Direct structure determination using residual dipolar couplings: reaction-site conformation of methionine sulfoxide reductase in solution

Residual dipolar couplings (RDC) from partially aligned molecules provide long-range structural data and are thus particularly well adapted to rapid structure validation or protein fold recognition. Extensive measurements in two alignment media can also provide precise de novo structure from RDC alone. We have applied a novel combination of these approaches to the study of methionine sulfoxide reductase (MsrA) from Erwinia chrysanthemi, a 27 kDa enzyme essential for repairing oxidative stress damage. The tertiary fold was initially validated by comparing backbone RDC to expected values from the crystal structure of the homologous MsrA from Escherichia coli. Good agreement was found throughout the chain, verifying the overall topology of the molecule, with the exception of the catalytically important peptide P196-L202, where strong and systematic RDC violation was observed. No evidence for local differential mobility in this region was detected, implying that the structure of the strand differs in the two molecules. We have therefore applied the de novo approach meccano to determine the conformation of this peptide using only RDC. A single conformation is found that is in agreement with all measured data. The aligned peptide can be docked onto the expected covalence of the rest of the template molecule while respecting its strictly defined relative orientation. In contrast to the structure of MsrA from E. coli, the reactive side chain of Cys200 is oriented toward the interior of the molecule and therefore closer to the catalytic Cys53, obviating the need for previously proposed conformational reorganization prior to formation of this disulfide intermediate. This analysis requires only backbone assignment and uses unambiguously assigned and readily measurable structural data, thereby greatly economizing investigation time compared to established nuclear Overhauser effect- (nOe-) based structure calculation methods.     

Ruthenium(II) dendrimers containing carbazole-based chromophores as branches

Three new luminescent and redox-active Ru(II) complexes containing novel dendritic polypyridine ligands have been synthesized, and their absorption spectra, luminescence properties (both at room temperature in fluid solution and at 77 K in rigid matrix), and redox behavior have been investigated. The dendritic ligands are made of 1,10-phenanthroline coordinating subunits and of carbazole groups as branching sites. The first and second generation species of this novel class of dendritic ligands (L1 and L2, respectively; see Figure 1 for their structural formulas) have been prepared and employed. The metal dendrimers investigated are [Ru(bpy)(2)(L1)](2+) (1; bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine), [Ru(bpy)(2)(L2)](2+) (2), and [Ru(L1)(3)](2+) (3; see Figure 2). For the sake of completeness and comparison purposes, also the absorption spectra, redox behavior, and luminescence properties of L1 and L2 have been studied, together with the properties of 3,6-di(tert-butyl)carbazole (L0) and [Ru(bpy)(2)(phen)](2+) (4, phen = 1,10-phenanthroline). The absorption spectra of the free dendritic ligands show features which can be assigned to the various subunits (i.e., carbazole and phenanthroline groups) and additional bands at lower energies (at lambda > 300 nm) which are assigned to carbazole-to-phenanthroline charge-transfer (CT) transitions. These latter bands are significantly red-shifted upon acid and/or zinc acetate addition. Both L1 and L2 exhibit relatively intense luminescence at room temperature in fluid solution (lifetimes in the nanosecond time scale, quantum yields of the order of 10(-2)-10(-1)) and at 77 K in rigid matrix (lifetimes in the millisecond time scale). Such a luminescence is assigned to CT states at room temperature and to phenanthroline-centered pi-pi triplet levels at 77 K. The room-temperature luminescence of L1 and L2 is totally quenched by acid or zinc acetate. The metal dendrimers exhibit the typical absorption and luminescence properties of Ru(II) polypyridine complexes. In particular, metal-to-ligand charge-transfer (MLCT) bands dominate the visible absorption spectra, and formally triplet MLCT levels govern the excited-state properties. Excitation spectroscopy evidences that all the light absorbed by the dendritic branches is transferred with unitary efficiency to the luminescent MLCT states in 1-3, showing that the new metal dendrimers can be regarded as efficient light-harvesting antenna systems. All the free ligands and metal dendrimers exhibit a rich redox behavior (except L2 and 3, whose redox behavior was not investigated because of solubility reasons), with clearly attributable reversible carbazole- and metal-centered oxidation and polypyridine-centered reduction processes. The electronic interaction between the carbazole redox-active sites of the dendritic ligands is affected by Ru(II) coordination.     

