Pore formation coupled to ion transport through lipid membranes as induced by transmembrane ionic charge imbalance: atomistic molecular dynamics study

We have employed atomic-scale molecular dynamics simulations to address ion transport through transient water pores in phospholipid membranes. The formation of a water pore is induced by a transmembrane ionic charge imbalance, which gives rise to a significant potential difference across the membrane. The subsequent transport of ions through the pore discharges the transmembrane potential and makes the water pore metastable, leading eventually to its sealing. The findings highlight the importance of ionic charge fluctuations in spontaneous pore formation and their role in ion leakage through protein-free lipid membranes.     

Comparison of linear-scaling semiempirical methods and combined quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical methods for enzymic reactions. II. An energy decomposition analysis

QM/MM methods have been developed as a computationally feasible solution to QM simulation of chemical processes, such as enzyme-catalyzed reactions, within a more approximate MM representation of the condensed-phase environment. However, there has been no independent method for checking the quality of this representation, especially for highly nonisotropic protein environments such as those surrounding enzyme active sites. Hence, the validity of QM/MM methods is largely untested. Here we use the possibility of performing all-QM calculations at the semiempirical PM3 level with a linear-scaling method (MOZYME) to assess the performance of a QM/MM method (PM3/AMBER94 force field). Using two model pathways for the hydride-ion transfer reaction of the enzyme dihydrofolate reductase studied previously (Titmuss et al., Chem Phys Lett 2000, 320, 169-176), we have analyzed the reaction energy contributions (QM, QM/MM, and MM) from the QM/MM results and compared them with analogous-region components calculated via an energy partitioning scheme implemented into MOZYME. This analysis further divided the MOZYME components into Coulomb, resonance and exchange energy terms. For the model in which the MM coordinates are kept fixed during the reaction, we find that the MOZYME and QM/MM total energy profiles agree very well, but that there are significant differences in the energy components. Most significantly there is a large change (approximately 16 kcal/mol) in the MOZYME MM component due to polarization of the MM region surrounding the active site, and which arises mostly from MM atoms close to (<10 A) the active-site QM region, which is not modelled explicitly by our QM/MM method. However, for the model where the MM coordinates are allowed to vary during the reaction, we find large differences in the MOZYME and QM/MM total energy profiles, with a discrepancy of 52 kcal/mol between the relative reaction (product-reactant) energies. This is largely due to a difference in the MM energies of 58 kcal/mol, of which we can attribute approximately 40 kcal/mol to geometry effects in the MM region and the remainder, as before, to MM region polarization. Contrary to the fixed-geometry model, there is no correlation of the MM energy changes with distance from the QM region, nor are they contributed by only a few residues. Overall, the results suggest that merely extending the size of the QM region in the QM/MM calculation is not a universal solution to the MOZYME- and QM/MM-method differences. They also suggest that attaching physical significance to MOZYME Coulomb, resonance and exchange components is problematic. Although we conclude that it would be possible to reparameterize the QM/MM force field to reproduce MOZYME energies, a better way to account for both the effects of the protein environment and known deficiencies in semiempirical methods would be to parameterize the force field based on data from DFT or ab initio QM linear-scaling calculations. Such a force field could be used efficiently in MD simulations to calculate free energies.     

Synthesis, structure, and X-band (9.5 GHz) EPR characterization of the new series of pH-sensitive spin probes: N,N-disubstituted 4-amino-2,2,5,5-tetramethyl-3-imidazoline 1-oxyls

