The polysaccharide extracts from the fungi Coprinus comatus and Coprinellus truncorum do exhibit AChE inhibitory activity

The polysaccharide (PSH) extracts from the edible mushroom species Coprinus comatus and Coprinellus truncorum were screened in liquid for their acetylcholinesterase inhibitory (AChE) activity. Both extracts were found to display inhibition of the aforementioned enzyme reaching similar IC₅₀ values of 0.62 ± 0.07 and 0.61 ± 0.03 mg/mL, respectively. According to the means of FTIR spectroscopy, these PSH extracts mostly contained β-glucans. However, the presence of some proteins and polyphenolics as minor ingredients were also detected. Compared with existing literature data for anti-AChE activity of the sugar samples, the findings within this study may be treated as a profound bioactivity. Consequently, this study puts some light on the possible use of the screened macrofungi in the palliative treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.     

Synthesis and Structure of the New Compound La2O(CN2)2 Possessing an Interchanged Anion Proportion Compared to the Parent La2O2(CN2). Synthese und Kristallstruktur der neuen Verbindung La2O(CN2)2 mit einem vertauschten Anionenverhältnis gegenüber der Bezugsverbindung La2O2(CN2)

La₂O(CN₂)₂ was synthesized from a 1:1:2 molar reaction mixture of LaCl₃, LaOCl, and Li₂(CN₂) at 650 °C. Well developed single crystals were grown from a LiCl‐KCl flux. The crystal structure was refined as monoclinic (space group C2/c, Z = 2, a = 13.530(2) Å, b = 6.250(1) Å, c = 6.1017(9) Å, β = 104.81(2)°) from single crystal X‐ray diffraction data. The La³⁺ and (CN₂)^2— ions in the crystal structure of La₂O(CN₂)₂ can be compared to Fe³⁺ and S₂^2— ions in the cubic pyrite structure, being arranged like in a distorted NaCl type structure with their centers of gravity. In addition, the O^2— ions in La₂O(CN₂)₂ are occupying 1/4 of the tetrahedral voids formed by the arrangement of metal ions.     

Alkyl 2-(2-benzoyl-2-ethoxycarbonyl-1-ethenyl)amino-3-dimethylaminopropenoates in the synthesis of heterocyclic systems

Alkyl 2-(2-benzoyl-2-ethoxycarbonyl-1-ethenyl)amino-3-dimethylaminopropenoates 4a,b were prepared. They react with C-nucleophiles such a 2-pyridinylacetonitrile 5 and methyl-2-quinolinylacetate 8, cyclohexane-1,3-dione 10 and its derivatives 12 and 14, resorcinol derivative 16 , 2-naphtol 18, 2-pyranone derivatives 20 and 22, and 4-hydroxypyridin-2(1H)-one 24, to form substituted amino derivatives of quinolizine 6, benzo[c]quinolizine 9, tetrahydrobenzopyran-2-one 11, 13, 15 , naphto[2,1-b]pyran-3-one 19 , pyranopyranones 21, 23, and pyrano[3,2-c]pyridine 25.     

On the z-counting polynomial for edge-weighted graphs

The construction of the Z-counting polynomial for edge-weighted graphs is discussed.Dedicated to Professor Haruo Hosoya (Tokyo) on the occasion of his 55th birthday for enriching chemical graph theory with the elegant concept of the Z-counting polynomial.     

Investigating microcrystalline cellulose crystallinity using Raman spectroscopy

Cellulose - Microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) is a semi-crystalline material with inherent variable crystallinity due to raw material source and variable manufacturing conditions. MCC crystallinity...     

