A column‐switching HPLC‐MS/MS method for mucopolysaccharidosis type I analysis in a multiplex assay for the simultaneous newborn screening of six lysosomal storage disorders

Lysosomal storage disorders comprise a group of rare genetic diseases in which a deficit of specific hydrolases leads to the storage of undegraded substrates in lysosomes. Impaired enzyme activities can be assessed by MS/MS quantification of the reaction products obtained after incubation with specific substrates. In this study, a column‐switching HPLC‐MS/MS method for multiplex screening in dried blood spot of the lysosomal enzymes activities was developed. Mucopolysaccharidosis type I, Fabry, Gaucher, Krabbe, Niemann–Pick A/B and Pompe diseases were simultaneously assayed. Dried blood spots were incubated with substrates and internal standards; thereafter, supernatants were collected with minor manipulations. Samples were injected, trapped into an online perfusion column and, by a six‐port valve, switched online through the C₁₈ analytical column to perform separation of metabolites followed by MS/MS analysis. A total of 1136 de‐identified newborn screening samples were analyzed to determine references for enzymes activity values. As positive controls, we analyzed dried blood spots from three patients with Pompe, one with Fabry, one with Krabbe disease and two with MPS I, and in all cases the enzyme activities were below the cutoff values measured for newborns, except for an MPS I patient after successful hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An Extension of Itô's Formula for Anticipating Processes

In this paper we introduce a class of square integrable processes, denoted by L^F, defined in the canonical probability space of the Brownian motion, which contains both the adapted processes and the processes in the Sobolev space L^2,2. The processes in the class L^F satisfy that for any time t, they are twice weakly differentiable in the sense of the stochastic calculus of variations in points (r, s) such that r s t. On the other hand, processes belonging to the class L^F are Skorohod integrable, and the indefinite Skorohod integral has properties similar to those of the Ito integral. In particular we prove a change-of-variable formula that extends the classical Itô formula. Those results are generalization of similar properties proved by Nualart and Pardoux⁽⁷⁾ for processes in L^2,2.     

A new method of comparing 2D-PAGE maps based on the computation of Zernike moments and multivariate statistical tools

The aim of this work was to obtain the correct classification of a set of two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis map images using the Zernike moments as discriminant variables. For each 2D-PAGE image, the Zernike moments were computed up to a maximum p order of 100. Partial least squares discriminant analysis with variable selection, based on a backward elimination algorithm, was applied to the moments calculated in order to select those that provided the lowest error in cross-validation. The new method was tested on four datasets: (1) samples belonging to neuroblastoma; (2) samples of human lymphoma; (3) samples from pancreatic cancer cells (two cell lines of control and drug-treated cancer cells); (4) samples from colon cancer cells (total lysates and nuclei treated or untreated with a histone deacetylase inhibitor). The results demonstrate that the Zernike moments can be successfully applied for fast classification purposes. The final aim is to build models that can be used to achieve rapid diagnosis of these illnesses.     

Fully reversible guest exchange in tetraphosphonate cavitand complexes probed by fluorescence spectroscopy

We report here the monitoring of reversible guest inclusion in phosphonate cavitands through a large increase in luminescence intensity caused by the modulation of the exoergonicity of an electron-transfer reaction.     

Photochemistry of Hantzsch 1,4-dihydropyridines and pyridines

The photochemistry of some Hantzsch 4-phenyl-1,4-dihydropyridines bearing a substituent on the phenyl ring (the three isomeric chloro derivatives and the 4′-nitro derivative) has been studied. All of these compounds underwent inefficient aromatization to the corresponding pyridines (quantum yield <10⁻⁴ at 366 nm, <10⁻² at 254 nm). This process is scarcely affected by molecular oxygen and is initiated by proton transfer (from C₄-H), probably to the solvent, from the excited singlet. In turn, the thus formed pyridines were photoreactive with comparable or higher efficiency. Thus, the 4-(3′-chlorophenyl) and 4-(4′-chlorophenyl) Hantzsch pyridines underwent positional rearrangement to form two isomers each. The reaction occurs via Dewar benzene--prismane path. In the case of the minor isomer a further 1,3-shift take place at the Dewar benzene level. The 4-(2′-chlorophenyl) derivative underwent C-Cl bond homolysis, which led to cyclization of the phenyl group onto one of the ester groups forming a pyrane ring.     

