Complexes between recombinant intracellular carriers of vitamin A and their specific ligands investigated by electrospray-mass spectrometry

The intracellular carriers of vitamin A, cellular retinol-binding protein type I, cellular retinol-binding protein type II and cellular retinoic acid-binding protein type I are members of the intracellular lipid-binding proteins family, in which the ligand-binding cavity is located in the interior of a barrel-like structure. The dissociation constants of the specific complexes in water solutions around neutrality are very low (in the 0.1 to 10 nM range). Because of their high stability, they represent ideal systems to verify the adequacy of electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry in the analysis of non-covalent protein-ligand complexes. The electrospray interface parameters were varied to detect the presence of species not present in solution but generated as artefacts during transfer of complexes from the condensed state to the gas-phase. The results clearly indicate that mass-spectrometry data reflect the situation present in solution only if the electrospray conditions are carefully selected. In particular, the values of cone voltage and temperature compatible with persistence of the complexes in the gas phase were determined for each vitamin A carrier. Lack of correlation between complex stability in solution and in the gas phase is attributable to the specific and differential effects of the two environments on protein conformation and ligand-protein interactions.     

Electrochemical oxidation of phenol at boron-doped diamond electrode. Application to electro-organic synthesis and wastewater treatment

The electrochemical behaviour of a synthetic boron-doped diamond thin film electrode (BDD) has been studied in acid media containing phenol using cyclic voltammetry and bulk electrolysis. The results have shown that in the potential region of water stability direct electron transfers can occur on BDD surface resulting in electrode fouling due to the formation of a polymeric film on its surface. During electrolysis in the potential region of oxygen evolution, complex oxidation reactions can take place due to electrogenerated hydroxyl radicals. Electrode fouling is inhibited under these conditions. Depending on the experimental conditions, the electrogenerated hydroxyl radicals can lead to the combustion of phenol or to the selective oxidation of phenol to benzoquinone. The experimental results have also been compared to a theoretical model that permits the prediction of the evolution with time of phenol concentration, during its combustion, or during its selective oxidation to benzoquinone.     

Variant-action independence of physical quantities in lattice gauge theories

The ratioR=G/σ ² of the gluon condensate parameter over the square of the string tension is measured by Montecarlo simulation ofSU (2) gauge theory on a lattice, and shown to be variant-action independent. This result supports the statement that variant-actions belong to the same class of universality.     

Synthesis and reactivity of some 6-substituted-2,4-dimethyl-3-pyridinols, a novel class of chain-breaking antioxidants

The synthesis and study of a series of 6-substituted-2,4-dimethyl-3-pyridinols having interesting antioxidant properties is reported. The general synthetic strategy leading to the compounds involved a low-temperature aryl bromide-to-alcohol conversion as the last step. 2,4-dimethyl-3-pyridinol (1a), 2,4,6-trimethyl-3-pyridinol (1b), and 2,4-dimethyl-6-(dimethylamino)-3-pyridinol (1d) were thus prepared from the corresponding 3-bromopyridine precursor. The methoxy derivative 2,4-dimethyl-6-(methoxy)-3-pyridinol (1c) was also prepared by an alternate route via a Baeyer-Villiger reaction on the substituted benzaldehyde precursor. Novel bicyclic pyridinols 2 and 3 required prior construction of the ring structure. Thus, 2 was prepared by the use of a 6-step intramolecular Friedel-Crafts strategy, and 3 required an 11-step sequence with a thermolytic intramolecular inverse-demand Diels-Alder reaction between a pyrimidine ring and an alkyne as the key step. Basicities of the pyridinols approached physiological pH with increasing electron density in the ring. Pyridinols 1a-d were found to be indefinitely stable to air oxidation while 2 and 3 decomposed upon extended exposure to the atmosphere. The reactivities of the pyridinols toward chain-carrying peroxyl radicals in homogeneous organic solution were examined by studying the kinetics of radical-initiated styrene autoxidations under controlled conditions. These experiments revealed that some of the newly synthesized pyridinols are the most effective phenolic chain-breaking antioxidants reported to date.     

Gel-like lyomesophases formed in organic solvents by self-assembled guanine ribbons

Lipophilic guanosine derivatives are self-assembled into ribbonlike aggregates, both in the crystal state and in solution. The structure of the ribbons has been characterised by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and, in solution, by NMR spectroscopy and ESI-MS. Two different ribbons with different patterns of hydrogen bonds are present in the solid state and in chloroform solutions. The gel-like phases obtained in hexadecane, toluene and chloroform have been investigated by optical microscopy and small-angle X-ray diffraction: the type of phase observed is related to the molecular structure of the compounds and depends dramatically on the solvent. The structures of the phases are discussed, with the presence of the two different ribbons being taken into account.     

Some Cyclic Oligopeptide with S2n Symmetry

Some cyclic oligopeptides formed by an equal number of alternating D- and L-amino-acid residues have been synthesized by using the hydrochloride of the open-chain peptide acid as precursor and the mixed-anhydride condensation method. The cyclic oligopeptides (tetra-, hexa-, and octavaline, hexaleucine, and hexaphenylalanine) form very stable H-bonded structures (IR-amide band at 3270–3290 cm^?1) which are insoluble in common organic solvents. In CF₃COOH/CDCI₃ (25°), they yield ¹H-NMR spectra snowing the expected equivalency of the various amino-acid residues.     

