Evidence for a monomeric structure of nonribosomal Peptide synthetases

Nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS) are multimodular biocatalysts that bacteria and fungi use to assemble many complex peptides with broad biological activities. The same modular enzymatic assembly line principles are found in fatty acid synthases (FAS), polyketide synthases (PKS), and most recently in hybrid NRPS/PKS multienzymes. FAS as well as PKS are known to function as homodimeric enzyme complexes, raising the question of whether NRPS may also act as homodimers. To test this hypothesis, biophysical methods (size exclusion chromatography, analytical equilibrium ultracentrifugation, and chemical crosslinking) and biochemical methods (two-affinity-tag-system and complementation studies with enzymes being inactivated in different catalytic domains) were applied to NRPS subunits from the gramicidin S (GrsA-ATE), tyrocidine (TycB(1)-CAT and TycB(2-3)-AT.CATE), and enterobactin (EntF-CATTe) biosynthetic systems. These methods had revealed the dimeric structure of FAS and PKS previously, but all three NRPS systems investigated are functionally active as monomers.     

Kinetic isotope effect in proton exchange processes between methanol and water in inert solvents

The kinetic isotope effect in proton exchange between methanol and water in CCl₄ solution was studied by¹H and²H NMR and kinetic IR spectroscopy. The exchange rate increases in the series CD₃OH+H₂O3OD+H₂O3OD+D₂O. It has been concluded that the limiting step of the reaction involves the formation of an H-bonded cyclic intermediate.

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¹H ²H - CCl₄. , CD₃OH+H₂O3OD+H₂O3OD+D₂O. , - -.

     

Characterization of individual atmospheric particles by element mapping in electron probe microanalysis

In this paper procedures for the characterization of individual aerosol particles by element mapping in the electron microprobe are presented. The number, size and qualitative chemical composition of particles is derived from a combination of secondary or backscattered electron images and element distribution maps. Accuracy of the size distribution and reliability of the qualitative analysis procedure were checked with silicate samples. In order to obtain a semi-quantitative estimate of the chemical composition of individual particles the count rates taken from element distribution maps are corrected for matrix and geometric effects using particle ZAF procedures.Dedicated to Professor Dr. rer. nat. Dr. h.c. Hubertus Nickel on the occasion of his 65th birthday     

Asymmetric induction in mixed [2 + 2] photoadditions employing a chiral auxiliary in the alkene component

Asymmetric induction was achieved in the photoaddition of 3-methyl-2-cyclohexenone to optically active enoates 1a–c and the absolute configuration of the major adduct was determined.     

Structural constraints from proton-mediated rare-spin correlation spectroscopy in rotating solids

A novel solid-state NMR concept is introduced that allows for the detection of through-space proton-proton contacts in high spectral resolution. The proposed method not only can be utilized to infer sequential assignments and backbone or side chain conformation in solid-phase polypeptides, but it also provides information about the three-dimensional arrangement of the molecule of interest. As a result, the molecular structure can be studied without additional restrictions regarding sample labeling or magic angle spinning rates.     

Molecular solutes in nematic liquid crystals: Orientational order and electric field gradients

The difference between liquid-crystal and gas-phase values for the nuclear quadrupole coupling constant in D₂ and HD is used to obtain the mean electric field gradient in various liquid crystals. Order parameters for small molecules dissolved in liquid crystals are calculated assuming that the orientational order arises from the interaction of the molecular quadrupole moment with the average field gradient. The results obtained are in good agreement with experimental values for hydrogen and several other solutes.     

Covalent Structures of Phosphorus: A Comprehensive Theoretical Study

Starting from earlier work by Baudler we introduce a chemical heuristic for the systematic deduction and classification of covalent partial structures of phosphorus in polycyclic phosphanes, phosphorus-rich polycyclic phosphides, and allotropes of phosphorus except the black forms. This approach is used to direct ab initio techniques (which also confirm the rules) in the quest for as yet unknown forms of molecular or macromolecular phosphorus. Based on calculated stabilities of systematically generated structural alternatives we rationalize the stabilities of Hittorf's phosphorus and of molecular P₄, confirm the possible existence of at least one other crystalline allotropic form of phosphorus, and provide insight into the probable structure of amorphous red phosphorus. In total, the combined approach of chemical heuristics and large scale ab initio calculations presented in this work supplies a coherent chemical understanding of covalent polyphosphorus structures.     

Determination of carnitine and acylcarnitines in urine by high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization ion trap tandem mass spectrometry

A high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of native carnitine and eight acylcarnitines in urine. The procedure uses a solid-phase extraction on a cation-exchange column and the separation is performed without derivatization within 17 min on a reversed-phase C8 column in the presence of a volatile ion-pairing reagent. The detector was an ion trap mass spectrometer and quantification was carried out in the MS-MS mode. Validation was done for aqueous standards at ranges between 0.75 and 200 micromol/l, depending on the compound. Carnitine was quantified in urine and comparison with a radioenzymatic assay gave a satisfactory correlation (R2 = 0.981). The assay could be successfully applied to the diagnostic of pathological acylcarnitines profile of metabolic disorders in urines of patients suffering from different organic acidurias.     

On a New Formulation of the Real-Time Propagator

The development of theoretical tools for the study of dynamical phenomena of many-particle systems on the quantum level is a fundamental challenge since many decades. A lot of efforts have been invested on Feynman's path integral approach, however, no computationally tractable method for investigating realistic systems could be developed up to now. In this paper we propose an alternative representation of the real-time many-body evolution operator formulated within the framework of the auxiliary field formalism. Our goal is to derive a new auxiliary field functional integral representation, in which the large oscillations of the functional integrand are reduced, in order to render the auxiliary field approach more attractive for real-time computation. This objective is attained using a generalized version of the method of Gaussian equivalent representation of Efimov and Ganbold [Phys. Stat. Sol. 168 (1991) 165], which eliminates the low-order fluctuations of the auxiliary field from the interaction functional.