Fluorenyl dendrimer porphyrins: synthesis and photophysical properties

New symmetrical dendrimeric type super-porphyrin bearing sixteen fluorenyl donor groups sixteen fluorenylporphyrin SOFP (1) have been synthesized and characterized. Preliminary photophysical properties are reported; in comparison to the references first generation dendrimer tetrafluorenylporphyrin TOFP (2) bearing four peripheral fluorenyl and second generation dendrimer octafluorenylporphyrin OOFP (3) bearing eight peripheral fluorenyl, the luminescence properties are slightly improved. It is found that the excitation energy transfer occurs from the sixteen fluorenyl units to the porphyrin core, following what the porphyrin emits intense red light.     

Diastereocontrolled addition of organometallic reagents to S-chiral N-(tert-butanesulfinyl)-α-fluoroenimines

Grignard and organolithium reagents efficiently react with (S)-N-(tert-butanesulfinyl)-α-fluoroenimines to provide chiral allylamines in excellent yields and with diastereomeric ratios of up to 96:4. Acidic removal of the sulfinyl group and simple functional group transformations allow to get enantiopure fluoroolefin dipeptide mimics.     

Kinetics and mechanism for the phase transfer catalyzed cycloaddition of dichlorocarbene to cis-1,4-polybutadiene

The kinetics for the cycloaddition of dichlorocarbene to cis-1,4-polybutadiene (BR) have been examined for aqueous and solid sodium hydroxide–chloroform mixtures containing 350 molecular weight α-methyl-ω-hydroxy-poly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl) (Carbowax 350) as a phase transfer catalyst. This study describes the influence of reaction variables on rate and the partitioning of dichlorocarbene between dichlorocyclopropanation and hydrolysis. The results are consistent with a kinetic model derived for the case where mass transfer is not rate limiting. However, this does not apply at high conversions where mass transfer control occurs due to large increases in viscosity. Higher BR concentrations can be achieved by replacing chloroform with methylene chloride containing stoichiometric amounts of chloroform. This mass action effect causes more favorable partitioning toward cyclopropanation; otherwise, chloroform and methylene chloride behave similarly as solvents. Water is an essential component in this reaction because it greatly increases the ability of the catalyst to extract sodium hydroxide into the organic phase.     

Fragmentation methods on the balance: unambiguous top–down mass spectrometric characterization of oxaliplatin–ubiquitin binding sites

The interaction between oxaliplatin and the model protein ubiquitin (Ub) was investigated in a top–down approach by means of high-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) using diverse tandem mass spectrometric (MS/MS) techniques, including collision-induced dissociation (CID), higher-energy C-trap dissociation (HCD), and electron transfer dissociation (ETD). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that metallodrug–protein adducts were analyzed for the metal-binding site by ETD-MS/MS, which outperformed both CID and HCD in terms of number of identified metallated peptide fragments in the mass spectra and the localization of the binding sites. Only ETD allowed the simultaneous and exact determination of Met1 and His68 residues as binding partners for oxaliplatin. CID-MS/MS experiments were carried out on orbitrap and ion cyclotron resonance (ICR)-FT mass spectrometers and both instruments yielded similar results with respect to number of metallated fragments and the localization of the binding sites. A comparison of the protein secondary structure with the intensities of peptide fragments generated by collisional activation of the [Ub + Pt-(chxn)] adduct [chxn = (1R,2R)-cyclohexanediamine] revealed a correlation with cleavages in solution phase random coil areas, indicating that the N-terminal β-hairpin and α-helix structures are retained in the gas phase.     

Pathogen detection using engineered bacteriophages

Bacteriophages, or phages, are bacterial viruses that can infect a broad or narrow range of host organisms. Knowing the host range of a phage allows it to be exploited in targeting various pathogens. Applying phages for the identification of microorganisms related to food and waterborne pathogens and pathogens of clinical significance to humans and animals has a long history, and there has to some extent been a recent revival in these applications as phages have become more extensively integrated into novel detection, identification, and monitoring technologies. Biotechnological and genetic engineering strategies applied to phages are responsible for some of these new methods, but even natural unmodified phages are widely applicable when paired with appropriate innovative detector platforms. This review highlights the use of phages as pathogen detector interfaces to provide the reader with an up-to-date inventory of phage-based biodetection strategies.     

