Development of a Xanthine Oxidase Modified Amperometric Electrode for the Determination of the Antioxidant Capacity

This paper describes the development of a xanthine oxidase/poly‐m‐phenylenediamine (XOD‐PPD)‐modified electrode. The biosensor was constructed by encapsulating XOD in a sol‐gel matrix deposited onto a platinum based screen‐printed electrode functionalized with a permselective PPD membrane. The hydrogen peroxide generated as a final product of the enzymatic reaction between the hypoxanthine and the XOD or by the spontaneous dismutation of superoxide radicals was selectively monitored at +700 mV. The use of a highly selective PPD layer blocked the nonspecific oxidation of other oxidizable molecules. Finally the biosensor was applied to the determination of the antioxidant capacity of acetylsalicylic acid.     

Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) as an auxiliary tool in the electrospray ionization mass spectrometry analysis of native and derivatized β-cyclodextrins,maltoses, and fructans contaminated with Ca and/or Mg

The effect of Ca²⁺ (and Mg²⁺) and the disodium salt of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), a well known Ca²⁺ (and Mg²⁺) chelating agent, on the volatilization/ionization of carbohydrates by using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry has been studied. Model compounds such as maltoses (maltose to maltoheptaose), β-cyclodextrins (β-cyclodextrin, methyl-β-cyclodextrin, heptakis(2,6-di-O-methyl)-β-cyclodextrin, heptakis(2,3,6-tri-O-methyl)-β-cyclodextrin, and 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin) and fructans (sucrose, 1-ketose, nystose, and 1F-fructofuranosylnystose) were used.     

Structural Analysis of a Helical Peptide Unfolding Pathway

The analysis of the folding mechanism in peptides adopting well‐defined secondary structure is fundamental to understand protein folding. Herein, we describe the thermal unfolding of a 15‐mer vascular endothelial growth factor mimicking α‐helical peptide (QK_L10A) through the combination of spectroscopic and computational analyses. In particular, on the basis of the temperature dependencies of QK_L10A H_α chemical shifts we show that the first phase of the thermal helix unfolding, ending at around 320 K, involves mainly the terminal regions. A second phase of the transition, ending at around 333 K, comprises the central helical region of the peptide. The determination of high‐resolution QK_L10A conformational preferences in water at 313 K allowed us to identify, at atomic resolution, one intermediate of the folding–unfolding pathway. Molecular dynamics simulations corroborate experimental observations detecting a stable central helical turn, which represents the most probable site for the helix nucleation in the folding direction. The data presented herein allows us to draw a folding–unfolding picture for the small peptide QK_L10A compatible with the nucleation–propagation model. This study, besides contributing to the basic field of peptide helix folding, is useful to gain an insight into the design of stable helical peptides, which could find applications as molecular scaffolds to target protein–protein interactions.     

Enhancing the superconducting transition temperature of BaSi2 by structural tuning

We present a joint experimental and theoretical study of the superconducting phase of the layered binary silicide BaSi(2). Compared with the AlB(2) structure of graphite or diboridelike superconductors, in the hexagonal structure of binary silicides the sp(3) arrangement of silicon atoms leads to corrugated sheets. Through a high-pressure synthesis procedure we are able to modify the buckling of these sheets, enhancing the superconducting transition temperature from 6 to 8.9 K when the silicon planes flatten out. By performing ab initio calculations based on density-functional theory we explain how the electronic and phonon properties are strongly affected by changes in the buckling. This mechanism is likely present in other intercalated layered superconductors, opening the way to the tuning of superconductivity through the control of internal structural parameters.     

