New PEG-ylated Mn(III) porphyrins approaching catalytic activity of SOD enzyme

Two new tri(ethyleneglycol)-derivatized Mn(III) porphyrins were synthesized with the aim of increasing their bioavailability, and blood-circulating half-life. These are Mn(III) tetrakis(N-(1-(2-(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxy)ethyl)pyridinium-2-yl)porphyrin, MnTTEG-2-PyP5+ and Mn(III) tetrakis(N,N'-di(1-(2-(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxy)ethyl)imidazolium-2-yl)porphyrin, MnTDTEG-2-ImP5+. Both porphyrins have ortho pyridyl or di-ortho imidazolyl electron-withdrawing substituents at meso positions of the porphyrin ring that assure highly positive metal centered redox potentials, E1/2 = +250 mV vs. NHE for MnTTEG-2-PyP5+ and E1/2 = + 412 mV vs. NHE for MnTDTEG-2-ImP5+. As expected, from established E1/2 vs. log kcat(O2 *-) structure-activity relationships for metalloporphyrins (Batinic-Haberle et al., Inorg. Chem., 1999, 38, 4011), both compounds exhibit higher SOD-like activity than any meso-substituted Mn(III) porphyrins-based SOD mimic thus far, log kcat = 8.11 (MnTTEG-2-PyP5+) and log kcat = 8.55 (MnTDTEG-2-ImP5+), the former being only a few-fold less potent in disproportionating O2*- than the SOD enzyme itself. The new porphyrins are stable to both acid and EDTA, and non toxic to E. coli. Despite elongated substituents, which could potentially lower their ability to cross the cell wall, MnTTEG-2-PyP5+ and MnTDTEG-2-ImP5+ exhibit similar protection of SOD-deficient E. coli as their much smaller ethyl analogues MnTE-2-PyP5+ and MnTDE-2-ImP5+, respectively. Consequently, with anticipated increased blood-circulating half-life, these new Mn(III) porphyrins may be more effective in ameliorating oxidative stress injuries than ethyl analogues that have been already successfully explored in vivo.     

Thermodynamic properties of citric acid and the system citric acid-water

The binary system citric acid-water has been investigated with static vapour pressure measurements, adiabatic calorimetry, solution calorimetry, solubility measurements and powder X-ray measurements. The data are correlated by thermodynamics and a large part of the phase diagram is given. Molar heat capacities of citric acid are given from 90 to 330 K and for citric acid monohydrate from 120 to 300 K. The enthalpy of compound formation Δ_comH (298.15 K)=(?11.8±1) kJ mole^?1.     

Effects of degassing on the long-range attractive force between hydrophobic surfaces in water

The long-ranged attractions between hydrophobic amorphous fluoropolymer surfaces are measured in water with and without dissolved air. An atomic force microscope is used to obtain more than 500 measured jump-in distances, which yields statistically reliable results. It is found that the range of the attraction and its variability is generally significantly decreased in deaerated water as compared to normal, aerated water. However, the range and strength of the attraction in deaerated water remain significantly greater than the van der Waals attraction for this system. The experimental observations are consistent with (1) nanobubbles being primarily responsible for the long-ranged attraction in normal water, (2) nanobubbles not being present in deaerated water when the surfaces are not in contact, and (3) the attraction in the absence of nanobubbles being most probably due to the approach to the separation-induced spinodal cavitation of the type identified by Bérard et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 1993, 98, 7236]. It is argued that the measurements in deaerated water reveal the bare or pristine hydrophobic attraction unobscured by nanobubbles.     

Heats of formation of C(6)H(5)(•), C(6)H(5)(+), and C(6)H(5)NO by threshold photoelectron photoion coincidence and active thermochemical tables analysis

Threshold photoelectron photoion coincidence has been used to prepare selected internal energy distributions of nitrosobenzene ions [C(6)H(5)NO(+)]. Dissociation to C(6)H(5)(+) + NO products was measured over a range of internal energies and rate constants from 10(3) to 10(7) s(-1) and fitted with the statistical theory of unimolecular decay. A 0 K dissociative photoionization onset energy of 10.607 ± 0.020 eV was derived by using the simplified statistical adiabatic channel model. The thermochemical network of Active Thermochemical Tables (ATcT) was expanded to include phenyl and phenylium, as well as nitrosobenzene. The current ATcT heats of formation of these three species at 0 K (298.15 K) are 350.6 (337.3) ± 0.6, 1148.7 (1136.8) ± 1.0, and 215.6 (198.6) ± 1.5 kJ mol(-1), respectively. The resulting adiabatic ionization energy of phenyl is 8.272 ± 0.010 eV. The new ATcT thermochemistry for phenyl entails a 0 K (298.15 K) C-H bond dissociation enthalpy of benzene of 465.9 (472.1) ± 0.6 kJ mol(-1). Several related thermochemical quantities from ATcT, including the current enthalpies of formation of benzene, monohalobenzenes, and their ions, as well as interim ATcT values for the constituent atoms, are also given.     

Identification of tyrosine nitration in UCH-L1 and GAPDH

Protein tyrosine nitration is a post-translational modification commonly used as a marker of cellular oxidative stress associated with numerous pathophysiological conditions. We focused on ubiquitin carboxyl terminal hydrolase-L1 (UCH-L1) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate (GAPDH) which are high-abundant brain proteins that have been identified to be highly susceptible to oxidative modification. Both UCH-L1 and GAPDH have been linked to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, however specific nitration sites have not been elucidated. Identification of specific nitration sites and quantitation of endogenous nitrated proteins are important in correlating this modification to disease pathology. In this study, purified UCH-L1 and GAPDH were nitrated in vitro with peroxynitrite and the presence of nitrated proteins was confirmed by anti-3-nitrotyrosine Western blots. Data-dependent LC-MS/MS analysis identified several distinct tyrosine nitration sites in UCH-L1 (Tyr-80) and GAPDH (Tyr-47, Tyr-92, and Tyr-312). Subsequent validation with synthetic peptides was conducted for selected nitropeptides. An LC-MS/MS method was developed for semi-quantitative determination of the synthetic nitropeptides: KGQEVSPKVY(*) (UCH-L1) and mFQY(*) DSTHGKF (GAPDH). The nitropeptides were detectable in the mid-attomole range and the peak area response was linear over three orders of magnitude. Targeted analysis of endogenous UCH-L1 and GAPDH nitration was then conducted in an in vivo second-hand smoke rat model to evaluate the utility of this approach.     

