STUDY ON THE SYNTHESIS AND PROPERTIES OF MACRORETICULAR IPN POLYACRYLAMIDE—POLY(VINYL—ETHYLENEDIAMINE)CHELATE SORBENTS

A new series of MR-IPN polyacrylamide—poly(vinyl-ethylenediamine)chelatesorbents were prepared by the reaction of ethylenediamine with MR-IPN matrixes.The newchelate sorbent showed good sorption properties for auric and platinic ions.     

CHLOROPHYLL PHOTOSENSITIZED ELECTRON TRANSFER IN PHOSPHOLIPID VESICLE SYSTEMS: COMPARISON OF INSIDE-OUTSIDE ASYMMETRY BETWEEN LARGE AND SMALL UNILAMELLAR VESICLES*

Abstract— We have determined the chlorophyll triplet quenching efficiencies, the chlorophyll cation radical yields and the conversion efficiencies of chlorophyll triplet to radical in large and small unilamellar phosphatidylcholine vesicles (LUV and SUV, respectively) in the presence of electrically-charged electron acceptors (ferricyanide and oxidized cytochrome c) located in either the inner or outer aqueous compartments of the vesicles. Both types of vesicles displayed inside-outside asymmetry, although the properties were reversed. Triplet quenching in SUV was more efficient when ferricyanide was located within the vesicle interior, whereas the reverse was true in LUV. When ferricyanide was located on the outside of the vesicles, the extent of triplet quenching in LUV was about two times that in SUV and the amount of cation radical formed in LUV was about two times that in SUV. Under these conditions, the conversion efficiencies of chlorophyll triplet to radical were 12.2% for LUV and 8.5% for SUV. With cytochrome c as an electron acceptor in negatively charged vesicles (25 mol per cent dixhexadecylphosphate incorporated) similar results were obtained. Again, the triplet quenching and radical yield inside-outside asymmetry properties were reversed between the two types of vesicles, and radical formation efficiencies when cyt c was located outside the vesicles were higher in LUV (11.7%) than in SUV (4.2%). We conclude that the inside-outside asymmetric photochemical behavior of unilamellar phosphatidylcholine vesicles is influenced by factors in addition to the difference in radius of curvature between the inside and outside surfaces. It is suggested that transmembrane electrostatic potentials may be involved. Furthermore, in the present system the properties of LUV were more favorable to photochemical electron transfer product formation than those of SUV.     

Supramolecular framework adducts constructed of hexamethylenetetramine,aquated alkali metal cationic clusters,and hexacyanoferrates(II/III)

The reaction of alkali metal hexacyanoferrate(II/III) with (CH₂)₆N₄ (hexamethylenetetramine, abbreviated HMT) in an acidic medium yielded crystalline compounds of stoichiometries HK₂[Fe¹¹¹(CN)₆]·2HMT·4H₂O, H₂K₂[Fe¹¹(CN)₆]·2HMT·4H₂O, and HNa₂[Fe¹¹¹(CN)₆]· 2HMT·5H₂O. Their crystal structures are based on a packing of three molecular components: neutral and/orprotonated HMT, hexacyanoferrate, and an alkali metal ion-water cluster. The resulting three-dimensional supramolecular framework is constructed from the coordination of the alkali metal ion by aqua ligands as well as [Fe(CN)₆]{n–} and HMT units, and further stabilization is achieved by hydrogen bonding between water molecules and the noncoordinated nitrogen atoms of HMT and hexacyanoferrate.     

Homolytic C-H and N-H bond dissociation energies of strained organic compounds

High-level computations at G3, CBS-Q, and G3B3 levels were conducted, and good-quality C-H and N-H bond dissociation energies (BDEs) were obtained for a variety of saturated and unsaturated strained hydrocarbons and amines for the first time. From detailed NBO analyses, we found that the C-H BDEs of hydrocarbons are determined mainly by the hybridization of the parent compound, the hybridization of the radical, and the extent of spin delocalization of the radical. The ring strain has a significant effect on the C-H BDE because it forces the parent compound and radical to adopt certain undesirable hybridization. A structure-activity relationship equation (i.e., BDE (C-H) = 61.1-227.8 (p(parent)% - 0.75)(2) + 152.9 (p(radical)% - 1.00)(2) + 40.4 spin) was established, and it can predict the C-H BDEs of a variety of saturated and unsaturated strained hydrocarbons fairly well. For the C-H BDEs associated with the bridgehead carbons of the highly rigid strained compounds, we found that the strength of the C-H bond can also be predicted from the H-C-C bond angles of the bridgehead carbon. Finally, we found that N-H BDEs show less dependence on the ring strain than C-H BDEs.     

