Influence of organic ligands on the stabilization of palladium nanoparticles

The synthesis of palladium nanoparticles is performed by hydrogenation of a precursor, Pd₂(dba)₃ (1) or [Pd(C₃H₅)Cl]₂ (2) in the presence of either a weakly coordinating ligand (hexadecylamine, HDA) or good ligands (polyphosphines). It is shown in the case of 1 that good ligands lead to stable spherical nanoparticles of small size (near 2 nm) whereas the protective effect of HDA depends on the amount of ligand added as a result of equilibria present at the surface of the particles as monitored by solution NMR spectroscopy. The decomposition of 2 being very fast, the particle growth cannot be controlled except in the case of the use of a large excess of HDA which leads to spongelike particles resulting from the agglomeration of initially obtained nanocrystallites.     

EXAFS and IR structural study of platinum-based anticancer drugs' degradation by diethyl dithiocarbamate

Platinum compounds constitute a discrete class of DNA-damaging anticancer drug agents, including cisplatin, carboplatin, and oxaliplatin. The toxicity of such drugs raises the problem of waste detoxification. Diethyl dithiocarbamate (DDTC) is recommended by the World Heath Organization (WHO) for the destruction of cisplatin, but the degradation product has not been structurally characterized. This paper deals with the extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and IR structural study of the reaction products of DDTC with cisplatin, carboplatin, and oxaliplatin. Cisplatin and carboplatin give the same reaction product: Pt(DDTC)2. In the case of oxaliplatin, we observed the formation of [(diaminocyclohexane)(DDTC)Pt(II)]. In all cases, the replacement of labile ligands by strong ligands should lead to inactive compounds. Our results suggest that the WHO inactivation protocol might be extended to carboplatin and oxaliplatin. Nevertheless, this should be validated by toxicity tests of the degradation products.     

Green and sustainable chemistry in Latin America: Which type of research is going on? And for what?

Green (and sustainable?) frame around ‘Inverted America’ (adapted from Torres García, 1943, Museo Juan Manuel Blanes, Montevideo, CC BY 4.0).

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1H NMR detection of immobilized water molecules within a strong distal hydrogen-bonding network of substrate-bound human heme oxygenase-1

Solution 1H NMR is used to probe the environments of the donor protons of eight strong hydrogen bonds on the distal side of the heme substrate in the cyanide-inhibited, substrate-bound complex of human heme oxygenase, hHO. It is demonstrated that significant magnetization transfer from the bulk water signal to the eight labile protons does not result from chemical exchange, but from direct nuclear Overhauser effect due to the dipolar interaction of these labile protons with "ordered" water molecules. The enzyme labile proton to water proton distances are estimated at approximately 3 A. It is proposed that the role of the strong hydrogen-bonding network is to immobilize numerous water molecules which both stabilize the activated hydroperoxy species and funnel protons to the active site.     

A Hot‐Segment‐Based Approach for the Design of Cross‐Amyloid Interaction Surface Mimics as Inhibitors of Amyloid Self‐Assembly

The design of inhibitors of protein–protein interactions mediating amyloid self‐assembly is a major challenge mainly due to the dynamic nature of the involved structures and interfaces. Interactions of amyloidogenic polypeptides with other proteins are important modulators of self‐assembly. Here we present a hot‐segment‐linking approach to design a series of mimics of the IAPP cross‐amyloid interaction surface with Aβ (ISMs) as nanomolar inhibitors of amyloidogenesis and cytotoxicity of Aβ, IAPP, or both polypeptides. The nature of the linker determines ISM structure and inhibitory function including both potency and target selectivity. Importantly, ISMs effectively suppress both self‐ and cross‐seeded IAPP self‐assembly. Our results provide a novel class of highly potent peptide leads for targeting protein aggregation in Alzheimer’s disease, type 2 diabetes, or both diseases and a chemical approach to inhibit amyloid self‐assembly and pathogenic interactions of other proteins as well.     

