Association of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes is a Determining Factor in their Catalytic Activity

Previously, our laboratory demonstrated that one cytochrome P450 isoenzyme can influence the catalytic properties of another P450 isoenzyme when combined in a reconstituted system. Moreover, our data and that of other investigators indicate that P450 interaction is required for catalytic activity even when one isoenzyme is present. The goal of the current study was to examine the possible mechanism of these interactions in more detail. Analyzing recently published X-ray data of microsomal P450 enzymes and protein docking studies, four types of dimer formations of P450 enzymes were examined in more detail. In case of two dimer types, the aggregating partner was shown to contribute to NADPH cytochrome P450 reductase (CPR) binding-a flavoprotein whose interaction with P450 is required for expressing P450 functional activity of the neighboring P450 moiety. Thus, it was shown that dimerization of P450 enzymes might result in an altered affinity towards the CPR. Two dimer types were shown to exist only in the presence of a substrate, while the other two types exist also without a substrate present. The molecular basis was established for the fact that the presence of a substrate and other P450 enzymes simultaneously determine the catalytic activity. Furthermore, a kinetic model was improved describing the catalytic activity of P450 enzymes as a function of CPR concentration based on equilibrium between different supramolecular organizations of P450 enzymes. This model was successfully applied in order to explain our experimental data and that of other investigators.Eszter Hazai and Zsolt Bikádi contributed equally to this workDavid Kupfer-Deceased     

Enantioefficient synthesis of alpha-ergocryptine: first direct synthesis of (+)-lysergic acid

The first direct synthesis of (+)-lysergic acid (2a) suitable for scale-up has been achieved by the following reaction sequence. Bromoketones 4d or 4g were allowed to react with amine 5 followed by deprotection, and the resulting diketone 6c was transformed into the unsaturated ketone (+/-)-7 by the LiBr/Et(3)N system. Resolution afforded (+)-7, which was further transformed by Sch?llkopf's method into the mixture of esters 2e and 2f. Upon hydrolysis the latter mixture afforded (+)-2a. The peptide part of alpha-ergocryptine (1) was prepared according to the Sandoz method; the stereoefficiency, however, has been significantly improved by applying a new resolution method and recycling the undesired enantiomer. Coupling the peptide part with lysergic acid afforded 1. Having synthetic (+)-7 in hand, we can claim the total synthesis of all the alkaloids which were prepared earlier from (+)-7 that had been obtained through degradation of natural lysergic acid.     

Evaluation of crystallization kinetics by means of DTA

The kinetics of bulk crystallization of Se_61.5Ge_{15 4}Sb_23.1 glasses was investigated from their thermal behaviour. In the thermal characterization of a glass the recrystallization temperature is highly dependent on both the rate of heating and the thermal history of the glass. Vitreous samples were prepared by quenching. From ratedependent curves it was found that the recrystallization process obeys first-order kinetics with an apparent activation enthalpy of 48±5 kcal/mole. Further analysis allows determination of both the activation enthalpy,H=90±4 kcal/mole, and the kinetic exponent of the Avrami equation,n=1.9±0.3.

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Zusammenfassung Die Kinetik der Massenkristallisation von Glas-Arten der Zusammensetzung Se_61.5Ge_15.4Sb_23.1 wurde an Hand ihres thermischen Verhaltens studiert. Bei der thermischen Charakterisireung von Glas hängt die Rekristallisationstemperatur stark sowohl von der Aufheizgeschwindigkeit als auch von der Wärmevorgeschichte des Glases ab. Glasige Proben wurden durch rasches Abkühlen hergestellt. Aus den geschwindigkeitsabhängigen Thermogrammen geht hervor, dass der Rekristallisierungsprozess der Kinetik erster Ordnung gehorcht, mit einer scheinbaren Aktivierungsenthalpie von 48±5 kcal/mol. Die weitere Analyse ermöglicht die Bestimmung sowohl der AktivierungsenthalpieH=90±4 kcal/mol als auch des kinetischen Exponentenn=1.9±0.3 der Avrami-Gleichung.

