Evidence for protein radical-mediated nuclear tunneling in fatty acid alpha-oxygenase

Rice alpha-oxygenase (RalphaO) catalyzes the insertion of O2 into the Calpha-H bond of various fatty acids. The mechanism is thought to involve a tyrosyl radical as the oxidant on the basis of comparisons to the structurally homologous cyclooxygenase enzymes. Kinetic and spectroscopic results presented here for the wild-type RalphaO and the Tyr379Phe mutant indicate an irreversible H* abstraction mechanism and support the involvement of the proposed catalytic Tyr*. In addition, very large, weakly temperature dependent deuterium kinetic isotope effects (approximately 50) are observed, consistent with extensive nuclear tunneling. RalphaO, thus, presents a novel example where such quantum effects are associated with an amino acid radical-utilizing enzyme.     

Stress-induced chemical detection using flexible metal-organic frameworks

In this work we demonstrate the concept of stress-induced chemical detection using metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) by integrating a thin film of the MOF HKUST-1 with a microcantilever surface. The results show that the energy of molecular adsorption, which causes slight distortions in the MOF crystal structure, can be converted to mechanical energy to create a highly responsive, reversible, and selective sensor. This sensor responds to water, methanol, and ethanol vapors, but yields no response to either N2 or O2. The magnitude of the signal, which is measured by a built-in piezoresistor, is correlated with the concentration and can be fitted to a Langmuir isotherm. Furthermore, we show that the hydration state of the MOF layer can be used to impart selectivity to CO2. Finally, we report the first use of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy to characterize the structure of a MOF film. We conclude that the synthetic versatility of these nanoporous materials holds great promise for creating recognition chemistries to enable selective detection of a wide range of analytes.     

A copper(II) complex of benzimidazole-based ligand: synthesis,structure, redox aspects and fluorescence properties

Employing 1-(2-methoxybenzyl)-2-(2-methoxyphenyl)-1H-benzimidazole (bpb) as a monodentate ligand, a new greenish-blue copper(II) complex, [Cu(bpb)₂(NO₃)₂] (1a), has been synthesized. 1a has been characterized analytically and spectroscopically. The X-ray crystal structure of 1a reveals that it adopts a cis disposition with respect to the ligands. The solid state structure of 1a is stabilized by intramolecular offset face-to-face π–π stacking. Non-covalent supramolecular edge-to-face C–H?π interactions with neighboring molecules give 1-D supramolecular chains that further lead to the formation of an assembled 3-D supramolecular metal-organic framework via hydrogen bonding interactions. 1a shows blue fluorescence most likely due to intramolecular offset face-to-face π–π stacking. At room temperature, 1a is one-electron paramagnetic. It shows a rhombic EPR spectrum with g₁ = 2.12, g₂ = 2.42, and g₃ = 2.52 in the solid state at liquid nitrogen temperature. In cyclic voltammetry, 1a displays a one-electron oxidative Cu(II)/Cu(III) couple. Our DFT calculations, corroborate the observed experimental results of 1a.     

Preparation of size-controlled, highly populated, stable, and nearly monodispersed Ag nanoparticles in an organic medium from a simple interfacial redox process using a conducting polymer

The reducing property of an organically soluble conducting polymer (poly(o-methoxyaniline), POMA) is used to prepare monodisperse, size-controlled, highly populated, and highly stable silver nanoparticles in an organic medium through an interfacial redox process with an aqueous AgNO3 solution. The transition of emeraldine base (EB) to the pernigraniline base (PB) form of POMA occurs during nanoparticle formation, and the nitrogen atoms of POMA(PB) stabilize Ag nanoparticles by coordination to the adsorbed Ag(+) on the nanoparticle surface. The conductivity of the nanocomposite is on the order of 10(-11) S/cm, indicating that no doping of POMA occurs under the preparation conditions. The nanoparticles are free of excess oxidant and external stabilizer particles. The POMA (EB) concentration tailors the size of nanoparticles, and at its higher concentration (0.01% POMA with 0.01 N AgNO3), very dense Ag nanoparticles (6 x 10(15) particles/m(2)) of almost uniform size and shape are produced. The rate constant and Avrami exponent values of the nanoparticle formation are measured from the time-dependent UV-vis spectra using the Avrami equation. The Avrami exponent (n) values are close to 1, indicating 2D athermal nucleation with the circular shape of the nuclei having diffusion-controlled growth. The rate constant values are almost independent of AgNO3 concentration but are strongly dependent on POMA concentration. The higher rate constant with increasing POMA(EB) concentration has been attributed for the lowering of nanoparticle size due to increased nucleation density.     

