Phase-space invariants for aggregates of particles: hyperangular momenta and partitions of the classical kinetic energy

Rigorous definitions are presented for the kinematic angular momentum K of a system of classical particles (a concept dual to the conventional angular momentum J), the angular momentum L(xi) associated with the moments of inertia, and the contributions to the total kinetic energy of the system from various modes of the motion of the particles. Some key properties of these quantities are described-in particular, their invariance under any orthogonal coordinate transformation and the inequalities they are subject to. The main mathematical tool exploited is the singular value decomposition of rectangular matrices and its differentiation with respect to a parameter. The quantities introduced employ as ingredients particle coordinates and momenta, commonly available in classical trajectory studies of chemical reactions and in molecular dynamics simulations, and thus are of prospective use as sensitive and immediately calculated indicators of phase transitions, isomerizations, onsets of chaotic behavior, and other dynamical critical phenomena in classical microaggregates, such as nanoscale clusters.     

Thermal decomposition products of copoly(arylene ether sulfone)s characterized by direct pyrolysis mass spectrometry

Pyrolysis products with mass of up to 850 Da were detected by direct pyrolysis mass spectrometric (DPMS) analysis of a series of copoly(arylene ether sulfone)s (PES-PPO) synthesized by nucleophilic condensation of either 4,4′-dichlorodiphenylsulfone (CDPS) or 4,4′-bis-(4-chlorophenyl sulfonyl) biphenyl (long chain dichloride, LCDC) with different molar ratios of hydroquinone (HQ) or dihydroxydiphenylsulfone (HDPS). Pyrolysis products retaining the repeating units of the initial copolymers were formed at temperatures ranging from 420 °C to 470 °C (near the initial decomposition temperature). At temperatures higher than 450 °C were observed products containing biphenyl units, formed by the elimination process of SO₂ from diphenyl sulfone bridges. Products having biphenyl and dibenzofuran moieties were detected in the mass spectra recorded at temperatures above 550 °C. These units were formed by loss of hydrogen atom from diphenyl ether bridges. Although the EI (18 eV) mass spectra of the pyrolysis products of the samples investigated were very similar, it was found that the relative intensity of some ions reflects the molar composition of the copolymers analysed. Cyclic and linear oligomers with very low molecular mass, present in the crude copolymers, were also detected by DPMS. Thermogravimetric analysis also showed their excellent thermal stability below 400 °C. It indicates that the copolymers yield a char residue of 40-45% at 800 °C, which increases with the PPO mole fraction in the samples.     

FTIR and WAXS analysis of periodate oxycellulose: Evidence for a cluster mechanism of oxidation

Cellulose paper (Whatman no.1, chromatographic grade) was oxidised with 0.1 M sodium metaperiodate at different oxidation levels (0–11 days at room temperature), and analysed with FTIR before and after chemical treatments (reduction, further oxidation, alkaline hydrolysis). The deconvolution of infrared data allowed us to verify that periodate oxidises cellulose in isolated domains, leading to the decrease of crystallinity, in agreement with the results of wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXS). In particular, the alkaline hydrolysis (β-alkoxy fragmentation) followed by mild acid treatment removed the oxidised groups and recovered most of the crystallinity of cellulose, as determined by the FTIR crystallinity index.     

Determination of degree of conversion as a function of depth of a photo-initiated dental restoration composite—III application to commercial Prodigy Condensable™

In this third work, we evaluated the degree of conversion (DC) versus depth of dental filling composite named Prodigy Condensable™ using infrared spectroscopy. Confirming previous results, there was a gradual reduction of DC with increasing depth but the composite exhibited extreme values of DC, an upper value (45.9%) on the surface and a lower one (6.1%) at a depth of 5 mm. The composite presented the worst performance among materials studied. The composite formulation was 80% of inorganic fillers and BisfenolA/dimethacrylate (BisGMA) (18%)/triethyleneglycoldimethacrylate (TEGDMA) (2.0%) as monomers. As stated before, type/ratio/viscosity of monomers and type, amount, size and size distribution of fillers all together had an important role in the cure reaction contributing to the final performance of the composite.     

Preparation of optically pure fused polycyclic scaffolds by Ugi reaction followed by olefin and enyne metathesis

Optically pure fused polycyclic scaffolds containing up to eight stereocentres have been synthesised by olefin metathesis and tandem enyne metathesis/Diels-Alder addition of Ugi multicomponent reaction adducts generated from 7-oxa-[2.2.1]-bicyclic amino acid derivatives.     

Identification of extracellular nanoparticle subsets by nuclear magnetic resonance

Exosomes are a subset of secreted lipid envelope-encapsulated extracellular vesicles (EVs) of 50–150 nm diameter that can transfer cargo from donor to acceptor cells. In the current purification protocols of exosomes, many smaller and larger nanoparticles such as lipoproteins, exomers and microvesicles are typically co-isolated as well. Particle size distribution is one important characteristics of EV samples, as it reflects the cellular origin of EVs and the purity of the isolation. However, most of the physicochemical analytical methods today cannot illustrate the smallest exosomes and other small particles like the exomers. Here, we demonstrate that diffusion ordered spectroscopy (DOSY) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) method enables the determination of a very broad distribution of extracellular nanoparticles, ranging from 1 to 500 nm. The range covers sizes of all particles included in EV samples after isolation. The method is non-invasive, as it does not require any labelling or other chemical modification. We investigated EVs secreted from milk as well as embryonic kidney and renal carcinoma cells. Western blot analysis and immuno-electron microscopy confirmed expression of exosomal markers such as ALIX, TSG101, CD81, CD9, and CD63 in the EV samples. In addition to the larger particles observed by nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) in the range of 70–500 nm, the DOSY distributions include a significant number of smaller particles in the range of 10–70 nm, which are visible also in transmission electron microscopy images but invisible in NTA. Furthermore, we demonstrate that hyperpolarized chemical exchange saturation transfer (Hyper-CEST) with ¹²⁹Xe NMR indicates also the existence of smaller and larger nanoparticles in the EV samples, providing also additional support for DOSY results. The method implies also that the Xe exchange is significantly faster in the EV pool than in the lipoprotein/exomer pool.

