Parallel and multiplexed bead-based assays and encoding strategies

Advances in high throughput screening (HTS), together with the rapid progress in combinatorial chemistry, genomic and proteomic sciences have dramatically stimulated the development of a variety tools to enable the drug discovery process to become more efficient. Major future challenges in HTS include obtaining high density and good quality data based on assays that are rapid, reliable, inexpensive, sensitive, simple and miniaturised. This paper reviews the development and role of bead-based assays for HTS including DNA and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) assays, particularly from a multiplex perspective and evaluating the recent advances in bead-based arrays. The encoding strategies that are commonly used in bead-based assays are highlighted, while the importance of magnetic beads in genomic and proteomic purifications is discussed. In conclusion, bead-based assays offer a powerful promising approach for many aspects of drug discovery.     

Optical Properties of Model Compounds of Polyaniline

The UV and visible spectra of six model compounds were studied. These compounds can be considered as models of polyaniline in the reduced, cation radical, partially oxidized and oxidized forms. After treatment of a mixture of equal molar quantities of the reduced form (DPPD) and the oxidized form (QDIM) with acid, the following reaction was observed: DPPD(I)+QDIM(III)+2H⁺=2DPPD⁺(II) After similar treatment of the partially oxidized form (V) with acid, the radical cation salt formed. The UV and visible spectra of polyaniline in the reduced form, oxidized form and conductive form are similar to the spectra of DPPD, QDIM and DPPD⁺ or radical cation salt of V respectively. We propose that the polyaniline synthesized by chemical oxidation of aniline consists of oxidized and reduced repeat units. Upon protonation a redox reaction (or electron rearrangement) occurs and forms delocalized radical cations (polarons) in the polymer chain which are highly conductive.     

Study on resolution capacity and secondary mechanisms of three different TSK gels for organic SEC

A comparative study on the elution behavior in size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) of three polymeric TSK gel packings, named H, H(HR), and H(XL) types, is performed. The deviations of the universal calibration (u.c.) curves of seven solvent-polymer systems show evidence that the existence of secondary effects accompanying the main SEC mechanism. These secondary mechanisms are a consequence of the binary enthalpic interactions between the different components of the chromatographic system, such as polymer-solvent, polymer-gel and solvent-gel. However, in the present case, the observed deviations from a unique u.c. curve can mainly be attributed to adsorption of polymeric solutes (analytes) onto the residual moieties of the gel surfaces, (i.e., to polymer-gel interactions). These enthalpic interactions can be quantitated by the values of the distribution coefficient, Kp, which follows the order: Kp (gel H(XL)) > Kp (gel H(HR)) > Kp (gel H). Moreover, the specific resolution of the three types of packings is also estimated, and its comparison yields that Rsp (gel H(HR)) > Rsp (gel H(XL)) > Rsp (gel H), in good agreement with their increasing particle size and decreasing crosslinking degrees. Finally, the errors and inaccuracies committed on the estimation of the sample average molar masses from their respective calibration curves serves the assessment that the packing with lesser secondary mechanisms is the H-type.     

On Transition Structures for Hydride Transfer Step in Enzyme Catalysis. A Comparative Study on Models of Glutathione Reductase Derived from Semiempirical, HF, and DFT Methods

As a model of the chemical reactions that take place in the active site of gluthatione reductase, the nature of the molecular mechanism for the hydride transfer step has been characterized by means of accurate quantum chemical characterizations of transition structures. The calculations have been carried out with analytical gradients at AM1 and PM3 semiempirical procedures, ab initio at HF level with 3-21G, 4-31G, 6-31G, and 6-31G basis sets and BP86 and BLYP as density functional methods. The results of this study suggest that the endo relative orientation on the substrate imposed by the active site is optimal in polarizing the C4-Ht bond and situating the system in the neighborhood of the quadratic region of the transition structure associated to the hydride transfer step on potential energy surface. The endo arrangement of the transition structure results in optimal frontier HOMO orbital interaction between NADH and FAD partners. The geometries of the transition structures and the corresponding transition vectors, that contain the fundamental information relating reactive fluctuation patterns, are model independent and weakly dependent on the level of theory used to determine them. A comparison between simple and complex molecular models shows that there is a minimal set of coordinates describing the essentials of hydride transfer step. The analysis of transition vector components suggests that the primary and secondary kinetic isotope effects can be strongly coupled, and this prompted the calculation of deuterium and tritium primary, secondary, and primary and secondary kinetic isotope effects. The results obtained agree well with experimental data and demonstrate this coupling.     