Isomer-Specific Vibrational Spectroscopy of Microhydrated Lithium Dichloride Anions: Spectral Fingerprint of Solvent-Shared Ion Pairs

The vibrational spectroscopy of lithium dichloride anions microhydrated with one to three water molecules, [LiCl₂(H₂O)_1–3]⁻, is studied in the OH stretching region (3800–2800 cm⁻¹) using isomer-specific IR/IR double-resonance population labelling experiments. The spectroscopic fingerprints of individual isomers can only be unambiguously assigned after anharmonic effects are considered, but then yield molecular level insight into the onset of salt dissolution in these gas phase model systems. Based on the extent of the observed frequency shifts Δν^OH of the hydrogen-bonded OH stretching oscillators solvent-shared ion pair motifs (<3200 cm⁻¹) can be distinguished from intact-core structures (>3200 cm⁻¹). The characteristic fingerprint of a water molecule trapped directly in-between two ions of opposite charge provides an alternative route to evaluate the extent of ion pairing in aqueous electrolyte solutions.     

Metabolic Tumor Imaging with Rapidly Signal-Enhanced 1-13C-Pyruvate-d3

The metabolism of malignant cells differs significantly from that of healthy cells and thus, it is possible to perform metabolic imaging to reveal not only the exact location of a tumor, but also intratumoral areas of high metabolic activity. Herein, we demonstrate the feasibility of metabolic tumor imaging using signal-enhanced 1-¹³C-pyruvate-d₃, which is rapidly enhanced via para-hydrogen, and thus, the signal is amplified by several orders of magnitudes in less than a minute. Using as a model, human melanoma xenografts injected with signal-enhanced 1-¹³C-pyruvate-d3, we show that the conversion of pyruvate into lactate can be monitored along with its kinetics, which could pave the way for rapidly detecting and monitoring changes in tumor metabolism.     

Synthetic Matching of Complex Monoterpene Indole Alkaloid Chemical Space

Monoterpene indole alkaloids (MIAs) are endowed with high structural and spatial complexity and characterized by diverse biological activities. Given this complexity-activity combination in MIAs, rapid and efficient access to chemical matter related to and with complexity similar to these alkaloids would be highly desirable, since such compound classes might display novel bioactivity. We describe the design and synthesis of a pseudo-natural product (pseudo-NP) collection obtained by the unprecedented combination of MIA fragments through complexity-generating transformations, resulting in arrangements not currently accessible by biosynthetic pathways. Cheminformatic analyses revealed that both the pseudo-NPs and the MIAs reside in a unique and common area of chemical space with high spatial complexity-density that is only sparsely populated by other natural products and drugs. Investigation of bioactivity guided by morphological profiling identified pseudo-NPs that inhibit DNA synthesis and modulate tubulin. These results demonstrate that the pseudo-NP collection occupies similar biologically relevant chemical space that Nature has endowed MIAs with.     

Development and validation of a cost-effective,efficient, and robust liquid chromatographic method for the simultaneous determination of the acetyl and succinoyl content in hydroxypropyl methylcellulose acetate succinate polymer

A reversed-phase liquid chromatographic method was developed and validated for the determination of the content of free acetic acid, free succinic acid, acetyl substituents, and succinoyl substituents in hydroxypropyl methylcellulose acetate succinate (HPMCAS; Chemical Abstracts Service Registry No. 71138-97-1) polymer. This single new method gave accurate and precise measurement of both acetyl and succinoyl substituents, which had previously required 3 Japanese Pharmaceutical Excipients (JPE) methods to accomplish. Consequently, analysis time and turnaround time are decreased significantly. Furthermore, this method can also separate and determine the free acetic and succinic acids in HPMCAS polymer, a task that the corresponding JPE method cannot achieve. The values for accuracy (average recovery from 12 standard samples) were 99.9% for acetic acid and 99.8% for succinic acid. The values for injection precision (relative standard deviation [RSD]) were 0.11% for acetic acid and 0.28% for succinic acid. The values for intermediate precision (RSD) were 1.25% for determination of the acetyl content at the 8.78% (w/w) level and 1.33% for determination of the succinoyl content at the 10.9% (w/w) level. The values for intermediate precision (RSD) were 5.98% for determination of free acetic acid at the 0.12% (w/w) level and 5.13% for determination of free succinic acid at the 0.029% (w/w) level. The method was proven to be robust with respect to variation in the pH of the mobile phase, the concentration of potassium dihydrogen phosphate, and the flow rate. The method is well suited for quality control in today's fast-paced pharmaceutical laboratories.