Calixarene-based highly efficient primary amine–thiourea organocatalysts for asymmetric Michael addition of aldehydes to nitrostyrenes

The synthesis of calix[4]arene-based chiral bifunctional primary amine–thiourea catalysts has been described from p-tert-butylcalix[4]arene for the first time. The calix[4]arene-based catalysts were successfully applied to promote Michael addition of aldehydes with nitroalkenes affording preferentially the (R)- or (S)-adducts in high yields (up to 95%) and excellent enantioselectivities (up to 99% ees).     

A monostyryl-boradiazaindacene (BODIPY) derivative as colorimetric and fluorescent probe for cyanide ions

We developed a novel boradiazaindacene derivative to detect cyanide ions in solution at micromolar concentrations. This structurally simple chemosensor displays a large decrease in emission intensity and a reversible color change from red to blue on contact with cyanide ions. Highly fluorescent polymeric films can be obtained by doping with the chemosensor. Such polymeric materials can be used for the sensing of the cyanide ions in polymer matrices.     

LC-HRMS Profiling and Antidiabetic,Anticholinergic, and Antioxidant Activities of Aerial Parts of Kınkor (Ferulago stellata)

Kınkor (Ferulago stellata) is Turkish medicinal plant species and used in folk medicine against some diseases. As far as we know, the data are not available on the biological activities and chemical composition of this medicinal plant. In this study, the phytochemical composition; some metabolic enzyme inhibition; and antidiabetic, anticholinergic, and antioxidant activities of this plant were assessed. In order to evaluate the antioxidant activity of evaporated ethanolic extract (EEFS) and lyophilized water extract (WEFS) of kınkor (Ferulago stellata), some putative antioxidant methods such as DPPH· scavenging activity, ABTS^•+ scavenging activity, ferric ions (Fe³⁺) reduction method, cupric ions (Cu²⁺) reducing capacity, and ferrous ions (Fe²⁺)-binding activities were separately performed. Furthermore, ascorbic acid, BHT, and α-tocopherol were used as the standard compounds. Additionally, the main phenolic compounds that are responsible for antioxidant abilities of ethanol and water extracts of kınkor (Ferulago stellata) were determined by liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS). Ethanol and water extracts of kınkor (Ferulago stellata) demonstrated effective antioxidant abilities when compared to standards. Moreover, ethanol extract of kınkor (Ferulago stellata) demonstrated IC₅₀ values of 1.772 μg/mL against acetylcholinesterase (AChE), 33.56 ± 2.96 μg/mL against α-glycosidase, and 0.639 μg/mL against α-amylase enzyme respectively.     

Phenothiazine-based chalcones as potential dual-target inhibitors toward cholinesterases (AChE,BuChE) and monoamine oxidases (MAO-A,MAO-B)

Chalcones targeting neurodegenerative diseases have been known as attractive structures in drug design and discovery. In this study, phenothiazine-based chalcones as ChEs and MAOs inhibitors were designed and synthesized via base-catalyzed Claisen-Schmidt condensation, and chemical structures of the compounds were elucidated by NMRs and HRMS. Compounds 3 and 9 showed promising inhibition potency against AChE enzyme with IC₅₀ values of 0.221 μM and 0.053 μM while compound 9 displayed remarkable inhibition potency toward MAO-B enzyme with IC₅₀ value of 0.048 μM. Compound 9 , as a dual-target inhibitor, selectively inhibited AChE and MAO-B enzymes. This promising behavior is an advantage for the compound since MAO-B and AChE inhibition have a role in Alzheimer's disease. Fused tricyclic ring systems such as phenothiazine incorporated with chalcone moiety being multitargeting ligands may help scientists for the rational design of novel lead compounds targeting neurodegenerative illnesses.     

A study on composite catalytic membrane manufacturing based on sodium alginate and lipase to be used in a pervaporation reactor

Research on Chemical Intermediates - A lipase-immobilized dense sodium alginate membrane was prepared and used for the esterification of ethyl alcohol and lactic acid in a pervaporation reactor...     