Native and stearic acid modified ceria-zirconia supports in normal and reversed-phase HPLC

Porous ceria-zirconia composite with narrow particle size distribution and large specific surface area was synthesized by a sol-gel process. Chromatographic properties of the native supports was investigated in normal phase mode for the separation of test mixtures of basic, neutral and acidic compounds. The new packing material exhibited polar and basic properties, which are suitable for the separation of basic compounds. Lypophilic packing has been obtained by the modification of the ceria-zirconia with stearic acid, which exhibited strong hydrophobicity relative to the native packing. Therefore, the modified ceria-zirconia behaves as a reversed-phase packing material. Different selectivity towards basic compounds was observed on the new packing compared to the native ceria-zirconia and conventional ODS stationary phase.     

π -Type and σ -type cation- π complexes of atomic cations

MP2/6-31+G* calculations were performed on the cation- complexes of ethylene, cyclobutadiene and benzene with a number of atomic cations. It was found that except B⁺ all the atomic cations form -type cation- complexes with ethylene. On the other hand, with cyclobutadiene Li⁺, N⁺, Na⁺, P⁺ and K⁺ form -type complexes, whereas H⁺, F⁺, and Cl⁺ form covalent -type complexes. With benzene Li⁺, B⁺, Na⁺, Al⁺, and K⁺ form -type complexes whereas H⁺, F⁺, and Cl⁺ form -type complexes. It was concluded that the driving force to form the -type complex is chemical bonding, and that for metal cations to form -type complexes is non-covalent interaction.     

Study on the Tautomer Interconversion of 3-Oxo Pentanoate During Gas Chromatography

Enol and keto tautomers of methyl 3-oxo pentanoate could be separated on a HP-5 capillary column. The chromatographic peaks were identified by examining characteristic mass ions arose from the corresponding enol and keto molecular ions. The study showed that the area percentage of enol tautomer is a function of temperature of the column. Treating the column as a reactor, the energy of activation for the on-column tautomerization could be extracted (35.1 kJ mol⁻¹) by monitoring the loss of the enol tautomer, because the reaction is found to obey pseudo first-order kinetics. The enthalpy and the entropy changes (ΔH = −3.98 kJ mol⁻¹, ΔS = −7.89 J K⁻¹mol⁻¹) for the enol-to-keto reaction in the stationary phase were also obtained.     

Probing the kinetic landscape of transient peptide-protein interactions by use of peptide (15)n NMR relaxation dispersion spectroscopy: binding of an antithrombin peptide to human prothrombin

Protein-ligand interactions may lead to the formation of multiple molecular complexes in dynamic exchange, affecting the kinetic and thermodynamic characteristics of the binding equilibrium. We followed the dissociation kinetics of the transient and specific complex of an antithrombotic peptide N-acetyl-Asp(55)-Phe-Glu-Glu-Ile-Pro(60)-Glu-Glu-Tyr-Leu-Gln(65) with human prothrombin by use of (15)N NMR relaxation dispersion spectroscopy of the peptide. Every one of the five (15)N-labeled adjacent residues of the peptide exhibited apparently different kinetic exchange and relaxation behaviors, which were especially evident at different concentrations of prothrombin. Binding-induced (15)N relaxation dispersion of residues Phe(56), Glu(57), Glu(58), and Ile(59) can be fitted phenomenologically to a two-site on-and-off exchange mechanism with physically feasible relaxation and kinetic parameters obtained for residues Phe(56), Glu(58), and Ile(59), independent of the prothrombin concentration. The apparent kinetic parameters of Glu(57) show some dependence on the concentration of prothrombin and the extracted transverse relaxation rate for Glu(57) in the bound state was severalfold higher than that expected for a protein-peptide complex with a size of approximately 72 kDa. In addition, the equilibrium population of the bound peptide obtained for Glu(57) was inconsistent with those for Phe(56), Glu(58), and Ile(59) and with the prothrombin/peptide ratios used in the experiments. These discrepancies can be explained by the presence of two conformations for the peptide-protein complex exchanging at a rate of approximately 100 s(-)(1). In all, our study shows that fast dissociation of protein-peptide complexes can be studied quantitatively using peptide (15)N NMR relaxation dispersion measurements without a precise knowledge of the peptide and protein concentrations. In addition, protein titration was found to improve the accuracy of quantitative analysis and may make it possible to determine the rate of conformational changes within the protein-peptide complex.