI) Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) mass spectrometry has been used to characterize heterotetrameric corynebacterial sarcosine oxidase. By using a conventional quadrupole mass spectrometer, no spectra for the intact complex could be obtained (i. e., electrospraying protein at neutral pH), but spectra showing the four protein subunits were obtained when electrospraying from acidic solution. Initial low resolution ESI-FTICR mass spectra of the intact heterotetramer revealed a typical narrow charge state distribution in the range 6000 < m/z < 9000, consistent with retention of a compact structure in the gas phase, and gave a mass measurement about 1000 u higher than predicted. Efficient in-trap clean up, based upon low energy collisionally induced dissociation of adducts, allowed significant improvement in mass measurement accuracy. The present results represent the largest heteromultimeric protein complex successfully analyzed using FTICR mass spectrometry, and clearly illustrate the importance of sample clean up methods for large molecule characterization.     

Optical resolution and the study of ligand effects on the ortho-metalation reaction of resolved (+/-)-diphenyl[1-(1-naphthyl)ethyl]phosphine and its arsenic analogue

Two highly air-sensitive asymmetric ligands (+/-)-diphenyl[1-(1-naphthyl)ethyl]phosphine and its arsenic analogue [(+/-)-L] have been prepared and resolved by the fractionalization of a pair of diastereomeric palladium complexes containing the appropriate ligand and ortho-metalated (R)-(1-(dimethylamino)ethyl)naphthylene. X-ray structural analysis revealed that the less soluble isomers in each resolution contained the resolving ligand of the S absolute configuration. The resolved ligands coordinated as monodentates with only the phosphorus or arsenic donor coordinated to the resolving organopalladium unit. Due to the steric congestions between the phenyl and the naphthyl rings, the Ph(2)E-C distances in both monodentate ligands are unusually long [1.885(2) A for E = P and 2.035(7) A for E = As]. The (R)-naphthylamine auxiliary could be removed chemoselectively from the resolved complexes by treatment with concentrated hydrochloric acid to give the corresponding bis(micro-chloro) complexes (-)-[(S)-LPdCl(2)](2). Treatments of these dimeric complexes with sodium acetate in ethanol gave the novel ortho-metalated complex bis(micro-chloro)bis[(S)-1-[1-(diphenylphospha)ethyl]naphthylenyl-C(2),P]dipalladium(II), with [alpha](D) +559 degrees (CH(2)Cl(2)), and the analogous ortho-metalated (S)-arsa complex, with [alpha](D) +349 degrees (CH(2)Cl(2)). The Ph(2)E-C distances recorded for the ortho-metalated phosphine complex are 1.841(6) and 1.846(5) A, and those recorded for the organometallic arsa rings are 1.938(9) and 1.945(9) A. These Ph(2)E-C distances are noticeably shorter than those recorded for their analogous monodentate complexes. The intrachelate E-Pd-C angles of the analogous amino, phospha, and arsa complexes involved in the current study are similar [within the range of 80.5(2)-82.1(3) degrees ] although it is noticeable that As > P > N.     

Structure determination of 2-amino-5-benzylmercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole and characterization of its copper complex

The crystal structure of 2-amino-5-benzylmercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole (Ben-SNTD) has been determined. The thiadiazole ring is planar and aromatic, and the 1,3,4-thiadiazole-2-amino-5-thiol moiety is covalently bound to the benzyl group through the sulphur atom. Spectroscopic evaluation and thermal analysis of the complex formed between Ben-SNTD and CuCl₂ indicate a compound with a CuL₂ type structure.