Photochemistry of 7-azide-1-ethyl-3-carboxylate-6,8-difluoroquinolone: a novel reagent for photoaffinity labeling

A novel reagent for photoaffinity labeling, 7-azido-1-ethyl-3-carboxylate-6,8-difluoroquinolone, was obtained by nucleophilic substitution of 1-ethyl-3-carboxylate-6,7,8-trifluoroquinolone. Photochemical reaction of this azide with diethyl amine gave 7-hydrazino-derivative as the major product. This compound was generated by singlet nitrene N-H insertion. In addition, 7-amino-1-ethyl-3-carboxylate-6,8-difluoroquinolone was also obtained.     

Guest-induced modification of a magnetically active ultramicroporous, gismondine-like, copper(II) coordination network

A novel ultramicroporous coordination polymer, namely [Cu(F-pymo)2(H2O)1.25]n (1, F-pymo = 5-fluoropyrimidin-2-olate), has been prepared and structurally characterized. 1 displays a zeolitic gismondine (GIS) topology, with ca. 2.9 A wide helical channels which, in the thermally activated counterpart (1'), account for a 13% void volume and are responsible for the observed selective solid-gas adsorption properties toward H2, N2, and CO2. At 77 K 1' behaves as a molecular sieve, selectively adsorbing H2 over N2, possibly due to size-exclusion reasons. At variance, although CO2 molecules are slightly larger than the pore size, they are readily incorporated by 1' at temperatures as high as 433 K. Variable-temperature X-ray powder diffraction (TXRPD) studies, in the temperature range 303-473 K, show that dehydration is reversible and has almost negligible effects on the network. At variance, the uptake of CO2 occurs through a transient phase and channels expansion. While the gas storage capacity of 1' is not very high-H2, 0.56 wt % and 0.010 kg H2/L at 90 K and 900 Torr, and CO2, 7.6 wt % at 273 K and 900 Torr-the guest molecules achieve very high densities, comparable to that of the liquid for H2 (0.023 vs 0.021 molecules A-3) and to that of the solid for CO2 (0.014 vs 0.022 molecules A-3). In addition, we have also studied the effect of the perturbation exerted by the guest molecules on its magnetic properties. The results show that while dehydration of 1 has negligible effect on its spin-canted antiferromagnetic behavior, CO2 incorporation in the pores is responsible for an increment of the transition temperature at which the weak ferromagnetic ordering takes place from 22 to 29 K.     

Evidences of macromolecular chains confinement of ethylene–propylene copolymer in organophilic montmorillonite nanocomposites

A random ethylene–propylene copolymer (EPM) functionalized with grafted diethylsuccinate groups was melt blended with increasing amount (to 20 wt%) of organophilic montmorillonite (OMMT) to prepare nanocomposites with different morphologies as evidenced by XRD and TEM analysis. All the nanocomposites were treated with boiling toluene that did not extract a significant amount of EPM. The increase of not-extracted EPM with the increasing quantity of OMMT suggested strong interactions of the polymer chains with the inorganic substrate. The DSC measurements of nanocomposites and the corresponding insoluble residues revealed a higher T_g values with larger amount of inorganic particles. The dielectric relaxation analysis confirmed the evidence of strong interactions among montmorillonite and the polar diethylsuccinate groups for the macromolecules trapped due to the presence of the inorganic layers. The results were discussed with reference to their relevance as an evidence of nanoconfinement at polymer clay interface and correlated with the clay basal distance variation due to the intercalation process.     

Phosphine-Catalyzed [3+2] Cycloaddition of Aza-Aurones and Allenoates: Enantioselective Synthesis of 2-Spirocyclopentyl-Indolin-3-Ones

An enantioselective phosphine-catalyzed [3+2] cycloaddition between aza-aurones and allenoates is here described. The reaction proceeded under mild reaction conditions to afford 2-spirocyclopentyl indolin-3-one derivatives as single γ-isomer and with high levels of stereocontrol.     

Excitation Dynamics in Hetero‐bichromophoric Calixarene Systems

In this work, the dynamics of electronic energy transfer (EET) in bichromophoric donor–acceptor systems, obtained by functionalizing a calix[4]arene scaffold with two dyes, was experimentally and theoretically characterized. The investigated compounds are highly versatile, due to the possibility of linking the dye molecules to the cone or partial cone structure of the calix[4]arene, which directs the two active units to the same or opposite side of the scaffold, respectively. The dynamics and efficiency of the EET process between the donor and acceptor units was investigated and discussed through a combined experimental and theoretical approach, involving ultrafast pump–probe spectroscopy and density functional theory based characterization of the energetic and spectroscopic properties of the system. Our results suggest that the external medium strongly determines the particular conformation adopted by the bichromophores, with a direct effect on the extent of excitonic coupling between the dyes and hence on the dynamics of the EET process itself.