New C(2)‐substituted 8‐alkylsulfanyl‐9‐phenylmethyl‐hypoxanthines III

Title compounds were obtained starting from the key imidazole intermediate, 5‐amino‐1‐phenyl‐methyl‐2‐mercapto‐1H‐imidazole‐4‐carboxylic acid amide 5 , readily derived from the base catalyzed rearrangement of a thiazole, 5‐amino‐2‐phenylmethylaminothiazole‐4‐carboxylic acid amide 4 . Alkylation of the thiol function on 5 with phenylmethyl and allylic chlorides gave compounds 6 and 7 respectively. Cyclization of 6 with a variety of esters afforded 8‐phenylmethylthiohypoxanthines, 8–11 . Similarly, 7 was cyclized to 8‐allylthiohypoxanthines, 20–21 . Compound 5 was also cyclized, but formed 8‐mercaptohypox‐anthines, 22–24 . Alkylation of 8‐mercaptohypoxanthines afforded 8‐alkylthiohypoxanthines, 8, 9,25 and 26 (see Scheme 2). Chlorination of 9–11 afforded 16–18 ; adenine 19 was derived from 16 . Oxidation of hypox‐anthines 8–11 with m‐chloroperbenzoic acid gave the corresponding 8‐phenylmethylsulfonyl derivatives 12 ‐ 15 . These derivatives proved resistant to nucleophilic displacement reactions with primary amines.     

Ultraviolet A radiation induces rapid apoptosis of human leukemia cells by Fas ligand-independent activation of the Fas death pathways

Endogenous cellular chromophores absorb ultraviolet A radiation (UVA, 290-320 nm), the major UV component of terrestrial solar radiation, leading to the formation of reactive oxidizing species that initiate apoptosis, gene expression and mutagenesis. UVA-induced apoptosis of T helper cells is believed to underlie the UVA phototherapy for atopic dermatitis and other T cell-mediated inflammatory skin diseases. We have evaluated the involvement of the Fas-Fas ligand (FasL) pathway in rapid UVA-induced apoptosis in human leukemia HL-60 cells. UVA-induced apoptosis was not inhibited by pretreatment with a neutralizing anti-Fas antibody, although the same UVA treatment initiated cleavage of caspase-8 and subsequent processing of Bid and caspase-3-like proteases. Inhibition of caspase-8 by Lle-Glu (OMe)-Thr-Asp(OMe)-fluoromethyl ketone completely blocked caspase-3 cleavage and apoptosis in UVA-treated cells, suggesting that apoptosis was initiated by the Fas pathway. This inference was supported by demonstrating that immunoprecipitates obtained from UVA-treated cells using anti-Fas antibody contained caspase-8 and Fas-associating protein with death domain (FADD). In addition, Fas clustering in response to UVA treatment was observed by immunofluorescence microscopy. These data support a mechanism for rapid, UVA-induced apoptosis in HL-60 cells involving initial formation of the Fas-FADD-caspase-8 death complex in an FasL-independent manner.     

RELAXATION OF VASCULAR SMOOTH MUSCLE INDUCED BY LOW-POWER LASER RADIATION

The relaxation of rabbit aorta rings induced by low-power laser radiation was investigated in vitro to determine the location of the chromophore(s) responsible for this response and evaluate possible mechanisms. An action spectrum for relaxation was measured on rabbit thoracic aorta rings precontracted with norepinephrine. The decrease in isometric tension was measured during exposure to laser light (351–625 nm) delivered via a fiber optic to a small spot on the adventitial surface. The shortest UV wavelength (351 nm) was 35-fold more effective than 390 nm and 1700-fold more effective than 460 nm. Ultraviolet wavelengths also produced greater maximum relaxation (0.40–0.45) than visible wavelengths (0.20–0.25), suggesting that photovasorelaxation involves more than one chromophore.
The adventitial layer was not necessary for photovasorelaxation, indicating that the light is absorbed by a chromophore in the medial layer. The same degree of relaxation was obtained on rings without adventitia when either one-half of the ring, or a small spot was irradiated indicating that communication between smooth muscle cells spreads a signal from the area illuminated to the entire ring.
The mechanism for photovasorelaxation was investigated using potential inhibitors. N -monomethyl-l-arginine and N -amino-L-arginine, inhibitors of nitric oxide synthase, did not alter photovasorelaxation nor did indomethacin, an inhibitor of cyclooxygenase, and zinc protoporphyrin, an inhibitor of heme oxygenase.     

4-Currents in relativistic quantum chemistry

Some topics in relativistic quantum chemistry are reviewed with special emphasis on 4-currents and 4-potentials. It is shown that, both in molecular quantum theory and in solid-state physics, calculations can include relativistic and magnetic effects by means of 4-currents without an excessive increase in complication, provided that 4-component Dirac spinors are used rather than the Pauli approximation. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Geometry, phase stability, and electronic properties of isolated selenium chains incorporated in a nanoporous matrix

We report the fabrication process of isolated one-dimensional Se chains incorporated in the matrix of AlPO4-5 single crystals and the experimental investigation of the geometry, phase stability, electronic properties, and electron-phonon coupling effect of these Se chains. The structure of the helical Se chains inside the channels is discussed on the basis of X-ray scattering measurements. Thermal analysis and temperature-dependent micro-Raman measurements show that Se single chains are flexible and can convert from a weak distorted phase into another phase with strongly disordered structure ("melting" state) around 340 K. Since the electrons are confined in the one-dimensional channels, the absorption band of the Se chain is obviously blue shifted compared with that of trigonal Se. With increasing temperature, this band shifts linearly to the lower energy side, in sharp contrast to the nonlinear temperature coefficient of trigonal Se, which is attributed to the greatly diminished interchain interaction and the weakening of the electron-optical phonon coupling in a low-dimensional system. In the vicinity of the absorption band, both first-order and second-order Raman signals for the Se chain are enhanced, due to the strong electron-phonon coupling when the excitation laser energy matches the electronic transition in isolated Se chains.     

