Discovery of Novel Epoxyketone Peptides as Lipase Inhibitors

Obesity is the most common nutritional disorder in the developed world and is associated with important comorbidities. Pancreatic lipase (PL) inhibitors play a key role in the metabolism of human fat. A series of novel epoxyketones peptide derivatives were investigated for their pancreatic lipase inhibitory activity. The epoxyketone moiety is a well-known reactive electrophile group that has been used as part of proteasome inhibitors in cancer therapy, and it is widely believed that these are very selective for targeting the proteasome active site. Here we investigated various peptide derivatives with an epoxide warhead for their anti-lipase activity. The assessment of these novel epoxyketones was performed by an in-house method that we developed for rapid screening and identification of lipase inhibitors using GC-FID. Herein, we present a novel anti-lipase pharmacophore based on epoxyketone peptide derivatives that showed potent anti-lipase activity. Many of these derivatives had comparable or more potent activity than the clinically used lipase inhibitors such as orlistat. In addition, the lipase appears to be inhibited by a wide range of epoxyketone analogues regardless of the configuration of the epoxide in the epoxyketone moiety. The presented data in this study shows the first example of the use of epoxyketone peptides as novel lipase inhibitors.     

Selective reagents for solvent extraction of metals—II. Bis-quinaldic acids

Bis-quinoline-2-carboxylic acids in which the quinoline rings were joined via ether linkages to the 8-position have been synthesized and tested for metal extraction. The reagents extracted Cu²⁺ and Zn²⁺ selectively in the presence of Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ from aqueous sulphate solution.     

Element-selective atomic emission detection for capillary GC of metal-containing compounds

Element-selective GC detection by microwave-induced plasma atomic emission spectroscopy has been used to examine a wide variety of compounds containing metals, non-metals, and metalloids. “Recipes”, or new selective detection schemes for use with the software of the computer-controlled system, have been developed for the selective detection of boron, aluminum, gallium, titanium, vanadium, chromium, manganese, rhenium, palladium, and platinum. Figures of merit including limits of detection, linear dynamic range, and spectral selectivity over carbon have been established for most of these elements. Gas chromatography – atomic emission detection (GC-AED) has been applied to the selective detection of vanadium, nickel, and iron in metalloporphyrins present in crude oil, manganese-selective detection of methylcyclopentadienylmanganese tricarbonyl (MMT) in gasoline, and titanium-selective detection of reaction mixtures containing titanium catalysts or titanium boride molecular precursors.     

Blue and near-UV phosphorescence from iridium complexes with cyclometalated pyrazolyl or N-heterocyclic carbene ligands

Two approaches are reported to achieve efficient blue to near-UV emission from triscyclometalated iridium(III) materials related to the previously reported complex, fac-Ir(ppz)(3) (ppz = 1-phenylpyrazolyl-N,C(2)'). The first involves replacement of the phenyl group of the ppz ligand with a 9,9-dimethyl-2-fluorenyl group, i.e., fac-tris(1-[(9,9-dimethyl-2-fluorenyl)]pyrazolyl-N,C(2)')iridium(III), abbreviated as fac-Ir(flz)(3). Crystallographic analysis reveals that both fac-Ir(flz)(3) and fac-Ir(ppz)(3) have a similar coordination environment around the Ir center. The absorption and emission spectra of fac-Ir(flz)(3) are red shifted from those of fac-Ir(ppz)(3). The fac-Ir(flz)(3) complex gives blue photoluminescence (PL) with a high efficiency (lambda(max) = 480 nm, phi(PL) = 0.38) at room temperature. The lifetime and quantum efficiency were used to determine the radiative and nonradiative rates (1.0 x 10(4) and 2.0 x 10(4) s(-1), respectively). The second approach utilizes N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands to form triscyclometalated Ir complexes. Complexes with two different NHC ligands, i.e., iridium tris(1-phenyl-3-methylimidazolin-2-ylidene-C,C(2)'), abbreviated as Ir(pmi)(3), and iridium tris(1-phenyl-3-methylbenzimidazolin-2-ylidene-C,C(2)'), abbreviated as Ir(pmb)(3), were both isolated as facial and meridianal isomers. Comparison of the crystallographic structures of the fac- and mer-isomers of Ir(pmb)(3) with the corresponding Ir(ppz)(3) isomers indicates that the imidazolyl-carbene ligand has a stronger trans influence than pyrazolyl and, thus, imparts a greater ligand field strength. Both fac-Ir(pmi)(3) and fac-Ir(pmb)(3) complexes display strong metal-to-ligand-charge-transfer absorption transitions in the UV (lambda = 270-350 nm) and phosphoresce in the near-UV region (E(0)(-)(0) = 380 nm) at room temperature with phi(PL) values of 0.02 and 0.04, respectively. The radiative decay rates for fac-Ir(pmi)(3) and fac-Ir(pmb)(3) (5 x 10(4) s(-1) and 18 x 10(4) s(-1), respectively) are somewhat higher than that of fac-Ir(flz)(3), but the nonradiative rates are two orders of magnitude faster (i.e., (2-4) x 10(6) s(-1)).     

On the protonation equilibria of sephadex C-25 and C-50

The system H(+)Na(+) has been studied on Sephadex C-25 and C-50 at two ionic strengths by potentiometry. The data have been fitted by the H?gfeldt three-parameter model. For ionic strength 0.100 M (Na)ClO(4) an excellent fit is obtained with a standard deviation of +/-0.013 for both gels. For ionic strength 0.010 M (Na)ClO(4) a satisfactory fit could only be obtained by excluding the lowest and highest pH-value for each gel.     

静态应力作用下预测光学系统性能的计算方法

本文通过计算预测光学性能的方法表征在光学系统组装和外界环境因素影响下的光学系统灵敏度。该方法即通过调制传递函数来表征静态机械应力对光学物镜性能的影响。采用光学干涉仪对经过加工、组装且存在机械应力的光学物镜进行测试,并比较实验调制传递函数与计算模拟分析的调制传递函数。结果表明,计算结果与实验结果相符,证实了本文方法的有效性。