Mixed-sequence pyrrolidine-amide oligonucleotide mimics: Boc(Z) synthesis and DNA/RNA binding properties

Pyrrolidine-amide oligonucleotide mimics (POMs) exhibit promising properties for potential applications, including in vivo DNA and RNA targeting, diagnostics and bioanalysis. Before POMs can be evaluated in these applications it is first necessary to synthesise and establish the properties of fully modified oligomers, with biologically relevant mixed sequences. Accordingly, Boc-Z-protected thyminyl, adeninyl and cytosinyl POM monomers were prepared and used in the first successful solid phase synthesis of a mixed sequence POM, Lys-TCACAACTT-NH2. UV thermal denaturation studies revealed that the POM oligomer is capable of hybridising with sequence selectivity to both complementary parallel and antiparallel RNA and DNA strands. Whilst the duplex melting temperatures (Tm) were higher than the corresponding duplexes formed with isosequential PNA, DNA and RNA oligomers the rates of association/dissociation of the mixed sequence POM with DNA/RNA targets were noticeably slower.     

Effect of exposure dose on the replication fidelity and profile of very high aspect ratio microchannels in SU-8

We are interested in using SU-8 dense gratings with very high aspect ratio microchannels as the master mold for fabrication of child molds needed for replication. For such applications, the sidewall taper angle and mask replication fidelity of SU-8 are very important. Increasing the exposure time was experimentally observed to decrease the width of the microchannel and the sidewall angle of SU-8 bars. A new diffraction-refraction-reflection model was also developed. The calculated microchannel width and sidewall angle at high exposure dose agreed well with the experimentally observed values indicating that reflection at the silicon substrate was significant. The larger than calculated actual microchannel width for low exposure dose was shown to be due to leaching of unreacted SU-8 in the developer. Dense gratings of high aspect ratio SU-8 bars separated by high aspect ratio (19.1) microchannels were also demonstrated.     

Thioether macrocycles of the microbisporicins via reductive desulfurization

The microbisporicins are the most potent lantibiotics isolated to-date. Cyclic tetra-, hexa- and octapeptides, inspired by this family of antimicrobial agents, have been synthesized from linear peptides. Generalized reaction conditions are reported for the two-step conversion of linear peptides to thioether macrocycles: formation of a disulfide followed by reductive desulfurization. ¹H NMR analysis of the reduction reaction mixture indicated the intermediacy of a dehydroalanine when excess hexamethylphosphorus triamide (HMPT) was employed for the reduction. Maintaining a stoichiometric amount of HMPT, in dilute methanolic solution, gave the corresponding thioethers, retaining stereochemical integrity.     

Surface Modification of Smectite Clay Induced by Non-thermal Gliding Arc Plasma at Atmospheric Pressure

Smectite clay from Sabga (west-Cameroon) was treated in aqueous suspension by gliding arc plasma to modify its surface properties. The evolution of the modifications was followed with the exposure time and post-discharge duration using Fourier transformed infra red spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. X-ray diffraction and nitrogen physisorption analyses were also performed to evaluate if both crystalline and textural properties of the material are affected by the treatment. The results obtained show that the plasma treatment causes the breakdown of structural bounds at the clay surface and induces the formation of new hydroxyl groups (Si–OH and Al–OH) on the clay edges. Crystallinity, sheet structure and textural properties are not significantly affected by the plasma treatment. However, it should be noted that an intensive treatment of the clay lowers the pH of the suspension, which subsequently induces an acid attack of the clay. In such case, the specific surface area of the clay increases. This study demonstrates that gliding arc plasma treatments can be used to activate clay minerals for environmental application.     

Studies on the distribution and concentration of thiamine in blood and urine

Studies are reported resulting in a reliable procedure for estimating the thiamine content in human blood and urine. For the determination in blood, heparinized blood is hemolyzed with 0.3 N hydrochloric acid at 100 °C. Cocarboxylase is then converted to free thiamine by means of wheat germ acid phosphatase at pH 5.0 in an acetate buffer. The liberated thiamine is adsorbed to a CG-50 (Rohm & Haas) carboxylic acid ion exchange acrylic resin column and then eluted with 1 N H₂SO₄. The thiamine is then oxidized to thiochrome and extracted with n-butyl alcohol, at pH 9.8–10.0, in the presence of disodium phosphate. Readout is by fluorometry at an excitation wavelength of 371 nm and an emission wavelength of 425 nm. The range found for thiamine in whole blood by this procedure on 18 normal adults was 1.9–3.9 μg/100 ml, with a mean value of 2.77 μg/100 ml of whole blood. The mean recovery of 12 recovery experiments was 94.1%. The same procedure is applicable to the determination of thiamine in urine. Conversion of cocarboxylase to free thiamine is not necessary since it was determined that practically all of the thiamine found in urine is not phosphorylated. Urine values were variable, the range for 11 healthy adults being 5.6–77.9 μg/100 ml with a mean value of 19.2 μg/100 ml. This corresponds to a value of 346 μg of thiamine/24 hours.