Photophysical and Redox Properties of a Series of Phthalocyanines: Relation with Their Photodynamic Activities on TF-1 and Daudi Leukemic Cells

Abstract— The photodynamic therapy (PDT) efficiency of five phthalocyanines, chloroaluminum phthalocyanine (AlPc), dichlorosilicon phthalocyanine (SiPc), bis (tri- n -hexylsi-loxy)silicon phthalocyanine (PcHEX), bis (triphenyl-siloxy)silicon phthalocyanine (PcPHE) and nickel phthalocyanine (NiPc), was assessed on two leukemic cell lines TF-1 and erythroieukemic and B lymphoblastic cell lines, Daudi, respectively. AlPc showed the best photocytotox-icity leading to 0.008 surviving fraction at 2 × 10⁻⁹ M for TF-1 and 4 × 10⁻⁹ M for Daudi. At 5 × 10⁻⁷ M , SiPc and PcHEX induced a significant photokilling, whereas NiPc and PcPHE were inactive. Laser flash photolysis and photoredox properties of the phthalocyanines were investigated to try to relate these parameters with the biological effects. AlPc showed the longest triplet lifetime: 484 fis in dimethyl sulfoxide/H₂O. This value was increased up to 820 u.s when AlPc was complexed with human serum albumin used as a membrane model. Such an enhancement was not observed with the silicon phthalocyanines. Upon irradiation, all the phthalocyanines generated singlet oxygen with 0.29–0.37 quantum yield values. The reduction potentials of the excited states obtained from measurement in the ground state and energy of the excited triplets show that AlPc is the best electron acceptor. The in vitro photocytotoxicity observed and the measured parameters are in agreement with a key role of electron transfer in PDT assays involving these phthalocyanines.     

Remarkable stereocontrol in the synthesis of 1,2,3,5-tetrasubstituted tetrahydropyrans via an asymmetric heterocycloaddition of a ketone-derived enol ether

The synthesis of chiral 1,2,3,5-substituted tetrahydropyrans has been realized via an asymmetric hetero Diels-Alder (HDA) reaction. The key step that involved a trisubstituted chiral enol ether derived from (R)-mandelic acid as the dienophile promoted the creation of three stereogenic centers with a remarkable and unprecedented endo and facial stereocontrol. The hydrogenation of the heteroadduct 2 was optimized by using Pd on charcoal and diisopropylethylamine, leading to a unique isomer. The chiral inductor was cleanly and stereoselectively removed via an acetal reduction, which demonstrated the potential of this methodology for the efficient construction of key intermediate of biologically active molecules.     

Ultrafast chemical interface scattering as an additional decay channel for nascent nonthermal electrons in small metal nanoparticles

The use of 4.2 nm gold nanoparticles wrapped in an adsorbates shell and embedded in a TiO2 metal oxide matrix gives the opportunity to investigate ultrafast electron-electron scattering dynamics in combination with electronic surface phenomena via the surface plasmon lifetimes. These gold nanoparticles (NPs) exhibit a large nonclassical broadening of the surface plasmon band, which is attributed to a chemical interface damping. The acceleration of the loss of surface plasmon phase coherence indicates that the energy and the momentum of the collective electrons can be dissipated into electronic affinity levels of adsorbates. As a result of the preparation process, gold NPs are wrapped in a shell of sulfate compounds that gives rise to a large density of interfacial molecules confined between Au and TiO2, as revealed by Fourier-transform-infrared spectroscopy. A detailed analysis of the transient absorption spectra obtained by broadband femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy allows separating electron-electron and electron-phonon interaction. Internal thermalization times (electron-electron scattering) are determined by probing the decay of nascent nonthermal electrons (NNEs) and the build-up of the Fermi-Dirac electron distribution, giving time constants of 540 to 760 fs at 0.42 and 0.34 eV from the Fermi level, respectively. Comparison with literature data reveals that lifetimes of NNEs measured for these small gold NPs are more than four times longer than for silver NPs with similar sizes. The surprisingly long internal thermalization time is attributed to an additional decay mechanism (besides the classical e-e scattering) for the energy loss of NNEs, identified as the ultrafast chemical interface scattering process. NNEs experience an inelastic resonant scattering process into unoccupied electronic states of adsorbates, that directly act as an efficient heat bath, via the excitation of molecular vibrational modes. The two-temperature model is no longer valid for this system because of (i) the temporal overlap between the internal and external thermalization process is very important; (ii) a part of the photonic energy is directly transferred toward the adsorbates (not among "cold" conduction band electrons). These findings have important consequence for femtochemistry on metal surfaces since they show that reactions can be initiated by nascent nonthermal electrons (as photoexcited, out of a Fermi-Dirac distribution) besides of the hot electron gas.     

