Rational design of smart supramolecular assemblies for gene delivery: chemical challenges in the creation of artificial viruses

Polymeric materials have been extensively developed as a delivery vehicle for nucleic acids over the past two decades. Many previous studies have demonstrated that synthetic delivery vehicles can be highly functionalized by chemical approaches to overcome biological barriers in nucleic acid delivery, similar to viruses. Based on our current knowledge, this tutorial review describes rational strategies in the design of polymeric materials to achieve construction of the versatile vehicles, that is "artificial viruses", for successful gene therapy, especially focusing on the chemical structures with the minimal adverse effects.     

Synthesis and Structure–Activity Relationship of Vicenistatin,a Cytotoxic 20‐Membered Macrolactam Glycoside

We have developed two syntheses of vicenistatin and its analogues. Our first‐generation strategy included the rapid and sequential assembly of the macrocyclic lactam by using an intermolecular Horner–Wadsworth–Emmons reaction between the C3–C13 fragment and the C1–C2, C14–C19 fragment, followed by an intramolecular Stille coupling reaction. The second‐generation strategy utilized a ring‐closing metathesis of a hexaene intermediate to generate the desired 20‐membered macrolactam. This second‐generation strategy made it possible to prepare synthetic analogues of vicenistatin, including the C20‐ and/or C23‐demethyl analogues. Evaluation of the cytotoxic effect of these analogues indicated the importance of the fixed conformation of aglycon for determining the biological activity of the vicenistatins.     

High magnetic field solid‐state NMR analyses by combining MAS,MQ‐MAS,homo‐nuclear and hetero‐nuclear correlation experiments

A general strategy of structural analysis of alumina silicate by combining various solid‐state NMR measurements such as single pulse, multi‐quantum magic angle spinning, double‐quantum homo‐nuclear correlation under magic angle spinning (DQ‐MAS), and cross‐polarization hetero‐nuclear correlation (CP‐HETCOR) was evaluated with the aid of high magnetic field NMR (800 MHz for ¹H Larmor frequency) by using anorthite as a model material. The high magnetic field greatly enhanced resolution of ²⁷Al in single pulse, DQ‐MAS, and even in triple‐quantum magic angle spinning NMR spectra. The spatial proximities through dipolar couplings were probed by the DQ‐MAS methods for homo‐nuclear correlations between both ²⁷Al–²⁷Al and ²⁹Si–²⁹Si and by CP‐HETCOR for hetero‐nuclear correlations between ²⁷Al–²⁹Si in the anorthite framework. By combining various NMR methodologies, we elucidated detailed spatial correlations among various aluminum and silicon species in anorthite that was hard to be determined using conventional analytical methods at low magnetic field. Moreover, the presented approach is applicable to analyze other alumina‐silicate minerals. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synthetic study of optically active 3-azabicyclo[3.3.0]octane-2,6,8-tricarboxylic acid

Synthesis of (1R,2S,5S,6R,8S)-3-azabicyclo[3.3.0]octane-2,6,8-tricarboxylic acid (2) from trans-4-hydroxy-L-proline (5) was attempted. A Diels-Alder reaction of 3,4-dehydroproline derivative 9 and cyclopentadiene afforded a single stereoisomer 11. The Diels-Alder adduct was smoothly converted to the hydrochloride of 2 (24) via RuO(4) oxidation. Although some racemization of the material or product was observed during the synthetic processes, the amino acid 24 proved to be optically pure.     

Novel metal-organic frameworks with specific topology from new tripodal ligands: 1,3,5-tris(1-imidazolyl)benzene and 1,3-bis(1-imidazolyl)-5-(imidazol-1-ylmethyl)benzene

Reactions of two new tripodal ligands 1,3,5-tris(1-imidazolyl)benzene (4) and 1,3-bis(1-imidazolyl)-5-(imidazol-1-ylmethyl)benzene (5) with metal [Ag(I), Cu(II), Zn(II), Ni(II)] salts lead to the formation of novel two-dimensional (2D) metal-organic frameworks [Ag(2)(4)(2)][p-C(6)H(4)(COO)(2)].H(2)O (6), [Ag(4)]ClO(4) (7), [Cu(4)(2)(H(2)O)(2)](CH(3)COO)(2).2H(2)O (8), [Zn(4)(2)(H(2)O)(2)](NO(3))(2) (9), [Ni(4)(2)(N(3))(2)].2H(2)O (10), and [Ag(5)]ClO(4) (11). All the structures were established by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Crystal data for 6: monoclinic, C2/c, a = 23.766(3) A, b = 12.0475(10) A, c = 13.5160(13) A, beta = 117.827(3) degrees, Z = 4. For compound 7: orthorhombic, P2(1)2(1)2(1), a = 7.2495(4) A, b = 12.0763(7) A, c = 19.2196(13) A, Z = 4. For compound 8: monoclinic, P2(1)/n, a = 8.2969(5) A, b = 12.2834(5) A, c = 17.4667(12) A, beta = 96.5740(10) degrees, Z = 2. For compound 9: monoclinic, P2(1)/n, a =10.5699(3) A, b = 11.5037(3) A, c = 13.5194(4) A, beta = 110.2779(10) degrees, Z = 2. For compound 10: monoclinic, P2(1)/n, a = 9.8033(3) A, b = 12.1369(5) A, c = 13.5215(5) A, beta = 107.3280(10) degrees, Z = 2. For compound 11: monoclinic C2/c, a = 18.947(2) A, b = 9.7593(10) A, c = 19.761(2) A, beta = 97.967(2) degrees, Z = 8. Both complexes 6 and 7 are noninterpenetrating frameworks based on the (6, 3) nets, and 8, 9 and 10 are based on the (4, 4) nets while complex 11 has a twofold parallel interpenetrated network with 4.8(2) topology. It is interesting that, in complexes 6,7, and 11 with three-coordinated planar silver(I) atoms, each ligand 4 or 5 connects three metal atoms, while in the case of complexes 8, 9, and 10 with six-coordinated octahedral metal atoms, each ligand 4 only links two metal atoms, and another imidazole nitrogen atom of 4 did not participate in the coordination with the metal atoms in these complexes. The results show that the nature of organic ligand and geometric needs of metal atoms have great influence on the structure of metal-organic frameworks.     

