Studies on the equilibrated thermodesorption of <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis>-hexane from ZSM-5 zeolite

Equilibrated thermodesorption (TPED) and quasi-equilibrated temperature programmed desorption and adsorption (QE-TPDA) were employed as methods for studying the influence of different extraframework cations (Na⁺, K⁺, Li⁺, Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺, or Mg²⁺) on adsorption of n-hexane on ZSM-5 zeolite with high Al content (Si/Al = 15). Considerable influence of the cations on both initial adsorption in the micropores and ordering of the adsorbed molecules, occurring at high coverages, has been observed. This influence is reflected by the values of the adsorption enthalpy and entropy, determined by fitting the dual site Langmuir (DSL) adsorption function to the equilibrated thermodesorption profiles. However, no clear correlation between the determined parameters and properties of the extraframework cations could be found.     

Mechanistic studies on the reactions of cyanide with a water-soluble Fe(III) porphyrin and their effect on the binding of NO

The reaction of the water-soluble Fe(III)(TMPS) porphyrin with CN(-) in basic solution leads to the stepwise formation of Fe(III)(TMPS)(CN)(H(2)O) and Fe(III)(TMPS)(CN)(2). The kinetics of the reaction of CN(-) with Fe(III)(TMPS)(CN)(H(2)O) was studied as a function of temperature and pressure. The positive value of the activation volume for the formation of Fe(III)(TMPS)(CN)(2) is consistent with the operation of a dissociatively activated mechanism and confirms the six-coordinate nature of the monocyano complex. A good agreement between the rate constants at pH 8 and 9 for the formation of the dicyano complex implies the presence of water in the axial position trans to coordinated cyanide in the monocyano complex and eliminates the existence of Fe(III)(TMPS)(CN)(OH) under the selected reaction conditions. Both Fe(III)(TMPS)(CN)(H(2)O) and Fe(III)(TMPS)(CN)(2) bind nitric oxide (NO) to form the same nitrosyl complex, namely, Fe(II)(TMPS)(CN)(NO(+)). Kinetic studies indicate that nitrosylation of Fe(III)(TMPS)(CN)(2) follows a limiting dissociative mechanism that is supported by the independence of the observed rate constant on [NO] at an appropriately high excess of NO, and the positive values of both the activation parameters ΔS(?) and ΔV(?) found for the reaction under such conditions. The relatively small first-order rate constant for NO binding, namely, (1.54 ± 0.01) × 10(-2) s(-1), correlates with the rate constant for CN(-) release from the Fe(III)(TMPS)(CN)(2) complex, namely, (1.3 ± 0.2) × 10(-2) s(-1) at 20 °C, and supports the proposed nitrosylation mechanism.     

Comparison of Calculated Values of the Lipophilicity of 2,6-Disubstituted 7-Methylpurines with Values Determined by RPTLC

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC - The lipophilicity of 2,6-disubstituted 7-methylpurines and 6-mer-captopurine has been determined by reversed-phase thin-layer...     

The evidence for complex formation between N-acetyl-l-tyrosine methyl ester and N-acetylprocainamide hydrochloride using NMR spectroscopy

In order to reveal the possible mechanism of the recognition of antiarrhythmic agents class I and class III by the amino acid residues, which are responsible for drug binding to the selectivity filters either in the sodium or potassium ion channels, co-crystallizations of procainamide hydrochloride and N-acetylprocainamide hydrochloride with N-acetyl-l-tyrosine methyl ester and N-acetyl-l-phenylalanine methyl ester were performed using various conditions. Because the crystallization of the complexes failed, the intermolecular interactions between the components were evidenced using NMR spectroscopy. Exclusively, in the case of N-acetylprocainamide hydrochloride and N-acetyl-l-tyrosine methyl ester, two-dimensional NMR experiments and Job Plot analysis indicated the formation of the 1:1 complex in DMSO-d ₆  solution (with the association constant of 16 M⁻¹), whereas for the mixture of procainamide hydrochloride with N-acetyl-l-tyrosine methyl ester, the complex formation was not confirmed. The NMR results were discussed using crystal structure data obtained for N-acetylprocainamide hydrochloride, procainamide hydrochloride, as well as procainamide dihydrochloride, and were compared with the known pharmacological activity of the antiarrhythmic agents.     

