Design, synthesis, and evaluation of a biomimetic artificial photolyase model

Two new artificial photolyase models that recognize pyrimidine dimers in protic and aprotic organic solvents as well as in water through a combination of charge and hydrogen-bonding interactions and use a mimic of the flavine to achieve repair through reductive photoinduced electron transfer are presented. Fluorescence and NMR titration studies show that it forms a 1:1 complex with pyrimidine dimers with binding constants of approximately 10(3) M(-1) in acetonitrile or methanol, while binding constants in water at pH 7.2 are slightly lower. Excitation of the complex with visible light leads to clean and rapid cycloreversion of the pyrimidine dimer through photoinduced electron transfer catalysis. The reaction in water is significantly faster than in organic solvents. The reaction slows down at higher conversions due to product inhibition.     

Multiresolution quantum chemistry in multiwavelet bases: Hartree-Fock exchange

In a previous study we reported an efficient, accurate multiresolution solver for the Kohn-Sham self-consisitent field (KS-SCF) method for general polyatomic molecules. This study presents an efficient numerical algorithm to evalute Hartree-Fock (HF) exchange in the multiresolution SCF method to solve the HF equations. The algorithm employs fast integral convolution with the Poission kernel in the nonstandard form, screening the sparse multiwavelet representation to compute results of the integral operator only where required by the nonlocal exchange operator. Localized molecular obitals are used to attain near linear scaling. Results for atoms and molecules demonstrate reliable precision and speed. Calculations for small water clusters demonstrate a total cost to compute the HF exchange potential for all n(occ) occpuied MOs scaling as O(n(occ) (1.5)).     

Pt(II) or Ag(I) salt catalyzed cycloisomerizations and tandem cycloadditions forming functionalized azacyclic arrays

[reaction: see text] Cyclic ene-N-p-toluenesulfonamides tethered to an electron-deficient alkyne undergo cycloisomerizations readily under the influence of catalytic Pt(II) salts (PtCl2 or [dppbPtmu-OH]2(BF4)2) or AgOTf. Yields for this process range from 47% to 99%. The resulting functionalized 2-azahydrindans can be reacted further using the Diels-Alder reaction. Tandem cycloisomerization-cycloaddition reactions in one pot generate highly functionalized 1-azadecalin ring systems in a highly stereocontrolled manner.     

Analysis of oxidized glycerophosphocholine lipids using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and microderivatization techniques

Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is thought to play an important role in atherogenesis and cardiovascular disease in humans. Oxidized LDL is a complex mixture of many oxidized species, including numerous oxidized glycerophospholipids. Electrospray ionization and tandem mass spectrometry as well as microchemical derivatization of high-performance liquid chromatographically purified fractions derived from oxidized LDL were investigated as means to determine the structure of individual components present in oxidized LDL. One major oxidized phosphocholine lipid had an [M + H](+) ion at m/z 650. Derivatization to the trimethylsilyl ether and methoxime caused shifts in mass which, along with negative ion collision-induced dissociation mass spectra, were consistent with the presence of three species, 1-palmitoyl-2-(9-oxononanoyl)glycerophosphocholine and two isomeric 1-octadecanoyl-2-(hydroxyheptenoyl)glycerophosphocholines. These species were chemically synthesized. Trimethylsilylation of free hydroxyl groups increased the mass of the phospholipid acyl chains containing hydroxyl groups by 72 u. Conversion of carbonyl groups to the methoxylamine derivative increased the mass by 29 u. Ozonolysis of those products which contained double bonds proved to be a facile technique to determine the position and number of double bonds present. The use of these techniques was illustrated in the structural characterization of one major component (m/z 650, positive ions) in oxidized LDL as 1-octadecanoyl-2-(7-hydroxyhepta-5-enoyl)glycerophosphocholi ne. A possible mechanism for the formation of this unique chain-shortened glycerophospholipid is proposed.     

[VO(SeO3)(H2O)2]·0.5H2O

In poly[[diaquaoxido[μ₃‐trioxidoselenato(2−)]vanadium(IV)] hemihydrate], {[VO(SeO₃)(H₂O)₂]·0.5H₂O}_n, the octahedral V(H₂O)₂O₄ and pyramidal SeO₃ building units are linked by V—O—Se bonds to generate ladder‐like chains propagating along the [010] direction. A network of O—H...O hydrogen bonds helps to consolidate the structure. The O atom of the uncoordinated water molecule lies on a crystallographic twofold axis. The title compound has a similar structure to those of the reported phases [VO(OH)(H₂O)(SeO₃)]₄·2H₂O and VO(H₂O)₂(HPO₄)·2H₂O.     

