Gradient elution capillary electrochromatography and hyphenation with nuclear magnetic resonance

Coupling of gradient capillary electrochromatography (gradient CEC) and capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) with nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) was performed using a recently developed capillary NMR interface. This technique was applied for the analysis of pharmaceuticals and food. An analgesic was investigated using isocratic and gradient continuous-flow CEC-NMR. Comparison of the results demonstrated the superiority of gradient CEC over isocratic CEC. Aspartame and caffeine, both ingredients of soft beverages, were separated and analyzed by continuous flow CZE-NMR. The order of elution could be reversed by altering the pH. This reversal led to an increased sample concentration in the NMR detection cell, thus allowing the acquisition of a totally correlated spectroscopy (TOCSY) two-dimensional (2-D) spectrum of the synthetic peptide aspartame.     

Atomic Xα calculations based on EHFS(α) = Eexp

The total energies and one-electron energies for first- and second-row atoms were calculated by using the Hartree–Fock and the Hartree–Fock-Slater Hamiltonian with X_α orbitals, u_i(α_exp); α was parametrized from E^HFS (α_exp) = E^exp. The E^HF (α_exp) total energies are always higher than the Hartree–Fock energies for the atoms. The relation of the calculated ionization potential to the experimental ionization potential depends on the α used to define u_i(α), α_exp, or α_HF.     

Photoisomerization and photodissociation of aniline and 4-methylpyridine

Photoisomerization and photodissociation of aniline and 4-methylpyridine at 193 nm were studied separately using multimass ion imaging techniques. Photofragment translational energy distributions and dissociation rates were measured. Our results demonstrate that more than 23% of the ground electronic state aniline and 10% of 4-methylpyridine produced from the excitation by 193 nm photons after internal conversion isomerize to seven-membered ring isomers, followed by the H atom migration in the seven-membered ring, and then rearomatize to both methylpyridine and aniline prior to dissociation. The significance of this isomerization is that the carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen atoms belonging to the alkyl or amino groups are involved in the exchange with those atoms in the aromatic ring during the isomerization.     

PHOTODYNAMIC THERAPY INDUCED ULTRASTRUCTURAL ALTERATIONS IN MICROVASCULATURE OF THE RAT CREMASTER MUSCLE

Abstract— Photodynamic therapy disrupts blood flow to tumors and produces tumor necrosis. These effects may be due to a localized generation of singlet oxygen. The current studies used direct observations of the rat cremaster microvasculature to examine the vascular effects of PDT. The objective of the morphological examination was to delineate the structural basis for the altered blood flow in photodynamic therapy. Dihematoporphyrin ether given 30 min or 48 h prior to the experiment was activated with green light (wavelength530–560 nm, 120 J/cm²). After the in vivo activation the tissues were prepared for electron microscopy. Light alone induced little or no change in the luminal content or vessel wall. On exposure to activating light both acute (30 min) and long term (48 h) dihematoporphyrin ether pretreated samples displayed formation of luminal aggregates, granulocyte margination and migration, and endothelial cell and smooth muscle cell damage. The latter was more pronounced in the arterioles than the venules. Perivascular changes included interstitial edema and damage to striated myocytes. Some of the alterations such as interstitial edema may be transient; however, smooth and skeletal muscle cell injury are important in normal and tumor tissue necrosis after photodynamic therapy.     

Comparative study on conventional and low-flow nebulizers for arsenic speciation by means of microbore liquid chromatography with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

The performance of conventional and low-flow nebulizer systems with liquid chromatography in differentiating four arsenic species in urine was evaluated. Two low-flow (DIN and MCN) chamber assemblies and a conventional (CFN) nebulizer-spray chamber assembly were compared in the hyphenation of anion-exchange microbore liquid chromatography with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Under optimal analytical conditions, the detection limits of the four arsenic species were 0.2-0.6 ng ml(-1) for all the nebulizer systems tested. The chromatographic resolution was best in the case of DIN due to its minimal off-column dead volume and superior transport efficiency. Four arsenic species were determined in the certified reference materials NIST SRM 2670E and 2670N.     

Immobilized betulinic acid column and its interactions with phospholipase A2 and snake venom proteins

Betulinic acid (BA) is a plant-derived pentacyclic triterpenoid. Although BA has been found to have diverse pharmacological effects, including anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory actions and potential as inhibitor of phospholipase A2 (PLA2), its cellular targets remain unclear. In this study, BA was immobilized onto an acrylamide matrix. The immobilized-BA column could retain the purified PLA2 of bovine pancreas or the PLA2 of snake venom from Naja nigricollis. The bound PLA2 were not eluted by high salt concentrations but were eluted by either acid or calcium free buffer. Besides the PLA2, a group of basic proteins of snake venom with molecular weights of about 7 kDa were also strongly bound by immobilized BA. One of these proteins was identified as gamma-cardiotoxin. The usefulness of immobilized BA for exploring the cellular targets of BA is discussed.     

4D-QSAR analysis of a series of antifungal p450 inhibitors and 3D-pharmacophore comparisons as a function of alignment

A training set of 55 antifungal p450 analogue inhibitors was used to construct receptor-independent four-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (RI 4D-QSAR) models. Ten different alignments were used to build the models, and one alignment yields a significantly better model than the other alignments. Two different methodologies were used to measure the similarity of the best 4D-QSAR models of each alignment. One method compares the residual of fit between pairs of models using the cross-correlation coefficient of their residuals of fit as a similarity measure. The other method compares the spatial distributions of the IPE types (3D-pharmacophores) of pairs of 4D-QSAR models from different alignments. Optimum models from several different alignments have nearly the same correlation coefficients, r(2), and cross-validation correlation coefficients, xv-r(2), yet the 3D-pharmacophores of these models are very different from one another. The highest 3D-pharmacophore similarity correlation coefficient between any pair of 4D-QSAR models from the 10 alignments considered is only 0.216. However, the best 4D-QSAR models of each alignment do contain some proximate common pharmacorphore sites. A test set of 10 compounds was used to validate the predictivity of the best 4D-QSAR models of each alignment. The "best" model from the 10 alignments has the highest predictivity. The inferred active sites mapped out by the 4D-QSAR models suggest that hydrogen bond interactions are not prevalent when this class of P450 analogue inhibitors binds to the receptor active site. This feature of the 4D-QSAR models is in agreement with the crystal structure results that indicate no ligand-receptor hydrogen bonds are formed.     

Analytical expressions for the electrical potential near planar, cylindrical, and spherical surfaces for symmetric electrolytes

The conjecture of Tuinier (J. Colloid Interface Sci. 258 (2003) 45) for the electrical potentials near a cylindrical surface and near a spherical surface under the conditions of symmetric electrolyte and large scaled radius are derived by solving the corresponding Poisson-Boltzmann equation. The surface charge density-surface potential relations for these surfaces are also derived under the conditions of constant surface potential. We show that the level of surface charge density for planar, cylindrical, and spherical surfaces follows the order spherical surface > cylindrical surface > planar surface.     

On the convergence of the exponential multiplier method for convex programming

In this paper, we analyze the exponential method of multipliers for convex constrained minimization problems, which operates like the usual Augmented Lagrangian method, except that it uses an exponential penalty function in place of the usual quadratic. We also analyze a dual counterpart, the entropy minimization algorithm, which operates like the proximal minimization algorithm, except that it uses a logarithmic/entropy proximal term in place of a quadratic. We strengthen substantially the available convergence results for these methods, and we derive the convergence rate of these methods when applied to linear programs.Research supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant DDM-8903385, and the Army Research Office under Grant DAAL03-86-K-0171.