Cooperativity, partially bound states, and enthalpy-entropy compensation

Efforts to develop a quantitative understanding of molecular recognition rely on the additivity of individual intermolecular interactions, and cooperativity represents one of the major potential stumbling blocks. A chemical double-mutant cycle has been used to experimentally measure cooperativity between functional group interactions within a complex framework. The interaction between two aromatic groups varies by 0.2 +/- 0.4 kJ mol(-1) in synthetic H-bonded complexes that differ by 8-13 kJ mol(-1) in overall stability. In these systems, the free energies associated with individual intermolecular interactions can therefore be reliably treated in an additive fashion. The results suggest that alternative explanations should be considered for cooperative phenomena observed in other systems, and a rationale based on the population of partially bound states in flexible molecules is proposed to account for the enthalpic chelate effect and enthalpy-entropy compensation.     

The [4Fe-4S](2+) cluster in reconstituted biotin synthase binds S-adenosyl-L-methionine

The combination of resonance Raman, electron paramagnetic resonance and M?ssbauer spectroscopies has been used to investigate the effect of S-adenosyl-l-methionine (SAM) on the spectroscopic properties of the [4Fe-4S]2+ cluster in biotin synthase. The results indicate that SAM interacts directly at a unique iron site of the [4Fe-4S]2+ cluster in BioB and support the hypothesis of a common inner-sphere mechanism for the reductive cleavage of SAM in the radical SAM family of Fe-S enzymes.     

Sourcing archaeological obsidian by an abbreviated NAA procedure

An abbreviated NAA procedure has been developed to fingerprint obsidian artifacts in the Mesoamerican region. Despite the large number of available sources, an NAA procedure, which relies on producing short-lived isotopes, has been applied with a success rate greater than 90 percent. The abbreviated NAA procedure is rapid and cost competitive with the XRF technique more often applied in obsidian sourcing. Results from the analysis of over 1,200 obsidian artifacts from throughout Mesoamerica are presented.     

Synthesis of NSC-341,964: An unexpected study on the stability of 2-aryl-4H-3,1-benzoxazin-4-ones

Resynthesis of NSC 341,964, which had been assigned structure 1 (1-[[3-(7-chloro-4-oxo-4H-3,1-benzoxazin-2-yl)phenyl]methyl]pyridinium chloride) was approached via 7-chloro-2-(3-methylphenyl)-4H-3,1-benzoxazin-4-one ( 5 ) obtained from 3-methylbenzoyl chloride ( 2 ) and 2-amino-4-chlorobenzoic acid ( 3 ) followed by dehydration in acetic anhydride. Radical bromination provided 6 which with pyridine afforded the bromide analog 7 of 1 . Ion exchange, however, gave ring-opened benzoic acid 8 rather than 1 . The original sample of NSC 341,964 also proved to be ring-opened material. However, 7 upon standing exhibited slow hydrolysis to 8 so that the structure of the original NSC 341,964 remains uncertain. A more direct route to compound 8 is also described.     

Small-angle neutron scattering from micelles of alkylpolyoxyethylene sulfate: Effect of chain length

Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) data have been obtained for (i) a series of solutions of C _m H_2m+1(OCH₂–CH₂)₂SO₄Na, for m=18, 16, and 14; (ii) an approximately 0.07M solution of C₁₄H₂₉(OCH₂–CH₂)₂SO₄Na to which different amounts of NaCl were added; and (iii) a series of solutions of variable concentration of C₁₂H₂₅(OCH₂–CH₂)SO₄Na. The increase of the number of carbon atoms of the hydrocarbon chain produces a noticeable increase of the aggregation number of the micelles, while the salt tolerance decreases with increasing m. All the data can be described in terms of a monodispersed, charged, hard-spheres model interacting via a screened Coulombic potential, except the run at highest salt concentration, for which an ellipsoid model gives better results.     