Simplex Optimized LC Analysis of Plant Coumarins and Furanocoumarins

Sequential simplex methods are common and efficient optimization techniques applied in analytical chemistry. This study reports on the optimization of LC separation of coumarins using a variable-size simplex algorithm. The solvent systems consisted of methanol, water and tetrahydrofuran. Using an optimized method, seven standard simple coumarins and furanocoumarins derived from plants were successfully separated in one chromatographic run. The mobile phase at the point corresponding to the optimum consisted of 34% MeOH, 59% H₂O and 7% THF. Applying a solvent mixture in this proportion permitted separation of all critical pairs, such as esculetin/scopoletin, scopoletin/umbelliferone, umbelliferone/coumarin and xanthotoxin/psoralen. The retention ratio factors k for coumarins at the optimum of the simplex algorithm lay in the range 1 < k < 4. The optimal conditions assigned to the coumarin standards were then applied to the plant matter: herb of the rue (Ruta graveolens L., Rutae herba), anthodium of the camomile (Chamomilla recutita L., Chamomillae anthodium), herb of the southernwood (Artemisia abrotanum L., Abrotani herba), and radix of the lovage (Levisticum officinale K., Levistici radix). The validity of the method was confirmed with respect to these samples.     

Binding free energies in the SAMPL6 octa-acid host–guest challenge calculated with MM and QM methods

We have estimated free energies for the binding of eight carboxylate ligands to two variants of the octa-acid deep-cavity host in the SAMPL6 blind-test challenge (with or without endo methyl groups on the four upper-rim benzoate groups, OAM and OAH, respectively). We employed free-energy perturbation (FEP) for relative binding energies at the molecular mechanics (MM) and the combined quantum mechanical (QM) and MM (QM/MM) levels, the latter obtained with the reference-potential approach with QM/MM sampling for the MM → QM/MM FEP. The semiempirical QM method PM6-DH+ was employed for the ligand in the latter calculations. Moreover, binding free energies were also estimated from QM/MM optimised structures, combined with COSMO-RS estimates of the solvation energy and thermostatistical corrections from MM frequencies. They were performed at the PM6-DH+ level of theory with the full host and guest molecule in the QM system (and also four water molecules in the geometry optimisations) for 10–20 snapshots from molecular dynamics simulations of the complex. Finally, the structure with the lowest free energy was recalculated using the dispersion-corrected density-functional theory method TPSS-D3, for both the structure and the energy. The two FEP approaches gave similar results (PM6-DH+/MM slightly better for OAM), which were among the five submissions with the best performance in the challenge and gave the best results without any fit to data from the SAMPL5 challenge, with mean absolute deviations (MAD) of 2.4–5.2 kJ/mol and a correlation coefficient (R²) of 0.77–0.93. This is the first time QM/MM approaches give binding free energies that are competitive to those obtained with MM for the octa-acid host. The QM/MM-optimised structures gave somewhat worse performance (MAD?=?3–8 kJ/mol and R²?=?0.1–0.9), but the results were improved compared to previous studies of this system with similar methods.     

Antiepileptic Drug Tiagabine Does Not Directly Target Key Cardiac Ion Channels Kv11.1, Nav1.5 and Cav1.2

Tiagabine is an antiepileptic drug used for the treatment of partial seizures in humans. Recently, this drug has been found useful in several non-epileptic conditions, including anxiety, chronic pain and sleep disorders. Since tachycardia—an impairment of cardiac rhythm due to cardiac ion channel dysfunction—is one of the most commonly reported non-neurological adverse effects of this drug, in the present paper we have undertaken pharmacological and numerical studies to assess a potential cardiovascular risk associated with the use of tiagabine. A chemical interaction of tiagabine with a model of human voltage-gated ion channels (VGICs) is described using the molecular docking method. The obtained in silico results imply that the adverse effects reported so far in the clinical cardiological of tiagabine could not be directly attributed to its interactions with VGICs. This is also confirmed by the results from the isolated organ studies (i.e., calcium entry blocking properties test) and in vivo (electrocardiogram study) assays of the present research. It was found that tachycardia and other tiagabine-induced cardiac complications are not due to a direct effect of this drug on ventricular depolarization and repolarization.