Solvent‐ and counterion‐specific swelling behavior of poly(acrylic acid) gels

The collapse of alkali metal poly(acrylate) (PAAM) gels was investigated for various water/organic solvent mixture systems: methanol (MeOH), ethanol (EtOH), 2‐propanol (2PrOH), t‐butanol (tBuOH), dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), acetonitrile (AcN), acetone, tetrahydrofuran (THF), and dioxane. In order to ascertain the counterion specificity in the swelling behavior, four kinds of alkali metal counterions were used: Li⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, and Cs⁺. Remarkable solvent and counterion specificities were observed for every counterion species and every solvent system, respectively. For example, in aqueous EtOH the dielectric constants (D_cr) at which collapse occurred were in the order PAACs < PAALi < PAAK < PAANa. On the other hand, the D_cr at which PAALi gel collapsed increased in the order tBuOH < dioxane < THF < MeOH < 2PrOH < EtOH < acetone < AcN < DMSO, where the D_cr ranged from about 39 to about 67. This was in contrast to our previous observation for a partially quaternized poly(4‐vinyl pyridine) (P4VP) gel, which collapsed in a much narrower D_cr region in similar mixed solvents. The present solvent‐ and counterion‐specific collapses are discussed on the basis of solvent properties such as the dielectric constant and Gutmann's donor number and acceptor number of a pure solvent. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 38: 2791–2800, 2000     

Synthesis of novel fullerene amino acids and their multifullerene peptides

[60]-Fullerene functionalized amino acids with 4-6 methylene spacers from α-carbon to the nitrogen atom of fulleropyrolidine and corresponding multifullerene peptides have been synthesized.     

Syntheses, structures, near-infrared and visible luminescence, and magnetic properties of lanthanide-organic frameworks with an imidazole-containing flexible ligand

Reactions of tripodal ligand 1,3,5-tris(imidazole-1-ylmethyl)-2,4,6-trimethylbenzene (L) with lanthanide metal salts and triethyl orthoformate led to the formation of six bowl-like dinuclear compounds [Ln2(L)(HL)(NO3)6(HCOO)].3CH3OH (Ln = Gd 1, Tb 2, Dy 3, Er 4, Yb 5, and Eu 6). The single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that six complexes are isomorphous and isostructural and that the dinuclear molecules are further connected by hydrogen bonds and pi-pi interactions, resulting in 3D channel-like structures. The luminescence properties have been studied, and the results showed that the Tb(III) (2) and Eu(III) (6) complexes exhibited sensitized luminescence in the visible region and their luminescence lifetimes in powder and DMSO-d6 solution are in the range of milliseconds. The Yb(III) complex (5) emits typical near-infrared luminescence in DMSO-d6 solution. Variable-temperature magnetic susceptibility measurements of 1-6 showed that complex 1 (Gd) is nearly a paramagnet and complexes 2 (Tb), 3 (Dy), and 4 (Er) show the ferromagnetic coupling between magnetic centers, whereas the depopulation of the Stark levels in complexes 5 (Yb) and 6 (Eu) leads to a continuous decrease in (chi M)T when the sample is cooled from 300 to 1.8 K.     

Catalytic oxidation of benzene at low temperature over novel combination of metal oxide based catalysts: CuO,MnO2, NiO with Ce0.75Zr0.25O2 as support

Mesoporous Ce_0.75Zr_0.25O₂ solid solution powders were successfully synthesized by a co-precipitation method. A combination of 10 wt% copper oxide, manganese oxide, and nickel oxide was added to the Ce_0.75Zr_0.25O₂ support by impregnation method and calcined in the air with a flow rate of 2 ml s^?1 at 400 °C for 4 h. All catalysts were characterized using Hydrogen Temperature Programmed Reduction (H₂-TPR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) isotherm methods to find the interaction between metals, the crystallinity of the catalyst, surface area and pore volume of the catalyst, respectively. The 3.3% CuO-3.3% MnO₂-3.3% NiO/Ce_0.75Zr_0.25O₂ catalyst showed higher catalytic activity for benzene oxidation with benzene conversion of 90% at 250 °C and weight hourly space velocity (72,000 mL g^?1 h^?1) when compared to one metal oxide only. This finding presents a high activity and low-cost catalysts for removing a very lean concentration of benzene containing in the industrial flue gas at low temperatures.