K7[PW11CoO40]: Efficient and Ecofriendly Catalyst for the Enamination of β-Dicarbonyl Compounds

Condensation of a variety of β-dicarbonyl compounds with primary and secondary amines carried out in the presence of catalytic amounts of K₇[PW₁₁CoO₄₀]. From this reaction N-substituted β-enamino esters and ketones were obtained in high yields.     

The Effect of a Covalent and a Noncovalent Small-Molecule Inhibitor on the Structure of Abg β-Glucosidase in the Gas-Phase

The effects of binding two small-molecule inhibitors to Agrobacterium sp. strain ATCC 21400 (Abg) β-glucosidase on the conformations and stability of gas-phase ions of Abg have been investigated. Biotin-iminosugar conjugate (BIC) binds noncovalently to Abg while 2,4-dinitro-2-deoxy-2-fluoro-β-d-glucopyranoside (2FG-DNP) binds covalently with loss of DNP. In solution, Abg is a dimer. Mass spectra show predominantly dimer ions, provided care is taken to avoid dissociation of dimers in solution and dimer ions in the ion sampling interface. When excess inhibitor, either covalent or noncovalent, is added to solutions of Abg, mass spectra show peaks almost entirely from 2:2 inhibitor-enzyme dimer complexes. Tandem mass spectrometry experiments show similar dissociation channels for the apo-enzyme and 2FG-enzyme dimers. The +21 dimer produces +10 and +11 monomers. The internal energy required to dissociate the +21 2FG-enzyme to its monomers (767?±?30 eV) is about 36 eV higher than that for the apo-enzyme dimer (731?±?6 eV), reflecting the stabilization of the free enzyme dimer by the 2FG inhibitor. The primary dissociation channels for the noncovalent BIC-enzyme dimer are loss of neutral and charged BIC. The internal energy required to induce loss of BIC is 482?±?8 eV, considerably less than that required to dissociate the dimers. For a given charge state, ions of the covalent and noncovalent complexes have about 15 % and 25 % lower cross sections, respectively, compared with the apo-enzyme. Thus, binding the inhibitors causes the gas-phase protein to adopt more compact conformations. Noncovalent binding surprisingly produces the greatest change in protein ion conformation, despite the weaker inhibitor binding.

Cupric Sulfate Pentahydrate: A Mild and Efficient Catalyst for the Chemoselective Synthesis of 1,1-Diacetates from Aldehydes in a Solvent-Free System

Cupric sulfate pentahydrate was found to be an efficient catalyst for the protection of aldehydes as 1,1-diacetates in high yields in a solvent-free system at room temperature. Ketones are not affected under these reaction conditions.     

Roles of porphyrin and iron metabolisms in the δ-aminolevulinic acid (ALA)-induced accumulation of protoporphyrin and photodamage of tumor cells

δ-Aminolevulinic acid (ALA)-induced porphyrin accumulation is widely used in the treatment of cancer, as photodynamic therapy. To clarify the mechanisms of the tumor-preferential accumulation of protoporphyrin, we examined the effect of the expression of heme-biosynthetic and -degradative enzymes on the ALA-induced accumulation of protoporphyrin as well as photodamage. The transient expression of heme-biosynthetic enzymes in HeLa cells caused variations of the ALA-induced accumulation of protoporphyrin. When ALA-treated cells were exposed to white light, the extent of photodamage of the cells was dependent on the accumulation of protoporphyrin. The decrease of the accumulation of protoporphyrin was observed in the cells treated with inducers of heme oxygenase (HO)-1. The ALA-dependent accumulation of protoporphyrin was decreased in HeLa cells by transfection with HO-1 and HO-2 cDNA. Conversely, knockdown of HO-1/-2 with siRNAs enhanced the ALA-induced protoporphyrin accumulation and photodamage. The ALA effect was decreased with HeLa cells expressing mitoferrin-2, a mitochondrial iron transporter, whereas it was enhanced by the mitoferrin-2 siRNA transfection. These results indicated that not only the production of porphyrin intermediates but also the reuse of iron from heme and mitochondrial iron utilization control the ALA-induced accumulation of protoporphyrin in cancerous cells.     

O privacy, where art thou?

In last issue's column, John Abowd and Lars Vilhuber discussed the interplay between science, confidentiality, and the public good and outlined some of the data access modalities, in particular a synthetic data model implemented by the Cornell Virtual Research Data Center. In this month's column, Saki Kinney and Alan Karr from the National Institute of Statistical Sciences give details about how access is operationalized and offer practical guidelines and considerations for researchers seeking access to confidential data from government agencies.     

Mild, convenient and efficient synthesis of novel 2,2-dichloro-1,3-diarylaziridines from Schiff bases by phase transfer CTAB catalysis under low concentration alkaline conditions

A mild and efficient method for preparation of novel 2,2-dichloro-1,3-diarylaziridines from Schiff base compounds in the presence of Ar-cetyl-N,N,N-trimethyl ammonium bromide(CTAB) as phase transfer catalyst has been described.The reaction is dramatically enhanced in the presence of quaternary ammonium salt.The corresponding products have been obtained in excellent yields,high purity and short reaction times.     

