Hypolipidemic potential of flowers of Nerium oleander in high fat diet-fed Sprague Dawley rats

Nerium oleander Linn. (NO), an evergreen shrub, is used in folklore medicine as a cardiotonic and exhibits a wide spectrum of bioactivities. Herein, the hypolipidemic potential of the ethanolic extract of flowers of Nerium oleander (ENO) in a minimal dose was assessed. A high fat diet (HFD) resulted in a significant increase in cardiac lipids and lipoproteins and an increase in body weight gain. Simultaneous treatment with ENO significantly lowered the increase in body weight gain, lipid and lipoprotein levels, with a concomitant increase in HDL in the plasma and heart when compared to HFD-fed rats. Likewise, the activities of lipolytic enzymes were also upheld by the ENO treatment in the heart compared to HFD-fed rats. The above findings highlight the possible mechanism of N. oleander as a hypolipidemic agent in its use in folklore medicine as a cardiotonic.     

Cytotoxic copper(II) complex of tripyridoquinoxaline with DNA hydrolase activity

A monomeric copper(II) complex, [Cu(tpq)₂(H₂O)₂](ClO₄)₂, (tpq = tripyridoquinoxaline), has been synthesized and characterized spectroscopically. This complex has been found to bind DNA intercalatively and the DNA binding constant, K_b, for this complex has been determined from absorption measurements and was found to be (5.7 ± 0.3) × 10³ M⁻¹. This complex successfully promotes hydrolytic cleavage of plasmid DNA, producing single and double DNA strand breaks in the absence of any added cofactor. The amount of conversion of the supercoiled form of plasmid to the nicked circular form depends on the concentration of the copper complex as well as the duration of the incubation of the complex with DNA. The rate of conversion of SC to NC has been determined to be 2.65 × 10⁻⁴ s⁻¹ at pH 7.2 in the presence of 80 μM of the complex. This complex has also been shown to be cytotoxic towards A549 lung adenocarcinoma cells. This complex has been shown to bring about apoptosis of the cancerous A549 cell line.     

Regioselective synthesis of 2,3,4- or 2,3,5-trisubstituted pyrroles via [3,3] or [1,3] rearrangements of O-vinyl oximes

The regioselective synthesis of 2,3,4- or 2,3,5-trisubstituted pyrroles has been achieved via [3,3] and [1,3] sigmatropic rearrangements of O-vinyl oximes, respectively. Iridium-catalyzed isomerization of easily prepared O-allyl oximes enables rapid access to O-vinyl oximes. The regioselectivity of pyrrole formation can be controlled by either the identity of the α-substituent or through the addition of an amine base. When enolization is favored, a [3,3] rearrangement followed by a Paal-Knorr cyclization provides a 2,3,4-trisubstituted pyrrole; when enolization is disfavored, a [1,3] rearrangement occurs prior to enolization to produce a 2,3,5-trisubstituted pyrrole after cyclization. Optimization and scope of the O-allyl oxime isomerization and subsequent pyrrole formation are discussed and mechanistic pathways are proposed. Conditions are provided for selecting either the [3,3] rearrangement or the [1,3] rearrangement product with β-ester O-allyl oxime substrates.     

Electrochemistry/liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry as a tool in metabolism studies

Electrochemistry/liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry is a powerful complementary tool for the simulation of the oxidative metabolism of drugs and other xenobiotics.     

Vinyldisiloxanes: their synthesis, cross coupling and applications

During the studies towards the development of pentafluorophenyldimethylsilanes as a novel organosilicon cross coupling reagent it was revealed that the active silanolate and the corresponding disiloxane formed rapidly under basic conditions. The discovery that disiloxanes are in equilibrium with the silanolate led to the use of disiloxanes as cross coupling partners under fluoride free conditions. Our previous report focused on the synthesis and base induced cross coupling of aryl substituted vinyldisiloxanes with aryl halides; good yields and selectivities were achieved. As a continuation of our research, studies into the factors which influence the successful outcome of the cross coupling reaction with both alkyl and aryl substituted vinyldisiloxanes were examined and a proposed mechanism discussed. Further investigation into expanding the breadth and diversity of substituted vinyldisiloxanes in cross coupling was explored and applied to the synthesis of unsymmetrical trans-stilbenes and cyclic structures containing the trans-alkene architecture.     