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Résumé Etude de la cinétique de la cristallisation dans la masse de verres Se_61.5Ge_15.4Sb_23.1 à partir de leur comportement thermique. La température de recristallisation dépend fortement tant de la vitesse de chauffage que de l'histoire thermique du verre. Des échantillons vitreux ont été préparés par refroidissement rapide. La recristallisation obéit à une cinétique du premier ordre, avec une enthalpie d'activation apparente de 48±5 kcal·mol^–1. Une analyse ultérieure permet de déterminer l'enthalpie d'activationH=90±4 kcal-mol^–1 ainis que l'exposant cinétiquen=1.9±0.3 de l'équation d'Avrami.

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Se_61.5Ge_15.4Sb_23.1 . , , . . , 48±5 /. H=90±4/ , n=1.9±0.3 .

     

Vibrational spectroscopy and intramolecular dynamics of 1-butyne

Photodissociation of jet-cooled vibrationally excited 1-butyne, C(2)H(5)C[Triple Bond]C[Single Bond]H, coupled with mass spectrometric detection of H photofragments, facilitated measurements of action spectra and Doppler profiles, expressing the yield of the ensuing fragments versus the vibrational excitation and UV probe lasers, respectively. Both the action spectra and the simultaneously measured room temperature photoacoustic spectra in the 2nu(1), 3nu(1), and 4nu(1) C[Single Bond]H acetylenic stretch regions exhibit unresolved rotational envelopes with significant narrowing of the former due to temperature-related change in the rotational structure. The narrowing of the action spectrum in the 3nu(1) region exposed a resonance splitting, implying intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution (IVR) time of approximately 1 ps. Asymmetric rotor simulation of the band contours provided the rotational constants and estimates for the homogeneous broadening arising from IVR to the bath vibrational states. The homogenous linewidth of 4nu(1) is anomalously narrower than that of 2nu(1) and 3nu(1), indicating a longer lived 4nu(1) state despite the increasing background state density, suggestive of a lack of low-order resonances or of mode-specific coupling with the bath states. The Doppler profiles indicate that the H photofragments are released with low average translational energies, pointing to an indirect dissociation process occurring after internal conversion (IC) to the ground electronic state or after IC and isomerization to butadiene.     

Uptake of Basic Blue 17 from aqueous solutions by using chemically crosslinked polyelectrolyte AAm/AASS hydrogels

In this study, the removal of a cationic thiazin dye such as Basic Blue 17 (Toluidin Blue, BB 17) by chemically crosslinked acrylamide (AAm)/acrylic acid sodium salt (AASS) hydrogels was investigated. Super water retainer AAm/AASS hydrogels with various compositions were prepared from ternary mixtures of AAm, AASS and water by free radical polymerization in aqueous solution using multifunctional crosslinkers such as ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA), N,N′ methylenebisacrylamide (NMBA), 1,4 butanediol dimethacrylate (BDMA) and trimethylolpropane triacrylate (TMPTA). Adsorption of Basic Blue 17 from aqueous solutions was studied by batch sorption technique at 25^°C. The effect of Basic Blue 17 concentration and mass of adsorbent on the dye adsorption were examined. In the experiments of the sorption, C type and L type sorption in the Giles classification system was found. Some binding parameters such as initial binding constant (K _i ), equilibrium constant (K), monolayer coverage (n), site-size (u), and maximum fractional occupancy (Ô) for AAm/AASS hydrogel-dye binding system were calculated by using Klotz linearization method. Finally, the amount of sorbed Basic Blue 17 per gram of dry hydrogel (q) was calculated to be 1.96–21.35 μ mol dye per gram for AAm/AASS hydrogels. Adsorption of Basic Blue 17 was changed range 39.17–96.63%. AAm/AASS hydrogels crosslinked by TMPTA, EGDMA, BDMA or NMBA can be used a sorbent in biotechnology, environment, sorption, separation, purification, immobilization and enrichment of some species.     

