19F NMR ligand perturbation studies on 6,7-bis(trifluoromethyl)-8-ribityllumazine-7-hydrates and the lumazine synthase complex of Bacillus subtilis. Site-directed mutagenesis changes the mechanism and the stereoselectivity of the catalyzed haloform-type reaction

The riboflavin synthase/lumazine synthase complex of Bacillus subtilis catalyzes the last two steps in riboflavin biosynthesis. The protein comprises a capsid of 60 beta subunits with lumazine synthase activity and a core of three alpha subunits with riboflavin synthase activity. The beta subunits catalyze the formation of 6,7-dimethyl-8-ribityllumazine (3) from 5-amino-6-ribitylamino-2,4(1H,3H)-pyrimidinedione (1) and 3,4-dihydroxy-2-butanone 4-phosphate (2). Complexes of recombinant lumazine synthase (beta(60) capsids) with 6-trifluoromethyl-7-oxo-8-ribityllumazine (10) as well as 7S- or 7R-6,7-bistrifluoromethyl-8-ribityllumazine hydrate (11) were studied by (19)F NMR spectroscopy. Despite the large molecular weight of approximately 960 kDa of the protein, spectra with separated signals of free and bound ligand could be obtained. An unusually large shift difference of 8 ppm was observed between the 7-trifluoromethyl signals of free and bound ligand for epimer B of 11 and the enzyme. The signal is sensitive to the replacement of amino acid residues F22 and H88. Lumazine synthase catalyzes the elimination of the 7-trifluoromethyl group of R-diastereomer epimer A in a haloform-like reaction. The elimination reaction is also catalyzed by F22 mutants. The H88R mutant displays an opposite stereoselectivity for epimer B and a greatly enhanced reaction rate. From a model of the epimers in the active site of the protein, the main function of the side chain of F22 seems to be to keep the substrate ring in the correct position. H88 is in a position suited to act as proton acceptor in both the physiological as well as the haloform reaction. A different mechanism of the haloform-reaction is proposed in the case of the H88R mutant, initiated by hydrogen bonding of the 7-trifluorormethyl group and the guanidinium group of the arginine residue.     

Radical copolymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide with anhydrides of maleic and citraconic acids

Radical-initiated copolymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPA) with maleic (MA) and citraconic (CA) anhydrides was carried out in the presence of 2,2^′-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as an initiator in 1,4-dioxane at 65 °C under nitrogen atmosphere. Structure and monomer unit compositon of the copolymers obtained from a wide range of monomer feed were determined by elemental analysis (content of N for NIPA units), Fourier transform infrared and ¹H NMR spectroscopy. Monomer reactivity ratios for NIPA (M₁)-MA (M₂) and NIPA (M₁)-CA (M₂) pairs were determined by Kelen-Tüdõs (KT) and non-linear regression (NLR) methods using elemental and ¹H NMR spectroscopy analyses data. They are r₁=0.45 and r₂=0.08 (KT, N analysis), r₁=0.44 and r₂=0.10 (KT, ¹H NMR), r₁=0.45 and r₂=0.078 (NLR) for NIPA-MA monomer pair and r₁=0.52 and r₂=0.02, r₁=0.44 and r₂=0.04, r₁=0.51 and r₂=0.014 for NIPA-CA monomer pair, respectively. Observed tendency towards alternating copolymerization at ?50 mol% NIPA concentration in monomer feed and relatively high activity of NIPA growing radical was explained by H-bond formation between CO (anhydride) and NH (amide) fragments during chain growth reactions. Intrinsic viscosity, molecular weight and thermal behaviour of the synthesized copolymers were found to depend on the type of comonomer and the amount of NIPA units in the copolymers. These functional amphiphilic copolymers containing anion- and cation-active groups show both temperature and pH sensitivity and can be used for biological purposes as physiologically active macromolecular systems.     

On the phase transition of the Ising gauge model

We study the Ising gauge model in dimensionsD2. In addition to the plaquette coupling of this model we introduce a nearest neighbour ferromagnetic Ising coupling. By that means the local gauge symmetry is removed while the global symmetry of the Ising model is still present. The phase diagram of the model is found by using general arguments as well as Monte-Carlo methods. The gauge phase of the model is characterized by the presence of a topological excitation (defect) which has no influence on any local physical quantity.     

