Synthesis and Characterization of Non-standard Nucleosides and Nucleotides Bearing the Acceptor-Donor-Donor Pyrimidine Analog 6-Amino-3-methylpyrazin-2(1H)-one

6-Aminopyrazin-2(1H)-one, when incorporated as a pyrimidine-base analog into an oligonucleotide chain, presents a H-bond acceptor-donor-donor pattern to a complementary purine analog. When paired with the corresponding donor-acceptor-acceptor purine in oligonucleotides, the heterocycle selectively contributes to the stability of the duplex, presumably by forming a base pair of Watson-Crick geometry joined by a non-standard H-bonding pattern. Aspects of the nucleoside chemistry, including syntheses of the β-furanosyl ribonucleoside 1 , the ribonucleoside triphosphate 2 and the ribonucleoside bisphosphate 3 of 6-aminopyrazin-2(1H)-one are reported here. In aqueous solution, the ribonucleoside 1 was found to undergo acid- and base-catalyzed rearrangement with an apparent half-life of ca. 63 h at neutral pH and 30°. The rearrangement appears to be specific acid- and base-catalyzed. The thermodynamically most stable compound formed during this rearrangement reaction was isolated by HPLC and shown to be the β-pyranosyl form 4 of the 6-aminopyrazin-2(1H)-one nucleoside in its ⁴C₁ chair conformation. This reactivity of 1 under physiological conditions may explain why Nature does not use this particular heterocyclic system to implement an acceptor-donor-donor H-bonding pattern in the genetic alphabet.     

Effect of thiocyanate counterion condensation on poly(allylamine hydrochloride) chains on the buildup and permeability of polystyrenesulfonate/polyallylamine polyelectrolyte multilayers

In this study, we investigate the buildup of PEI-(PSS-PAH)(n) polyelectrolyte multilayers at pH 7.4 in the presence of either NaCl or NaSCN as a supporting electrolyte. It appears that in the presence of increasing thiocyanate concentrations (from 0.1 to 0.5 M), the thickness increment, obtained from optical waveguide lightmode spectroscopy experiments, increases whereas it stays practically constant for increasing sodium chloride concentrations (between 0.1 and 0.5 M). The hydration of the films differs also markedly between both electrolyte solutions. The differences in the construction of the polyelectrolyte multilayers in the presence of both supporting electrolytes are rationalized in terms of strong SCN(-) condensation on the PAH chains. The occurrence of this ion condensation is indirectly demonstrated by means of zeta potential measurements and directly demonstrated by means of attenuated total internal reflection infrared spectroscopy on the multilayer films. Moreover when the films are built up in the presence of SCN(-), these ions are only slowly exchanged by the Cl(-) ions introduced in the bulk. Conversely the thick films obtained from 0.5 M NaSCN solutions do not deswell when the buffer solution is replaced by a 0.5 M NaCl containing buffer. The permeability of the films constructed in the presence of both sodium salts is also studied by means of cyclic voltametry and is found to be markedly different in the case of films made from five bilayers at 0.5 M salt concentration. This difference is due to the different morphology and porosity of the films constructed in the presence of 0.5 M NaCl and 0.5 M NaSCN.     

Layer by layer self-assembled polyelectrolyte multilayers with embedded phospholipid vesicles

We describe a method to embed phospholipid vesicles into polyelectrolyte multilayers built up by the alternate deposition of polyanions and polycations. Before deposition, the vesicles are rigidified by polycation adsorption onto their surface avoiding their fusion once deposited on the multilayer surface. The vesicles adsorb to form a compact and "hard" monolayer as imaged by atomic force microscopy. The thickness of the adsorbed vesicle layer, of the order of 250 nm, is very close to the diameter of the vesicles in solution. This work should open the route to the buildup of multilayer films containing phospholipid vesicles that could act as "reservoirs" for drugs or enzymatic nanoreactors.     

Layer by layer self-assembled polyelectrolyte multilayers with embedded phospholipid vesicles obtained by spraying: integrity of the vesicles

In a previous paper (Michel, M.; Vautier, D.; Voegel, J.-C.; Schaaf, P.; Ball, V. Langmuir 2004, 20, 4835), we showed that phospholipid vesicles can be incorporated into poly(glutamic-acid)/poly(allylamine) (PGA/PAH) multilayered polyelectrolyte films built by the alternated dipping of a surface in polyanion and polycation solutions. AFM imaging, quartz crystal microbalance, and ellipsometry suggested that the vesicles remain intact when adhering on the surface. In the present paper, we show that such films can also be realized by spraying both the polyelectrolyte solutions and the vesicles onto the surface. Using such vesicles filled with ferrocyanide ions, we prove by cyclic voltammetry that the sprayed vesicles remain intact when embedded in the multilayers. We show that multilayers containing two distinct layers of intact vesicles separated by several polyanion/polycation bilayers can also be constructed. Polyelectrolyte multilayers containing layers of phospholipid vesicles could act as reservoirs for drug or other biologically active molecules in controlled release bioactive coatings.