Novel active ester‐bridged copolynorbornene materials containing terminal functional hydroxyl,amino, methacryloyl,or ammonium groups via ring‐opening metathesis polymerization

Several random and block copolynorbornenes with side chains containing terminal hydroxyl, amino, methacryloyl or ammonium groups were derived from the functional alkyl ester‐containing norbornenes by ring‐opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP). The main chain of ROMP‐type polynorbornene had a more important role for glass‐transition temperature in comparison with vinyl addition polymerization. There is little effect on glass‐transition temperature (about ?39 °C) of polynorbornenes with different length of alkyl side chain. The organosoluble copolynorbornenes with active crosslinkable methylacryloyl side chains derived from functional hydroxyl group were prepared to improve the thermal stability of poly(methyl methacrylate) [decomposition temperature (T_d)^10% = 325 °C in nitrogen] by forming networked AB crosslinked polymer (T = 367 °C in nitrogen). The sizes of nanometer‐scale polymeric micelles of block copolymers having hydrophobic alkyl ester and hydrophilic ammonium groups were measured in the range of 11–25 nm by scanning electron microscopy. These polymeric materials with various functional groups or amphiphilic architectures are accessible by ROMP, whose topology makes them particularly attractive for application potential such as biomedical and photoelectric materials. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 43: 4233–4247, 2005     

Implication of SAR of male medfly attractants in insect olfaction

Medfly (Ceratitis capitata) males are strongly attracted by different compounds, not described as pheromones. The best attractants reported are (+)-alpha-copaene, a sesquiterpene of natural source and (-)-ceralure-B1, a non-natural iodinated cyclohexane ester. Although their origin, atomic composition, chemical and physical properties are rather different, they show similar attraction to medflies. The question of why these compounds, act behaviorally in the same way, has been never addressed in research papers. We show here for the first time that these compounds have quite similar stereochemistry, water accessible surfaces, certain local dipole moments and, to some extent, similar octanol/water partition coefficient (log P). When seven carbons, one oxygen and one iodine belonging to (-)-ceralure-B1 are selectively chosen based on topological homology with (+)-alpha-copaene and are overlaid with nine corresponding carbons of (+)-alpha-copaene, the RMS is 0.367 A. This represents a high degree of steric resemblance. Local dipole moments and charges are similar in those regions where the molecules show topological homologies. Thus, we hypothesize that these two molecules could interact with the same male medfly's odorant receptor(s). The implications of this result in future research in insect olfaction is discussed.     

Phospholipase D activity is elevated in hepatitis C virus core protein-transformed NIH3T3 mouse fibroblast cells

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) is associated with a severe liver disease and increased frequency in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma. Overexpression of HCV core protein is known to transform fibroblast cells. Phospholipase D (PLD) activity is commonly elevated in response to mitogenic signals, and has also been overexpressed and hyperactivated in some human cancer cells. The aim of this study was to understand how PLD was regulated in the HCV core protein-transformed NIH3T3 mouse fibroblast cells. We observed that PLD activity was elevated in the NIH3T3 cells overexpressing HCV core protein over the vector alone-transfected control cells, however, expression levels of PLD protein and protein kinase C (PKC) in the HCV core protein-transformed cells was similar to the control cells. Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), which is known to activate PKC, stimulated PLD activity significantly more in the core protein-transformed cells, in comparison with that of the control cells. PLD activity assay using PKC isozyme-specific inhibitor and PKC translocation experiment showed that PKC-delta was mainly involved in the PMA- induced PLD activation in the core-transformed cells. Moreover, in cells overexpressing HCV core protein, PMA also stimulated p38 kinase more potently than that of the control cells, and an inhibitor of p38 kinase abolished PMA-induced PLD activation in cells overexpressing HCV core protein. Taken together, these results suggest that PLD might be implicated in core protein-induced transformation.     

Skeletal diversity via a branched pathway: efficient synthesis of 29 400 discrete,polycyclic compounds and their arraying into stock solutions

We report the synthesis and arraying of 29 400 structurally diverse and complex polycyclic carbocycles using diversity-oriented synthesis (DOS) and the "one bead-one stock solution" technology platform. Skeletal diversity, a difficult challenge in DOS, was achieved with a branching reaction pathway using one or two Diels-Alder reactions. This pathway yields small molecules having 10 different skeletons.     

