The phospholipid membrane compositions of bacterial cells,cancer cell lines and biological samples from cancer patients

While cancer now impacts the health and well-being of more of the human population than ever before, the exponential rise in antimicrobial resistant (AMR) bacterial infections means AMR is predicted to become one of the greatest future threats to human health. It is therefore vital that novel therapeutic strategies are developed that can be used in the treatment of both cancer and AMR infections. Whether the target of a therapeutic agent be inside the cell or in the cell membrane, it must either interact with or cross this phospholipid barrier to elicit the desired cellular effect. Here we summarise findings from published research into the phospholipid membrane composition of bacterial and cancer cell lines and biological samples from cancer patients. These data not only highlight key differences in the membrane composition of these biological samples, but also the methods used to elucidate and report the results of this analogous research between the microbial and cancer fields.

This review acts as a repository and comparison of cell membrane phospholipid composition data collected from microbial and cancer fields.     

Photoinduced step-growth polymerization of thieno[3,4-b] thiophene derivatives. The substitution effect on the reactivity and electrochemical properties

We herein report photoinduced step-growth polymerization of highly conjugated 2,5-dithiophenyl (thieno[3,4-b] thiophene) (TTs) derivatives possessing 4-cyanophenyl or 4-methoxyphenyl or 3-(4-fluorophenyl) groups substituted at the terminal position. Upon irradiation at 350 nm, the excited state of these molecules forms exciplex with diphenyliodonium hexafluorophosphate (DPI) that undergoes electron transfer reaction forming radical cations. Successive proton release and radical coupling reactions yield corresponding oligothienothiophenes with overall yields varying between 19–74%. Structural and molecular weight characteristics of the oligomers thus formed were investigated by Ultraviolet, fluorescence, NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) and infrared (IR) spectroscopic methods, and GPC (Gel Permeation Chromatography), respectively. The effect of substitution and dithiophene side groups on the reactivity of the monomer and band gap of the oligomers formed was evaluated by using cyclic voltammetry.     

Synthesis and Characterization of New Y-shaped Fluorophores with an Imidazole Core

Four new y-shaped fluorophores of 4- {4,5-[2,2'-Bis(2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl)vinyl]-1-H-imidazole-2-yl}benzonitrile 1a, 2-phenyl-{4,5-[2,2'-Bis(2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl)vinyl]-1-H-imidazole} 1b, 2- (9-anthryl)-{4,5-[2,2'-Bis(2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl)vinyl] }-1-H-imidazole 1c and 2- (4-nitrophenyl) - {4,5-[2,2'-Bis(2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl)vinyl] -1-H-imidazole 1d which bear an imidazole core, were synthesized for the first time via intermediate 1,6-Bis(2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl)hexa-1,5-diene-3,4-dion with different aldehydes. The structures of the new derivatives were confirmed by (1)H NMR, (13)C NMR and FT-IR. The optical properties such as absorption and emission maxima, Stokes' shift and quantum yield values were investigated in solvents of toluene, tetrahydrofuran and acetonitrile. The products show intense emission maxima in the range of 440-630?nm. The imidazole derivatives exhibited excellent photostabilities.     

Theoretical investigations of α,α,α-trifluoro-3, -p and o-nitrotoluene by means of density functional theory

This study reports the optimized molecular structures, vibrational frequencies including Infrared intensities and Raman activities, corresponding vibrational assignments, (1)H and (13)C NMR chemical shifts, the magnitudes of the JCH and JCC coupling constants, Ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectra, thermodynamic properties and atomic charges of the title compounds, α,α,α-trifluoro-3, -p and o-nitrotoluene, in the ground state by means of the density functional theory (DFT) with the standard B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) method and basis set combination for the first time. Theoretical vibrational spectra were interpreted by normal coordinate analysis based on scaled density functional force field. The results show that the vibrational frequencies and chemical shifts calculated were obtained to be in good agreement with the experimental data. Based on the comparison between experimental results and theoretical data, the calculation level chosen is powerful approach for understanding the identification of all the molecules studied. In addition, not only were frontier molecular orbitals (HOMO and LUMO), molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) and electrostatic potential (ESP) simulated but also the dipole moment, softness, electronegativity, chemical hardness, electrophilicity index, transition state and energy band gap values were predicted. According to the investigations, all compounds were found to be useful to bond metallically and interact intermolecularly; however, the thermodynamic properties confirm that the α,α,α-trifluoro-p-nitrotoluene was more reactive and more polar than the others.     

Depending on the electric and magnetic field of the linear optical absorption and rectification coefficient in triple quantum well

In this study, the alteration of the potential profile, the energy levels, the dipole matrix element and the resonant peaks of the linear optical absorption (OA) and optical rectification (OR) coefficients in GaAs/GaAlAs triple quantum well (TQW) are calculated as dependent on the applied electric field and the magnetic field. The results show that the shape of confined potential profile, the energy levels and the dipole moment matrix elements are changed as dependent on the external fields. Also, the resonant peaks of the OA and OR coefficients depend on the applied external field effects. Therefore, I hope that these results will provide important improvement in semiconductor device applications, for suitable choice of electric and magnetic field values. It may particularly be useful in technological applications that the structure of TQW changes with the strength and direction of the external electric field.     

