Binuclear zinc(II) complexes with the anti-inflammatory compounds salicylaldehyde semicarbazone and salicylaldehyde-4-chlorobenzoyl hydrazone (H2LASSBio-1064)

Complexes [Zn₂(HL¹)₂(CH₃COO)₂] (1) and [Zn₂(L²)₂] (2) were synthesized with salicylaldehyde semicarbazone (H₂L¹) and salicylaldehyde-4-chlorobenzoyl hydrazone (H₂LASSBio-1064, H₂L²), respectively. The crystal structure of (1) was determined. Upon recrystallization of previously prepared [Zn₂(HL²)₂(Cl)₂] (3) in 1:9 DMSO:acetone crystals of [Zn₂(L²)₂(H₂O)₂]·[Zn₂(L²)₂(DMSO)₄] (3a) were obtained. The crystal structure of 3a was also determined. All crystal structures revealed the presence of phenoxo-bridged binuclear zinc(II) complexes.     

Tuning of the electronic properties of a cyclopentadienylruthenium catalyst to match racemization of electron-rich and electron-deficient alcohols

The synthesis of a new series of cyclopentadienylruthenium catalysts with varying electronic properties and their application in racemization of secondary alcohols are described. These racemizations involve two key steps: 1) β-hydride elimination (dehydrogenation) and 2) re-addition of the hydride to the intermediate ketone. The results obtained confirm our previous theory that the electronic properties of the substrate determine which of these two steps is rate determining. For an electron-deficient alcohol the rate-determining step is the β-hydride elimination (dehydrogenation), whereas for an electron-rich alcohol the re-addition of the hydride becomes the rate-determining step. By matching the electronic properties of the catalyst with the electronic properties of the alcohol, we have now shown that a dramatic increase in racemization rate can be obtained. For example, electron-deficient alcohol 15 racemized 30 times faster with electron-deficient catalyst 6 than with the unmodified standard catalyst 4. The application of these protocols will extend the scope of cyclopentadienylruthenium catalysts in racemization and dynamic kinetic resolution.     

Analysis of sulfated peptides from the skin secretion of the Pachymedusa dacnicolor frog using IMAC-Ga enrichment and high-resolution mass spectrometry

Immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography (IMAC) has been widely used for the enrichment of phosphopeptides, whereas no report exists describing the use of IMAC columns for the enrichment of sulfopeptides. In this study, we used IMAC-Ga microcolumns for the enrichment of sulfopeptides from a complex mixture of peptides, extracted from skin secretions of the Pachymedusa dacnicolor frog. The enriched fraction obtained by IMAC-Ga was analyzed by liquid chromatograpy/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-MS) in an Orbitrap XL and by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF/TOF) in an ABI 4800 instrument. From this fraction, different sulfated and non-sulfated peptides belonging to the caerulin and bradykinin families were structurally characterized. Other interesting negatively charged groups, such as phosphate adducts of dermaseptins and pyridoxal phosphate attached to a protease inhibitor, were also characterized. Unexpectedly, some dermaseptin antimicrobial peptides were also enriched by IMAC-Ga and a Sauvatine-like peptide was also fully sequenced. Furthermore, neutral loss of sulfated peptides and their fragmentation patterns in the gas phase were also compared using collision-induced dissociation (CID) and high-energy collision dissociation (HCD). Our present study provides evidence that IMAC-Ga enrichment is a fast, useful and promising method for high-throughput analysis of sulfated-peptides, since high-resolution mass spectrometers can be used for this purpose.     

CO dissociation mechanism in racemization of alcohols by a cyclopentadienyl ruthenium dicarbonyl catalyst

(13)CO exchange studies of racemization catalyst (η(5)-Ph(5)C(5))Ru(CO)(2)Cl and (η(5)-Ph(5)C(5))Ru(CO)(2)(Ot-Bu) by (13)C NMR spectroscopy are reported. CO exchange for the active catalyst form, (η(5)-Ph(5)C(5))Ru(CO)(2)(Ot-Bu) is approximately 20 times faster than that for the precatalyst (η(5)-Ph(5)C(5))Ru(CO)(2)Cl. An inhibition on the rate of racemization of (S)-1-phenylethanol was observed on addition of CO. These results support the hypothesis that CO dissociation is a key step in the racemization of sec-alcohols by (η(5)-Ph(5)C(5))Ru(CO)(2)Cl, as also predicted by DFT calculations.     