Diffusion and xenon NMR based methods to determine a very broad range of sizes and sub-sets of extracellular vesicles.     

Zinc(II) as an allosteric regulator of liposomal membrane permeability induced by synthetic template-assembled tripodal polypeptides

Three copies of peptide sequences from the peptaibol family, known to affect the permeability of the lipid bilayer of membranes, were connected to tris(2-aminoethyl)amine (TREN), a tripodal metal ion ligand, to prepare functional peptides capable of modifying the permeability of liposomal membranes. Some of the resulting tripodal polypeptide derivatives are very effective in promoting carboxyfluorescein (CF) leakage from CF-loaded unilamellar vesicles composed of a 70:30 phosphatidylcholine/cholesterol blend. The activity of these novel compounds was shown to be tunable upon metal ion coordination of the TREN subunit; the tripodal apopeptide was far more effective than its ZnII complex. Leakage experiments showed that a minimum number of five amino acids per peptide chain is required to form active systems. A mechanism is proposed in which the ZnII ion changes the conformation of the template from extended to globular and thus acts as an allosteric regulator of the activity of the systems. Molecular modeling studies indicate that when the three peptide chains are connected to the template in the extended conformation, the resulting tripodal polypeptide is able to span across the membrane, thus allowing the formation of permeable channels made of a cluster of molecules. The same change of conformation induces, to some extent, fusion of the membranes of different liposomes.     

Synthesis and functional studies of THF-gramicidin hybrid ion channels

THF-gramicidin hybrids 2-4 with the L-THF amino acid 1 in positions 11 and 12 and compounds 5-8 with the D-THF amino acid ent-1 in positions 10 and 11 were synthesized and their ion channel properties were studied by single-channel-current analysis. The replacement of positions 11 and 12 by the L-THF amino acid 1 gave a strongly reduced channel performance. In contrast, replacement of positions 10 and 11 by the D-THF amino acid ent-1 gave rise to new and interesting channel properties. For the permeability ratios, the ion selectivity shifts from Eisenman I towards Eisenman III selectivity and the channels display ms-dynamics. Most remarkable is the asymmetric compound 8, which inserts selectively into a DPhPC membrane and displays voltage-directed gating dynamics.     

Study of the development of thermoresistance in human pancreatic carcinoma cell lines using proteome analysis

In order to find candidate proteins that are potentially associated with the thermoresistant phenotype in combination with drug resistance, we analyzed the differential protein expression in vitro in the human pancreatic cancer cell line EPP85-181-P and classical and atypical multidrug-resistant variants and their thermoresistant counterparts using proteomics. This study identifies sets of proteins that may lead to the development of thermoresistance. These results provide a fundamental basis to elucidate the molecular mechanism of thermoresistance and chemoresistance phenomena that may assist the therapy of inoperable cancers.     

Synthesis and characterization of Cu,Ni and Zn binding capability of some amino- and imidazole hydroxamic acids: Effects of substitution of side chain amino-N for imidazole-N or hydroxamic-N-H for -N-CH3 on metal complexation

Solution equilibrium studies on Cu(II)-, Ni(II)- and Zn(II)-N-Me-β-Alaninehydroxamic acid (N-Me-β-Alaha), -N-Me-α-alaninehydroxamic acid (N-Me-α-Alaha), -Imidazole-4-carbohydroxamic acid (Im-4-Cha), -N-Me-imidazole-4-carbohydroxamic acid (N-Me-Im-4-Cha) and -Imidazole-4-acetohydroxamic acid (Im-4-Aha) systems have been performed by pH-potentiometry, UV–Vis spectrophotometry, EPR, CD, ESI-MS and ¹H NMR methods. According to the results: (i) the amino-N atoms are more basic in N-Me-α-Alaha and N-Me-β-Alaha than the hydroxamate function, but the trend is just the opposite between the imidazole-N(3) and hydroxamate. (ii) The metal ion anchor is always the hydroxamate part in the amino acid derivatives, while it is always the imidazole-N(3) in the studied imidazolehydroxamic acids. (iii) The three studied N-Me derivatives do not form metallacrowns. Only hydroxamate type chelate is formed with N-Me-β-Alaha, but with N-Me-α-Alaha a new type of coordination mode (via amino-N and hydroxamate-O) also exists. N-Me-Im-4-Cha also forms a dinuclear complex, [M₂L₃], with Cu(II) and Ni(II) (but not with Zn(II)). In this complex, one of the three ligands might bridge the two metal ions (five-membered hydroxamate-(O,O) plus five-membered (N_im, O_carb) bridging bis-chelating mode), while each of the additional two ligands binds to one metal. (iv) The two studied N–H derivatives, having dissociable proton on the hydroxamic-N, are able to form metallacrown species. A pentanuclear complex, [M₅L₄H₋₄], is exclusively formed above pH 4 between Cu(II) and Im-4-Aha. Interestingly, this 12-metallacrown-4 type complex, although together with various mononuclear binding isomers, appears also with Ni(II) and Zn(II). Unfortunately, the complexes of Im-4-Cha are not soluble in water at physiological pH at all.