Structural elucidation of metabolites of ritonavir and indinavir by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry

The structural elucidation of metabolites of ritonavir and indinavir, HIV-protease inhibitor drugs, by liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry is described. Ritonavir and indinavir were biotransformed separately by incubation with transplant quality human liver microsomes. The incubation mixture was then analyzed by HPLC coupled to ion trap (ITMS) and triple quadrupole mass analyzers. The metabolites retained most of the structural features of the parent molecules. Baseline chromatographic resolution of isobaric species by gradient elution HPLC permitted rapid structural identification of these metabolites. Both drugs were biotransformed primarily by oxidative and hydrolytic pathways to numerous metabolites that retained many of the features of the parent molecules. Triple quadrupole and ion trap mass spectrometry were applied jointly to thoroughly detect and thoroughly characterize these metabolites. Furthermore, retention-time and data-dependent scanning assured acquisition of detailed MS-MS spectra for rapid detection of metabolic pathways of ritonavir and indinavir. Comparison of the ITMS and triple quadrupole data showed qualitative and quantitative differences in the mass spectral patterns, suggesting that these instruments should be used in parallel to ensure comprehensive metabolite detection and characterization by LC-MS.     

Vibrational spectroscopy of the G...C base pair: experiment, harmonic and anharmonic calculations, and the nature of the anharmonic couplings

The results of harmonic and anharmonic frequency calculations on a guanine-cytosine complex with an enolic structure (a tautomeric form with cytosine in the enol form and with a hydrogen at the 7-position on guanine) are presented and compared to gas-phase IR-UV double resonance spectral data. Harmonic frequencies were obtained at the RI-MP2/cc-pVDZ, RI-MP2/TZVPP, and semiempirical PM3 levels of electronic structure theory. Anharmonic frequencies were obtained by the CC-VSCF method with improved PM3 potential surfaces; the improved PM3 potential surfaces are obtained from standard PM3 theory by coordinate scaling such that the improved PM3 harmonic frequencies are the same as those computed at the RI-MP2/cc-pVDZ level. Comparison of the data with experimental results indicates that the average absolute percentage deviation for the methods is 2.6% for harmonic RI-MP2/cc-pVDZ (3.0% with the inclusion of a 0.956 scaling factor that compensates for anharmonicity), 2.5% for harmonic RI-MP2/TZVPP (2.9% with a 0.956 anharmonicity factor included), and 2.3% for adapted PM3 CC-VSCF; the empirical scaling factor for the ab initio harmonic calculations improves the stretching frequencies but decreases the accuracy of the other mode frequencies. The agreement with experiment supports the adequacy of the improved PM3 potentials for describing the anharmonic force field of the G...C base pair in the spectroscopically probed region. These results may be useful for the prediction of the pathways of vibrational energy flow upon excitation of this system. The anharmonic calculations indicate that anharmonicity along single mode coordinates can be significant for simple stretching modes. For several other cases, coupling between different vibrational modes provides the main contribution to anharmonicity. Examples of strongly anharmonically coupled modes are the symmetric stretch and group torsion of the hydrogen-bonded NH2 group on guanine, the OH stretch and torsion of the enol group on cytosine, and the NH stretch and NH out-of-plane bend of the non-hydrogen-bonded NH group on guanine.     

Spin-dimensionality dependence of critical parameters

High-temperature series expansions for the susceptibility of isotropic classicaln-vector models are examined with special emphasis on the global dependence on the dimensionalityn of the spin field. The usual fixed-spin model and an incomplete-Gaussian model, which allows for analytic continuation to arbitrary negativen, are considered. A method of examining trends in successive estimates is employed which allows to obtain improved estimates for the extremely slowly setteling sequences as obtained for highn-values. The estimates for the two models obey the universality principle. An approximate function for the critical exponent(n) is obtained in the range –4<n. Reasonable agreement with-expansion results and 1/n-expansion values is found.     

Synthesis and Properties of Isobicyclo‐DNA

We present the synthesis of the isobicyclo‐DNA building blocks with the nucleobases A, C, G and T, as well as biophysical and biological properties of oligonucleotides derived thereof. The synthesis of the sugar part was achieved in 5 steps starting from a known intermediate of the tricyclo‐DNA synthesis. Dodecamers containing single isobicyclo‐thymidine incorporations, fully modified A‐ and T‐containing sequences, and fully modified oligonucleotides containing all four bases were synthesized and characterized. Isobicyclo‐DNA forms stable duplexes with natural nucleic acids with a pronounced preference for DNA over RNA as complements. The most stable duplexes, however, arise by self‐pairing. Isobicyclo‐DNA forms preferentially B‐DNA‐like duplexes with DNA and A‐like duplexes with complementary RNA as determined by circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. Self‐paired duplexes show a yet unknown structure, as judged from CD spectroscopy. Biochemical tests revealed that isobicyclo‐DNA is stable in fetal bovine serum and does not elicit RNaseH activity.     

A Tandem In Situ Peptide Cyclization through Trifluoroacetic Acid Cleavage

We present a new approach for peptide cyclization during solid phase synthesis under highly acidic conditions. Our approach involves simultaneous in situ deprotection, cyclization and trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) cleavage of the peptide, which is achieved by forming an amide bond between a lysine side chain and a succinic acid linker at the peptide N‐terminus. The reaction proceeds via a highly active succinimide intermediate, which was isolated and characterized. The structure of a model cyclic peptide was solved by NMR spectroscopy. Theoretical calculations support the proposed mechanism of cyclization. Our new methodology is applicable for the formation of macrocycles in solid‐phase synthesis of peptides and organic molecules.     

Chains of reinsurance

A one-dimensional, hierarchical system of reinsurance is considered. A member of the chain is in direct contact with only two other members: the one from which coverage is bought and the one to which coverage is sold. Exceptions are the first link (which does not sell any reinsurance coverage) and the last link (which does not buy any). The problem is to find the values of the quotas and the loadings that are optimal in some sense. Assuming exponential utility functions and a normal distribution for the claims, an explicit solution is found for two versions of the model.     

Dissociation dynamics of Ar3 in the time-dependent self-consistent field (TDSCF) approximation

The TDSCF approximation is applied to dissociation of Ar₃, which exhibits strong-coupling behavior (efficient internal energy transfer). The TDSCF results are in excellent agreement with those of exact classical dynamics. Combined with earlier findings for weak-coupling cases, this suggests validity of TDSCF for dissociation at all coupling strengths.