Structure-function relationships in glutathione and its analogues

The results are presented of measurements of protonation constants (potentiometry and NMR), UV spectroscopic properties and redox potentials of GSH and its five analogues, which are modified at the C-terminal glycine residue (gammaGlu-Cys-X, X = Gly, Gly-NH2, Gly-OEt, Ala, Glu, Ser). Strong linear correlations were found between various properties of the thiol and other functions of these peptides. These results allow discussion of the relationships between the structures and properties in glutathione and its analogues, and provide a novel chemical background for the issue of control of GSH reactivity.     

Synthesis and characterization of ruthenium(ii) complexes of 5-hydroxyflavones

Bis(dimethyl sulfoxide)bis(flavonato)ruthenium(II) complexes, RuL₂(DMSO)₂, were synthesized by the reaction of dichlorotetrakis(dimethyl sulfoxide)ruthenium(II) with the sodium salts of 5-hydroxyflavone, 5-hydroxy-4′-methoxyflavone and 5-hydroxy-3′,4′,5′,7-tetramethoxyflavone, ( L ). The complexation was followed by ¹H nmr spectroscopy. The 1:1 kinetically favoured tris(dimethyl sulfoxide)chloroflavonatoruthenium(II) complexes, RuLCl(DMSO)₃, were initially formed and then transformed into the thermodynamically more stable ones. Each one of these complexes, by reacting with another equivalent of lig-and L, also gave rise to a mixture of 1:2 kinetic species, from which the 1:2 thermodynamically more stable bis(dimethyl sulfoxide)bis(flavonato)ruthenium(II) complexes, RuL₂(DMSO)₂, were formed. The complexes were characterized by extensive studies involving ¹H, ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance, infrared and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, cyclic voltammetry and elemental analysis. Such 1:2 complexes exhibited properties of two nonequivalent flavonate ligands and also of two non-equivalent dimethyl sulfoxide ligands; one of these dimethyl sulfoxide ligands is considered to be S-bonded and the other O-bonded. Also two quasireversible one-electron redox steps were observed at 0.53 to 0.57 and 0.44 to 0.41 V (vs Saturated Calomel Electrode). The spectroscopic results obtained allow for the discussion of stereochemistry of each bis(dimethyl sulfoxide)bis(flavonato)ruthenium(II) complex and to postulate its possible structure as one corresponding to the more anisochronous species.     

A new xanthone from Hedychium gardnerianum

A new xanthone (2), 3-(2-hydroxyethoxy)xanthone, and three known compounds, 1-hydroxyxanthone, salicylic acid and the sesquiterpene oplopanone, were isolated for the first time from the rhizomes of Hedychium gardnerianum Rosc. The structures of these compounds were elucidated on the basis of detailed spectral analysis, including 2D NMR experiments.     

New Benzo[ b ]xanthones from Diels-Alder Reactions of Chromone-3-carboxaldehydes with ortho -Benzoquinodimethanes

 New benzo[b]xanthone derivatives, having substituents in the A and D rings, were prepared from cycloaddition reactions of chromone-3-carboxaldehydes with ortho-benzoquinodimethanes, generated in situ from 1,3-dihydrobenzo[c]thiophene 2,2-dioxide, followed by oxidation of the obtained diastereomeric adducts. The structure of all compounds was fully established by 1D and 2D NMR, MS, and elemental analysis. The stereochemistry of the obtained diastereomeric cycloadducts was established by NOESY experiments.     

Fibre optic coupler as a detector for microfluidic applications

A new construction of a fibre optic coupler is presented in the paper. Two polymer optical fibres were used to build a coupler in which coupling efficiency of optical power depends on the refractive index of liquid delivered to a microchannel formed by the fibres. The coupler was tested as a detector in saccharose concentration measurements, and was used in absorbance measurements. A red light emitting diode and a spectrometer were used as a light source and a photodetector, respectively. Experiments confirmed that the coupler can be used for the real time monitoring of the changes in the refractive index of a saccharose solution exhibiting repeatable changes in the signal, with no hysteresis. Absorbance tests were performed with a solution of bromothymol blue at different pH.     

Permeation of water as a tool for characterizing the effect of solvent, film thickness and water solubility in cellulose acetate membranes

Cellulose acetate membranes have been used in many applications; of particular interest are reverse osmosis systems, and as a neutral matrix for incorporation of different polymers (e.g., conducting polymers), inorganic ions (e.g., lanthanides) and organic (e.g., pharmaceutical) compounds. The properties of the new polymers derived from cellulose acetate or blends depend on those of cellulose acetate. This work presents an attempt to find links between thermodynamic and kinetic properties of cellulose acetate membranes in equilibrium with water. Water diffusion coefficients in cellulose acetate membranes are reported, measured with a simple water permeation technique. The comparison of these values with the percentage of water uptake and polymer thickness leads to interesting conclusions related with different polymer properties.     

Cycloreversion and other gas-phase reactions of neutral and cationic pyrrolidine-fused chlorins and isobacteriochlorins under ion bombardment and electrospray

Neutral and cationic pyrrolidine-fused chlorins and isobacteriochlorins derived from meso-tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl)porphyrin undergo cycloreversion reactions in the gas phase, either when desorbed from a liquid matrix by ion bombardment or when electrosprayed. Cycloreversion occurs through loss of either neutral or charged moieties, with and without hydrogen and methyl radical migration, and both as high- and low-energy collision processes. For the doubly charged isobacteriochlorin, one-electron reduction with methyl loss occurs under ion bombardment and electrospray, through hypervalent pyrrolidinium radical formation.     

Improvement of the Derjaguin-Broekhoff-de Boer theory for capillary condensation/evaporation of nitrogen in mesoporous systems and its implications for pore size analysis of MCM-41 silicas and related materials

In this work, we propose an improvement of the classical Derjaguin-Broekhoff-de Boer (DBdB) theory for capillary condensation/evaporation in mesoporous systems. The primary idea of this improvement is to employ the Gibbs-Tolman-Koenig-Buff equation to predict the surface tension changes in mesopores. In addition, the statistical film thickness (so-called t-curve) evaluated accurately on the basis of the adsorption isotherms measured for the MCM-41 materials is used instead of the originally proposed t-curve (to take into account the excess of the chemical potential due to the surface forces). It is shown that the aforementioned modifications of the original DBdB theory have significant implications for the pore size analysis of mesoporous solids. To verify our improvement of the DBdB pore size analysis method (IDBdB), a series of the calcined MCM-41 samples, which are well-defined materials with hexagonally ordered cylindrical mesopores, were used for the evaluation of the pore size distributions. The correlation of the IDBdB method with the empirically calibrated Kruk-Jaroniec-Sayari (KJS) relationship is very good in the range of small mesopores. So, a major advantage of the IDBdB method is its applicability for small mesopores as well as for the mesopore range beyond that established by the KJS calibration, i.e., for mesopore radii greater than approximately 4.5 nm. The comparison of the IDBdB results with experimental data reported by Kruk and Jaroniec for capillary condensation/evaporation as well as with the results from nonlocal density functional theory developed by Neimark et al. clearly justifies our approach. Note that the proposed improvement of the classical DBdB method preserves its original simplicity and simultaneously ensures a significant improvement of the pore size analysis, which is confirmed by the independent estimation of the mean pore size by the powder X-ray diffraction method.