Polymerization in the crystalline state. VIII. Polymerization in N-carboxy anhydrides of γ-benzyl glutamate, γ-methyl glutamate,and ϵ-carbobenzoxylysine

The kinetics of the solid-state polymerization of the N-carboxy anhydrides (NCA) of the L - and racemic forms of γ-benzyl glutamate (BG), γ-methyl glutamate (MG), and ?-carbobenzoxylysine (CL) were studied as a function of temperature and aqueous vapor pressure. The reaction of the L -forms of BG and MG was characterized by an induction period, while the CL derivative reached its maximum polymerization rate at the outset of the reaction. Water vapor had only a minor effect in accelerating the reaction and reducing the chain length of the polypeptides formed. The racemic monomers were found to have different crystal structures from those of the L -isomers and the racemic MG and CL derivatives polymerized much more slowly than the corresponding optically active crystals. All polymers gave diffuse x-ray diffraction patterns. Infrared spectra of the L -polypeptides showed that they were largely in the α-helical form. The polymer derived from the racemic BG–NCA had a content of α-helical material which suggested that it consisted of polypeptides with long blocks of D and L residues.     

Molecular structure of proline

The molecular structures of the two lowest-energy conformers of proline, Pro-I and Pro-II, have been characterized by ab initio electronic structure computations. An extensive MP2/6-31G* quartic force field for Pro-I, containing 62,835 unique elements in the internal coordinate space, was computed to account for anharmonic vibrational effects, including total zero-point contributions to isotopomeric rotational constants. New re and improved r0 least-squares structural refinements were performed to determine the heavy-atom framework of Pro-I, based on experimentally measured (A. Lesarri, S. Mata, E. J. Cocinero, S. Blanco, J. C. Lopez, J. L. Alonso, Angew. Chem. 2002, 114, 4867; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2002, 41, 4673) rotational constant sets of nine isotopomers and our ab initio data for structural constraints and zero-point vibrational (ZPV) shifts. Without the ab initio constraints, even the extensive set of empirical rotational constants cannot satisfactorily fix the molecular structure of the most stable conformer of proline, a 17-atom molecule with no symmetry. After imposing the ab initio constraints, excellent agreement between theory and experiment is found for the heavy-atom geometric framework, the root-mean-square (rms) residual of the empirical rotational constant fit being cut in half by adding ZPV corrections. The most significant disparity, about 0.07 A, between the empirical and the best ab initio structures, concerns the r(N...H) distance of the intramolecular hydrogen bond. Some of the experimental quartic centrifugal distortion constants assigned to Pro-II have been corrected based on data obtained from a theoretical force field.     

New insights into the metal ion–peptide hydroxamate interactions: Metal complexes of primary hydroxamic acid derivatives of common dipeptides in aqueous solution

Complex formation of primary dipeptide hydroxamic acids, L-Ala-L-AlaNHOH and L-Ala-L-SerNHOH, as well as the corresponding Z-protected ones, Z-L-Ala-L-AlaNHOH and Z-L-Ala-L-SerNHOH (Z = benzyloxycarbonyl), with iron(III), aluminium(III), nickel(II), copper(II) and zinc(II) was studied in aqueous solution by pH-potentiometric and spectroscopic (UV–Vis, EPR, CD, ¹H NMR) methods. The exclusive formation of [O,O] chelated hydroxamate complexes was found with iron(III) and aluminium(III) with all the ligands. Formation of linkage isomers with the involvement of either [O,O] hydroxamate or [NH₂,CO] chelates was detected both in the zinc(II)-L-Ala-L-AlaNHOH and -L-Ala-L-SerNHOH systems. Upon increasing the pH, none of these chelating sets are capable of preventing the hydrolysis of the metal ion. The formation of stable complexes was found in the nickel(II) and copper(II) systems above pH ∼ 6 with a [NH₂, N_amide, N_hydrox.] binding mode after deprotonation and coordination of the peptide amide and the hydroxamate group. With an excess of copper(II), the formation of trinuclear [Cu₃H_xL₂]^x+4 type (x = −4 to −6) complexes as the major species was also detected. Blocking the terminal amino group in the Z-protected ligands results in a dramatic decrease of the nickel(II) and zinc(II) binding strengths, and insoluble complexes with copper(II). No indication was found for the role of the hydroxyl group of the serine moiety in metal ion binding.