Development of pork fat reference material for OCPs BCR-CRM 430

Summary A pork fat sample was prepared and tested as candidate reference material for 10 organochlorine pesticides and metabolites (OCPs): hexachlorobenzene, -, - and -HCH, -heptachlor epoxide, dieldrin, endrin, p,p'-DDT, p,p'-TDE and p,p'-DDE. Preparation and testing for homogeneity and stability of the OCPs in the pork fat are discussed. The coefficient of variation of pesticide determinations carried out to test the between-ampoule homogeneity ranged from 2.4–5.8% and was found to be very similar to that for the analytical method (2.5–4.9%). This means that the homogeneity is very good. Stability data over 12 months do not show any trends that suggest lack of stability.     

Formation of protonic defects in perovskite-type oxides with redox-active acceptors: case study on Fe-doped SrTiO(3)

The thermodynamics of water incorporation into Fe-doped SrTiO(3) was investigated by thermogravimetric measurements. Changes in valence states of redox-active dopant ions (Fe(3+)/Fe(4+)) with water vapor pressure were taken into account in the defect chemical analysis. The proton solubility was significantly enhanced by the presence of the redox centers. The hydration enthalpies and entropies were -60 kJ mol(-1) and -122 J mol(-1) K(-1). The defect chemical model was applied to describe the water vapor dependence of the electrical conductivity in mixed ionic and electronic conducting Fe-doped SrTiO(3) single crystals.     

Use of epoxidation and epoxide opening reactions for the synthesis of highly functionalized 1-oxaspiro[4.5]decan-2-ones and related compounds

Epoxidation of ethyl 3-(6-hydroxycyclohex-1-en-1-yl)propanoate (11) provided the syn epoxide 12. By invoking chelation controlled epoxide opening the triol derivatives 13 and 14 or the spiro lactone 25 could be obtained. Elimination of HBr from the bromides 26 and 27 produced the spiro cyclohexenones 28 and 29. Epoxidation of the double bond occurred in a diastereoselective manner to give epoxides 30 and 31, respectively. Treatment of the epoxide 31 with LiBr/AcOH gave the bromo hydrin 38. In a ‘merry go round’ fashion 38 was further functionalized on the cyclohexane ring by elimination, epoxidation, and epoxide opening resulting in the bromo hydrin 43. Other cyclohexane derivatives that were produced during these studies include the cyclohexenone 19 and the cyclohexanediol 23. In addition, enolate azidation of the spiro lactone 29 proceeded in a diastereoselective manner providing the α-azido lactone 32.     

BIOSYNTHESIS OF PTERIDINES IN Neurospora crassa,Phycomyces blakesleeanus AND Euglena gracilis: DETECTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF BIOSYNTHETIC ENZYMES*,†

Abstract— Occurrence, biosynthesis and some functions of tetrahydrobiopterin (H₄biopterin) in animals are well known. The biochemistry of H₄biopterin in other organisms than animals was hitherto not widely investigated. Recently H₄biopterin was found in the phytoflagellate Euglena gracilis, in the zygomycete Phycomyces blakesleeanus and in the ascomycete Neurospora crassa. In Euglena, Neurospora and Phycomyces the enzymatic activities of GTP cyclohydrolase I, 6-pyruvoyl tetrahydropterin synthase and sepiapterin reductase are detectable and the biosynthesis follows the same steps as were shown for animals. The biosynthetic enzymes, however, show a much lower sensitivity to those inhibitors that act on vertebrate enzymes. 2,4-Diamino-6-hydroxypyrimidine as inhibitor of GTP cyclohydrolase I and N-acetylserotonin or N-methoxyacetylserotonin as inhibitors of sepiapterin reductase can decrease pteridine biosynthesis significantly, in vitro and in vivo. The apparent K_mvalues are in general higher when compared with the respective animal enzymes. In Neurospora, the conversion of GTP to dihydroneopterin triphosphate was closely associated with subsequent production of 6-hydroxymethyl-7, 8-dihydropterin due to the high activity of dihydroneopterin aldolase, different from all other tested organisms. Investigations involving inhibition of pteridine synthesis might be a useful tool for evaluating the hypothesis that pteridines in fungi and plants are co-chromophores of various blue light-dependent, flavin-containing phototrcptors.     