Phenacyl onium salt photoinitiators: synthesis, photolysis, and applications

Onium salts, namely sulfonium, phosphonium, ammonium, and pyridinium salts containing phenacyl group are photoinitiators appropriate for the polymerization of monomers such as oxiranes and vinyl ethers, which are not polymerizable by a free-radical mechanism. The initiation is accomplished by direct or indirect (sensitized) photolysis of the salts. Depending on the type of the salt, the direct photoinitiation of cationic polymerization involves reversible or irreversible processes. The photolysis of phenacylsulfonium compounds proceeds by a reversible process, while the other types undergo irreversible photolysis leading to complete fragmentation of the photoinitiator. An additionally useful tool, namely photosensitized generation of initiating species enlarges the versatility of these salts as photoinitiators. Photoinitiated free-radical and zwitterionic polymerizations by using phenacyl-type salts are also addressed. Keto-enol tautomerization of phenacyl pyridinium salts is discussed. Moreover, an interesting application concerning in situ synthesis of clay-poly(methyl methacrylate) nanocomposites with the aid of the phenacyl anilinium salt-based photopolymerization technique is noted.     

X-ray absorption spectroscopy for wire-array Z-pinches at the non-radiative stage

Absorption spectroscopy was applied to wire-array Z-pinches on the 1 MA pulsed-power Zebra generator at the Nevada Terawatt Facility (NTF). The 50 TW Leopard laser was coupled with the Zebra generator for X-ray backlighting of wire arrays at the ablation stage. Broadband X-ray emission from a laser-produced Sm plasma was used to backlight Al star wire arrays in the range of 7–9 Å. Two time-integrated X-ray conical spectrometers recorded reference and absorption spectra. The spectrometers were shielded from the bright Z-pinch X-ray burst by collimators. The comparison of plasma-transmitted spectra with reference spectra indicates absorption lines in the range of 8.1–8.4 Å. Analysis of Al K-shell absorption spectra with detailed atomic kinetics models shows a distribution of electron temperature in the range of 10–30 eV that was fitted with an effective two-temperature model. Temperature and density distributions in wire-array plasma were simulated with a three-dimension magneto-hydrodynamic code. Post-processing of this code’s output yields synthetic transmission spectrum which is in general agreement with the data.     

Amino alcohol based chiral solvating agents: synthesis and applications in the NMR enantiodiscrimination of carboxylic acids

Four optically active amino alcohols were synthesized via the ring opening of (R)-N-(2,3-epoxypropyl)phthalimide with (R)-2-phenyl glycinol, (1R,2S)-cis-1-amino-2-indanol, (R)-2-amino-1-butanol and (S)-phenyl ethylamine in 73-93% yields. The enantioselective recognition of these receptors towards the enantiomers of racemic carboxylic acids was studied by ¹H NMR spectroscopy. The molar ratio and the association constants of the chiral compounds with each of the enantiomers of the guests were determined by using Job plots and a non-linear least-squares fitting method, respectively. Large non-equivalent chemical shifts (up to 30.0 Hz) can be achieved in the presence of chiral amino alcohols 2 and 5. Amongst the chiral receptors used, compound 5 was found to be the best chiral shift reagent, and was effective in the determination of the enantiomeric excess of chiral carboxylic acids.     

A strategy based on protein-protein interface motifs may help in identifying drug off-targets

Networks are increasingly used to study the impact of drugs at the systems level. From the algorithmic standpoint, a drug can "attack" nodes or edges of a protein-protein interaction network. In this work, we propose a new network strategy, "The Interface Attack", based on protein-protein interfaces. Similar interface architectures can occur between unrelated proteins. Consequently, in principle, a drug that binds to one has a certain probability of binding to others. The interface attack strategy simultaneously removes from the network all interactions that consist of similar interface motifs. This strategy is inspired by network pharmacology and allows inferring potential off-targets. We introduce a network model that we call "Protein Interface and Interaction Network (P2IN)", which is the integration of protein-protein interface structures and protein interaction networks. This interface-based network organization clarifies which protein pairs have structurally similar interfaces and which proteins may compete to bind the same surface region. We built the P2IN with the p53 signaling network and performed network robustness analysis. We show that (1) "hitting" frequent interfaces (a set of edges distributed around the network) might be as destructive as eleminating high degree proteins (hub nodes), (2) frequent interfaces are not always topologically critical elements in the network, and (3) interface attack may reveal functional changes in the system better than the attack of single proteins. In the off-target detection case study, we found that drugs blocking the interface between CDK6 and CDKN2D may also affect the interaction between CDK4 and CDKN2D.     

Some fixed point theorems on ordered cone metric spaces

In the present work, two fixed point theorems for self maps on ordered cone metric spaces are proved motivated by [7, L. G. Huang and X. Zhang, Cone metric spaces and fixed point theorems of contractive mappings, J. Math. Anal. Appl., 332 (2007) 1468–1476] and [15, A. C. M. Ran and M. C. B. Reuring, A fixed point theorem in partially ordered sets and some application to matrix equations, Proc. Amer. Math. Soc., 132, (2004), 1435–1443]