Evaluation of aromatic-derivatized cyclofructans 6 and 7 as HPLC chiral selectors

The two best aromatic-functionalized cyclofructan chiral stationary phases, R-naphthylethyl-carbamate cyclofructan 6 (RN-CF6) and dimethylphenyl-carbamate cyclofructan 7 (DMP-CF7), were synthesized and evaluated by injecting various classes of chiral analytes. They provided enantioselectivity toward a broad range of compounds, including chiral acids, amines, metal complexes, and neutral compounds. It is interesting that they exhibited complementary selectivities and the combination of two columns provided enantiomeric separations for 43% of the test analytes. These extensive chromatographic results provided useful information about method development of specific analytes, and also gave some insight as to the enantioseparation mechanism.     

Antimalarials and Phytotoxins from Botryosphaeria dothidea Identified from a Seed of Diseased Torreya taxifolia

The metabolic pathways in the apicoplast organelle of Plasmodium parasites are similar to those in plastids in plant cells and are suitable targets for malaria drug discovery. Some phytotoxins released by plant pathogenic fungi have been known to target metabolic pathways of the plastid; thus, they may also serve as potential antimalarial drug leads. An EtOAc extract of the broth of the endophyte Botryosphaeria dothidea isolated from a seed collected from a Torreya taxifolia plant with disease symptoms, showed in vitro antimalarial and phytotoxic activities. Bioactivity-guided fractionation of the extract afforded a mixture of two known isomeric phytotoxins, FRT-A and flavipucine (or their enantiomers, sapinopyridione and (-)-flavipucine), and two new unstable γ-lactam alkaloids dothilactaenes A and B. The isomeric mixture of phytotoxins displayed strong phytotoxicity against both a dicot and a monocot and moderate cytotoxicity against a panel of cell lines. Dothilactaene A showed no activity. Dothilactaene B was isolated from the active fraction, which showed moderate in vitro antiplasmodial activity with high selectivity index. In spite of this activity, its instability and various other biological activities shown by related compounds would preclude it from being a viable antimalarial lead.     

Dynamics and spectroscopy of hydrogen atoms on Pd{111}

Chemisorption of hydrogen on Pd{111} is a relatively simple, yet important surface chemical process. By using low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy, tip-induced motion of adsorbed atomic hydrogen at 4 K has been observed at low coverage. The motion has been ascribed to excitation of vibrational modes that decay into translational modes; vibrational spectroscopy via inelastic electron tunneling corroborates this assignment, and the barrier to hydrogen atom motion has been determined. At higher coverages, tip-induced motion of vacancies in the hydrogen overlayer is observed, and the associated barrier has also been determined.     

A Potentiometric Study of the Association of Copper(II) and Sulfate Ions in Aqueous Solution at 25 °C

A study of the association between copper(II) and sulfate ions in aqueous solution has been made using copper ion-selective electrode potentiometry at constant ionic strengths (I) of 0.05, 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 3.0 and 5.0 mol·L^?1 in NaClO₄ media at 25 °C. Only one complex was detected, corresponding to the equilibrium: \( {\text{Cu}}^{ 2+ } ({\text{aq}}) + {\text{SO}}_{4}^{2 - } ({\text{aq}}) \rightleftarrows {\text{CuSO}}_{4}^{0} ({\text{aq}}). \) No higher order complexes were detected even at sulfate/copper(II) concentration ratios of up to 1,000. The present potentiometric values of log₁₀ K ₁(I) are shown to be consistently higher than those obtained by UV–Vis spectrophotometry because of the failure of the latter technique to detect all of the solvent-separated ion pairs present. Extrapolation of log₁₀ K ₁(I) to infinite dilution using an extended Guggenheim equation yielded a standard state value of log₁₀ \( K_{1} \{ {\text{CuSO}}_{4}^{0} ({\text{aq}})\} = 2.32 \pm 0.09 \) , which is in excellent agreement with a recent IUPAC-recommended value.     