The determination of traces of arsenic in water by arsine generation and radiometric analysis

A tracer method based on the concentration-dependent distribution principle has been developed for trace arsenic determination. Standard and sample arsenic solutions labelled with a fixed amount of radioactive arsenic-74 are isolated by arsine generation with sodium borohydride followed by absorption in potassium iodide—iodine solution. The separated arsenic(III) is then extracted with equal but limited amounts of zinc diethyldithiocarbamate in chloroform and determined radiometrically by the concentration-dependent distribution principle. The method is practically free from interferences, and arsenic in aqueous solution as low as 0.5 ng ml^-1 can be determined. Results for natural and environmental water samples are compared with results obtained by the arsine generation-atomic absorption technique.     

Ultrathin TiO(x) films on Pt(111): a LEED, XPS, and STM investigation

Ultrathin ordered titanium oxide films on Pt(111) surface are prepared by reactive evaporation of Ti in oxygen. By varying the Ti dose and the annealing conditions (i.e., temperature and oxygen pressure), six different long-range ordered phases are obtained. They are characterized by means of low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS), and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). By careful optimization of the preparative parameters, we find conditions where predominantly single phases of TiO(x), revealing distinct LEED pattern and STM images, are produced. XPS binding energy and photoelectron diffraction (XPD) data indicate that all the phases, except one (the stoichiometric rect-TiO2), are one monolayer thick and composed of a Ti-O bilayer with interfacial Ti. Atomically resolved STM images confirm that these TiO(x) phases wet the Pt surface, in contrast to rect-TiO2. This indicates their interface stabilization. At a low Ti dose (0.4 monolayer equivalents, MLE), an incommensurate kagomé-like low-density phase (k-TiO(x) phase) is observed where hexagons are sharing their vertexes. At a higher Ti dose (0.8 MLE), two denser phases are found, both characterized by a zigzag motif (z- and z'-TiO(x) phases), but with distinct rectangular unit cells. Among them, z'-TiO(x), which is obtained by annealing in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV), shows a larger unit cell. When the postannealing of the 0.8 MLE deposit is carried out at high temperatures and high oxygen partial pressures, the incommensurate nonwetting, fully oxidized rect-TiO2 is found The symmetry and lattice dimensions are almost identical with rect-VO2, observed in the system VO(x)/Pd(111). At a higher coverage (1.2 MLE), two commensurate hexagonal phases are formed, namely the w- [(square root(43) x square root(43)) R 7.6 degrees] and w'-TiO(x) phase [(7 x 7) R 21.8 degrees]. They show wagon-wheel-like structures and have slightly different lattice dimensions. Larger Ti deposits produce TiO2 nanoclusters on top of the different monolayer films, as supported both by XPS and STM data. Besides the formation of TiO(x) surfaces phases, wormlike features are found on the bare parts of the substrate by STM. We suggest that these structures, probably multilayer disordered TiO2, represent growth precursors of the ordered phases. Our results on the different nanostructures are compared with literature data on similar systems, e.g., VO(x)/Pd(111), VO(x)/Rh(111), TiO(x)/Pd(111), TiO(x)/Pt(111), and TiO(x)/Ru(0001). Similar and distinct features are observed in the TiO(x)/Pt(111) case, which may be related to the different chemical natures of the overlayer and of the substrate.     

Dynamics of the O(3P) + C2H4 reaction: identification of five primary product channels (vinoxy, acetyl, methyl, methylene, and ketene) and branching ratios by the crossed molecular beam technique with soft electron ionization

The crossed molecular beam scattering technique with soft electron ionization (EI) is used to disentangle the complex dynamics of the polyatomic O(3P) + C2H4 reaction, which is of great relevance in combustion and atmospheric chemistry. Exploiting the newly developed capability of attaining universal product detection by using soft EI, at a collision energy of 54.0 kJ mol(-1), five different primary products have been identified, which correspond to the five exoergic competing channels leading to CH2CHO(vinoxy) + H, CH3CO(acetyl) + H, CH3(methyl) + HCO(formyl), CH2(methylene) + HCHO(formaldehyde), and CH2CO(ketene) + H2. From laboratory product angular and velocity distributions, center-of-mass product angular and translational energy distributions and the relative branching ratios for each channel have been obtained, affording an unprecedented characterization of this important reaction.     

Complete active-space configuration interaction with optimized orbitals: Application to Li2

We performed CAS –CI calculations on Li₂ using a set of molecular orbitals (MO ) optimized with a procedure that, in the case of highly symmetric molecules, permits extraction of a small set of MO out of a large set of atomic orbitals (AO ). The dimension of the CAS –CI space was of about 12 million symmetry-adapted determinants. We determined some spectroscopic constants of Li₂ with three different atomic basis sets of increasing quality. The values obtained with the largest atomic basis set are very close to the experimental results. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.