New implementation of molecular double point‐group symmetry in four‐component relativistic Gaussian‐type spinors

A new, practical implementation of double‐group symmetry to relativistic Gaussian spinors is presented for four‐component relativistic molecular calculations. We show that the systematic adaptability to irreducible representations under arbitrary point‐group symmetry, as well as Kramers (time‐reversal) symmetry, is inherent in the present basis spinors, which possess the analytic structure of Dirac atomic spinors. The implementation of double‐group symmetry entails significant computational efficiencies in the relativistic second‐order Møller–Plesset perturbation calculation on Au₂ and the density functional theory (DFT) calculation with the B3LYP functional on octahedral UF₆, in which the highest symmetries used are, respectively, C and D. The four‐component B3LYP equilibrium geometry of UF₆ is reported. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2007     

Microcanonical unimolecular rate theory at surfaces. III. Thermal dissociative chemisorption of methane on Pt(111) and detailed balance

A local hot spot model of gas-surface reactivity is used to investigate the state-resolved dynamics of methane dissociative chemisorption on Pt(111) under thermal equilibrium conditions. Three Pt surface oscillators, and the molecular vibrations, rotations, and the translational energy directed along the surface normal are treated as active degrees of freedom in the 16-dimensional microcanonical kinetics. Several energy transfer models for coupling a local hot spot to the surrounding substrate are developed and evaluated within the context of a master equation kinetics approach. Bounds on the thermal dissociative sticking coefficient based on limiting energy transfer models are derived. The three-parameter physisorbed complex microcanonical unimolecular rate theory (PC-MURT) is shown to closely approximate the thermal sticking under any realistic energy transfer model. Assuming an apparent threshold energy for CH(4) dissociative chemisorption of E(0)=0.61 eV on clean Pt(111), the PC-MURT is used to predict angle-resolved yield, translational, vibrational, and rotational distributions for the reactive methane flux at thermal equilibrium at 500 K. By detailed balance, these same distributions should be observed for the methane product from methyl radical hydrogenation at 500 K in the zero coverage limit if the methyl radicals are not subject to side reactions. Given that methyl radical hydrogenation can only be experimentally observed when the CH(3) radicals are kinetically stabilized against decomposition by coadsorbed H, the PC-MURT was used to evaluate E(0) in the high coverage limit. A high coverage value of E(0)=2.3 eV adequately reproduced the experimentally observed methane angular and translational energy distributions from thermal hydrogenation of methyl radicals. Although rigorous application of detailed balance arguments to this reactive system cannot be made because thermal decomposition of the methyl radicals competes with hydrogenation, approximate applicability of detailed balance would argue for a strong coverage dependence of E(0) with H coverage--a dependence not seen for methyl radical hydrogenation on Ru(0001), but not yet experimentally explored on Pt(111).     

Direct coupling of polymer-based microchip electrophoresis to online MALDI-MS using a rotating ball inlet

We report on the coupling of a polymer-based microfluidic chip to a MALDI-TOF MS using a rotating ball interface. The microfluidic chips were fabricated by micromilling a mold insert into a brass plate, which was then used for replicating polymer microparts via hot embossing. Assembly of the chip was accomplished by thermally annealing a cover slip to the embossed substrate to enclose the channels. The linear separation channel was 50 microm wide, 100 microm deep, and possessed an 8 cm effective length separation channel with a double-T injector (V(inj) = 10 nL). The exit of the separation channel was machined to allow direct contact deposition of effluent onto a specially constructed rotating ball inlet to the mass spectrometer. Matrix addition was accomplished in-line on the surface of the ball. The coupling utilized the ball as the cathode transfer electrode to transport sample into the vacuum for desorption with a 355 nm Nd:YAG laser and analyzed on a TOF mass spectrometer. The ball was cleaned online after every rotation. The ability to couple poly(methylmethacrylate) microchip electrophoresis devices for the separation of peptides and peptide fragments produced from a protein digest with subsequent online MALDI MS detection was demonstrated.