Rapid Perturbation of Free‐Energy Landscapes: From In Vitro to In Vivo

Biological systems are often studied under the most “physiological” conditions possible. However, purposeful perturbation of biological systems can provide much information about their dynamics, robustness, and function. Such perturbations are particularly easy to apply at the interface of molecular biophysics and cellular biology, at which complex and highly regulated networks emerge from the behavior of individual biomolecules. Due to the size of diffusion coefficients and the length scale of biomolecules, the fastest timescales at this interface extend to below a microsecond. Thus perturbations must be induced and detected rapidly. We focus on examples of proteins and RNAs interacting with themselves (folding) or one another (binding, signaling). Beginning with general principles that have been learned from simple models and perturbation experiments in vitro, we progress to more complex environments that mimic aspects of the living cell, and finally rapid perturbation experiments in living cells. On the experimental side we highlight in particular two classes of rapid perturbation methods (nanoseconds to seconds) that have been traditionally employed in biophysical chemistry, but that will become increasingly important in cell biology and in vivo: fast relaxation techniques and phase‐sensitive modulation techniques. These techniques are now increasingly married with imaging to produce a spatiotemporal map of biomolecular stability, dynamics and, in the near future, interaction networks inside cells. Many important chemical processes occur on biologically fast timescales, and yet have important ramifications for slower biological networks.     

Fibrils and nanotubes assembled from a modified amyloid-β peptide fragment differ in the packing of the same β-sheet building blocks

The peptide AAKLVFF assembles into fibrils in water and nanotubes in methanol. Solid-state NMR data are consistent with fibrils constructed from β-sheet bilayers and nanotubes bounded by a wall of offset β-sheet monolayers. Remarkably distinct morphologies are thus traced to subtle differences in the arrangement of the same fundamental building blocks.     

The Primitive Permutation Groups of Degree Less Than 4096

In this article we use the Classification of the Finite Simple Groups, the O'Nan–Scott Theorem, and Aschbacher's theorem to classify the primitive permutation groups of degree less than 4096. The results will be added to the primitive groups databases of GAP and MAGMA.     

The effect of solvent additives on morphology and excited-state dynamics in PCPDTBT:PCBM photovoltaic blends

The dependence of the thin film morphology and excited-state dynamics for the low-bandgap donor-acceptor copolymer poly[2,6-(4,4-bis-(2-ethylhexyl)-4H-cyclopenta[2,1-b;3,4-b']-dithiophene)-alt-4,7-(2,1,3-benzothiadiazole)] (PCPDTBT) in pristine films and in blends (1:2) with [6,6]-phenyl-C(61)-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) on the use of the solvent additive 1,8-octanedithiol (ODT) is studied by solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and broadband visible and near-infrared pump-probe transient absorption spectroscopy (TAS) covering a spectral range from 500-2000 nm. The latter allows monitoring of the dynamics of excitons, bound interfacial charge-transfer (CT) states, and free charge carriers over a time range from femto- to microseconds. The broadband pump-probe experiments reveal that excitons are not only generated in the polymer but also in PCBM-rich domains. Depending on the morphology controlled by the use of solvent additives, polymer excitons undergo mainly ultrafast dissociation (<100 fs) in blends prepared without ODT or diffusion-limited dissociation in samples prepared with ODT. Excitons generated in PCBM diffuse slowly to the interface in both samples and undergo dissociation on a time scale of several tens of picoseconds up to hundreds of picoseconds. In both samples a significant fraction of the excitons creates strongly bound interfacial CT states, which exhibit subnanosecond geminate recombination. The total internal quantum efficiency loss due to geminate recombination is estimated to be 50% in samples prepared without ODT and is found to be reduced to 30% with ODT, indicating that more free charges are generated in samples prepared with solvent additives. In samples prepared with ODT, the free charges exhibit clear intensity-dependent recombination dynamics, which can be modeled by Langevin-type recombination with a bimolecular recombination coefficient of 6.3 × 10(-11) cm(3) s(-1). In samples prepared without ODT, an additional nanosecond recombination of polaron pairs is observed in conjunction with an increased intensity-independent trap-assisted nongeminate recombination of charges. Furthermore, a comparison of the triplet-induced absorption spectra of PCPDTBT with the charge-induced absorption in PCPDTBT:PCBM blends reveals that triplets have a very similar excited-state absorption spectrum compared to the free charge carriers, however, in contrast have a distinct intensity-independent lifetime. Overall, our results suggest that whether free charges or strongly bound CT states are created upon dissociation of excitons at the PCPDTBT:PCBM interface is determined instantaneously upon exciton dissociation and that once formed strongly bound CT states rapidly recombine and thus are unlikely to dissociate into free charges. The observation of a significantly larger bimolecular recombination coefficient than previously determined for poly(3-hexylthiophen-2,5-diyl):PCBM (P3HT:PCBM) and PCDTBT:PCBM samples indicates that nongeminate recombination of free charges considerably competes with charge extraction in PCPDTBT:PCBM photovoltaic devices.