[reaction: see text] An approach to the synthesis of new imidazoline nitroxides bearing an N',N'-disubstituted amidine group is reported. The approach is based on the alkylation of diamagnetic 4-R-amino-1,2,2,5,5-pentamethyl-3-imidazolines with bromoacetic acid ethyl ester; the products of alkylation are further oxidized to the corresponding nitroxides. The approach allows a variety of functional groups to be introduced into the nitroxide molecule structure. Alkylation with bromoacetic acid ethyl ester was found to proceed with high regioselectivity and afford the products of exo-alkylation. The regiochemical assignment is made on the basis of 13C NMR spectra and confirmed by X-ray diffraction study. All of the nitroxides synthesized here were shown to have pH-dependent EPR spectra with pKa ranging from 3.5 to 6.2. For nitroxides 13 bearing the carboxylic group remote to the nitroxide moiety, the changes in isotropic magnetic parameters of EPR spectra due to reversible deprotonation of the carboxylic group were found to be small. For these nitroxides, we demonstrate an alternative approach for pKa determination that is based on measuring the peak-to-peak line width of the EPR spectrum in the presence of the paramagnetic broadening agent potassium ferricyanide. The partition coefficients of nitroxides in octanol/H2O and octanol/phosphate buffer solution mixtures were measured to reveal a range of their lipophilicities.     

The index of ideality of correlation: improvement of models for toxicity to algae

Toxicity to algae is important characteristic of substances from ecologic point of view. The CORAL software (http://www.insilico.eu/coral) gives possibility to build up model of toxicity to algae using data on the molecular architecture and experimental toxicity, without additional data on physicochemical and/or biochemical parameters. Considerable improvement of the model is observed in the case of using the index of ideality of correlation (IIC) in the role of additional criterion of predictive potential. The IIC is calculated with using of the correlation coefficient between experimental and calculated values of endpoint for the calibration set, with taking into account the positive and negative dispersions between experimental and calculated values. The best model calculated with use the IIC is characterized (the validation set) by n?=?50, r²?=?0.947, RMSE?=?0.401 whereas, model calculated without use the IIC is characterized by n?=?50, r²?=?0.805, and RMSE?=?0.539. The suggested models are built up in accordance to five OECD principles.

     

Fine structure of the (S(1)<--S(0)) band origins of phthalocyanine molecules in helium droplets

The laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) excitation spectra of free base phthalocyanine (Pc), Mg-Pc, and Zn-Pc molecules in superfluid helium droplets at T=0.38 K have been studied. The spectra reveal the rich vibronic structure of the S(1)<--S(0) electronic transitions. The band origins of the transitions consist of zero phonon lines accompanied by phonon wings, which originate from simultaneous electronic excitation of the molecule and excitation of the collective modes of the helium surrounding it. The phonon wings have discrete structures suggesting localization of some helium atoms in the neighborhood of the molecules. Zero phonon lines of Mg-Pc and Zn-Pc molecules are split into three components, which are separated by 0.2-0.4 cm(-1). Possible mechanism of splitting involves static or dynamic Jahn-Teller interaction of metal-phthalocyanine molecules in the twofold degenerate S(1)((1)E(u)) state with the helium shell.     

THE USE OF INTERNALIZABLE DERIVATIVES OF CHLORIN E6 FOR INCREASING ITS PHOTOSENSITIZING ACTIVITY

Experiments with human hepatoma PLC/PRF/5 cells and human embryo skin fibroblasts involving the use of three different tests (colony formation, Trypan blue exclusion, labeled thymidine incorporation) have demonstrated a significantly higher photosensitizing activity of chlorin e₆ conjugates with internalizable ligands as compared to that of chlorin e₆ itself. Receptor-mediated internalization of chlorin e₆ conjugates ensures a greater photosensitization of cells than binding of those conjugates to cell surface receptors. The suitability of such conjugates that permit the delivery of a photosensitizer to sensitive intracellular targets is discussed.     

