A cellular FRET-based sensor for beta-O-GlcNAc, a dynamic carbohydrate modification involved in signaling

beta-O-N-Acetyl-d-glucosamine (O-GlcNAc) is a dynamic carbohydrate modification that is involved in cell signaling and has been implicated in a variety of disease states, including Alzheimer's and type-II diabetes. Despite the importance of this modification, little is known about the spatial and temporal localization of O-GlcNAc during signaling. This is due to the lack of methods for the study of O-GlcNAc in living cell systems. Herein we report the first genetically encoded FRET-based sensor for the detection of O-GlcNAc dynamics in live mammalian cells.     

Ultracold Rb-OH collisions and prospects for sympathetic cooling

We compute ab initio cross sections for cold collisions of Rb atoms with OH radicals. We predict collision rate constants of order 10(-11) cm3/s at temperatures in the range 10-100 mK at which molecules have already been produced. However, we also find that in these collisions the molecules have a strong propensity for changing their internal state, which could make sympathetic cooling of OH in a Rb buffer gas problematic in magnetostatic or electrostatic traps.     

Pseudokobusine

The title compound, hetisan-6,11β,15β-triol, C₂₀H₂₇NO₃, is a hetisane-type diterpenoid alkaloid. It consists of six six-membered rings and two five-membered rings. The fused-ring system contains three chair, two boat, one distorted boat and two envelope conformations. Intramolecular and intermolecular hydrogen bonds are present between the O atoms, with O⃛O separations of 3.006 (3) and 2.743 (3) Å, as well as an O⃛N intermolecular interaction of 2.887 (3) Å.     

Nitrenium ions. Reactions of N,N-dimethyl-p-benzoyloxyanilineiminium chloride with indoles and indolizines. X-ray structure of unexpected [2-chloro-4-(4-dimethylaminophenyl-ONN-azoxy)phenylldimethylamine (azoxy derivative)

N,N-Dimethyl-p-nitrosoaniline reacts with benzoyl chloride affording a complex salt containing a cation, a hybrid between a nitrenium ion and an iminium ion. The salt reacts with nucleophiles (indoles, indolizines) yielding compounds characterized by a new carbon-nitrogen bond, derived from the nitrenium ion form. According to the type of nucleophile, the reaction, to differing extents, is in competition with an electron transfer process which leads to the formation of the dimer of the nucleophile and of the azoxy corresponding to the N,N-dimethyl-p-nitrosoaniline. In one of the reactions studied, a chlorinated azoxy derivative was also isolated, and its structure was elucidated by X-ray analysis.     

Fiber formation in water by a mono-urea dicarboxylic acid

Fibers formed by a mono-urea dicarboxylic acid derivative in water were analyzed by SEM, IR and XRD. The resulting data were used to develop a model of the molecular aggregation leading to fiber formation.     

Solution- and solid-phase synthesis of 4-hydroxy-4,5-dihydroisoxazole derivatives from enantiomerically pure N-tosyl-2,3-aziridine alcohols

[reaction: see text] Enantiomerically pure N-tosyl-2,3-aziridine alcohols are directly converted into 4-hydroxy-4,5-dihydroisoxazole 2-oxides through oxidation to the corresponding aldehydes followed by in situ tandem nitroaldol-intramolecular cyclization. This study was concerned with (i) the selection of a suitable aziridine activation, (ii) the preparation of the target 4-hydroxy-4,5-dihydroisoxazole derivatives in solution, and (iii) the elaboration of a solid-phase process using hydroxy Merrifield-supported nitroacetic acid ester.     

An organic hydrogel as a matrix for the growth of calcite crystals

The growth of calcite in an aqueous gel of was studied and the appearance of the crystals was found to change over time. Crystals removed from the gel at progressively longer times showed severely affected surfaces resulting from dissolution. If crystals were removed from the gel after 3.5 hours, at which point there were no etch pits, and then placed in either buffer or pure water, etch pits, similar to those observed on crystals that are left in the gel, were observed. Control calcite crystals exposed to similar conditions (water or buffer) show no significant dissolution after equivalent times. A probable cause of the altered dissolution is the non-specific occlusion of gelator aggregates at sites of imperfection. The gel appears to provide a microenvironment in which the molecules that form the matrix also participate in the crystallization. This system allows the study of the unique properties of a gel for influencing the nucleation and growth of inorganic crystals, some of which may be important for better understanding biomineralization.     

Microstructure of acid-induced caseinate gels containing sucrose: quantification from confocal microscopy and image analysis

We investigate the effect of sucrose on the microstructure of sodium caseinate gels induced by acidification. The average pore size and the fractal properties of two-dimensional slices of the gels are studied using confocal scanning laser microscopy and image analysis. The addition of sucrose promotes stronger and more fine-stranded gels while re-arrangements of the network tend to be prevented. Whereas the fractal dimension itself is not sensitive to changes in the gel microstructure upon addition of sucrose, the maximum cut-off distance, up to which fractal scaling behaviour applies, is substantially reduced, as is the average pore size. The overall microstructural changes seem to be consistent with previous rheological and light scattering studies of the same system.     

Easy access to 4-nitrothiochroman S,S-dioxides via ring-enlargement from 3-nitrobenzo[b]thiophene

The (E)-2-aryl-1-[2-(methylthio)phenyl]-1-nitroethylenes 5 can easily be oxidized to the relevant sulfones 6 and effectively subjected to cyclization via an intramolecular Michael addition after metallation with lithium bis(trimethylsilyl)amide in THF. After quenching with ammonium chloride the 3-aryl-4-nitrothiochroman S,S-dioxides 2 are obtained as diastereomeric mixtures in good to excellent yields. Both yields and stereochemistry of the ring-closure step appear to be influenced by steric effects of the 3-aryl moiety. As sulfides 5 derive from an initial ring opening of 3-nitrobenzo[b]thiophene (1), the overall 1 to 2 process can be considered as an effective 5 to 6 ring enlargement of the sulfur heterocycle. A conformational ¹H NMR and molecular-mechanics investigation on the isolated diastereomeric 2 has also been accomplished.