Origin of the acidity enhancement of formic acid over methanol: resonance versus inductive effects

Density functional theory calculations were employed to study the relative contribution of resonance versus inductive effects toward the 37 kcal/mol enhanced gas-phase acidity (DeltaH degrees (acid)) of formic acid (1) over methanol (2). The gas-phase acidities of formic acid, methanol, vinyl alcohol (5), and their vinylogues (6, 8, and 9) were calculated at the B3LYP/6-31+G level of theory. Additionally, acidities were calculated for the formic acid and vinyl alcohol vinylogues in which the formyl group and the vinyl group, respectively, were perpendicular to the rest of the conjugated system. Comparisons among these calculated acidities suggest that inductive effects are the predominant effects responsible for the enhanced acidity of formic acid over methanol, accounting for between roughly 62% and 65% of the total enhanced acidity; the remaining 38% to 35% of the acidity enhancement appears to be due to resonance effects. Further comparisons suggest that resonance effects are between roughly 58% and 65% of the 26 kcal/mol calculated acidity enhancement of vinyl alcohol over methanol, and the remaining 42% to 35% are due to inductive effects.     

Inhomogeneous Distribution of Cationic Surfactants around Anionic Molecular Clusters

An interesting phenomenon is reported when uranyl peroxide nanoclusters U₆₀ (Li_48+mK₁₂(OH)_m[UO₂(O₂)(OH)]₆₀ (H₂O)_n, m≈20 and n≈310) interact with a small number of cationic surfactant molecules. Cationic surfactant molecules do not distribute evenly around the U₆₀ clusters during the interaction as expected. Instead, a small fraction of U₆₀ clusters attract almost all the surfactant molecules, leading to the self-assembly into supramolecular structures by using surfactant–U₆₀ complexes as building locks, and later further aggregate and precipitate based on hydrophobic interaction, whereas the rest of the clusters remained unbounded soluble macroions in bulk dispersion. This phenomenon nicely demonstrates a unique feature of macroion solutions. Considering that Debye–Hückel approximation is no longer valid in such solutions, the competition between the local electrostatic interaction and hydrophobic interaction becomes important to regulate the solution behaviors of macroions.     

Unexpected solid-state photochemistry of an alpha-thiophenyl-alpha'-thiophenyl-S,S-dioxo-substituted ketone

Samples of 2,4-dimethyl-2-(thiophen-3-yl)-4-(thiophen-3-yl-S,S-dioxo)pentan-3-one 2 were obtained by controlled MCPBA oxidation of 2,4-dimethyl-2,4-di(thiophen-3-yl)pentan-3-one 1. Rather than the expected photodecarbonylation, UV--vis irradiation of 2 led to the intramolecular 2 + 2 photocycloaddition product 5 in quantitative yields (by GC and NMR) both in solution and in crystalline solid state. Detailed X-ray powder diffraction analyses revealed that the solid-state reaction of sulfone 2 occurs with a loss of long-range order despite retaining some birefringence under polarized microscopy.     

Topical treatment with OGG1 enzyme affects UVB-induced skin carcinogenesis

Nonmelanoma skin cancer resulting from UVB exposure is a large and growing problem in the United States. Production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) during the UVB-induced inflammatory response results in the formation of oxidative DNA adducts such as 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanine (8-oxo-dG), which have been shown to contribute to the development of this cancer. The 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase (OGG1) enzyme repairs 8-oxo-dG adducts, suggesting that enhancing its activity in the skin might increase 8-oxo-dG repair thus preventing skin cancer development. We therefore used the SKH-1 murine model to examine the effect of topically applied OGG1 on UVB-induced skin cancer development. Mice were exposed three times weekly to UVB followed immediately by topical treatment with a formulation of liposome-encapsulated OGG1 enzyme for 25 weeks. While this treatment did not affect UVB-induced tumor multiplicity, it did reduce tumor size and dramatically reduced tumor progression, as indicated by tumor grade. These results suggest that oxidative DNA damage contributes to the progression of UVB-induced skin tumors and that a topical formulation containing OGG1, perhaps in conjunction with other DNA repair enzymes such as T4 endonuclease V, could be used in populations at high risk for skin cancer development.     

Synthesis, DNA polymerase incorporation, and enzymatic phosphate hydrolysis of formamidopyrimidine nucleoside triphosphates

The nucleoside triphosphates of N6-(2-deoxy-alpha,beta-d-erythro-pentofuranosyl)-2,6-diamino-4-hydroxy-5-formamidopyrimidine (Fapy.dGTP) and its C-nucleoside analogue (beta-C-Fapy.dGTP) were synthesized. The lability of the formamide group required that nucleoside triphosphate formation be carried out using an umpolung strategy in which pyrophosphate was activated toward nucleophilic attack. The Klenow fragment of DNA polymerase I from Escherichia coli accepted Fapy.dGTP and beta-C-Fapy.dGTP as substrates much less efficiently than it did dGTP. Subsequent extension of a primer containing either modified nucleotide was less affected compared to when the native nucleotide is present at the 3'-terminus. The specificity constants are sufficiently large that nucleoside triphosphate incorporation could account for the level of Fapy.dG observed in cells if 1% of the dGTP pool is converted to Fapy.dGTP. Similarly, polymerase-mediated introduction of beta-C-Fapy.dG could be useful for incorporating useful amounts of this nonhydrolyzable analogue for use as an inhibitor of base excision repair. The kinetic viability of these processes is enhanced by inefficient hydrolysis of Fapy.dGTP and beta-C-Fapy.dGTP by MutT, the E. coli enzyme that releases pyrophosphate and the corresponding nucleoside monophosphate upon reaction with structurally related nucleoside triphosphates.     

