Synthetic Heparanase Inhibitors Can Prevent Herpes Simplex Viral Spread

Herpes simplex virus (HSV-1) employs heparan sulfate (HS) as receptor for cell attachment and entry. During late-stage infection, the virus induces the upregulation of human heparanase (Hpse) to remove cell surface HS allowing viral spread. We hypothesized that inhibition of Hpse will prevent viral release thereby representing a new therapeutic strategy for HSV-1. A range of HS-oligosaccharides was prepared to examine the importance of chain length and 2-O-sulfation of iduronic moieties for Hpse inhibition. It was found that hexa- and octasaccharides potently inhibited the enzyme and that 2-O-sulfation of iduronic acid is tolerated. Computational studies provided a rationale for the observed structure–activity relationship. Treatment of human corneal epithelial cells (HCEs) infected with HSV-1 with the hexa- and octasaccharide blocked viral induced shedding of HS which significantly reduced spread of virions. The compounds also inhibited migration and proliferation of immortalized HCEs thereby providing additional therapeutic properties.     

Malachite green as a reagent for detection and spectrophotometric determination of chromium(VI)

A sensitive and inexpensive method of spectrophotometric determination of chromium(VI), based on the absorbance of its complex with malachite green and acetic acid at pH 2.5 is reported. The complex shows a molar absorptivity of 8 x 10(4) l.mole(-1) cm(-1) at 560 nm, using malachite green and acetic acid as reference solution. The effect of time, temperature, pH and reagent concentration is studied and optimum operating conditions are established. Beer's law is applicable in the concentration range 2.0-22.8 mug/ml chromium(VI). The resin beads act as a catalyst and as little as 1.6 mug of chromium(VI) is detected in the resin phase as compared to 4.1 mug in the solution phase. The standard deviation in the determinations is +/-0.40 mug/ml for a 10.35 mug/ml solution.     

Thermally Crosslinkable and Chemically Modifiable Aromatic Polyesters Possessing Pendant Propargyloxy Groups

New aromatic (co)polyesters containing pendant propargyloxy groups were synthesized by phase transfer‐catalyzed interfacial polycondensation of 5‐(propargyloxy)isophthaloyl chloride (P‐IPC) and various compositions of P‐IPC and isophthaloyl chloride with bisphenol A. FTIR and NMR spectroscopic data, respectively, revealed successful incorporation of pendant propargyloxy groups into (co)polyesters and formation of (co)polyesters with desired compositions. (Co)polyesters exhibited good solubility in common organic solvents such as chloroform, dichloromethane, and tetrahydrofuran and could be cast into transparent, flexible, and tough films from chloroform solution. Inherent viscosities and number average molecular weights of (co)polyesters were in the range 0.77–1.33 dL/g and 43,600–118,000 g/mol, respectively, indicating the achievement of reasonably high‐molecular weights. The 10% weight loss temperatures of (co)polyesters were in the range 390–420 °C, demonstrating their good thermal stability. (Co)polyesters exhibited T_g in the range 146–170 °C and T_g values decreased with increase in mol % incorporation of P‐IPC. The study of non‐isothermal curing by DSC indicated thermal crosslinking of (co)polyesters via propargyloxy groups. The utility of pendant propargyloxy group was demonstrated by post‐modification of the selected copolyester with 1‐(4‐azidobutyl)pyrene, 9‐(azidomethyl)anthracene, and azido‐terminated poly(ethyleneglycol) monomethyl ether via copper(I)‐catalyzed Huisgen 1,3‐dipolar cycloaddition reaction. FTIR and ¹H NMR spectra confirmed that click reaction was quantitative. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019 , 57, 588–597     

One pot,three component 1,3 dipolar cycloaddition: Regio and diastereoselective synthesis of spiropyrrolidinyl indenoquinoxaline derivatives

A competent and highly discriminating one-pot synthesis of highly diversified novel functionalized indenoquinoxalone grafted spiropyrrolidine linked chromene-3-carbonitrile conjugates accumulating three pharmocophoric cores, heterocyclic indenoquinoxalone, pyrrolidines and chromene-3-carbonitrile in a single molecular framework by means of 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction between indenoquinoxalone, proline/benzyl amine and chromene-3-carbonitrile in ethanol under classical and microwave conditions is described. The three component 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction proceeds via in situ generation of azomethine ylides by the decarboxylative condensation of indenoquinoxalone with proline/benzyl amine and their selectivity towards the endo cyclic double bonds of dipolarophile (chromene-3-carbonitrile) leading to the formation of highly functionalised regio- and diastereoselective molecular hybrids. This methodology exemplifies the green chemistry protocol such as mild reaction conditions, high yields, one-pot procedure and operational simplicity.     