Application of Et3NHCl-AlCl3 Ionic Liquid as an Initiator in Cationic Copolymerization of 1, 3-Pentadiene with Styrene

Room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) as advanced, technological solvents can be designed to fit a particular application. They used as green “media and/or catalysts” for chemical synthesis have been extensively reviewed recently. RTILs1 not only show …     

Stability study of simvastatin under hydrolytic conditions assessed by liquid chromatography

In this work, a liquid chromatography stability-indicating method was developed and applied to study the hydrolytic behavior of simvastatin in different pH values and temperatures. The selected chromatographic conditions were a C18 column; acetonitrile-28 mM phosphate buffer solution, pH 4 (65 + 35) as the mobile phase; 251 degrees C column temperature; and flow rate 1 mL/min. The developed method exhibited an adequate repeatability and reproducibility (coefficient of variation 0.54 and 0.74%, respectively) and a recovery higher than 98%. Furthermore, the detection and quantification limits were 9.1 x 10(-7) and 2.8 x 10(-6) M, respectively. The degradation of simvastatin fitted to pseudo-first order kinetics. The degradation was pH dependent, being much higher at alkaline pH than at acid pH. Activation energy, kinetic rate constants (k) at different temperatures, the half life (t1/2) and the time for 10% degradation to occur (t90) values are also reported.     

表面修饰二氧化锡纳米微晶的制备与表征

制备了硅烷偶联剂KH-570表面修饰的SnO2纳米微晶，通过FT-IR、XPS、TEM和TG-DTA对其结构和表面特性进行表征和研究. FT-IR和XPS分析结果确证了KH-570与SnO2表面是以化学键合或物理吸附方式相结合,粒子表面存在酯基等有机官能团的红外吸收特征；观测到KH-570中Si原子的Si2s和Si2p谱线. TEM分析表明，表面修饰反应增强了SnO2纳米微晶的疏水性和分散性.由XPS和TG的实测数据探讨了纳米粒子具有较低包覆量的可能原因.     

Mechanism of TiO2-assisted photocatalytic degradation of dyes under visible irradiation: photoelectrocatalytic study by TiO2-film electrodes

Photoelectrocatalytic degradation of various dyes under visible light irradiation with a TiO(2) nanoparticles electrode has been investigated to reveal the mechanism for TiO(2)-assisted photocatalytic degradation of dyes. The degradation of both cationic and anionic dyes at different biases, including the change in the degradation rate of the dyes and the photocurrent change with the bias potential, the degraded intermediates, the voltage-induced adsorption of dyes, the accumulation of electrons in the TiO(2) electrode, the effect of various additives such as benzoquinone (BQ) and N,N-dimethyl aniline (DMA), and the formation of active oxygen species such as O(2)(*-) and H(2)O(2) were examined by UV-visible spectroscopy, HPLC, TOC, and spin-trap ESR spectrometry. It was found that the dyes could controllably interact with the TiO(2) surface by external bias changes and charging of dyes. The cationic dyes such as RhB and MG underwent efficient mineralization at negative bias, but the N-dealkylation process predominated at positive bias under visible light irradiation. The discolorations of the anionic dyes SRB and AR could not be accelerated significantly at either negative or positive bias. At a negative bias of -0.6 V vs SCE, O(2)(*-) and dye(*+) were formed simultaneously at the electrode/electrolyte interface during degradation of cationic RhB. In the case of anionic dyes, however, it is impossible for the O(2)(*-) and dye cationic radical to coexist at the electrode/electrolyte surface. Experimental results imply both the superoxide anionic radical and the dye cationic radical are essential to the mineralization of the dyes under visible light-induced photocatalytic conditions.     

Entropy factor in the hopping frequency for ionic conduction in oxide glasses induced by energetic clustering

The contribution of configurational entropy to the effective hopping frequency of ionic transport in amorphous systems is discussed. The effective rate of ion hopping has been extracted from the onset frequency of the ac conductivity measured in ionically conducting silicate glasses. Both the onset frequency and the dc conductivity exhibit Arrhenius-type thermal activation with similar values for the activation energy, DeltaEa=0.65+/-0.3 eV. The prefactor of the onset frequency results in nu0'=(1.05+/-0.05)x10(11) Hz, which is much lower than characteristic vibrational frequencies (10(13) Hz). Following standard hopping percolation theory, the long-range motion is dominated by a fraction of high-energy barriers that connect clusters of faster sites. The multiplicity of equivalent sites for ion hop entails a retardation of the effective jumping time with respect to the elementary hop. This effect can be assimilated into a negative activation entropy term in the frequency prefactor of the ion hopping rate, which depends on the features of energy clustering and accounts for the wide dispersion of nu0' reported for many conducting glasses. The model implies an effective percolation length of Lc approximately 7 nm, in good agreement with previous works.