Intersubband transitions and refractive index changes in coupled double quantum well with different well shapes

In this study, both the linear intersubband transitions and the refractive index changes in coupled double quantum well (DQW) with different well shapes for different electric fields are theoretically calculated within framework of the effective mass approximation. Results obtained show that intersubband transitions and the energy levels in coupled DQW can importantly be modified and controlled by the electric field strength and direction. By considering the variation of the energy differences, it should point out that by varying electric field we can obtain a blue or red shift in the intersubband optical transitions. The modulation of the absorption coefficients and the refractive index changes which can be suitable for good performance optical modulators and various infrared optical device applications can be easy obtained by tuning applied electric field strength and direction.     

A theoretical approach to the formation mechanism of diphenyldithieno[3,2-b:2′,3′-d]thiophene from 1,8-diketone, 4,5-bis(benzoylmethylthio)thiophene: a DFT study

The mechanism of formation of dithieno[3,2-b:2′,3′-d]thiophene (DTT) through the reaction of 1,8-diketone, 4,5-bis(benzoylmethylthio)thiophene with P₄S₁₀ was examined in detail by employing DFT method at B3LYP/6-311+G(d,p) level. Two mechanisms were considered. The first one included two parts (i) transformation of the 1,8-diketone, 4,5-bis(benzoylmethylthio)thiophene to the dithione by the reaction of P₄S₁₀ with the carbonyl groups and (ii) cyclization of the dithione to the final product, DTT, through an intramolecular reaction of the thiophene with thiones. The second mechanism consists of an initial attack of the carbonyl oxygen to the phosphorus atom of P₄S₁₀ followed by cyclization via an intramolecular attack from the thiophene ring to the highly electrophilic carbons connected to the oxygens to form DTT. According to the calculated Gibbs free energies of the studied paths, the second mechanism is more favorable than the first one and both pathways proceed in a stepwise manner.     

Study of Solution Polymerization of Styrene in the Presence of Poly(ethylene glycol)-RAFT Agents Possessing Benzoyl Xanthate Derivatives

In this work, Macro-Reversible addition fragmentation termination (RAFT) agents based on poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) possessing different molecular weights and bearing benzoyl xanthate moieties were synthesized by the reaction of PEG potassium xanthate salts with benzoyl chloride, 4-methyl benzoyl chloride and 4-chloro benzoyl chloride. Controlled free radical polymerization of the styrene were carried out in the presence of these macro-RAFT agents using 2,2′-azobisizsobutyronitrile (AIBN) as an initiator to yield PS-b-PEG-b-PS block copolymers. The linear kinetic plot ln [M]_o/[M] vs. polymerization time indicated that was first order with reference to monomer concentration. The block copolymerization possessed controlled/living character. The controlled character of the RAFT polymerization of the styrene was confirmed by the formation of narrow polydispersity of the polymers, linear increases in the molecular weight with polymerization time and molecular weight of the products that agreed well with theoretical values. Polymers having relatively narrow molecular weight distributions and predetermined number average molecular weights were obtained by the RAFT polymerization of the styrene. However, molecular weights of the polymers deviated from the theoretical values when low molecular weight RAFT agents are used. The results indicate that PEG benzoyl xanthate RAFT agents can more efficiently control the polymerization comparing methyl or chlorobenzoyl derivatives. The block copolymers were characterized by spectroscopic and GPC methods.     

An incremental clustering algorithm based on hyperbolic smoothing

Clustering is an important problem in data mining. It can be formulated as a nonsmooth, nonconvex optimization problem. For the most global optimization techniques this problem is challenging even in medium size data sets. In this paper, we propose an approach that allows one to apply local methods of smooth optimization to solve the clustering problems. We apply an incremental approach to generate starting points for cluster centers which enables us to deal with nonconvexity of the problem. The hyperbolic smoothing technique is applied to handle nonsmoothness of the clustering problems and to make it possible application of smooth optimization algorithms to solve them. Results of numerical experiments with eleven real-world data sets and the comparison with state-of-the-art incremental clustering algorithms demonstrate that the smooth optimization algorithms in combination with the incremental approach are powerful alternative to existing clustering algorithms.     

Effect of Catalytically Active Zinc Oxide−Carbon Nanotube Composite on Sensitive Assay of Desloratadine Metabolite

Desloratadine is one of the most effective second‐generation antihistamines and the electrochemical behavior of the active agent of desloratadine was investigated with a new nanosensor designed with the addition of zinc oxide and multiwalled carbon nanotube (ZnO : MWCNT) mixture on glassy carbon (GCE). By investigating and using cyclic, differential pulse and square wave voltammetry techniques with ZnO : MWCNT/GCE, it is planned to obtain information about quantification and mechanism of desloratadine. The efficiency of experimental parameters such as pH, scan rate, accumulation potential and time on the anodic response of desloratadine were studied. Differential pulse voltammetry was selected as assay method and under developed method and optimized conditions, the current showed linear dependence with concentration in the range between 2×10^?8 and 8×10^?6 M in pH 5.5 acetate buffer. The achieved limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) are 0.769 nM and 2.56 nM respectively. Applicability of the methods was demonstrated by their implementation in pharmaceutical dosage forms of desloratadine and the accuracy, precision, selectivity, sensitivity, intra‐day and day‐to‐day reproducibility of the methods were clearly explored. Finally, this sensor was successfully applied on real sample as a selective, simple, reproducible, repeatable an electrochemical sensor.