On the fly estimation of host–guest binding free energies using the movable type method: participation in the SAMPL5 blind challenge

We review our performance in the SAMPL5 challenge for predicting host–guest binding affinities using the movable type (MT) method. The challenge included three hosts, acyclic Cucurbit[2]uril and two octa-acids with and without methylation at the entrance to their binding cavities. Each host was associated with 6–10 guest molecules. The MT method extrapolates local energy landscapes around particular molecular states and estimates the free energy by Monte Carlo integration over these landscapes. Two blind submissions pairing MT with variants of the KECSA potential function yielded mean unsigned errors of 1.26 and 1.53 kcal/mol for the non-methylated octa-acid, 2.83 and 3.06 kcal/mol for the methylated octa-acid, and 2.77 and 3.36 kcal/mol for Cucurbit[2]uril host. While our results are in reasonable agreement with experiment, we focused on particular cases in which our estimates gave incorrect results, particularly with regard to association between the octa-acids and an adamantane derivative. Working on the hypothesis that differential solvation effects play a role in effecting computed binding affinities for the parent octa-acid and the methylated octa-acid and that the ligands bind inside the pockets (rather than on the surface) we devised a new solvent accessible surface area term to better quantify solvation energy contributions in MT based studies. To further explore this issue a, molecular dynamics potential of mean force (PMF) study indicates that, as found by our docking calculations, the stable binding mode for this ligand is inside (rather than surface bound) the octa-acid cavity whether the entrance is methylated or not. The PMF studies also obtained the correct order for the methylation-induced change in binding affinities and associated the difference, to a large extent to differential solvation effects. Overall, the SAMPL5 challenge yielded in improvements our solvation modeling and also demonstrated the need for thorough validation of input data integrity prior to any computational analysis.     

Slow magnetohydrodynamic flow past a circular cylinder

Oseen’ approximations are used to study the slow motion of a viscous, incompressible, electrically conducting fluid past a circular cylinder in the presence of a uniform aligned magnetic field. Using series truncation method, the analytical solutions for the first three terms in the Fourier sine series expansion of the stream function are obtained. Numerical values of the tangential drag for different values of magnetic interaction parameter and viscous Reynolds number are calculated.     

Computation of the Epsilon-Subdifferential of Convex Piecewise Linear-Quadratic Functions in Optimal Worst-Case Time

Set-Valued and Variational Analysis - The epsilon-subdifferential of convex univariate piecewise linear-quadratic (PLQ) functions can be computed in linear worst-case time complexity as the...     

Cognitive learning in differential evolution and its application to model order reduction problem for single-input single-output systems

Differential evolution (DE) is a well known and simple population based probabilistic approach for global optimization over continuous spaces. It has reportedly outperformed a few evolutionary algorithms and other search heuristics like the particle swarm optimization when tested over both benchmark and real world problems. DE, like other probabilistic optimization algorithms, has inherent drawback of premature convergence and stagnation. Therefore, in order to find a trade-off between exploration and exploitation capability of DE algorithm, a new parameter namely, cognitive learning factor (CLF) is introduced in the mutation process. Cognitive learning is a powerful mechanism that adjust the current position of individuals by the means of some specified knowledge (previous experience of individuals). The proposed strategy is named as cognitive learning in differential evolution (CLDE). To prove the efficiency of various approaches of CLF in DE,?CLDE is tested over 25 benchmark problems. Further, to establish the wide applicability of CLF,?CLDE is applied to two advanced DE variants. CLDE is also applied to solve a well known electrical engineering problem called model order reduction problem for single input single output systems.     

Fitness based Differential Evolution

Differential Evolution (DE) is a well known and simple population based probabilistic approach for global optimization. It has reportedly outperformed a few Evolutionary Algorithms and other search heuristics like Particle Swarm Optimization when tested over both benchmark and real world problems. But, DE, like other probabilistic optimization algorithms, sometimes exhibits premature convergence and stagnates at suboptimal point. In order to avoid stagnation behavior while maintaining a good convergence speed, a new position update process is introduced, named fitness based position update process in DE. In the proposed strategy, position of the solutions are updated in two phases. In the first phase all the solutions update their positions using the basic DE and in the second phase, all the solutions update their positions based on their fitness. In this way, a better solution participates more times in the position update process. The position update equation is inspired from the Artificial Bee Colony algorithm. The proposed strategy is named as Fitness Based Differential Evolution ( $FBDE$ ). To prove efficiency and efficacy of $FBDE$ , it is tested over 22 benchmark optimization problems. A comparative analysis has also been carried out among proposed FBDE, basic DE, Simulated Annealing Differential Evolution and Scale Factor Local Search Differential Evolution. Further, $FBDE$ is also applied to solve a well known electrical engineering problem called Model Order Reduction problem for Single Input Single Output Systems.