Oxidation-Induced Structural Alterations and Its Effect on Chaperone Function of Rat Lens α-Crystallin

An ascorbate-FeCl₃-EDTA-H₂O₂ system was used to oxidize rat lens α-crystallins. Under this oxidative insult, the chaperone activity of α-crystallin toward γ-crystallin was shown to decrease significantly, which is quite different from the result reported by Wang and Spector. (Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 1995 , 36, 311-321.) Fluorescence spectroscopy and circular dichroism were employed to characterize the structural changes of oxidized α-crystallin. It was found that fluorescence intensity of l-anilinonaphthalene-8-sul-phonate (ANS) bound to oxidized α-crystallin increased comparing to that bound to normal α-crystallin, suggesting oxidation causes the exposure of more hydrophobic regions. Further, α-crystallin's fluorescence intensity in response to tryptophan residues showed a pseudo first order decline. Amino acid analysis of normal versus oxidized α-crystallin confirmed actual decline in tryptophan levels, showing about 80% of tryptophan being modified after 10-hour oxidation. Circular dichroism showed both changes in the secondary and tertiary structures of oxidized α-crystallin, characterized by a large loss of aromatic-type amino acid interactions and a large loss of β-sheet structure. In conclusion, modified tryptophan, secondary and tertiary structural changes of α-crystallin correlate best with the reduction of chaperone function, the curves all showing a linear slope for 10 hours, then plateauing. These results indicate that the decrease of α-crystallin chaperone activity is attributed to the structural changes.     

Determination of phenolic compounds using high-performance liquid chromatography with Ce-Tween 20 chemiluminescence detection

A novel method for the simultaneous determination of phenolic compounds such as salicylic acid, resorcinol, phloroglucinol, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, 2,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid, and m-nitrophenol by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with chemiluminescence (CL) detection was developed. The procedure was based on the chemiluminescent enhancement by phenolic compounds of the cerium(IV)-Tween 20 system in a sulfuric acid medium. The separation was carried out with an isocratic elution or with a gradient elution using a mixture of methanol and 1.5% acetic acid. For six phenolic compounds, the detection limits (3σ) were in the range 1.40-5.02 ng/ml and the relative standard deviations (n=11) for the determination of 0.1 μg/ml compounds were in the range 1.9-2.9%. The CL reaction was well compatible with the mobile phase of HPLC, no baseline drift often occurred in HPLC-CL detection was observed with a gradient elution. The method has been successfully applied to the determination of salicylic acid and resorcinol in Dermatitis Clear Tincture and p-hydroxybenzoic acid in apple juices.     

Complexation of silver and co-recovered metals with novel aza-crown ether macrocycles by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) is used to evaluate the metal binding selectivities of an array of novel caged macrocycles for silver, gold, copper, nickel, zinc, iron, lead, manganese and alkali metal ions. It is found that five of the new compounds display silver selectivity, and their relative affinities for various metals depend on the type, number, and arrangement of heteroatoms (N, O), the cavity size, and the presence of aromatic substituents. Alkali metal cation binding studies are used to evaluate the size-selectivities of the cavities of the macrocycles. Electronic structure calculation by B3LYP density function theory methods were used to model the metal complexes. The presence of nitrogen atoms in the macrocyclic ring is essential for silver selectivity over other transition metals and alkali metal ions, and the presence of aromatic groups also enhances silver avidity. Macrocycle 3, a triaza-18-crown-6 analog modified with two phenyl groups and a cage group, is capable of selective extraction of Ag+ from aqueous solutions in the presence of other transition metal ions and the most common alkali and alkaline earth metal ions.     

Asynchronous multicanonical basin hopping method and its application to cobalt nanoclusters

The multicanonical basin hopping (MUBH) method, which uses a multicanonical weight in the basin hopping (BH) Monte Carlo method, was found to be very efficient for global optimization of large-scale systems such as Lennard-Jones clusters containing more than 150 atoms. We have implemented an asynchronous parallel version of the MUBH method using the message passing interface (MPI) to take advantage of the full usage of multiprocessors in either a homogeneous or heterogeneous computational environment. Based on the intrinsic properties of the Monte Carlo method, this MPI implementation used the task parallelism to minimize interthread data communication. For a Co nanocluster consisting of N atoms, we have applied the asynchronous multicanonical basin hopping (AMUBH) method (for 181 < N < or = 200), together with BH (for 2 < or = N < 150) and MUBH (for 150 < or = N < or = 180), to search for the molecular configuration of the global energy minimum. AMUBH becomes the only practical computational scheme for locating the energy minimum within realistic computational time for a relatively large cluster.     