Synthesis of chimeric oligonucleotides containing phosphodiester, phosphorothioate, and phosphoramidate linkages

[reaction: see text] H-Phosphonate monomers of 2'-O-(2-methoxyethyl) ribonucleosides have been synthesized. Oxidation of oligonucleotide H-phosphonates has been optimized to allow the synthesis of oligonucleotides containing either 2'-deoxy or 2'-O-(2-methoxyethyl) ribonucleoside residues combined with three different phosphate modifications in the backbone, i.e., phosphodiester (PO), phosphorothioate (PS), and phosphoramidate (PN). Phosphodiester linkages were introduced by oxidation with a cocktail of 0.1 M Et(3)N in CCl(4)/Pyr/H(2)O (5:9:1) without affecting phosphorothioate or phosphoramidate linkages. For the synthesis of phosphoramidate-modified oligonucleotides, N(4)-acetyl deoxycytidine-3'-H-phosphonate monomers were used to avoid transamination during the oxidation step.     

MS-Express: data-extracting and -processing software for high-throughput experimentation with mass spectrometry

High-throughput experiments (HTE) result in large amounts of raw data that have to be evaluated for sample classification. Especially mass spectrometry, a widely used detection method in catalytic HTE applications, produces enormous amounts of data. In the past few years, in catalysts research, several test rigs based on mass spectrometric detection have been independently reported by different groups. In a typical HTE, the catalysts are tested sequentially; the recording of the scans, however, occurs continuously. For this reason, the scans of interest have to be extracted from the raw data, and scans belonging to the same sample have to be averaged in a tedious procedure before further processing. In this publication, we present our custom-designed software MS-Express (mass spectrometry data-extracting and -processing software), an efficient tool for HTE MS data evaluation. MS-Express not only sorts the data, it also establishes statistical significance with the help of reference and blank data and provides concise information about abundance and intensity distributions of expected peaks. A special feature is that the program also reports unexpected MS signals, which potentially lead to unexpected discoveries.     

Organische Phorsphorverbindungen XXXV. Die α-Aminoalkylierung von elementarem weissem Phosphor und von Biphosphinen. Darstellung und Reaktionen von dialkylaminomethyl-substituierten tertiären Phosphinoxiden [1]

Further examples of the α-aminoalkylation of white phosphorus and of a biphosphine are reported. The reaction is described using C-methyl piperidines, methylamine, ethylamine or propylamine as the amine component, and formaldehyde or benzaldehyde as the carbonyl component. The reaction mechanism has been clarified. Furthermore the direct synthesis of the diethylamine salt of phosphorous acid is reported. In addition, some physical and chemical properties of tris (dialkylamino-methyl)-phosphine oxides are given and their coordination compounds with nickel halides are described.     

Structural Basis for Recognition of Guanosine by a Synthetic Tricyclic Cytosine Analogue: Guanidinium G‐Clamp

An oligonucleotide analogue containing a novel heterocyclic analogue, the guanidinium G‐clamp, was designed to allow formation of five H‐bonds to guanosine. The guanidinium group was introduced postsynthetically by treatment of the deprotected oligonucleotide containing a free amino group with a solution of 1H‐pyrazole‐1‐carboxamidine and purified by a combination of size‐exclusion chromatography and reversed‐phase HPLC. A single incorporation of this modification into an oligodeoxynucleotide sequence was found to increase duplex stability by 13° and 16° per modification to RNA and DNA, respectively. Crystals of a self‐complementary decamer sequence containing this modification were grown and diffracted to 1‐Å resolution. The structure was solved by molecular replacement and revealed that the modification forms additional H‐bonds to O(6) and N(7) of guanosine through the amino and imino N‐atoms, respectively. The origins of enhanced duplex stability are also attributed to increased stacking interactions mediated by the phenoxazine moiety of the G‐clamp and formation of H‐bond networks between the positively charged guanidinium group, H₂O molecules, and negatively charged O‐atoms from phosphates on the adjacent strand.