Dyeing uric acid crystals with methylene blue

The growth of anhydrous uric acid (UA) and uric acid dihydrate (UAD) crystals from supersaturated aqueous solutions containing methylene blue, a cationic organic dye, has been investigated. Low concentrations of dye molecules were found to be included in both types of crystal matrixes during the growth process. Incorporation of dye into UA crystals occurs with high specificity, affecting primarily [001] and [201] growth sectors, while UAD crystals grown from solutions of similar dye concentration show inclusion but little specificity. The orientation of the UA-trapped species was determined from polarization data obtained from visible light microspectrometry. To achieve charge neutrality, a second anionic species must also be included with the methylene blue into UA and UAD crystal matrices. Under high pH conditions, crystallization of 1:1 stoichiometric mixtures of methylene blue and urate yields methylene blue hexahydrate (MBU.6(H2O). The crystal structure of MBU.6(H2O) reveals continuous pi-pi stacks of planes of dye cations and urate anions mediated by water molecules. This structure provides an optimal geometry for methylene blue-urate pairs and additional support for the incorporation of these dimers in uric acid single-crystal matrices. The strikingly different inclusion patterns in UA and UAD demonstrate that subtle changes in the crystal surfaces and/or growth dynamics can greatly affect recognition events.     

Observation and interpretation of HH coupling in 1H187Os satellite NMR spectra

The single hydride resonance observed for each of the compounds H₃Os₃(CO)₉CX (X = OMe, Br, H) has one set of ¹⁸⁷Os satellites which are further split into doublets by HH coupling. The implications of this observation for structural assignments based on ¹⁸⁷Os satellites are discussed.     

Synthesis of PbTiO3 ceramics using mechanical alloying and solid state sintering

The pressure-less sintering behavior of PbTiO₃ powders synthesized by mechanical alloying TiO₂ and PbO was investigated using dilatometry and Rietveld refinements of X-ray diffraction patterns. As-synthesized, the powders are nanocrystalline with a mean particle size of 20 nm. Pressure-less sintering in the range 500-1050°C gives single phase ceramics with densities of 85-90% and crystallite sizes in the range 80-400 nm. Cracking due to the paraelectric-ferroelectric phase transition was not observed in samples sintered below 700°C due to the small crystallite size whereas macroscopic cracks formed in samples sintered above 700°C. Rietveld analysis indicates the formation of Pb vacancies in samples sintered and held for 24 h at intermediate temperatures (600-1000°C) which gives some insight into the mechanism of Pb loss and second phase formation in this system.     

Study of the chromonic liquid-crystalline phases of bis-(N,N-diethylaminoethyl)perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic diimide dihydrochloride by polarized optical microscopy and 2H NMR spectroscopy

The chromonic liquid-crystalline properties of bis-(N,N-diethylaminoethyl)perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic diimide dihydrochloride in an aqueous solution were investigated by polarized light microscopy and 2H NMR spectroscopy. Both techniques indicate a narrow I + N biphasic region and a broad N phase region at concentrations ranging from approximately 6.9 to approximately 30 wt % at room temperature. Optical microscopy indicates that a hexagonal M phase exists at higher concentrations. The variation of the I --> N + I and N + I --> N transition temperatures with concentration was studied by 2H NMR spectroscopy. Finally, the effects of temperature and concentration on the order parameter of the N phase were investigated by 2H NMR using a tetra-deuterated derivative. A value of 0.97 was obtained for the N phase at its upper concentration limit.     

Use of a native affinity ligand for the detection of G proteins by capillary isoelectric focusing with laser-induced fluorescence detection

Affinity probe capillary isoelectric focusing (CIEF) with laser-induced fluorescence was explored for detection of Ras-like G proteins. In the assay, a fluorescent BODIPY FL GTP analogue (BGTPgammaS) and G protein were incubated resulting in formation of BGTPgammaS-G protein complex. Excess BGTPgammaS was separated from BGTPgammaS-G protein complex by CIEF using a 3-10 pH gradient and detected in whole-column imaging mode. In other cases, a single point detector was used to detect zones during the focusing step of CIEF using a 2.5-5 pH gradient. In this case, analyte peaks passed the detector in approximately 5 min at an electric field of 350 V/cm. Detection during focusing allowed for more reproducible assays at shorter times but with a sacrifice in sensitivity compared to detection during mobilization. Resolution was adequate to separate BGTPgammaS-Ras and BGTPgammaS-Rab3A complexes. Formation of specific complexes was confirmed by adding GTPgammaS to samples containing BGTPgammaS-G protein. GTPgammaS competed with BGTPgammaS for G protein binding sites resulting in decreased BGTPgammaS-G protein peak heights. The concentrating effect of CIEF enabled detection limits of 30 pM.