A Novel Purification Procedure for Active Recombinant Human DPP4 and the Inability of DPP4 to Bind SARS-CoV-2

Proteases catalyse irreversible posttranslational modifications that often alter a biological function of the substrate. The protease dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4) is a pharmacological target in type 2 diabetes therapy primarily because it inactivates glucagon-like protein-1. DPP4 also has roles in steatosis, insulin resistance, cancers and inflammatory and fibrotic diseases. In addition, DPP4 binds to the spike protein of the MERS virus, causing it to be the human cell surface receptor for that virus. DPP4 has been identified as a potential binding target of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, so this question requires experimental investigation. Understanding protein structure and function requires reliable protocols for production and purification. We developed such strategies for baculovirus generated soluble recombinant human DPP4 (residues 29–766) produced in insect cells. Purification used differential ammonium sulphate precipitation, hydrophobic interaction chromatography, dye affinity chromatography in series with immobilised metal affinity chromatography, and ion-exchange chromatography. The binding affinities of DPP4 to the SARS-CoV-2 full-length spike protein and its receptor-binding domain (RBD) were measured using surface plasmon resonance and ELISA. This optimised DPP4 purification procedure yielded 1 to 1.8 mg of pure fully active soluble DPP4 protein per litre of insect cell culture with specific activity >30 U/mg, indicative of high purity. No specific binding between DPP4 and CoV-2 spike protein was detected by surface plasmon resonance or ELISA. In summary, a procedure for high purity high yield soluble human DPP4 was achieved and used to show that, unlike MERS, SARS-CoV-2 does not bind human DPP4.     

Methemoglobinemia caused by 8-aminoquinoline drugs: DFT calculations suggest an analogy to H4B's role in nitric oxide synthase

We suggest a possible mechanism of how 8-aminoquinolines (8-AQ's) cause hemotoxicity by oxidizing hemoglobin to methemoglobin. In our DFT calculations, we found that 5-hydroxyprimaquine is able to donate an electron to O(2) to facilitate its conversion to H(2)O(2). Meanwhile, Fe(II) is oxidized to Fe(III) and methemoglobin is formed. In this mechanism, the 8-AQ drug plays a similar role as that of H(4)B in nitric oxide synthase. Furthermore, our study offers an approach to inform the design of less toxic antimalarial drugs.     

Synthesis of N-Substituted Benzimidazole-2-thiones

General methods were developed for N-substitution of benzimidazoline-2-thione with alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl and acyl groups using S-tritylation as a protecting reaction.     

Bulk viscosity of strange quark matter in density dependent quark mass model

We have studied the bulk viscosity of strange quark matter in the density dependent quark mass model (DDQM) and compared results with calculations done earlier in the MIT bag model where u, d masses were neglected and first order interactions were taken into account. We find that at low temperatures and high relative perturbations, the bulk viscosity is higher by 2 to 3 orders of magnitude while at low perturbations the enhancement is by 1–2 order of magnitude as compared to earlier results. Also the damping time is 2–3 orders of magnitude lower implying that the star reaches stability much earlier than in MIT bag model calculations.     

Effect of constrained donor atom orientations on the stabilities, complexation kinetics, redox potentials, and structures of macrocyclic polythiaether Complexes. Copper(II) complexes with cyclopentanediyl derivatives of [14]aneS4 in 80% methanol

The two ethylene bridges in the macrocyclic tetrathiaether 1,4,8,11-tetrathiacyclotetradecane ([14]aneS(4)) have been systematically replaced by cis- or trans-1,2-cyclopentane to generate a series of new ligands that exhibit differing preferences for the orientation of the sulfur donor atoms while maintaining constant inductive effects. The resulting five dicyclopentanediyl derivatives, along with two previously synthesized monocyclopentanediyl analogues, have been complexed with Cu(II), and their stability constants, formation and dissociation rate constants, and redox potentials have been determined in 80% methanol/20% water (by weight). The crystal structures of the Cu(II) complexes with the five dicyclopentanediyl-[14]aneS(4) diastereomers as well as the structures for a representative Cu(I) complex and one of the free ligands have also been determined. The properties of these complexes are compared to previous data obtained for the corresponding cyclohexanediyl derivatives in an attempt to shed additional light on the influence of sterically constraining substituents upon the properties of macrocyclic ligand complexes.     

Primary and secondary pyroelectricity in highly oriented polyvinylidene fluoride

Measurements of the pyroelectric response in both free and constrained conditions are presented for low-draw ratio, high-draw ratio and voided form I polyvinylidene fluoride sheets. The results are used together with related data for the piezoelectric response and for the thermal expansion behavior to estimate the primary and secondary components of the total macroscopic pyroelectricity. For the high-draw ratio and voided sheets the primary response was approximately 90% of the total pyroelectricity compared with 40% for the low-draw ratio nonvoided sheet. It is proposed that the role of reversible temperature-dependent crystallinity is more pronounced in the high-draw samples. Previous NMR studies provide support for this conclusion.