Regioselectivity of Catechol O-Methyltransferase Confers Enhancement of Catalytic Activity

Catechol O-methyltransferase (COMT) metabolizes catechol moieties by methylating a single hydroxyl group at the meta- or para- hydroxyl position. Hydrophobic amino acids near the active site of COMT influence the regioselectivity of this reaction. Our sequence analysis highlights their importance by showing that these residues are highly conserved throughout evolution. Reaction barriers calculated in the gas phase reveal a lower barrier during methylation at the meta- position, suggesting that the observed meta-regioselectivity of COMT can be attributed to the substrate itself, and that COMT has evolved residues to orient the substrate in a manner that increases the rate of catalysis.     

Total synthesis of moniliformediquinone and calanquinone A as potent inhibitors for breast cancer

The first synthesis of moniliformediquinone has been achieved in which the longest linear sequence is only nine steps. The synthesis proceeds in 23% overall yield from commercially available 2,4,5-trimethoxybenzaldehyde. The key transformations include a Pd-catalyzed coupling between a phenyl triflate and an acetylene, and a TiCl₄-mediated cyclization of a benzoquinone intermediate. In addition, in vitro inhibitory effects of moniliformediquinone, denbinobin, moscatilin, and calanquinone A were determined to have IC₅₀ values of 0.7, 1.6, 2.5, and 1.5 μM, respectively.     

Improvement of productivity of yeast cell with a novel airlift loop reactor

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - Two different strains of baker’s yeast are cultivated using a fed-batch process with a novel airlift loop reactor. The reactor can be operated not...     

A dual perturbation view of linear programming

Solving standard-form linear prograrns via perturbation of the primal objective function has received much attention recently. In this paper, we investigate a new perturbation scheme which obtains a dual optimal solution by perturbing the dual feasible domain under different norms. A dual-to-primal conversion formula is also provided. We show that this new perturbation scheme actually generalizes the primal entropic perturbation approach to linear programming.Partially sponsored by the North Carolina Supercomputing Center 1994 Cray Research Grant and the National Textile Center Research Grant.     

Nonrenormalizability of Einstein-Yang-Mills interactions at the one-loop level

The interactions between the quantized Einstein and quantized Yang-Mills fields are one-loop nonrenormalizable.     

Quantitative nanoorganized structural evolution for a high efficiency bulk heterojunction polymer solar cell

We have developed an improved small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) model and analysis methodology to quantitatively evaluate the nanostructures of a blend system. This method has been applied to resolve the various structures of self-organized poly(3-hexylthiophene)/C61-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT/PCBM) thin active layer in a solar cell from the studies of both grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) and grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD). Tuning the various length scales of PCBM-related structures by a different annealing process can provide a flexible approach and better understanding to enhance the power conversion of the P3HT/PCBM solar cell. The quantitative structural characterization by this method includes (1) the mean size, volume fraction, and size distribution of aggregated PCBM clusters, (2) the specific interface area between PCBM and P3HT, (3) the local cluster agglomeration, and (4) the correlation length of the PCBM molecular network within the P3HT phase. The above terms are correlated well with the device performance. The various structural evolutions and transformations (growth and dissolution) between PCBM and P3HT with the variation of annealing history are demonstrated here. This work established a useful SAXS approach to present insight into the modeling of the morphology of P3HT/PCBM film. In situ GISAXS measurements were also conducted to provide informative details of thermal behavior and temporal evolution of PCBM-related structures during phase separation. The results of this investigation significantly extend the current knowledge of the relationship of bulk heterojunction morphology to device performance.     

Effects of molecular architectures and solvophobic additives on the aggregative properties of polymeric surfactants

The aggregative behavior of the polymeric surfactants with various molecular architectures in dilute solutions is studied by dissipative particle dynamics. The effects of the solvophobic/solvophilic length, polymeric architecture (linear, star, dendritic, and cyclic type), chain rigidity, and solvophobic additives on the critical micelle concentration (CMC) and the aggregative patterns are systematically investigated. It is found that molecular architectures have a noteworthy impact on the aggregative properties. For linear diblock copolymers, the CMC declines with increasing solvophobic length but rises with increasing solvophilic length. Nonetheless, the solvophobic group has comparatively greater influence on the CMC. Imposition of the star, dendritic, or cyclic structures onto the solvophobic or solvophilic parts of the polymeric surfactant leads to an increase in the CMC. On the contrary, polymers imposed with the greater degree of the rigidity on the solvophobic or solvophilic block have lower CMC. The addition of solvophobic additives results in a decrease of CMC as well. The effects of the concentration and length of the additives on the aggregative behaviors of polymer surfactants were investigated. Interesting supramolecular structures such as caterpillar and worm-like micelles were observed.     

Effect of hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin complexation on the aqueous solubility, structure, thermal stability, antioxidant activity, and tyrosinase inhibition of paeonol

The objective of this paper is to study the effect of hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) complexation on the aqueous solubility, structure, thermal stability, antioxidant activity, and tyrosinase inhibition of paeonol (PAE). The inclusion complex (PAE-HP-β-CD complex) of HP-β-CD and PAE was prepared by a freeze-drying method. Phase solubility tests showed that the stability constant of the inclusion complex was about 33.8?M^?1 at 25?°C. The experimental results of proton nuclear magnetic resonance (H-NMR) spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) suggested that PAE was included by HP-β-CD to form the PAE-HP-β-CD complex. Furthermore, the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) results showed that the thermal stability of PAE was improved when it was complexed with HP-β-CD. Comparing the antioxidant activity of PAE with that of the PAE-HP-β-CD complex at the same concentration revealed that the complex of PAE with HP-β-CD was better able to eliminate radical. Furthermore, the experimental results revealed that the formation of a complex with HP-β-CD increased the water solubility of PAE, improving its apparent inhibitive activity of tyrosinase.     

Size-dependent properties of small unilamellar vesicles formed by model lipids

The size-dependent behavior of small unilamellar vesicles is explored by dissipative particle dynamics, including the membrane characteristics and mechanical properties. The spontaneously formed vesicles are in the metastable state and the vesicle size is controlled by the concentration of model lipids. As the vesicle size decreases, the bilayer gets thinner and the area density of heads declines. Nonetheless, the area density in the inner leaflet is higher than that in the outer. The packing parameters are calculated for both leaflets. The result indicates that the shape of lipid in the outer leaflet is like a truncated cone but that in the inner leaflet resembles an inverted truncated cone. Based on a local order parameter, our simulations indication that the orientation order of lipid molecules decreases as the size of the vesicle reduces and this fact reveals that the bilayer becoming thinner for smaller vesicle is mainly attributed to the orientation disorder of the lipids. The membrane tension can be obtained through the Young-Laplace equation. The tension is found to grow with reducing vesicle size. Therefore, small vesicles are less stable against fusion. Using the inflation method, the area stretching and bending moduli can be determined and those moduli are found to grow with reducing size. Nonetheless, a general equation with a single numerical constant can relate bending modulus, area stretching modulus, and bilayer thickness irrespective of the vesicle size. Finally, a simple metastable model is proposed to explain the size-dependent behavior of bilayer thickness, orientation, and tension.