Hydrogen‐bonded nucleophile effects in ANS: the reactions of 1‐chloro and 1‐fluoro‐2,4‐dinitrobenzene with 2‐guanidinobenzimidazole, 1‐(2‐aminoethyl)piperidine and N‐(3‐aminopropyl)morpholine in aprotic solvents

The kinetics of the reactions of 2,4‐dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB) and 2,4‐dinitrochlorobenzene (DNClB) with 2‐guanidinobenzimidazole (2‐GB) at 40 ± 0.2 °C in dimethylsulphoxide (DMSO), toluene, and in toluene–DMSO mixtures, and with 1‐(2‐aminoethyl)piperidine (2‐AEPip) and N‐(3‐aminopropyl)morpholine (3‐APMo) in toluene at 25 ± 0.2 °C were studied under pseudo first‐order conditions. For the reactions of 2‐GB carried out in pure DMSO, the second‐order rate coefficients were independent of the amine concentration. In contrast, the reactions of 2‐GB with DNFB in toluene, showed a kinetic behaviour consistent with a base‐catalysed decomposition of the zwitterionic intermediate. These results suggest an intramolecular H‐bonding of 2‐GB in toluene, which is not present in DMSO. To confirm this interpretation the reactions were studied in DMSO–toluene mixtures. Small amounts of DMSO produce significant increase in rate that is not expected on the basis of the classical effect of a dipolar aprotic medium; the effect is consistent with the formation of a nucleophile/co‐solvent mixed aggregate. For the reactions of 3‐APMo with both substrates in toluene, the second‐order rate coefficients, k_A, show a linear dependence on the [amine]. 3‐APMo is able to form a six‐membered ring by an intramolecular H‐bond which prevents the formation of self‐aggregates. In contrast, a third order was observed in the reactions with 2‐AEPip: these results can be interpreted as a H‐bonded homo‐aggregate of the amine acting as a better nucleophile than the monomer. Most of these results can be well explained within the frame of the ‘dimer nucleophile’ mechanism. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Cauchy kernel for slice regular functions

In this article, we show how to construct a regular, non-commutative Cauchy kernel for slice regular quaternionic functions. We prove an (algebraic) representation formula for such functions, which leads to a new Cauchy formula. We find the expression of the derivatives of a regular function in terms of the powers of the Cauchy kernel, and we present several other consequent results.     

A New Approach to The Synthesis of Enantiomerically Pure 4-Deoxy Sugars

In a recent paper² we have reported the design and synthesis of 3-C-lithiated 5,6-dihydro-1,4-dithiin-2-yl[(4-methoxybenzyl)oxy]methane (1) which can be utilized as an allylic alcohol anion equivalent and leads to three-carbon elongations of various electrophiles by introduction of a fully protected hydroxypropenyl moiety. The latter contains a double bond, which can be unravelled to the cis configuration by diastereoselective removal³ of the dimethylene-disulfur bridge, as well as a protected primary hydroxyl group that, depending on the deprotection conditions used (DDQ/NaBH₄ or DDQ), may either lead to the free allylic alcohol or to an α,β-unsaturated aldehyde.     

Archimedean ideals of valuation domains

Let R be a valuation domain. We prove that the only archimedean ideals of R are the principal ones or those isomorphic to P and only if the value group of R is complete.     

Multienzymatic preparation of 3-[(1R)-1-hydroxyethyl]benzoic acid and (2S)-hydroxy(phenyl)ethanoic acid

The use of two oxidoreductases (an aldoketo reductase from Escherichia coli JM109 and an alcohol dehydrogenase from Lactobacillus brevis) has demonstrated that it is possible to prepare enatiomerically pure diols in a one-pot operation. The reactions were applied to the synthesis of (1R)-1-[3-(hydroxymethyl)phenyl]ethanol and (1S)-1-phenylethane-1,2-diol, using a two-step procedure. The yield is nearly quantitative and the enantiomeric purity is greater than 95%. A third step has been introduced by adding a cell biocatalyst showing dihydrodiol dehydrogenase activity from Pseudomonas fluorescens N3. This allows for the preparation of 3-[(1R)-1-hydroxyethyl]benzoic acid and (2S)-hydroxy(phenyl)ethanoic acid.