Photoswitchable exciton coupling in merocyanine-diarylethene multi-chromophore hydrogen-bonded complexes

Light on: Photocontrol of J-type exciton interactions by using chromophores is reported. Hydrogen-bonded merocyanine dyes could be switched reversibly through photoinduced ring-closure/ring-opening reactions of diarylethene receptors. Addition of H-aggregation-inducing bismelamine receptors enabled the partial interconversion between J- and H-type exciton coupling.     

Syntheses of Novel Nonreducing-Sugar Subunit Analogs of Lipid a Carrying 2-Acyloxytetradecanoyl and 2-Hydroxyacyl Groups of Different Carbon Chain Length

Abstract

To investigate the biological influence of the 2-(acyloxy)tetradecanoyl and 2-hydroxyacyl groups in the nonreducing-sugar subunit analogs of lipid A, a novel series of 3-(O-[(2RS)-2-acyloxytetradecanoyl]-2-deoxy-2-[(2RS)-2-hydroxytetradecanamido]-4-O-phosphono-d-glucoses (10a-d), 3-O-[(2RS)-2-acyloxytetradecanoyl]-2-deoxy-2-[(3R)-3-hydroxytetradecanamido]-4-O-phosphono-d-glucoses (19a-d), and 2-deoxy-2-[(2RS)-2-hydroxyacyl]amino-4-O-phosphono-3-O-[(3R)-3-tetradecanoyloxytetradecanoyl]-d-glucoses (23e-h) were systematically synthesized.     

Synthesis of 8-Methoxycarbonyloctylβ-Glycosides of Tri-and Tetrasaccharides Related to Schizophyllan and Neoglycoproteins Therefrom

Abstract

The 8-methoxycarbonyloctyl β-glycosides of the trisaccharides O-β-d-Glcp-(1 → 6)- O-β-d-Glcp-(1 → 3)-d-Glcp and O-β-d-Glcp-(1 → 3)-O-[β-d -Glcp-(1 → 6)]-d-Glcp and of the tetrasaccharide O-β-d-Glcp-(1 → 3)-O-[β-d-Glcp-(1 → 6)]-O-β-d-Glcp-(1 → 3)-d-Glcp, corresponding to the fragments of schizophyllan, have been synthesized by using mono- to tetrasaccharide 1-thioglycosides as glycosyl donors, each bearing a participating benzoyl group in the 2-position, and N-iodosuccinimide and silver triflate as promoter. Saponification of the tri- and tetrasaccharide β-glycosides, followed by attachment to bovine serum albumin of the resulting sugar derivatives having a carboxyl group at the aglycon terminal, provided neoglycoproteins for immunological studies of the polysaccharide.     

Metal Ionically-controlled Optical Signaling Based on a Chromoionophore-derived Calix[4]crown

A chromoionophore-derived calix[4]crown, 1 , possessing an effective signal-controllable function by metal ionic inputs has been newly synthesized, whose function is mainly of our interest, by transforming the process of receptor activation to one that may be detected by an optical signal (i.e. color change), the basic feature of antagonist-agonist competition may be reproduced readily and visually detected. The process would be particularly new within the field of optical read-out receptors. Further, from the standpoint of material sciences, the controllable signal function may not only be welcome for molecular information processing, but also contribute to the design of new sensory materials.     

Interactions between temperature-sensitive hydrogel microspheres and granulocytes

Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) has a low critical solution temperature (LCST) at 32°C in water and the hydrophilicity changes through the LCST. The microspheres whose surface was composed of PNIPAM exhibited phase transition behavior around 32°C. Therefore, the interactions between PNIPAM micropheres and granulocytes depended on the temperature. That is, the oxygen consumption and active oxygen production by cells in contact with PNIPAM-containing microspheres and adhesion of the microspheres to the cell surface were more enhanced above the LCST of PNIPAM than below it, whereas no significant temperature dependence of cell–microspheres interaction was observed in nonthermosensitive microsphere systems. It was suggested that the function of cells could be controlled with temperature using the temperature-sensitive microspheres.     

Effects of sulfate ligand on uranyl carbonato surface species on ferrihydrite surfaces

Understanding uranium (U) sorption processes in permeable reactive barriers (PRB) are critical in modeling reactive transport for evaluating PRB performance at the Fry Canyon demonstration site in Utah, USA. To gain insight into the U sequestration mechanism in the amorphous ferric oxyhydroxide (AFO)-coated gravel PRB, U(VI) sorption processes on ferrihydrite surfaces were studied in 0.01 M Na(2)SO(4) solutions to simulate the major chemical composition of U-contaminated groundwater (i.e., [SO(4)(2-)] ~13 mM L(-1)) at the site. Uranyl sorption was greater at pH 7.5 than that at pH 4 in both air- and 2% pCO(2)-equilibrated systems. While there were negligible effects of sulfate ligands on the pH-dependent U(VI) sorption (<24 h) in both systems, X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) analysis showed sulfate ligand associated U(VI) surface species at the ferrihydrite-water interface. In air-equilibrated systems, binary and mono-sulfate U(VI) ternary surface species co-existed at pH 5.43. At pH 6.55-7.83, a mixture of mono-sulfate and bis-carbonato U(VI) ternary surface species became more important. At 2% pCO(2), there was no contribution of sulfate ligands on the U(VI) ternary surface species. Instead, a mixture of bis-carbonato inner-sphere (38%) and tris-carbonato outer-sphere U(VI) ternary surface species (62%) was found at pH 7.62. The study suggests that the competitive ligand (bicarbonate and sulfate) coordination on U(VI) surface species might be important in evaluating the U solid-state speciation in the AFO PRB at the study site where pCO(2) fluctuates between 1 and 2 pCO(2)%.     

Synthesis, characterization, and reactivity of a novel μ-η2:η2-diselenidodicopper(II) complex

The first μ-η(2):η(2)-diselenidodicopper(II) complex has been obtained in the reaction of a copper(I) complex with N,N',N″-tribenzyl-cis,cis-1,3,5-triaminocyclohexane and elemental selenium. The structure and reactivity of the complex is described.     

Blockade of inflammatory responses by a small-molecule inhibitor of the Rac activator DOCK2

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Highlights? CPYPP binds to DOCK2 DHR-2 domain and inhibits its catalytic activity ? CPYPP inhibits DOCK2-mediated Rac activation in cells ? The structural features of CPYPP required for its inhibitory effect were revealed ? CPYPP inhibits lymphocyte migration and activation in vitro and in vivo     

Efficient lookup table using a linear function of inverse distance squared

The major bottleneck in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of biomolecules exist in the calculation of pairwise nonbonded interactions like Lennard‐Jones and long‐range electrostatic interactions. Particle‐mesh Ewald (PME) method is able to evaluate long‐range electrostatic interactions accurately and quickly during MD simulation. However, the evaluation of energy and gradient includes time‐consuming inverse square roots and complementary error functions. To avoid such time‐consuming operations while keeping accuracy, we propose a new lookup table for short‐range interaction in PME by defining energy and gradient as a linear function of inverse distance squared. In our lookup table approach, densities of table points are inversely proportional to squared pair distances, enabling accurate evaluation of energy and gradient at small pair distances. Regardless of the inverse operation here, the new lookup table scheme allows fast pairwise nonbonded calculations owing to efficient usage of cache memory. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.