Overlap of Doxycycline Fluorescence with that of the Redox-Sensitive Intracellular Reporter roGFP

Tetracycline-inducible systems allow for either suppression or induction of transgene expression to facilitate studies of cell physiology. Doxycycline is a preferred inducer for these gene expression systems due to its membrane permeability; however, the heterocyclic structure of doxycycline exhibits fluorogenic properties that can potentially bias measurement of other fluorochromes. Thus the simultaneous use of tetracycline-inducible systems and fluorescent proteins as reporter genes or as intracellular biosensors may lead to potentially confounding results. Herein, using cells which co-express the ratiometric redox sensitive intracellular reporter, roGFP, and a tetracycline-inducible reporter plasmid encoding the reporter gene, mCherry, as a model system, we describe the overlapping intracellular fluorescent signals between doxycycline and commonly used intracellular fluorescent probes. In our cells, the addition of doxycycline to cells caused a dose- and time-dependent increase in cell fluorescence with 405 nm excitation which overlapped with that of the oxidized configuration of roGFP. Incubating cells in concentrations of doxycycline less than 1 μg/mL and removing doxycycline from the media 60 min before performing experiments eliminated fluorescence interference while still maintaining maximal reporter transgene activation.     

Generation and characterisation of the phenoxyl-radical containing Cu(ii) complex [Cu(triaz)(2)](+) (triaz(-) = O,N chelating triazole-phenolate)

The new copper complex [Cu(triaz)(2)] (Htriaz = 2,4-di-(tert-butyl)-6-(5-chloro-2H-benzo[d][1,2,3]triazol-2-yl)phenol) was investigated in detail by single crystal XRD, EPR-, UV/Vis-absorption-, CV-, and spectroelectrochemistry. The oxidised species [Cu(triaz)(2)](+) was characterised by UV/Vis spectroelectrochemistry and contains a phenoxyl-radical bound to Cu(ii). This quite stable species was chemically generated by two different methods: aerial oxidation of a Cu(i) precursor in the presence of Htriaz (and base) or from [Cu(triaz)(2)] by adding a Cu(ii) salt (disproportionation). The efficiency for the latter reaction has been studied by UV/Vis spectroscopy, XAS and catalytic test reactions (oxidation of benzyl alcohol).     

T3P-promoted synthesis of a series of novel 3-aryl-2-phenyl-2,3-dihydro-4H-1,3-benzothiazin-4-ones

A series of 11 novel 3-aryl-2-phenyl-2,3-dihydro-4H-1,3-benzothiazin-4-ones was prepared at room temperature by T3P-mediated cyclization of N-aryl-C-phenyl imines with thiosalicylic acid. This provides simple and ready access to N-aryl compounds in this family, which have been generally difficult to prepare.     

Stable isotope variation in wool as a means to establish Turkish carpet provenance

The problem of establishing the provenance of carpets of artistic and historical importance is well known. We have addressed this by investigating whether there is sufficient geographical variation in the stable isotopes in wool (namely C, N and S) between key areas of Turkey to be able to recognize the different regions where carpets were made. Here we report results from modern wool samples taken from the winter growth of sheep in 2003/2004 from 13 carpet-producing sites. Although each site has a characteristic composition, most sites cannot be distinguished from each other, and the overall isotopic pattern is unexpectedly complicated. Thus in Western Turkey there is no sign of sea-spray effects in the delta34S values for sites close (10 km) to the sea, while, in the Konya Basin (Central Turkey), the delta34S values vary significantly between nearby sites. Two 'urban' settlements where sheep are now raised have dramatically higher delta15N values. It is nevertheless possible that certain production centers may have distinct signatures, and further work will compare carpets from known sources with the currently produced wool values. The results also provide additional insight into the natural variation found in archaeological faunal isotopic values, e.g. in bone collagen.     

Multicompartmental Microcylinders

Colorful columns : A simple yet scalable method that yields multicompartmental microcylinders with controllable internal architectures, aspect ratios, and controlled surface modification uses electrohydrodynamic co‐spinning followed by microsectioning. Compartments are discriminated by different colored dyes (see CLSM images; scale bars=10.0 μm).