(N-pyrrolyl)B(C6F5)2--a new organometallic Lewis acid for the generation of group 4 metallocene cation complexes

Treatment of the (C6F5)2BF x OEt2 (3) complex with N-pyrrolyl lithium gives bis(pentafluorophenyl)(N-pyrrolyl)borane (2), a strong organometallic Lewis acid, which was characterized by X-ray diffraction (B-N bond length: 1.401(5) A). It exhibits a columnar superstructure in the crystal and contains pi-stacks of pyrrolyl units. Compound 2 readily abstracts alkyl anions from a variety of alkyl Group 4 metallocene-type complexes and leads to the clean formation of the respective metallocene ions or ion pairs. For example, the treatment of Cp3ZrCH3 (9) with 2 transfers a methyl anion to yield the ion pair [Cp3Zr]+[(C4H4N)B(CH3)(C6F5)2]- (12). The X-ray crystal structure analysis of 12 shows a close contact between zirconium and the pyrrolyl-beta-carbon (2.641(2) A). The borane 2 adds to (butadiene)zirconocene (13) to yield the betaine system [Cp2Zr]+[(C4H6)B- (NC4H4)(C6F)2]- (15). Complex 15 contains a distorted eta3-allyl moiety inside the metallacyclic framework and it features an internal Zr+...(pyrrolyl)B- ion pair interaction with a Zr...pyrrolyl-alphacarbon separation of 2.723(3) A (determined by X-ray diffraction). From the dynamic NMR spectra of 15 the bond strength of the internal ion pair interaction was estimated to be deltaGdiss (223 K) approximately = to15 kcalmol(-1). Treatment of dimethylzirconocene (16) with 2 yields the metallocene borate salt [Cp2ZrCH3]+[(C4H4N)B(CH3)(C6F5)2]- (17), which is an active catalyst for the polymerization of ethene.     

The chemical bond in polyphosphides: crystal structures, the electron localization function, and a new view of aromaticity in P4(2-) and P5(-)

The incongruent solvation of M(I)4P6 species (M(I) = K, Rb, Cs) in liquid ammonia leads to a broad variety of polyphosphides such as P7(3-), P11(3-), and the putatively aromatic P4(2-) and P5(-), which we investigated by using NMR spectroscopy and single-crystal X-ray structure analysis. The structures of Cs2P4 x 2 NH3, (K@[18]crown-6)3K3(P7)2 x 10 NH3, Rb3P7 x 7 NH3, and (Rb@[18]crown-6)3P7 x 6 NH3 are discussed and compared. The electron localization function ELF is used in a comparison of the chemical bonding of various phosphorus species. The variances of the basin populations provide a well-established measure for electron delocalization and therefore aromaticity. While comparable variance is calculated for P4(2-) and P5(-) it is observed in the lone pairs rather than in the basin populations of the bonds as in the prototypical aromatic hydrocarbons such as benzene or the cyclopentadienide anion. For this behavior, the term "lone pair aromaticity" is proposed.     

Infrared bounds,phase transitions and continuous symmetry breaking

We present a new method for rigorously proving the existence of phase transitions. In particular, we prove that phase transitions occur in (·) ₃ ² quantum field theories and classical, isotropic Heisenberg models in 3 or more dimensions. The central element of the proof is that for fixed ferromagnetic nearest neighbor coupling, the absolutely continuous part of the two point function ink space is bounded by 0(k ^–2). When applicable, our results can be fairly accurate numerically. For example, our lower bounds on the critical temperature in the three dimensional Ising (resp. classical Heisenberg) model agrees with that obtained by high temperature expansions to within 14% (resp. a factor of 9%).Research supported by USNSF under grants GP-38048 and MPS-74-13252A. Sloan Fellow; also in the Department of Physics     

Molecular Structure of 3-Hydroxy-4-Pyrone

Abstract

Aerial parts of Erigeron annuus and E. strigosus afforded 3-hydroxy-4-pyrone, the molecular structure of which was determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction.     

On Strictly Convex Subsets in Negatively Curved Manifolds

In a complete simply connected Riemannian manifold X of pinched negative curvature, we give a sharp criterion for a subset C to be the ??-neighbourhood of some convex subset of X, in terms of the extrinsic curvatures of the boundary of C.     

Broadband excitation pulses for high‐field solid‐state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

In nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, experimental limits due to the radiofrequency transmitter and/or coil means that conventional radiofrequency pulses (“hard pulses”) are sometimes not sufficiently powerful to excite magnetization uniformly over a desired range of frequencies. Effects due to nonuniform excitation are most frequently encountered at high magnetic fields for nuclei with a large range of chemical shifts. Using optimal control theory, we have designed broadband excitation pulses that are suitable for solid‐state samples under magic‐angle‐spinning conditions. These pulses are easy to implement, robust to spinning frequency variations, and radiofrequency inhomogeneities, and only four times as long as a corresponding hard pulse. The utility of these pulses for uniformly exciting ¹³C nuclei is demonstrated on a 900 MHz (21.1 T) spectrometer. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.