Phosphite-oxazole/imidazole ligands in asymmetric intermolecular Heck reaction

We describe the application of a new class of ligands--the phosphite-oxazole/imidazole (L1-L5a-g)--in asymmetric intermolecular Pd-catalyzed Heck reactions under thermal and microwave conditions. These ligands combine the advantages of the oxazole/imidazole moiety with those of the phosphite moiety: they are more stable than their oxazoline counterparts, less sensitive to air and other oxidizing agents than phosphines and phosphinites, and easy to synthesize from readily available alcohols. The results indicate that activities, regio- and enantioselectivities, are highly influenced by the type of nitrogen donor group (oxazole or imidazole), the oxazole and biaryl-phosphite substituents and the axial chirality of the biaryl moiety of the ligand. By carefully selecting the ligand components, we achieved high activities, regio- (up to 99%) and enantioselectivities (up to 99%) using several triflate sources. Under microwave-irradiation conditions, reaction times were considerably shorter (from 24 h to 30 min) and regio- and enantioselectivities were still excellent.     

Line graph eigenvalues and line energy of caterpillars

The energy of a graph G is the sum of the absolute values of the eigenvalues of the adjacency matrix of G. A caterpillar is a tree in which the removal of all pendant vertices makes it a path. Let d?3 and n?2(d-1). Let p=[p₁,p₂,…,p_d-1] with p₁?1,p₂?1,…,p_d-1?1 such that

p₁+p₂+?+p_d-1=n-d+1.     

High proton conduction in a chiral ferromagnetic metal-organic quartz-like framework

A complex-as-ligand strategy to get a multifunctional molecular material led to a metal-organic framework with the formula (NH(4))(4)[MnCr(2)(ox)(6)]·4H(2)O. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction revealed that the anionic bimetallic coordination network adopts a chiral three-dimensional quartz-like architecture. It hosts ammonium cations and water molecules in functionalized channels. In addition to ferromagnetic ordering below T(C) = 3.0 K related to the host network, the material exhibits a very high proton conductivity of 1.1 × 10(-3) S cm(-1) at room temperature due to the guest molecules.     

Pyranoside phosphite-oxazoline ligands for the highly versatile and enantioselective ir-catalyzed hydrogenation of minimally functionalized olefins. A combined theoretical and experimental study

A modular set of phosphite-oxazoline (P,N) ligands has been applied to the title reaction. Excellent ligands have been identified for a range of substrates, including previously challenging terminally disubstituted olefins, where we now have reached enantioselectivities of 99% for a range of substrates. The selectivity is best for minimally functionalized substrates with at least a moderate size difference between geminal groups. A DFT study has allowed identification of the preferred pathway. Computational prediction of enantioselectivities gave very good accuracy.     

Intercompany Study to Evaluate the Robustness of Capillary Isoelectric Focusing Technology for the Analysis of Monoclonal Antibodies

Interlaboratory comparisons are essential to bringing emerging technologies into biopharmaceutical industry practice and regulatory acceptance. As a result, an international team including 12 laboratories from 10 independent biopharmaceutical companies in the United States and Switzerland was formed to evaluate the precision and robustness of capillary isoelectric focusing (CIEF) to assess the charge heterogeneity of monoclonal antibodies. The different laboratories determined the apparent pI and the relative distribution of the charge isoforms of a representative monoclonal antibody (rMAb) sample using the same CIEF method. Statistical evaluation of the data was performed to determine within and between-laboratory consistencies and outlying information. The apparent pI data generated for each charge variant peak showed very good precision between laboratories with percentage of RSD values of ??0.5%. Similarly, the percentage of RSD for the rMAb charge variants percent peak area values are ??4.4% across different laboratories with different analysts using different lots of ampholytes and multiple instruments. Taken together, these results validate the appropriate use of CIEF in the biopharmaceutical industry in support of regulatory submissions.