Ring‐opening metathesis polymerization of cyclododecene using an electrochemically reduced tungsten‐based catalyst

The ring‐opening metathesis polymerization of cyclododecene using an electrochemically reduced tungsten‐based catalyst (WCl₆? e^?? Al? CH₂Cl₂) is described. In addition, the influence of reaction conditions on the polymerization yield was determined. The resulting polymer has been characterized by NMR, IR, gel permeation chromatography and differential scanning calorimetry. The glass transition temperature and melting point of the polydodecenamer are 19.6°C and 70.0°C respectively. Furthermore, cyclododecene has been polymerized into a low‐molecular‐weight polymer (12.0 × 10³) with a polydispersity of 2.06 in high yields (94%). IR and NMR analysis indicate that the polydodecenamer has a high trans content (60%). Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gas transport properties of thermotropic liquid-crystalline copolyesters. II. The effects of copolymer composition

Gas transport properties are reported for a series of compression-molded films prepared from copolyesters of hydroxybenzoic acid (HBA) and 2,6 hydroxynaphthoic acid (HNA) having 30/70, 58/42, 73/27, 75/25, and 80/20 mol % HBA/HNA. The mesomorphic and crystalline morphology of the materials was characterized using dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and X-ray diffraction As evidenced by DMTA, the phenyl and naphthyl moieties of the HBA/HNA materials exhibit a significant degree of segmental mobility below the glass transition temperature. The nonlinear nature of the naphthyl unit leads to a more hindered rotation about the chain axis. Permeability measurements were made for He, H₂, O₂, N₂, Ar, and CO₂ at 35°C and the diffusivities were computed from time-lag data. As previously observed in these materials, the films exhibited excellent barrier properties resulting largely from very low gas solubility coefficients. The liquid-crystalline copolyester: (LCP) materials with the highest HNA content exhibit the best barrier properties. It appears that the more hindered motions of the naphthyl unit restrict penetrant mobility. The reduction in permeability with increased naphthyl unit content is accompanied by a very dramatic increase in selectivity between gas pairs. Fractional free volume analysis was used to correlate the transport properties of the LCP materials and other conventional polymers. A “two-phase” modification of the free volume correlation suggests that transport may likely occur in a small volume fraction of a less dense boundary phase.     

Adsorption behavior of linear and cyclic genetically engineered platinum binding peptides

Recently, phage and cell-surface display libraries have been adapted for genetically selecting short peptides for a variety of inorganic materials. Despite the enormous number of inorganic-binding peptides reported and their bionanotechnological utility as synthesizers and molecular linkers, there is still a limited understanding of molecular mechanisms of peptide recognition of and binding to solid materials. As part of our goal of genetically designing these peptides, understanding the binding kinetics and thermodynamics, and using the peptides as molecular erectors, in this report we discuss molecular structural constraints imposed upon the quantitative binding characteristics of peptides with an affinity for inorganics. Specifically, we use a high-affinity seven amino acid Pt-binding sequence, PTSTGQA, as we reported in earlier studies and build two constructs: one is a Cys-Cys constrained "loop" sequence (CPTSTGQAC) that mimics the domain used in the pIII tail sequence of the phage library construction, and the second is the linear form, a septapeptide, without the loop. Both sequences were analyzed for their adsorption behavior on Pt thin films by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectroscopy and for their conformational properties by circular dichroism (CD). We find that the cyclic peptide of the integral Pt-binding sequence possesses single or 1:1 Langmuir adsorption behavior and displays equilibrium and adsorption rate constants that are significantly larger than those obtained for the linear form. Conversely, the linear form exhibits biexponential Langmuir isotherm behavior with slower and weaker binding. Furthermore, the structure of the cyclic version was found to adopt a random coil molecular conformation, whereas the linear version adopts a polyproline type II conformation in equilibrium with the random coil. The 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol titration experiments indicate that TFE has a different effect on the secondary structures of the linear and cyclic versions of the Pt binding sequence. We conclude that the presence of the Cys-Cys restraint affects both the conformation and binding behavior of the integral Pt-binding septapeptide sequence and that the presence or absence of constraints could be used to tune the adsorption and structural features of inorganic binding peptide sequences.