Leveraging an enzyme/artificial substrate system to enhance cellular persulfides and mitigate neuroinflammation

Persulfides and polysulfides, collectively known as the sulfane sulfur pool along with hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), play a central role in cellular physiology and disease. Exogenously enhancing these species in cells is an emerging therapeutic paradigm for mitigating oxidative stress and inflammation that are associated with several diseases. In this study, we present a unique approach of using the cell''s own enzyme machinery coupled with an array of artificial substrates to enhance the cellular sulfane sulfur pool. We report the synthesis and validation of artificial/unnatural substrates specific for 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase (3-MST), an important enzyme that contributes to sulfur trafficking in cells. We demonstrate that these artificial substrates generate persulfides in vitro as well as mediate sulfur transfer to low molecular weight thiols and to cysteine-containing proteins. A nearly 100-fold difference in the rates of H₂S production for the various substrates is observed supporting the tunability of persulfide generation by the 3-MST enzyme/artificial substrate system. Next, we show that the substrate 1a permeates cells and is selectively turned over by 3-MST to generate 3-MST-persulfide, which protects against reactive oxygen species-induced lethality. Lastly, in a mouse model, 1a is found to significantly mitigate neuroinflammation in the brain tissue. Together, the approach that we have developed allows for the on-demand generation of persulfides in vitro and in vivo using a range of shelf-stable, artificial substrates of 3-MST, while opening up possibilities of harnessing these molecules for therapeutic applications.

A persulfide/hydrogen sulfide generation strategy through artificial substrates for 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase (3-MST) is reported, which enhances cellular persulfides, attenuates reactive oxygen species (ROS), and alleviates inflammation.     

Multilevel Deep Feature Generation Framework for Automated Detection of Retinal Abnormalities Using OCT Images

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) images coupled with many learning techniques have been developed to diagnose retinal disorders. This work aims to develop a novel framework for extracting deep features from 18 pre-trained convolutional neural networks (CNN) and to attain high performance using OCT images. In this work, we have developed a new framework for automated detection of retinal disorders using transfer learning. This model consists of three phases: deep fused and multilevel feature extraction, using 18 pre-trained networks and tent maximal pooling, feature selection with ReliefF, and classification using the optimized classifier. The novelty of this proposed framework is the feature generation using widely used CNNs and to select the most suitable features for classification. The extracted features using our proposed intelligent feature extractor are fed to iterative ReliefF (IRF) to automatically select the best feature vector. The quadratic support vector machine (QSVM) is utilized as a classifier in this work. We have developed our model using two public OCT image datasets, and they are named database 1 (DB1) and database 2 (DB2). The proposed framework can attain 97.40% and 100% classification accuracies using the two OCT datasets, DB1 and DB2, respectively. These results illustrate the success of our model.     

Di­methyl 6‐methoxy‐4aβ‐methyl‐9‐oxo‐1,2,3,4,4a,9,10,10aβ‐octa­hydro­phenanthrene‐1,1‐di­carboxyl­ate

In the title tricyclic keto‐diester, C₂₀H₂₄O₆, a potential intermediate in the synthesis of bioactive podocarpic acid, the outer cyclo­hexane ring (in a chair conformation) is cis fused to the central cyclo­hexanone ring (in a half‐chair conformation). The conformational analysis of the compound, investigated by semi‐empirical quantum mechanical AM1 calculations, shows a good agreement with the X‐ray structure, except for the orientation of the methyl, methoxy­phenyl and methoxy­carbonyl substituents.     

Catalyst‐Free and Solvent‐Free Facile Hydroboration of Imines

A facile process for the catalyst‐free and solvent‐free hydroboration of aromatic as well as heteroaromatic imines is reported. This atom‐economic methodology is scalable, compatible with sterically and electronically diverse imines, displaying excellent tolerance towards various functional groups, and works efficiently at ambient temperature in most of the cases, affording secondary amines in good to excellent yield after hydrolysis.     

Experimental investigation of heat transfer performance of corrugated tube with spring tape inserts

Turbulent forced convection in a corrugated tube with spring tape is investigated experimentally, for Reynolds numbers from 10,000 to 50,000. The working fluid is air. Experiments are performed for different pitch and spring ratios. Results show that Nusselt numbers can be increased considerably, depending on pitch and spring ratios. An overall assessment, considering the friction losses, is achieved using the thermo-hydraulic performance parameter. The latter is observed to take values larger than unity for all cases, where quite high values around 2.8 occur for cases with smallest pitch and spring ratios. Predictive Nusselt number and friction factor correlations are proposed.