2-Mercaptomethyl-thiazolidines use conserved aromatic–S interactions to achieve broad-range inhibition of metallo-β-lactamases

Infections caused by multidrug resistant (MDR) bacteria are a major public health threat. Carbapenems are among the most potent antimicrobial agents that are commercially available to treat MDR bacteria. Bacterial production of carbapenem-hydrolysing metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs) challenges their safety and efficacy, with subclass B1 MBLs hydrolysing almost all β-lactam antibiotics. MBL inhibitors would fulfil an urgent clinical need by prolonging the lifetime of these life-saving drugs. Here we report the synthesis and activity of a series of 2-mercaptomethyl-thiazolidines (MMTZs), designed to replicate MBL interactions with reaction intermediates or hydrolysis products. MMTZs are potent competitive inhibitors of B1 MBLs in vitro (e.g., K_i = 0.44 μM vs. NDM-1). Crystal structures of MMTZ complexes reveal similar binding patterns to the most clinically important B1 MBLs (NDM-1, VIM-2 and IMP-1), contrasting with previously studied thiol-based MBL inhibitors, such as bisthiazolidines (BTZs) or captopril stereoisomers, which exhibit lower, more variable potencies and multiple binding modes. MMTZ binding involves thiol coordination to the Zn(ii) site and extensive hydrophobic interactions, burying the inhibitor more deeply within the active site than d/l-captopril. Unexpectedly, MMTZ binding features a thioether–π interaction with a conserved active-site aromatic residue, consistent with their equipotent inhibition and similar binding to multiple MBLs. MMTZs penetrate multiple Enterobacterales, inhibit NDM-1 in situ, and restore carbapenem potency against clinical isolates expressing B1 MBLs. Based on their inhibitory profile and lack of eukaryotic cell toxicity, MMTZs represent a promising scaffold for MBL inhibitor development. These results also suggest sulphur–π interactions can be exploited for general ligand design in medicinal chemistry.

Metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs) are major culprits of resistance to carbapenems in bacteria. A series of thiazolidines are potent MBL inhibitors, restoring the activity of carbapenems. Metal binding and sulphur–π interactions are key to inhibition.     

Algorithms for generalized fractional programming

A generalized fractional programming problem is specified as a nonlinear program where a nonlinear function defined as the maximum over several ratios of functions is to be minimized on a feasible domain of ⁿ . The purpose of this paper is to outline basic approaches and basic types of algorithms available to deal with this problem and to review their convergence analysis. The conclusion includes results and comments on the numerical efficiency of these algorithms.This research was supported by NSERC (grant A8312) and Cooperation franco-québécoise (projet 20-02-13). Paper presented at Workshop on Mathematical Programming Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, October 10–14, 1988.     

Sur les séries de Taylor et les transformations de Möbius

Given a non-empty closed subsetF of the unit circle |z|=1, and a Möbius transformationM(z) of the unit disc |z|1, such thatM(0)0, there exists a functionf(z) holomorphic in the unit disc,F being the singular set at the boundary, whose Taylor coefficients tend to zero while the Taylor coefficients off(M(z)), do not tend to zero.     

Structure, 31P and 13C chemical shift anisotrophy of (CH3)3P, (CH3)3PO, (CH3)3PS and (CH3)3PSe as determined by liquid crystal NMR spectroscopy

The ¹³P and ¹³C spectra of the triply ¹³C labelled molecules (CH₃)₃P, (CH₃)₃PO, (CH₃)₃PS and (CH₃)₃PSe oriented in a nematic phase are reported. The CPC bond angles have been measured. The ¹³P chemical shift tensor shows a large anisotropy except in the case of (CH₃)₃P. The abnormal large value observed for the PSe bond length suggests a large anisotropy of the ¹J(PSe) spin coupling.     

Acylation des β-énaminoesters: Regio et stéréoformation des β-énaminoesters N- ou C-acylés

The reaction of acyl chlorides with cyclic five-membered β-enaminoesters gave exclusively N-acylated products while reaction of acyl chlorides with cyclic seven-membered β-enaminoesters gave only C-acylated products. In the case of cyclic six-membered β-enaminoesters, the reaction of acyl chlorides gave a mixture of N-acylated and C-acylated products.     

Use of gel-permeation chromatography in the determination of the composition of two-polymer mixtures

The possibility of evaluating with acceptable accuracy the composition of a two-polymer mixture which is well separated by GPC, was studied by using mixtures of high molecular weight polybutadiene (M?_w = 4.5 × 10⁵) and low molecular weight polyiso-butylene (M?_n in the range of 10³). It was concluded that a satisfactory evaluation of the composition of a polymer mixture can be achieved, provided that the variations of the refractive index with the molecular weight are taken into account for the low molecular weight polymer (the polyisobutylene).     

Improved access to 19-nor-7β, 8β-methylene-taxoids and formation of a 7-membered C-ring analog of doxetaxel by electrochemistry

A new route to semisynthetic 19-nor-7β, 8β-methylene taxoids, such as compound 8, from the 7-O-trifluoromethanesulfonyl derivative 6 is reported. Evidence for a dissociation of the triflate to form a carbocation at C-7 under the reaction conditions is presented. Electrochemical reduction of the cyclopropane taxoid 8 gives, besides the expected 10-dehydroxy-cyclopropane analog 10, the 7-membered C-ring derivative 11.