Polarographic Behaviour and Determination of Kinetic Parameters of Lead-Pamoate Complex in Dimethyl Sulfoxide

The polarography of lead ion in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) was investigated in the DMSO concentration range 0–80 vol.%. The complex species identified were Pb₂(DMSO)⁴⁺₃, Pb(DMSO)²⁺₃ and Pb(DMSO)²⁺₆ in [DMSO]<10 vol.%, 10< [DMSO]<43 vol.% and [DMSO]>43 vol.%, respectively. In the presence of pamoic acid, the reduction of lead ion in DMSO was two-electron reversible diffusion-controlled at pH≤6.0, but it became irreversible at pH>6.0. The complex species identified was Pb(D_m)₂(P_m)₃(OH)^6? at pH>6.0. The rate constants of electro-reduction and electro-oxidation, activation energies were determined. The hydrolysis constants of lead ion in dimethyl sulfoxide concentration 40–70 vol.% at pH 4.5–6.0 were found to be of the order of 10^?6. The stability constants of the Pb(DMSO)²⁺₃ and Pb(DMSO)²⁺₀ were also determined to be of the orders of 10¹ and 10⁵, respectively.     

Copper-catalyzed hydrostannation of activated alkynes

[reactions: see text] [(Ph3P)CuH]6 effectively catalyzes the hydrostannation of activated alkynes with exclusive regioselectivity for alpha-stannation. Syn hydrostannation is observed exclusively for alkynoates. Anti or syn hydrostannation adducts are obtained as products for alkynone substrates.     

Influence of drying procedure on the mesoporosity and surface fractal dimensions of silica xerogels prepared with different agitation methods

Silica xerogels were prepared by thermal drying wet gels in an electric oven (70 degrees C) after certain duration of ambient drying, and the relevant effect is investigated on the mesopore structures and surface fractal dimensions of the resultant xerogels. The silica gels were derived from a hydrochloric acid-catalyzed TEOS (tetraethylorthaosilicate) system, and both magnetic stirring and ultrasonic vibration were adopted during sol preparation. The percentage mesoporosity and surface fractal dimensions are evaluated using image analysis methods, based on FE-SEM (field emission gun-scanning electron microscopy) images. The results show that the mesoporosity of the resultant xerogels decreases with the duration of ambient drying for samples prepared using magnetic stirring and low-intensity ultrasonic vibration, while samples subjected to high-intensity ultrasound show a somewhat reverse trend. Samples prepared with magnetic stirring have almost constant surface fractal dimensions (nearly 3), irrespective of the ambient drying before thermal drying. The surface fractal dimensions of samples prepared using ultrasound increase with the duration of ambient drying.     

Palladium catalyzed Suzuki cross-coupling reactions using N,O-bidentate ligands

Palladium-catalyzed Suzuki cross-coupling reactions employing Schiff-bases as ligands toward a series of substituted arylbromides and boronic acids were pursued. In the presence of a N,O-bidentate ligand, 2-[1-(2,4,6-trimethyl-phenylimino)-ethyl]-phenol 5, the catalytic reactions could be carried out efficiently at room temperature with a wide array of arylbromides, even with electronically deactivated arenes. A deprotonated 5, 5′, chelated palladium acetate complex, [5′Pd(II)(OAc)(solv)] 8, was proposed as a precursor of a genuine catalytically active species.     

The Constituents of the Leaves of Chamaecyparis Formosensis Matsum

Forty one terpenoidal compounds were isolated from the essential oil of Chamaecyparis formosensis Matsum. The dominant component is α-pinene. Other major components include β-pinene, 3-carene, α-terpineol, γ-muurolene, and kaurene.