Pharmaceutical approaches involving carvedilol characterization,compatibility with different excipients and kinetic studies

This study was performed to investigate the physical–chemical characteristics of carvedilol (CRV), complemented by compatibility studies with a great variety of pharmaceutical excipients. Thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry, supported by diffuse reflectance infrared fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFT), X-ray powder diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were selected as the solid-state techniques for the intended analyses. In addition, non-isothermal methods were employed to investigate kinetic data of CRV decomposition process under nitrogen and air atmospheres. CRV is characterized by an endothermic sharp event (T _peak = 389.81 K and ΔH _fusion of ?176.28 J g^?1) and a thermal decomposition behavior in two stages, totalizing 98 % of mass loss. The CRV pattern diffraction presents prominent peaks at 2θ: 5.92°, 14.90°, 18.62°, 24.47°, and 26.30°, and the DRIFT spectrum showed the main characteristics bands for CRV chemical functional groups. The SEM photomicrographs demonstrate that CRV is characterized by irregular blocky shaped crystals. Zero order kinetics was determined by Ozawa method in both nitrogen and air atmospheres. The compatibility results showed no evidence of any incompatibility among CRV and all the excipients analyzed.     

First identification of dimethoxycinnamic acids in human plasma after coffee intake by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry

There is a substantial amount of published literature on the bioavailability of various coffee components including the most abundant metabolites, caffeic and ferulic acids. Surprisingly, to date, the appearance of dimethoxycinnamic acid derivatives in humans has not been reported despite the fact that methylated form of catechol-type polyphenols could help maintain, modify or even improve their biological activities. This study reports an LC-MS method for the detection of dimethoxycinnamic acid in human plasma after treatment with an esterase. Liquid chromatography, including the combination of methanol and acetonitrile as organic eluent, was optimized to resolve all interferences and enable reliable detection and identification of 3,4-dimethoxycinnamic and 3,4-dimethoxy-dihydrocinnamic acids. In addition to the good mass accuracy achieved (better than 5 ppm), tandem mass spectrometric and co-chromatography experiments further confirmed the identity of the compounds. The optimized method was applied to analyze samples obtained immediately, 1 and 10 h after coffee ingestion. The results show that in particular 3,4-dimethoxycinnamic acid appears in high abundance (～380 nM at 60 min) in plasma upon coffee intake, indicating that it is important to consider these derivatives in future bioavailability and bioefficacy studies.     

Insights in the rational design of synthetic multivalent glycoconjugates as lectin ligands

Much effort has been made during the last decade to design lectin inhibitors as therapeutics against viral and bacterial adhesion or to control biological functions. The chemical strategy adopted generally consists in the tethering of several binding epitopes on a common scaffold. The resulting multivalent glycoconjugates often display a much higher binding affinity for their targets compared to their monovalent counterparts, a phenomenon designed as the "cluster" or "multivalent effect". Hundreds of multimeric architectures have been designed so far and some of the compounds displayed impressive gains in binding affinity or in vivo efficiency. Progress in this area is, however, hampered by the difficulty to predict the potency of the new multimeric inhibitors. This review presents the recent efforts to probe the important structural features of the synthetic multivalent glycoconjugates for a tight binding with specific lectins. We hope that the reported examples will aid the reader to design efficient multivalent ligands in a more predictable way.     

Limonene in Arizona liquid systems used in countercurrent chromatography. I Physicochemical properties

Limonene is a biorenewable cycloterpene solvent derived from orange peel waste. Its potential as a “green” solvent to replace heptane was recently evaluated. Countercurrent chromatography (CCC) is a preparative separation technique using biphasic liquid systems. One liquid phase is the mobile phase; the other liquid phase is the stationary phase held in place by centrifugal fields. A particular range of special proportions of the heptane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water system is called the Arizona (AZ) liquid system when the heptane/ethyl acetate ratio is exactly the same as the methanol/water ratio. A continuous polarity decrease is obtained between the most polar A composition (ethyl acetate/water or 0/1/0/1 v/v) and the least polar Z composition (heptane/methanol or 1/0/1/0 v/v), replacing heptane by limonene and methanol by ethanol produce biphasic liquid systems much more environmentallyfriendly than the original AZ compositions. The chemical compositions of the two liquid phases of 12 AZ limonene/ethyl acetate/ethanol/water proportions were fully determined by Karl-Fisher titration of water and by gas chromatography for the organic solvents. The results were compared with the compositions of the corresponding AZ mixtures containing heptane and methanol. Significant differences in ethyl acetate and ethanol distribution between phases of the two systems with identical volume proportions were established. The ratio of the upper phase over the lower phase volumes and the phase density difference are important in CCC, there are also significant differences between the classic and “green” AZ systems that are discussed.