EFFECTS OF METAL CATIONS, RETINAL, AND THE PHOTOCYCLE ON THE TRYPTOPHAN EMISSION IN BACTERIORHODOPSIN

Abstract— The picosecond fluorescence kinetics of tryptophan residues in bacteriorhodopsin and some perturbed analogs are measured to study the different tryptophan environments and their changes upon metal cation removal, retinal removal, and M₄₁₂ trapping. In bacteriorhodopsin, the emission shows four decay components designated Or, C2r, C3r, and C4r in order of increasing lifetimes. The emission wavelength of C3r and C4r is near that found in aqueous solution, while that of C1r is the shortest. The removal of retinal triples the total emission intensity and reduces the number of components to two, suggesting that the observed variation of the lifetimes in bacteriorhodopsin results from the variation of the energy transfer efficiency between different tryptophans and retinal. We conclude that the Or and C2r emission is from the closest tryptophans to the retinal. The quenching of the C3r emission by all metal cations, including those that cannot act as energy acceptors, e.g. Ca²⁺, is attributed to protein conformation changes caused by metal cation binding which leads to a stronger energy transfer coupling between tryptophans and retinal. The additional quenching of the C2r emission in Eu³⁺bound bacterioopsin is proposed to result from direct energy transfer between tryptophans and Eu³⁺.     

Isolation of an oxomanganese(V) porphyrin intermediate in the reaction of a manganese(III) porphyrin complex and H2O2 in aqueous solution

The reaction of [Mn(TF(4)TMAP)](CF(3)SO(3))(5) (TF(4)TMAP=meso-tetrakis(2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-N,N,N-trimethyl-4-aniliniumyl)porphinato dianion) with H(2)O(2) (2 equiv) at pH 10.5 and 0 degrees C yielded an oxomanganese(V) porphyrin complex 1 in aqueous solution, whereas an oxomanganese(IV) porphyrin complex 2 was generated in the reactions of tert-alkyl hydroperoxides such as tert-butyl hydroperoxide and 2-methyl-1-phenyl-2-propyl hydroperoxide. Complex 1 was capable of epoxidizing olefins and exchanging its oxygen with H(2) (18)O, whereas 2 did not epoxidize olefins. From the reactions of [Mn(TF(4)TMAP)](5+) with various oxidants in the pH range 3-11, the O-O bond cleavage of hydroperoxides was found to be sensitive to the hydroperoxide substituent and the pH of the reaction solution. Whereas the O-O bond of hydroperoxides containing an electron-donating tert-alkyl group is cleaved homolytically, an electron-withdrawing substituent such as an acyl group in m-chloroperoxybenzoic acid (m-CPBA) facilitates O-O bond heterolysis. The mechanism of the O-O bond cleavage of H(2)O(2) depends on the pH of the reaction solution: O-O bond homolysis prevails at low pH and O-O bond heterolysis becomes a predominant pathway at high pH. The effect of pH on (18)O incorporation from H(2) (18)O into oxygenated products was examined over a wide pH range, by carrying out the epoxidation of carbamazepine (CBZ) with [Mn(TF(4)TMAP)](5+) and KHSO(5) in buffered H(2) (18)O solutions. A high proportion of (18)O was incorporated into the CBZ-10,11-oxide product at all pH values but this proportion was not affected significantly by the pH of the reaction solution.     

Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for the determination of a new oxazolidinone antibiotic DA-7867 in human plasma

A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric (LC/MS/MS) method for the determination of a new ox-azolidinone antibiotic DA-7867, (S)-[N-3-(4-(2-(1-methyl-5-tetrazolyl)-pyridine-5-yl)-3- fl uorophenyl)-2-oxo-5-oxazolidinyl]methyl acetamide, in human plasma was developed. DA-7867 and internal standard, linezolid, were extracted from human plasma with ethyl acetate at acidic pH. A reverse-phase LC separation was performed on Luna C(8) column with the mixture of acetonitrile-ammonium formate (10 mm, pH 4.5; 35:65, v/v) as mobile phase. The analytes were determined using an electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry in the multiple-reaction-monitoring mode. The lower limits of quanti fi cation for DA-7867 was 2.5 ng/mL. The single liquid-liquid extraction quantitatively recovered DA-7867 and internal standard from plasma samples at the ranges of 82.2-86.7%. DA-7867 was stable in blank human plasma at room temperature for 24 h and following three freeze-thaw cycles.     

Solvate Molecule Effects and Unusual (57)Fe Mössbauer Line Broadening in the Valence Detrapping of Mixed-Valence [Fe(3)O(O(2)CCH(3))(6)(3-Et-py)(3)].S

A new series of mixed-valence &mgr;(3)-oxo-bridged Fe(3)O complexes with the composition [Fe(3)O(O(2)CCH(3))(6)(3-Et-py)(3)].S, where 3-Et-py is 3-ethylpyridine and the solvate molecule S is either 0.5C(6)H(5)CH(3) (1), 0.5C(6)H(6) (2), CH(3)CN (3), or CH(3)CCl(3) (4), is reported. The complex [Fe(3)O(O(2)CCH(3))(6)(3-Et-py)(3)].0.5C(6)H(5)CH(3) (1) crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Fdd2 which at 298 K has a unit cell with a = 22.726(8) ?, b = 35.643(14) ?, c = 20.816(6) ?, and Z = 16. Refinement with 5720 observed [F > 5sigma(F(o))] reflections gave R = 0.0337 and R(w) = 0.0390. An analysis of the bond lengths in complex 1 shows that it is the most valence-trapped Fe(3)O complex reported at room temperature. The complex [Fe(3)O(O(2)CCH(3))(6)(3-Et-py)(3)].CH(3)CCl(3) (4) crystallizes in the triclinic space group P&onemacr; which at 238 K has a unit cell with a = 12.764(2) ?, b = 13.1472(2) ?, c = 15.896(3) ?, alpha = 78.01(2) degrees, beta = 89.38(2) degrees, gamma = 61.38(1) degrees, and Z = 2. Refinement with 6264 observed [F > 5sigma(F(o))] reflections gave R = 0.0435 and R(w) = 0.0583. In this &mgr;(3)-oxo-bridged complex all three iron ions are inequivalent. Powder X-ray diffraction patterns taken at room temperature show that complexes 1 and 2 are isostructural and that complexes 3 and 4 are isostructural. Variable-temperature (57)Fe M?ssbauer spectra were collected for all four complexes. The data for complexes 1 and 2 clearly indicate that these two complexes are totally valence trapped. On the other hand, M?ssbauer spectra (43-293 K) for complexes 3 and 4 show that these two complexes become valence detrapped at temperatures near room temperature. Two doublets are seen at low temperature and they move together to become a single doublet at approximately 293 K. Examination of the line width versus temperature for each of the two components of the two doublets points to a curiosity. The two components of the "Fe(III)" doublet and the lower-velocity component of the "Fe(II)" doublet do not exhibit any line broadening, whereas the higher velocity "Fe(II)" component shows a surge in line width in the approximately 70-150 K range. Possible explanations for these unusual line width responses are discussed.     

Polarography of Uranyl Complex with Chromotropic Acid

The polarography characteristic of uranyl ion in chromotropic acid solution was investigated systematically over the pH range 2.0 to 10.0 with ligand concentrations varying from 0.010 M to 0.200 M. At pH 5.5, the one-electron reversible reduction waves were obtained. The temperature coefficient of the half-wave potential was obtained to be ?0.32 mV per degree and the mean value of i_d/h^1/2 is 0.340 ± 0.003. The electrode reaction is UO₂(HA)₂^4? + c = UO₂(HA)^2? + HA^3? Where pH 5.5, an irreversible and diffusion-controlled wave was obtained. The diffusion coefficients and kinetic parameters of complex species were determined by deducing instantaneous equations.