Distinguishing Aspartic and Isoaspartic Acids in Peptides by Several Mass Spectrometric Fragmentation Methods

Six ion fragmentation techniques that can distinguish aspartic acid from its isomer, isoaspartic acid, were compared. MALDI post-source decay (PSD), MALDI 157 nm photodissociation, tris(2,4,6-trimethoxyphenyl)phosphonium bromide (TMPP) charge tagging in PSD and photodissociation, ESI collision-induced dissociation (CID), electron transfer dissociation (ETD), and free-radical initiated peptide sequencing (FRIPS) with CID were applied to peptides containing either aspartic or isoaspartic acid. Diagnostic ions, such as the y–46 and b+H₂O, are present in PSD, photodissociation, and charge tagging. c^?+57 and z–57 ions are observed in ETD and FRIPS experiments. For some molecules, aspartic and isoaspartic acid yield ion fragments with significantly different intensities. ETD and charge tagging appear to be most effective at distinguishing these residues.

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Visible‐Light‐Driven Hydrogen Evolution Using Planarized Conjugated Polymer Photocatalysts

Linear poly(p‐phenylene)s are modestly active UV photocatalysts for hydrogen production in the presence of a sacrificial electron donor. Introduction of planarized fluorene, carbazole, dibenzo[b,d]thiophene or dibenzo[b,d]thiophene sulfone units greatly enhances the H₂ evolution rate. The most active dibenzo[b,d]thiophene sulfone co‐polymer has a UV photocatalytic activity that rivals TiO₂, but is much more active under visible light. The dibenzo[b,d]thiophene sulfone co‐polymer has an apparent quantum yield of 2.3 % at 420 nm, as compared to 0.1 % for platinized commercial pristine carbon nitride.     

On the dynamics of fragment isomerization in collision-induced dissociation of peptides

The structures of peptide collision-induced dissociation (CID) product ions are investigated using ion mobility/mass spectrometry techniques combined with theoretical methods. The cross-section results are consistent with a mixture of linear and cyclic structures for both b4 and a4 fragment ions. Direct evidence for cyclic structures is essential in rationalizing the appearance of fragments with scrambled (i.e., permutated) primary structures, as the cycle may not open up where it was initially formed. It is demonstrated here that cyclic and linear a4 structures can interconvert freely as a result of collisional activation, implying that isomerization takes place prior to dissociation.     

Infrared Spectroscopy of Dioxouranium(V) Complexes with Solvent Molecules: Effect of Reduction

UO₂⁺–solvent complexes having the general formula [UO₂(ROH)]⁺ (R=H, CH₃, C₂H₅, and n‐C₃H₇) are formed using electrospray ionization and stored in a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer, where they are isolated by mass‐to‐charge ratio, and then photofragmented using a free‐electron laser scanning through the 10 μm region of the infrared spectrum. Asymmetric O=U=O stretching frequencies (ν₃) are measured over a very small range [from ～953 cm^?1 for H₂O to ～944 cm^?1 for n‐propanol (n‐PrOH)] for all four complexes, indicating that the nature of the alkyl group does not greatly affect the metal centre. The ν₃ values generally decrease with increasing nucleophilicity of the solvent, except for the methanol (MeOH)‐containing complex, which has a measured ν₃ value equal to that of the n‐PrOH‐containing complex. The ν₃ frequency values for these U(V) complexes are about 20 cm^?1 lower than those measured for isoelectronic U(VI) ion‐pair species containing analogous alkoxides. ν₃ values for the U(V) complexes are comparable to those for the anionic [UO₂(NO₃)₃]^? complex, and 40–70 cm^?1 lower than previously reported values for ligated uranyl(VI) dication complexes. The lower frequency is attributed to weakening of the O?U?O bonds by repulsion related to reduction of the U metal centre, which increases electron density in the antibonding π* orbitals of the uranyl moiety. Computational modelling of the ν₃ frequencies using the B3LYP and PBE functionals is in good agreement with the IRMPD measurements, in that the calculated values fall in a very small range and are within a few cm^?1 of measurements. The values generated using the LDA functional are slightly higher and substantially overestimate the trends. Subtleties in the trend in ν₃ frequencies for the H₂O–MeOH–EtOH–n‐PrOH series are not reproduced by the calculations, specifically for the MeOH complex, which has a lower than expected value.     

Monitoring the thermodynamically-controlled formation of diimide-based resin-attached rotaxanes by gel-phase HR MAS 1H NMR spectroscopy

The thermodynamically controlled self-assembly of rotaxane and pseudorotaxane systems consisting of (i) a naphthodiimide thread unit terminated at one end with a pyridine ligand, and covalently linked at the other to a gel-phase polystyrene resin support, (ii) a dinaphtho-crown ether shuttle unit, and (iii) a ruthenium carbonyl metalloporphyrin stopper unit, is investigated by high resolution magic angle spinning proton (HR MAS 1H) NMR spectroscopy. The effects of variable concentration of the solution-phase components, the temperature, and added Li+ and Na+ ions are described, and the limitations of the technique are addressed. The dynamic behaviour is compared directly to the solution-phase analogues, where a bulky stopper group is substituted for the polystyrene resin bead.     

Structural motifs of diiodine complexes with amides and thioamides

The reaction of 2-pyrimidone hydrochloride ([C(4)H(5)N(2)O](+)[Cl](-) or [PMOH(2)](+)[Cl](-)) with diiodine in a dichloromethane-methanol solution resulted in the formation of ([C(4)H(5)N(2)O](+))(2)[I(2)Cl(2)](2-) (1) complex. The compound was characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, DTA-TG and conductivity titrations. The crystal structure of 1 was also determined by X-ray diffraction at 294(1) K. Compound 1 is monoclinic, space group P2(1)/n, consisting of two cationic [PMOH(2)](+) species and a [I(2)Cl(2)](2-) counter dianion. The cation is in its keto form. Direct reaction of thiazolidine-2-thione (tzdtH), with diiodine in dichloromethane solution, on the other hand, led to the formation of a crystalline solid which contained two complexes of formulae [(tzdtH)(2)I](+)[I(3)](-).2I(2) (2) and [(tzdtH)I(2)](2).I(2) (2a) in a ratio of 90 to 10%. Complex 2a was characterized by X-ray analysis at 180(2) K. Compound is monoclinic, space group C2/c and contains two units of [(tzdtH)I(2)] "spoke" structures. Compound 1, as well as the known species iodonium salt [(tzdtH)(2)I](+)[I(3)](-).2I(2) (2) and the charge transfer (CT) iodine complexes of formulae [(bztzdtH)I(2)] (3) and [(bztzdtH)I(2)].I(2) (4) (bztzdtH = 2-mercaptobenzothiazole) with "spoke" and extended "spoke" structures respectively, were tested for their oxidizing activity towards 3,5-di-tert-butylcatechol to 3,5-di-tert-butyl-o-benzoquinone.     

Riesz transform and perturbation

We prove that, on a complete noncompact Riemannian manifold with bounded geometry, the L^p boundedness of the Riesz transform, for p>2, is stable under a quasi-isometric and integrable change of metric. As an intermediate step, we treat the case of weighted divergence form operators in the Euclidean space.