The natural product content of the selected Cabernet Franc wine samples originating from Serbia: a case study of phenolics

This work aimed to evaluate the content of selected phenolic natural products in the wine samples made of three new Serbian Cabernet Franc clones (Nos. 02, 010 and 012, respectively) and mother vine (used as the relevant standard) during the period 2008–2012. Compared with all other wine samples, the Cabernet Franc wine of the clone No. 010 was found to have the highest total content of polyphenolics (1.85 ± 0.02 g/L) and anthocyanins (178.55 ± 3.75 mg/L). In addition, its Folin–Ciocalteu index (36.86 ± 0.12) stood out among the examined samples. Finally, the same wine was enriched with ellagic and gallic acids (3.44 ± 0.29 and 27.46 ± 0.21 mg/L, respectively), catechin (135.16 ± 6.47 mg/L) and epicatechin (51.33 ± 2.33 mg/L), the natural products known to exert significant lipid-lowering effects. Taken all together, the clone No. 010 developed in Serbia may offer new Cabernet Franc wine with geographical indication.     

Mild C−H/C−C Activation by Z‐Selective Cobalt Catalysis

Cationic cobalt complexes enable unprecedented cobalt‐catalyzed C?H/C?C functionalizations with unique selectivity features. The versatile cobalt catalyst proved broadly applicable, enabled efficient C?H/C?C cleavage at room temperature, and delivered Z‐alkenes with excellent diastereocontrol.     

Microfluidic depletion of endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, and fibroblasts from heterogeneous suspensions

Interactions between ligands and cell surface receptors can be exploited to design adhesion-based microfluidic cell separation systems. When ligands are immobilized on the microfluidic channel surfaces, the resulting cell capture devices offer the typical advantages of small sample volumes and low cost associated with microfluidic systems, with the added benefit of not requiring complex fabrication schemes or extensive operational infrastructure. Cell-ligand interactions can range from highly specific to highly non-specific. This paper describes the design of an adhesion-based microfluidic separation system that takes advantage of both types of interactions. A 3-stage system of microfluidic devices coated with the tetrapeptides arg-glu-asp-val (REDV), val-ala-pro-gly (VAPG), and arg-gly-asp-ser (RGDS) is utilized to deplete a heterogeneous suspension containing endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, and fibroblasts. The ligand-coated channels together with a large surface area allow effective depletion of all three cell types in a stagewise manner.     

Computer-assisted optimization and validation of LC analysis of trimetazidine dihydrochloride and its impurities

Trimetazidine dihydrochloride is an anti-anginal drug, which possesses protective properties against ischemia inducing heart damage. In this paper, a new procedure for liquid chromatographic analysis was successfully developed, optimized, and applied in assessment of trimetazidine dihydrochloride content and its impurities, Y-145, Y-235, and Y-234 at most 1.0%, 0.2%, and 0.2%, respectively, in commercially available pharmaceutical preparation containing 35 mg of trimetazidine dihydrochloride. The retention behavior of trimetazidine dihydrochloride and its impurities is investigated by using several stationary and mobile phases to settle a simple, sensitive, and precise RP-HPLC method. The separation conditions are optimized by DryLab 2000 Plus Chromatography Optimization Software version 3.5.00. Separations are performed on PurospherSTAR RP18 endcapped (150 x 4.6 mm, 5 microm particle size) column at 20 degrees C with UV detection at 210 nm. The mobile phase composition is acetonitrile-aqueous phase (10 mmol/L disodium hydrogenphosphate and 2 mmol/L sodium dihydrogen phosphate, pH 7.6) (30:70 v/v). Afterwards, the method is validated; the important statistical parameters for selectivity/specificity, linearity, precision, limit of detection, and quantitation are defined. The recovery value of the trimetazidine dihydrochloride is 98.06%, and the content of impurities is 0.23% for Y-145, less than 0.02% for Y-235, and less than 0.01% for Y-234. In addition, this method is used for analyzing trimetazidine dihydrochloride and its impurities in pharmaceuticals and bulk drug.     

Wedge-shaped potential and Airy-function electron localization in oxide superlattices

Oxide superlattices and microstructures hold the promise for creating a new class of devices with unprecedented functionalities. Density-functional studies of the recently fabricated, lattice-matched perovskite titanates (SrTiO3)n/(LaTiO3)m reveal a classic wedge-shaped potential well for the monolayer (m = 1) structure, originating from the Coulomb potential of a two-dimensional charged La sheet. The potential in turn confines the electrons in the Airy-function-localized states. Magnetism is suppressed for the monolayer structure, while in structures with a thicker LaTiO3 part, bulk antiferromagnetism is recovered, with a narrow transition region separating the magnetic LaTiO3 and the nonmagnetic SrTiO3.     

Phenolic profiles of Serbian autochthonous variety ‘Prokupac’ and monovarietal international wines from the Central Serbia wine region

Phenolic profiles of young monovarietal white and red wines from the Central Serbia were investigated. Quantification of phenolics was done using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled with a diode array detector and a triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer. Generally, red wines were characterised with higher phenolics content when compared to the white wines. This applies also for the total phenolics content (TPC) and radical scavenging activity (RSA) values. Among all the samples, the red wine from autochthonous Serbian variety ‘Prokupac’ stood out with unique composition, showing the highest TPC, RSA and the highest concentration of the individual phenolics. Finally, based on a specific phenolic pattern, principal component analysis (PCA) indicated clustering of red and white wines, with the ‘Prokupac’ as a prominent outlier.     

Theoretical and experimental study of triphenylphosphonium Schiff base of 5-hydroxy-3-methyl-1-phenyl-4-formylpyrazole

The Schiff base (HLBr), containing a chelating unit and triphenylphosphonium moiety has been synthesized in the reaction of 4-aminobenzyl(triphenyl)phosphonium bromide with 5-hydroxy-3-methyl-1-phenyl-4-formylpyrazole. The composition and structure of HLBr have been determined by elemental analysis, IR, 1D and 2D NMR, electronic spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations (6-311G(d,p) level of theory) have been carried out to investigate tautomeric forms of HL⁺ and the reaction mechanism of its formation and spectral properties. The most stable form in the solid state and in DMSO solution is pyrazolone (keto-amine) tautomeric form.     

A General Strategy to Access Structural Information at Atomic Resolution in Polyglutamine Homorepeats

Homorepeat (HR) proteins are involved in key biological processes and multiple pathologies, however their high‐resolution characterization has been impaired due to their homotypic nature. To overcome this problem, we have developed a strategy to isotopically label individual glutamines within HRs by combining nonsense suppression and cell‐free expression. Our method has enabled the NMR investigation of huntingtin exon1 with a 16‐residue polyglutamine (poly‐Q) tract, and the results indicate the presence of an N‐terminal α‐helix at near neutral pH that vanishes towards the end of the HR. The generality of the strategy was demonstrated by introducing a labeled glutamine into a pathological version of huntingtin with 46 glutamines. This methodology paves the way to decipher the structural and dynamic perturbations induced by HR extensions in poly‐Q‐related diseases. Our approach can be extended to other amino acids to investigate biological processes involving proteins containing low‐complexity regions (LCRs).