8-Methoxypsoralen and long-wave ultraviolet A inhibit the release of proinflammatory mediators and cytokines from human Fc epsilon RI+ cells: an in vitro study

The in vitro effects of 8-MOP (concentrations of 20, 100 and 500 ng/ml) alone or in combination with UVA on mediator release from human basophils and skin mast cells (HSMC), activated with immunological and non-immunological stimuli, were investigated. With respect to basophils activated with anti-IgE serum, the results of this study show that: (i) 8-MOP alone inhibits histamine, LTC(4), IL-4 and IL-13 release concentration dependently with a maximal effect at 500 ng/ml (a concentration not reached in vivo); and (ii) UVA irradiation (5 J/cm(2)), after 8-MOP incubation, enhances this inhibitory effect on all released mediators, but for IL-4 and IL-13 the percentage inhibition is also significant for the 8-MOP concentrations (20-100 ng/ml) employed in vivo during PUVA treatment. Moreover, histamine release from basophils activated with non-immunological stimuli (FMLP and A23187) is inhibited by 8-MOP, alone or in combination with UVA. With respect to the HSMC activated with anti-IgE serum, the results show that: (i) 8-MOP alone reduces histamine release concentration dependently; and (ii) this inhibitory effect is enhanced by UVA irradiation (5 J/cm(2)). Histamine release from HSMC activated with A23187 is not modified either by 8-MOP alone or by 8-MOP plus UVA.     

1,3,4-Benzotriazepinones. Formation and rearrangement

Anthranilic hydrazide reacts with orthoesters to produce mixtures of 3 products: 3,4-dihyro-5H-1,3,4-benzotriazepin-5-ones ( 1 ), 3-amino-3,4-dihydro-4-quinazolinones ( 2 ) and 2-(2-aminophenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazoles ( 4 ). The origin of these materials has been investigated. Product distributions depend on the nature of substituents, solvent and time. In ethanol benzotriazepinones are kinetically favored, but formed reversibly they subsequently rearrange to 2 and 4 . Aminoquinazolinone formation is suppressed in aprotic solvents at moderate temperatures. Earlier failures to obtain 1 are due to its tendency to isomerize. Acid, base and thermal rearrangements have been observed. Mechanisms are proposed for the formation of 1, 2 and 4 , and for the rearrangements of the benzotriazepinones. Pyrazolo- and imidazotriazepinones have been prepared from the corresponding o-aminoazole hydrazides.     

The synthesis of a potential bisintercalating ethidium bromide analog

The synthesis of diethyl-1,3,4,13b-tetrahydro-13b-phenyl-2H-pyrimido[1,2-f]phenanthridine-7,12-dicarba-mate and N,N′-3,3′[5,5′-Bis(3,8-biscarbethoxyamino-6-phenyl)phenanthridinium]propylglutarylamide dichloride are reported starting from 3,8-biscarbethoxyamino-5-(3′-bromopropyl)-6-phenylphenanthridinium bromide.     

Phonon-driven exciton dissociation at donor-acceptor polymer heterojunctions: direct versus bridge-mediated vibronic coupling pathways

We present a molecular-level, quantum dynamical analysis of phonon-driven exciton dissociation at polymer heterojunctions, using a linear vibronic coupling model parametrized for 3 electronic states and 24 vibrational modes. Quantum dynamical simulations were carried out using the multiconfiguration time-dependent Hartree method. In this study, which significantly extends the two-state model of Tamura et al. (Tamura, H.; Bittner, E. R.; Burghardt, I. J. Chem. Phys. 2007, 126, 021103), we focus on the role of bridge states, which can mediate the decay of the photogenerated exciton and possibly interfere with the direct transition toward an interfacial charge-separated state. Both the direct and bridge-mediated pathways are found to depend critically on the dynamical interplay of high-frequency C=C stretch modes and low-frequency ring-torsional modes. The dynamical mechanism is interpreted in terms of a hierarchical electron-phonon model, leading to the identification of generalized reaction coordinates for the nonadiabatic process. Variation of the vibronic coupling model parameters in a realistic range provides evidence that the direct exciton decay pathway is not dynamically robust, and bridge-mediated pathways can become dominant. The ultrafast, coherent dynamics is of pronounced nonequilibrium character and cannot be modeled by conventional kinetic equations. The predicted femtosecond to picosecond decay times are consistent with time-resolved spectroscopic observations.     

Docking of noncompetitive inhibitors into dengue virus type 2 protease: understanding the interactions with allosteric binding sites

A group of flavanones and their chalcones, isolated from Boesenbergia rotunda L., were previously reported to show varying degrees of noncompetitive inhibitory activities toward Dengue virus type 2 (Den2) protease. Results obtained from automated docking studies are in agreement with experimental data in which the ligands were shown to bind to sites other than the active site of the protease. The calculated K(i) values are very small, indicating that the ligands bind quite well to the allosteric binding site. Greater inhibition by pinostrobin, compared to the other compounds, can be explained by H-bonding interaction with the backbone carbonyl of Lys74, which is bonded to Asp75 (one of the catalytic triad residues). In addition, structure-activity relationship analysis yields structural information that may be useful for designing more effective therapeutic drugs against dengue virus infections.