Effects of the menstrual cycle on the red and near-infrared optical properties of the human breast

Time-resolved reflectance and transmittance spectroscopy was applied to measure in vivo the absorption and transport scattering spectra of the female breast from 610 to 1010 nm. Three measurement configurations were used to probe different breast regions, and data were collected two or three times in each of the five phases of the menstrual cycle. The absorption spectra were best-fitted with a linear combination of the spectra of the main tissue constituents (water, lipids, oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin). This allowed us to evaluate percentage contents of water and lipids, total hemoglobin content and hemoglobin oxygen saturation. The scattering spectra were interpreted with a function derived from Mie theory, providing information on the density and average size of the tissue scatterers. Significant changes in the estimated variables were observed with measurement geometry, reflecting the heterogeneous nature of the breast, and with time, in agreement with expected physiological changes over the menstrual cycle.     

A highly stable short alpha-helix constrained by a main-chain hydrogen-bond surrogate

Herein we describe a strategy for the preparation of artificial alpha-helices involving replacement of one of the main-chain hydrogen bonds with a covalent linkage. To mimic the C=O...H-N hydrogen bond as closely as possible, we envisioned a covalent bond of the type C=X-Y-N, where X and Y are two carbon atoms connected through an olefin metathesis reaction. Our results demonstrate that the replacement of a hydrogen bond between the i and i + 4 residues at the N-terminus of a short peptide with a carbon-carbon bond results in a highly stable constrained alpha-helix at physiological conditions as indicated by CD and NMR spectroscopies. The advantage of this strategy is that it allows access to short alpha-helices with strict preservation of molecular recognition surfaces required for biomolecular interactions.     

Synthesis and coordination properties of new macrocyclic ligands: equilibrium studies and crystal structures

The synthesis and characterization of two new macrocyclic ligands, the bis-macrocyclic compound 2,6-bis(1,4,13-triaza-7,10-dioxacyclopentadec-1-ylmethyl)phenol (L) and 38-methoxy-1,4,13,16,19,28-hexaaza-7,10,22,25-tetraoxatricyclo[14.14.7.1(32,36)]octatriconta-32,34,Delta(36,38)-triene (L1) are reported. Equilibrium studies of basicity and coordination properties toward metal ions such as Cu(II), Zn(II), Cd(II) and Pb(II) were performed for ligand by potentiometric measurements in aqueous solution (298.1 +/- 0.1 K, I= 0.15 mol dm(-3)). L behaves as a hexaprotic base (logK(1)= 10.93, logK(2)= 9.70, logK(3)= 8.79, logK(4)= 8.05, logK(5)= 6.83, logK(6)= 2.55). All metal ions form stable mono- and dinuclear complexes: logK(MLH(-1))= 25.61 for Cu(II), 15.37 for Zn(II), 12.58 for Cd(II) and 13.79 for Pb(II); logK(M(2)LH(-1))= 31.61 for Cu(II), 23.38 for Zn(II), 24.49 for Cd(II) and 23.68 for Pb(II). All these dinuclear species show a great tendency to add the OH(-) group: the equilibrium constant for the addition reaction was found to be logK(M(2)LH(-1)OH)= 4.77 for Cu(II), 5.66 for Zn(II), 2.8 for Cd(II) and 3.18 for Pb(II). In the case of Ni(II), kinetic inertness prevents the possibility of solution studies. The dinuclear solid adducts [Ni(2)H(-1)L(N(3))(3)].EtOH and [Cu(2)H(-1)L(N(3))](ClO(4))(2) were characterized by X-ray analysis.     

Synthesis and catalytic activity of a fluorous-tagged TEMPO radical

A fluorous-tagged TEMPO radical has been prepared and its catalytic activity in the chemoselective oxidation of alcohols to carbonyl compounds has been investigated. The new fluorous radical proved to be an efficient, selective and easily recoverable catalyst, which can be conveniently used in standard organic solvents and then isolated and recycled by fluorous liquid-liquid extraction.     

Identification and structural characterization by LC‐ESI‐IONTRAP and LC‐ESI‐TOF of some metabolic conjugation products of homovanillic acid in urine of neuroblastoma patients

The levels of urinary catecholamine metabolites, such as homovanillic acid (HVA) and vanillylmandelic acid, are routinely used as a clinical tool in the diagnosis and follow‐up of neuroblastoma (NB) patients. Recently, in the Clinical Pathology Laboratory Unit of G. Gaslini Children Hospital, a commercial method that employs liquid chromatography coupled to electrochemical detection (LC‐EC) has been introduced for the measurement of these metabolites in the routine laboratory practice. Using this LC‐EC method, an unknown peak could be observed only in samples derived from NB patients. To investigate the nature of this peak, we used a combination of liquid chromatography‐time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (LC‐TOF‐MS) and liquid chromatography‐ion trap tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐IT‐MS). The first approach was used to obtain the elemental composition of the ions present in this new signal. To get additional structural information useful for the elucidation of unknown compounds, the ion trap analyzer was exploited. We were able to identify not just one, but three unknown signals in urine samples from NB patients which corresponded to three conjugated products of HVA: HVA sulfate and two glucuronoconjugate isomers. The enzymatic hydrolysis with β‐glucuronidase confirmed the proposed structures, while the selective alkaline hydrolysis allowed us to distinguish the difference between phenol‐ and acyl‐glucuronide of HVA. The latter was the unknown peak observed in LC‐EC separations of urine samples from NB patients. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ultrafast dynamics of Cu(I)-phenanthrolines in dichloromethane

Transient absorption spectrometry of Cu(I)-phenanthrolines in CH2Cl2 reveals ligand-independent dynamic processes lasting 15 ps, which are associated with the peculiar structural rearrangements occurring for this class of compounds upon photoexcitation.     

Multivalent recognition of bis- and tris-Zn-porphyrins by N-methylimidazole functionalized gold nanoparticles

N-Methylimidazole-functionalized gold nanoparticles behave as multivalent ligands for porphyrin arrays with an increase in binding strength of up to three order of magnitude with respect to a monovalent system.