Tautomerism of 4-phenyl-2,4-dioxobutanoic acid. Insights from pH ramping NMR study and quantum chemical calculations

Aryldiketo acids (ADKs) exhibit the variety of biological activities, mainly due to large affinity toward divalent metal ions. Metal complexation ability of ADKs, as well as interactions with proteins, depend on tautomeric form present in solution. The main aim of this study was to fully explore the tautomeric preferences of 4-phenyl-2,4-dioxobutanoic acid (4PDA), as ADKs representative, in aqueous media at different pH values. 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy in combination with quantum chemical calculations was applied in order to better understand the tautomeric preferences of 4PDA. The data in highly acidic media are especially interesting since there are no such findings in the literature due to low solubility of ADKs in molecular form. At low pH values, where 4PDA is unionized, the most abundant tautomeric form is enol with keto group closer to phenyl ring. At higher pH values, mixture of two 4PDA ionic forms coexists in solution. Their ratio calculated according to NMR data fits the values predicted using two experimentally determined pK _a values. Based on the complexity of ¹H NMR spectrum of monoanionic 4PDA form, coexistence of two stable rotamers was assumed. In an alkaline media, 4PDA is mostly present in dianionic form. As π-electrons of dianion are delocalized over an entire keto-enol moiety, spectral distinction between tautomers was not possible. Quantum chemical calculations were used to predict relative stability of tautomers. The predictions were in good accordance with experimental results only in case when explicit water molecule was included in calculations.     

Heterologous Expression,Biosynthetic Studies,and Ecological Function of the Selective Gq‐Signaling Inhibitor FR900359

The cyclic depsipeptide FR900359 (FR), isolated from the tropical plant Ardisia crenata, is a strong and selective inhibitor of Gq proteins, making it an indispensable pharmacological tool to study Gq‐related processes, as well as a promising drug candidate. Gq inhibition is a novel mode of action for defense chemicals and crucial for the ecological function of FR, as shown by in vivo experiments in mice, its affinity to insect Gq proteins, and insect toxicity studies. The uncultured endosymbiont of A. crenata was sequenced, revealing the FR nonribosomal peptide synthetase (frs) gene cluster. We here provide a detailed model of FR biosynthesis, supported by in vitro enzymatic and bioinformatic studies, and the novel analogue AC‐1, which demonstrates the flexibility of the FR starter condensation domains. Finally, expression of the frs genes in E. coli led to heterologous FR production in a cultivable, bacterial host for the first time.     

Adsorption of Dicarbollylcobaltate(III) Anion {(pi-(3)-1,2-B(9)C(2)H(11))(2)Co(III)(-)} at the Water/1,2-Dichloroethane Interface. Influence of Counterions' Nature

Interfacial tension has been used to study the adsorption at the water/1,2-dichloroethane interface of dicarbollylcobaltate(III) {(pi-(3)-1,2-B(9)C(2)H(11))(2)Co(III)(-)} of the monovalent and bivalent metals. At the limiting coverage, the area per dicarbollylcobaltate(III) anions in the monolayer found experimentally is equal to 95+/-8 ?(2). It can be assumed that the symmetry axis of the adsorbed anions is arranged parallel to the interface surface. By their effects on the surface activity of the dicarbollylcobaltate(III) anions, cations can be arranged in the following order: Mg(2+) approximately Ba(2+) approximately Pb(2+)>/=Li(+) approximately Na(+)>K(+)>NH(+)(4)>Rb(+)Tl(+) approximately Ag(+) approximately Cs(+). The parameters of Frumkin and the virial isotherms have been calculated. There is a rather strong repulsion among the adsorbed anions. To define the energy of the specific interaction between the anions and the adsorbed monolayer, the technique of E. Goddard et al. (J. Colloid Interface Sci. 24, 297 (1967)) was applied. Its application for two-phase systems permits us to define the parameters of the ion exchange reaction on the basis of measurements of interfacial tension. The ion exchange constants calculated by various methods have been compared. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.     

Optimization of artificial neural network for retention modeling in high-performance liquid chromatography

An artificial neural network (ANN) model for the prediction of retention times in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed and optimized. A three-layer feed-forward ANN has been used to model retention behavior of nine phenols as a function of mobile phase composition (methanol-acetic acid mobile phase). The number of hidden layer nodes, number of iteration steps and the number of experimental data points used for training set were optimized. By using a relatively small amount of experimental data (25 experimental data points in the training set), a very accurate prediction of the retention (percentage normalized differences between the predicted and the experimental data less than 0.6%) was obtained. It was shown that the prediction ability of ANN model linearly decreased with the reduction of number of experiments for the training data set. The results obtained demonstrate that ANN offers a straightforward way for retention modeling in isocratic HPLC separation of a complex mixture of compounds widely different in pK_a and log K_ow values.     

Hydrolysis of chemically distinct sites of human serum albumin by polyoxometalate: A hybrid QM/MM (ONIOM) study

In this study, mechanisms of hydrolysis of all four chemically diverse cleavage sites of human serum albumin (HSA) by [Zr(OH)(PW₁₁O₃₉)]⁴⁻ (ZrK) have been investigated using the hybrid two-layer QM/MM (ONIOM) method. These reactions have been proposed to occur through the following two mechanisms: internal attack (IA) and water assisted (WA). In both mechanisms, the cleavage of the peptide bond in the Cys392-Glu393 site of HSA is predicted to occur in the rate-limiting step of the mechanism. With the barrier of 27.5 kcal/mol for the hydrolysis of this site, the IA mechanism is found to be energetically more favorable than the WA mechanism (barrier = 31.6 kcal/mol). The energetics for the IA mechanism are in line with the experimentally measured values for the cleavage of a wide range of dipeptides. These calculations also suggest an energetic preference (Cys392-Glu393, Ala257-Asp258, Lys313-Asp314, and Arg114-Leu115) for the hydrolysis of all four sites of HSA. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Near-infrared photoluminescence of lanthanide complexes containing the hemicyanine chromophore

The near-infrared luminescence properties of three (E)-N-hexadecyl-N′,N′-dimethylamino-stilbazolium tetrakis(1-phenyl-3-methyl-4-benzoyl-5-pyrazolonato) lanthanide(III) complexes are described. These three complexes, containing trivalent neodymium, erbium and ytterbium, respectively, show near-infrared luminescence in acetonitrile solution upon UV irradiation. Luminescence decay times have been measured. The complexes consist of a positively charged hemicyanine chromophore with a long alkyl chain and a tetrakis(pyrazolonato) lanthanide(III) anion. Because of the absence of an -hydrogen atom in the pyrazolonato ligands, and because of the saturation of the coordination sphere by four bidentate ligands, the luminescence properties are enhanced when compared to, e.g. quinolinate complexes.