     

A gradient descent algorithm for minimizing amino acid coupling reactions when synthesizing cyclic-peptide libraries

Combinatorial chemistry has become an invaluable tool in medicinal chemistry for the identification of new drug leads. For example, libraries of predetermined sequences and head-to-tail cyclized peptides are routinely synthesized in our laboratory using the IRORI approach. Such libraries are used as molecular toolkits that enable the development of pharmacophores that define activity and specificity at receptor targets. These libraries can be quite large and difficult to handle, due to physical and chemical constraints imposed by their size. Therefore, smaller sub-libraries are often targeted for synthesis. The number of coupling reactions required can be greatly reduced if the peptides having common amino acids are grouped into the same sub-library (batching). This paper describes a schedule optimizer to minimize the number of coupling reactions by rotating and aligning sequences while simultaneously batching. The gradient descent method thereby reduces the number of coupling reactions required for synthesizing cyclic peptide libraries. We show that the algorithm results in a 75% reduction in the number of coupling reactions for a typical cyclic peptide library.     

The Universal Covering of an Inverse Semigroup

We examine an inverse semigroup T in terms of the universal locally constant covering of its classifying topos . In particular, we prove that the fundamental group of coincides with the maximum group image of T. We explain the connection between E-unitary inverse semigroups and locally decidable toposes, characterize E-unitary inverse semigroups in terms of a kind of geometric morphism called a spread, characterize F-inverse semigroups, and interpret McAlister’s “P-theorem” in terms of the universal covering.     

New discrete metallocycles incorporating palladium(II) and platinum(II) corners and dipyridyldibenzotetraaza[14]annulene side units

The interaction of the extended, fully-conjugated macrocycle, dipyridyldibenzotetraaza[14]annulene (1), with the square planar palladium(II) and platinum(II) complexes [M(dppp)(triflate)(2)].2H(2)O (M = Pd, Pt) has been investigated in both solution and the solid state. In each case solid products showing a 1:1 ratio of metal complex: 1 were obtained. A 1:1 mixture of and [Pd(dppp)(2)(triflate)(2)].2H(2)O in dichloromethane yielded two major products as evidenced by the presence of two singlets in the (31)P {(1)H}-NMR spectrum of the reaction solution. Similarly, two singlets were evident in the corresponding spectrum obtained on dissolving the 1:1 product in nitrobenzene. The temperature and concentration dependence of the spectra clearly showed that the two species present in each case were in equilibrium. From the temperature dependence, the low field signal was assigned to the smaller of the two species. Broadly parallel behaviour was observed for the corresponding platinum-containing system. The MS-ESI spectrum of the platinum derivative showed the presence of a dinuclear species corresponding to [Pt(dppp)(1)](2)(2+) and an X-ray structure of this product confirmed that a corresponding dinuclear complex exists in the solid state. This product has a geometry in which two curved macrocyclic side units bridge two metal centres to yield an ellipse-shaped structure. Attempts to employ pulsed-field gradient spin-echo (PGSE) (31)P NMR confirmed that the lower-field resonance corresponded to the smaller of the two species in solution. STM (HOPG) imaging of the palladium- and platinum-containing products revealed arrays that appear to be composed of "zipper-like" rows of dimer units, with the dimensions of the latter comparing well with those found in the X-ray structure of [Pt(dppp)(1)](2)(2+).     

HyperMacs. Long Chain Branched Analogues of Hyperbranched Polymers Prepared by the Polycondensation of AB2 Macromonomers

We describe here a new strategy for the synthesis of polymers with highly branched architectures. The strategy involves the synthesis by anionic polymerization of well-defined AB₂ polystyrene macromonomers with molecular weights from 3,600 to 94,000 gmol⁻¹, which are then converted via a one-pot polycondensation reaction into high molecular weight, long-chain (hyper)branched architectures. Since the Hyperbranched structures are built up from condensation Macromonomers we have coined the term ‘HyperMac’ to describe these branched polymers. In this paper we report the synthesis of the HyperMacs, the optimal conditions for the polycondensation reaction and some preliminary characterization studies.