Indentation analysis of nano-particle using nano-contact mechanics models during nano-manipulation based on atomic force microscopy

Atomic force microscopy is applied to measure intermolecular forces and mechanical properties of materials, nano-particle manipulation, surface scanning and imaging with atomic accuracy in the nano-world. During nano-manipulation process, contact forces cause indentation in contact area between nano-particle and tip/substrate which is considerable at nano-scale and affects the nano-manipulation process. Several nano-contact mechanics models such as Hertz, Derjaguin–Muller–Toporov (DMT), Johnson–Kendall–Roberts–Sperling (JKRS), Burnham–Colton–Pollock (BCP), Maugis–Dugdale (MD), Carpick–Ogletree–Salmeron (COS), Pietrement–Troyon (PT), and Sun et al. have been applied as the continuum mechanics approaches at nano-scale. In this article, indentation depth and contact radius between tip and substrate with nano-particle for both spherical and conical tip shape during nano-manipulation process are analyzed and compared by applying theoretical, semiempirical, and empirical nano-contact mechanics models. The effects of adhesion force, as the main contrast point in different nano-contact mechanics models, on nano-manipulation analysis is investigated for different contact radius, and the critical point is discussed for mentioned models.     

Spectral and crystallography studies of new palladacycle complexes with P,C‐ and C,C‐donor ligands; Application of (OAL16) to optimizing the yield of Mizoroki‐Heck reaction

The new symmetrical diphosphonium salt [Ph₂P(CH₂)₂PPh₂(CH₂C(O)C₆H₄Br)₂] Br₂ ( S ) was synthesized in the reaction of 1,2‐bis (diphenylphosphino) ethane (dppe) and related ketone. Further treatment with NEt₃ gave the symmetrical α‐keto stabilized diphosphine ylide [Ph₂P(CH₂)₂PPh₂(CHC(O)C₆H₄Br)₂] ( Y ¹ ). The unsymmetrical α‐keto stabilized diphosphine ylide [Ph₂P(CH₂)₂PPh₂(CHC(O)C₆H₄Br)] ( Y ² ) was synthesized in the reaction of diphosphine in 1:1 ratio with 2.3′‐dibromoacetophenone, then treatment with NEt_3. The reaction of dibromo (1,5‐cyclooctadiene)palladium (II), [PdBr₂(COD)] with this ligand ( Y ¹ ) in equimolar ratio gave the new C,C‐chelated [PdBr₂(Ph₂P(CH₂)₂PPh₂(C(H)C(O)C₆H₄Br)₂)] ( 1 ) and with unsymmetrical phosphorus ylide [Ph₂P(CH₂)₂PPh₂C(H)C(O)C₆H₄Br] ( Y ² ) gave the new P, C‐chelated palladacycle complex [PdBr₂(Ph₂P(CH₂)₂PPh₂C(H)C(O)Br)] ( 2 ). These compounds were characterized successfully by FT‐IR, NMR (¹H, ¹³C and ³¹P) spectroscopic methods and the crystal structure of Y ¹ and 2 were elucidated by single crystal X‐ray diffraction. The results indicated that the complex 1 was C, C‐chelated whereas complex 2 was P, C‐chelated. These air/moisture stable complexes were employed as efficient catalysts for the Mizoroki‐Heck cross‐coupling reaction of several aryl chlorides, and the Taguchi method was used to optimize the yield of Mizoroki‐Heck coupling. The optimum condition was found to be as followed: base; K₂CO₃, solvent; DMF and loading of catalyst; 0.005 mmol.     

Au(III) complexes loaded pH‐responsive magnetic nanogels for cancer therapy

A novel pH‐responsive magnetic nanogels were developed with the aim of targeted delivering and simultaneously releasing of newly synthesized Au(III)‐based anticancer drug, Au(1,7‐Phen)Br₃. The obtained nanogels were characterized by FT‐IR, DLS, EDAX, TEM, XRD, ICP‐Ms and MRI. The TEM images showed that the nanogels had a spherical shape with a mean diameter of 20 nm. The in vitro release studies of Au (III)‐loaded nanogels showed a pH‐triggered controlled release of drugs. The in vitro cytotoxicity assay of samples to human cervical cancer HeLa cell lines indicated that the Au(III)‐loaded magnetic nanogels exert higher cytotoxicity in comparison with free Au(III) complex. Fluorescent microscope images indicated that these magnetic nanogels possessed notable cell specific targeting in vitro in the presence of an external magnetic field. The results show that this superparamagnetic nanocarrier is a promising candidate for inhibiting growth of tumor cells.     

When a line graph associated to annihilating-ideal graph of a lattice is planar or projective

Let (L,∧, ∨) be a finite lattice with a least element 0. AG(L) is an annihilating-ideal graph of L in which the vertex set is the set of all nontrivial ideals of L, and two distinct vertices I and J are adjacent if and only if I ∧ J = 0. We completely characterize all finite lattices L whose line graph associated to an annihilating-ideal graph, denoted by L(AG(L)), is a planar or projective graph.