Classification of gasoline data obtained by gas chromatography using a piecewise alignment algorithm combined with feature selection and principal component analysis

A fast and objective chemometric classification method is developed and applied to the analysis of gas chromatography (GC) data from five commercial gasoline samples. The gasoline samples serve as model mixtures, whereas the focus is on the development and demonstration of the classification method. The method is based on objective retention time alignment (referred to as piecewise alignment) coupled with analysis of variance (ANOVA) feature selection prior to classification by principal component analysis (PCA) using optimal parameters. The degree-of-class-separation is used as a metric to objectively optimize the alignment and feature selection parameters using a suitable training set thereby reducing user subjectivity, as well as to indicate the success of the PCA clustering and classification. The degree-of-class-separation is calculated using Euclidean distances between the PCA scores of a subset of the replicate runs from two of the five fuel types, i.e., the training set. The unaligned training set that was directly submitted to PCA had a low degree-of-class-separation (0.4), and the PCA scores plot for the raw training set combined with the raw test set failed to correctly cluster the five sample types. After submitting the training set to piecewise alignment, the degree-of-class-separation increased (1.2), but when the same alignment parameters were applied to the training set combined with the test set, the scores plot clustering still did not yield five distinct groups. Applying feature selection to the unaligned training set increased the degree-of-class-separation (4.8), but chemical variations were still obscured by retention time variation and when the same feature selection conditions were used for the training set combined with the test set, only one of the five fuels was clustered correctly. However, piecewise alignment coupled with feature selection yielded a reasonably optimal degree-of-class-separation for the training set (9.2), and when the same alignment and ANOVA parameters were applied to the training set combined with the test set, the PCA scores plot correctly classified the gasoline fingerprints into five distinct clusters.     

Products from the reaction of M3(CO)12 (M = Ru or Os) with water

Reaction of the carbonyl Ru₃(CO)₁₂ with water leads to the formation of polynuclear hydrides α-H₄Ru₄(CO)₁₂, α-H₂Ru₄(CO)₁₃; the corresponding reaction with Os₃(CO)₁₂ yields the complexes (H)(OH)Os₃(CO)₁₀, H₂Os₄(CO)₁₃, H₄Os₄(CO)₁₂, H₂Os₅(CO)₁₆, H₂Os₅(CO)₁₅, H₂Os₆(CO)₁₈ and H₂Os₇(CO)₁₉C.     

Measurements by microdialysis of free tissue concentrations of propranolol.

To determine the free concentration of a drug (propranolol) in the interstitial space in humans in vivo, seven male students were investigated by microdialysis of the periumbilical subcutaneous tissue. The microdialysis catheters were calibrated in vivo and the propranolol concentration was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. Ten hours after intake of 80 mg of propranolol, the total plasma and free interstitial propranolol concentrations were 80 +/- 43 and 7 +/- 2 nM, respectively. After a second dose, maximum concentration was reached after 80 +/- 10 min and 98 +/- 12 min, in plasma, and the concentrations in the interstitial water were 594 +/- 138 and 27 +/- 7 nM, respectively. In a second study, microdialysis was performed on the left ventricular wall in six pigs receiving an intravenous injection of 5 mg of propranolol followed by a constant propranolol infusion for 40 min (5 mg propranolol per h). The maximum concentrations of propranolol were 97 +/- 29 and 6 +/- 2 nM in plasma and in interstitial water, respectively. The data suggest that microdialysis is a useful tool for recording the free concentrations of a drug in the interstitial space.     

Reactions of 14-hydroxy-14-azadispiro[5.1.5.2]pentadec-9-ene-7,15-dione and related compounds. II

3 When 11-diethyl- and 3, 11-di-n-propyl-14-hydroxy-14-azadispiro[5.1. 5.2]pentadec-9-ene-7, 15-dione (E-IV and n-Pr-IV) are heated with polyphosphoric acid at 55–65°, the 14-hydroxyl group cyclizes at the 11-carbon to form E-VI and n-Pr-VI, the structures of which have been established. Compounds P-IV, i-Pr-IV and t-B-IV do not cyclize under these conditions. The Beckmann rearrangement of 12-hydroxy-12-azadispiro[4.1.4.2]tridec-8-ene-6, 13-dione-6-oxime (P-I) with polyphosphoric acid at 40–50° formed only the normal product, P-II, which could not be cyclized. Compound P-IV was the only ketone of this series which would add hydrogen cyanide to form a cyanohydrin.