Luminescent properties of three structures built from 3‐cyano‐4‐dicyanomethylene‐5‐oxo‐4,5‐dihydro‐1H‐pyrrol‐2‐olate and cadmium

Yellow–orange tetraaquabis(3‐cyano‐4‐dicyanomethylene‐5‐oxo‐4,5‐dihydro‐1H‐pyrrol‐2‐olato‐κN³)cadmium(II) dihydrate, [Cd(C₈HN₄O₂)₂(H₂O)₄]·2H₂O, (I), and yellow tetraaquabis(3‐cyano‐4‐dicyanomethylene‐5‐oxo‐4,5‐dihydro‐1H‐pyrrol‐2‐olato‐κN³)cadmium(II) 1,4‐dioxane solvate, [Cd(C₈HN₄O₂)₂(H₂O)₄]·C₄H₈O₂, (II), contain centrosymmetric mononuclear Cd²⁺ coordination complex molecules in different conformations. Dark‐red poly[[decaaquabis(μ₂‐3‐cyano‐4‐dicyanomethylene‐5‐oxo‐4,5‐dihydro‐1H‐pyrrol‐2‐olato‐κ²N:N′)bis(μ₂‐3‐cyano‐4‐dicyanomethylene‐1H‐pyrrole‐2,5‐diolato‐κ²N:N′)tricadmium] hemihydrate], [Cd₃(C₈HN₄O₂)₂(C₈N₄O₂)₂(H₂O)₁₀]·0.5H₂O, (III), has a polymeric two‐dimensional structure, the building block of which includes two cadmium cations (one of them located on an inversion centre), and both singly and doubly charged anions. The cathodoluminescence spectra of the crystals are different and cover the wavelength range from UV to red, with emission peaks at 377 and 620 nm for (III), and at 583 and 580 nm for (I) and (II), respectively.     

Ethylenediaminetetraacetato-monoperoxo complexes of vanadium(V)

Summary The monoperoxo complexes, M₂[VO(HEDTA)(O₂)]· 4H₂O, where M is K⁺ or NH ₄ ⁺ and H₄EDTA is ethylene-diaminetetraacetic acid, were prepared and characterized by Raman and i.r. spectra in the solid state and in aqueous solution. The single crystal X-ray study revealed a pentagonal bipyramidal anion structure with a tetradentate HEDTA(3—) ligand. The decomposition of complexes in aqueous solution to blue vanadium(IV) complexes as end products proceeds via a nonperoxo complex of vanadium.     

Structural and magnetic properties of iron(II) complexes with 1,4,5,8,9,12-hexaazatriphenylene (HAT)

Reactions of Fe(II) salts with the ligand 1,4,5,8,9,12-hexaazatriphenylene (HAT) led to the isolation and characterization of four new compounds: [Fe3(HAT)(H2O)12](SO4)3.3.3H2O (1), [Fe2(HAT)(SO4)(H2O)5](SO4).2H2O.CH3OH (2), [Fe2(HAT)(SO4)(H2O)5](SO4).3H2O (3), and [Fe3Cl5(HAT)(CH3OH)4(H2O)]Cl (4). Compound 1 crystallizes as a trinuclear cluster in which HAT acts as a tris-chelating ligand. Compounds 2 and 3 are two polymorphs of an infinite one-dimensional structure in which the Fe atoms are coordinated to HAT and then connected into the chain through bridging sulfate anions. Compound 4 exhibits a similar chain structure, but with bridging chloride ligands. The magnetic behavior of the new compounds is indicative of weak antiferromagnetic coupling between the Fe(II) centers through the HAT ligand.     

Synthesis and structures of a 3-sila-beta-diketiminatomagnesium bromide, ketenimide and triflate

The crystalline compounds [Mg(Br)(L)(thf)].0.5Et2O [L = {N(R)C(C6H3Me2-2,6)}2SiR, R = SiMe3] (1), [Mg(L){N=C=C(C(Me)=CH)2CH2}(D)2] [D = NCC6H3Me2-2,6 (2), thf (3)] and [{Mg(L)}2{mu-OSO(CF3)O-[mu}2] (4) were prepared from (a) Si(Br)(R){C(C6H3Me2-2,6)=NR}2 and Mg for (1), (b) [Mg(SiR3)2(thf)2] and 2,6-Me2C6H3CN (5 mol for (2), 3 mol for (3)), and (c) (2) + Me3SiOS(O)2CF3 for (4); a coproduct from (c) is believed to have been the trimethylsilyl ketenimide Me3SiN=C=C{C(Me)=CH}2CH2 (5).