Furan-oxidation-triggered inducible DNA cross-linking: acyclic versus cyclic furan-containing building blocks--on the benefit of restoring the cyclic sugar backbone

Oligodeoxynucleotides incorporating a reactive functionality can cause irreversible cross-linking to the target sequence and have been widely studied for their potential in inhibition of gene expression or development of diagnostic probes for gene analysis. Reactive oligonucleotides further show potential in a supramolecular context for the construction of nanometer-sized DNA-based objects. Inspired by the cytochrome P450 catalyzed transformation of furan into a reactive enal species, we recently introduced a furan-oxidation-based methodology for cross-linking of nucleic acids. Previous experiments using a simple acyclic building block equipped with a furan moiety for incorporation into oligodeoxynucleotides have shown that cross-linking occurs in a very fast and efficient way and that substantial amounts of stable, site-selectively cross-linked species can be isolated. Given the destabilization of duplexes observed upon introduction of the initially designed furan-modified building block into DNA duplexes, we explore here the potential benefits of two new building blocks featuring an extended aromatic system and a restored cyclic backbone. Thorough experimental analysis of cross-linking reactions in a series of contexts, combined with theoretical calculations, permit structural characterization of the formed species and allow assessment of the origin of the enhanced cross-link selectivity. Our experiments clearly show that the modular nature of the furan-modified building blocks used in the current cross-linking strategy allow for fine tuning of both yield and selectivity of the interstrand cross-linking reaction.     

Quantitative analysis of complex amino acids and RGD peptides by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)

The C 1 s, N 1 s, and O 1 s core level binding energies (BEs) of the functional groups in amino acids (glycine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, arginine, and histidine) with varied side‐chains and cell‐binding RGD‐based peptides have been determined and characterized by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy with a monochromatic Al K_α source. The zwitterionic nature of the amino acids in the solid state is unequivocally evident from the N 1 s signals of the protonated amine groups and the C 1 s signature of carboxylate groups. Significant adventitious carbon contamination is evident for all samples but can be quantitatively accounted for. No intrinsic differences in the XP spectra are evident between two polymorphs (α and γ) of glycine, indicating that the crystallographic differences have a minor influence on the core level BEs for this system. The two nitrogen centers in the imidazole group of histidine exhibit an N 1 s BE shift that is in line with previously reported data for theophylline and aqueous imidazole solutions, while the nitrogen and carbon chemical shifts reflect the unusual guanidinium chemical environment in arginine. It is shown that the complex envelopes of C 1 s and O 1 s photoemission spectra for short‐chain peptides can be analyzed quantitatively by reference to the less complex XP spectra of the constituent amino acids, provided the peptides are of high enough purity. The distinctive N 1 s photoemission from the amide linkages provides an indicator of peptide formation even in the presence of common impurities, and variations in the relative intensities of N 1 s were found to be diagnostic for each of the three peptides investigated (RGD, RGDS, and RGDSC). Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Toward a model for lexical access based on acoustic landmarks and distinctive features

This article describes a model in which the acoustic speech signal is processed to yield a discrete representation of the speech stream in terms of a sequence of segments, each of which is described by a set (or bundle) of binary distinctive features. These distinctive features specify the phonemic contrasts that are used in the language, such that a change in the value of a feature can potentially generate a new word. This model is a part of a more general model that derives a word sequence from this feature representation, the words being represented in a lexicon by sequences of feature bundles. The processing of the signal proceeds in three steps: (1) Detection of peaks, valleys, and discontinuities in particular frequency ranges of the signal leads to identification of acoustic landmarks. The type of landmark provides evidence for a subset of distinctive features called articulator-free features (e.g., [vowel], [consonant], [continuant]). (2) Acoustic parameters are derived from the signal near the landmarks to provide evidence for the actions of particular articulators, and acoustic cues are extracted by sampling selected attributes of these parameters in these regions. The selection of cues that are extracted depends on the type of landmark and on the environment in which it occurs. (3) The cues obtained in step (2) are combined, taking context into account, to provide estimates of "articulator-bound" features associated with each landmark (e.g., [lips], [high], [nasal]). These articulator-bound features, combined with the articulator-free features in (1), constitute the sequence of feature bundles that forms the output of the model. Examples of cues that are used, and justification for this selection, are given, as well as examples of the process of inferring the underlying features for a segment when there is variability in the signal due to enhancement gestures (recruited by a speaker to make a contrast more salient) or due to overlap of gestures from neighboring segments.     

Unique charge-separated pyridinium-barbituric acid zwitterions

A synthetic procedure for the preparation of the unusual charge-separated pyridinium barbiturate zwitterion 2 from 1,3-dimethylbarbituric acid and 2-pyridinecarbaldehyde in methanol was developed. The structure of the compound was confirmed with X-ray analysis to demonstrate the strong charge separation throughout the molecule. One would expect that this charge separation would increase its reactivity; however, contrary to this expectation, the compound is very stable in acidic media, and in the presence of a base, decarbonylation occurs on one barbituric acid while the zwitterionic moiety of the molecule stays intact.