Optimization of in-gel protein digestion system in combination with thin-gel separation and negative staining in 96-well plate format

Improvement of in-gel digestion efficiency is highly desirable for one- or two-dimensional gel electrophoretic separation and mass spectrometric (MS) analysis in proteomics, because the resultant increases in sequence coverage and MS signal intensity lead to higher confidence in protein identification. Here an optimized in-gel digestion system, in combination with thin-gel separation and negative staining in a high-throughput format using 96-well plates, is described. The combination of negative staining and protein separation on a 0.9 mm thick gel showed a clear improvement in in-gel digestion efficiency in comparison with the more typical protocols such as the combination of silver staining and a 1.0 mm gel. In addition, the use of 96-well plates to increase throughput did not decrease the efficiency of this strategy when the stirring of the gel pieces in processes such as destaining, washing, gel-shrinking and peptide extraction was performed by sonication instead of shaking the plates. This procedure was optimized and applied to identify proteins of the postsynaptic density fraction; 105 proteins were identified after SDS-PAGE separation.     

Concise synthesis of pyrrolophenanthridine alkaloids using a Pd-mediated biaryl coupling reaction with regioselective C-H activation via the intramolecular coordination of the amine to Pd

The concise synthesis of Amaryllidaceae alkaloids, such as anhydrolycorinone, anhydrolycorin-7-one, assoanine, and oxoassoanine, which have a pyrrolophenanthridine skeleton, was achieved in moderate yield using the Pd-mediated biaryl coupling reaction of 1-(2-halobenzyl)-2,3-dihydroindole, which applied the regioselective C-H activation method with intramolecular coordination of the benzylamino group to Pd.     

Post-oxidative conversion of thiol residue to sulfonic acid in the binding sites of molecularly imprinted polymers: disulfide based covalent molecular imprinting for basic compounds

An imprinted polymer using a disulfide derivative as a template was treated with NaBH4 to yield the polymer with thiol groups in the binding sites. The thiol groups were then oxidized with H2O2/AcOH to yield the molecularly imprinted polymer with sulfo groups in the binding sites. This site conversion can provide amine-imprinted polymers, in which amine is retained to the imprinted polymer by the strong electrostatic interaction between the amino group and the sulfo group in the binding sites.     

Signaling molecularly imprinted polymers: molecular recognition-based sensing materials

Molecular imprinting is a template polymerization technique that can easily provide synthetic polymers capable of molecular recognition for given target molecules. In addition to their highly specific recognition ability, we are attempting to introduce signaling functions to molecularly imprinted polymers, enabling them to respond according to specific binding events. Some of our work regarding such signaling molecularly imprinted polymers is presented here, including molecularly imprinted polymers that induce spectral shifts of target compounds because of binding. Such compounds include hydrogen-bonding-based fluorescent imprinted polymers and metalloporphyrin-based signaling molecularly imprinted polymers.     

Selective flow-injection determination of methanol in the presence of ethanol based on a multi-enzyme system with chemiluminescence detection

A highly selective flow-injection system was developed for the determination of methanol. The system consisted of three immobilized enzymes with luminol chemiluminescence detection. First, methanol was oxidized in the presence of alcohol oxidase to yield formaldehyde and hydrogen peroxide. The hydrogen peroxide produced was then destroyed by catalase. The formaldehyde formed in the first stage was further oxidized by NAD⁺-formaldehyde dehydrogenase. The NADH formed was oxidized by 1-methoxy-5-methylphenazinium methylsulphate (1-MPMS), and finally the reduced 1-MPMS was spontaneously oxidized and hydrogen peroxide was produced. The concentration of the hydrogen peroxide produced, which was proportional to the initial concentration of methanol, was determined by luminol chemiluminescence. The determination range was from 0.1 to 100 mg l⁻¹ and the response time was less than 2 min per sample with a relative standard deviation of less than 3%. The system showed good selectivity for methanol; the response was ca. 50 times higher than for ethanol.     

Sample enrichment by using monolithic precolumns in microcolumn liquid chromatography

An on-line sample enrichment system was designed using monolithic precolumns in microcolumn LC. The monolithic ODS capillary columns were prepared via in situ sol-gel processes. The enrichment efficiency of the monolithic columns was tested by using phthalates as the analytes. The relative standard deviations (n = 6) for the retention time, peak area and peak height were between 0.4 and 1.2%, 0.9 and 5.5% and 0.4 and 3.9%, respectively. The system was linear (R2 > 0.99) within the working sample concentration and sample volume ranges. Comparing to 0.2 microl injection with a typical sample injector, the theoretical plate number of a same separation column was increased by 3-6-fold when the precolumn unit was used for sample injection. The recoveries of the analytes were between 88 and 120%, and the sample volume that could be injected into the system was increased up to 5000-fold. The limits of detection were improved by more than 2000-fold and were between 0.21 and 0.87 ng ml(-1) even with a UV absorbance detector. This system was applied to the determination of phthalates contained in laboratory distilled water and tap water samples.     

Fluorometric detection with a packed flow cell in micro high-performance liquid chromatography

Summary A packed flow cell was used for fluorometric detection in micro high-performance liquid chromatography. The flow cell consisted of fused-silica tubing packed with the same material as the separation column. A focusing effect of the stationary phase on the signal intensity was observed, leading to an improvement of the mass detection limit, as achieved by on-column detection.     

Spongistatin synthetic studies. An efficient, second-generation construction of an advanced ABCD intermediate

[reaction: see text] A short, efficient, and stereocontrolled synthesis of (-)-4, an advanced ABCD subunit of the spongistatins, has been achieved. Central to the synthetic strategy is the multicomponent linchpin union of silyl dithianes with epoxides to access both the AB and CD fragments. Fragment coupling was then achieved via an efficient stereoselective aldol reaction. The linear sequence required 22 steps and proceeded in 4.0% overall yield.