Evaluation of asymmetric liposomal nanoparticles for encapsulation of polynucleotides

Conventional lipid bilayer liposomes have similar inner and outer leaflet compositions; asymmetric liposomes have different lipid leaflet compositions. The goal of this work is to place cationic lipids in the inner leaflet to encapsulate negatively charged polynucleotides and to place neutral/anionic lipids on the outer leaflet to decrease nonspecific cellular uptake/toxicity. Inverse emulsion particles have been developed with a single lipid leaflet of cationic and neutral lipids surrounding an aqueous core containing a negatively charged 21-mer DNA oligo. The particles are accelerated through an oil-water interface, entrapping a second neutral lipid to form oligo encapsulated unilamellar liposome nanoparticles. Inverse emulsion particles can be consistently produced to encapsulate an aqueous environment containing negatively charged oligo. The efficiency of encapsulated liposome formation is low and depends on the hydrocarbon used as the oil phase. Dodecane, mineral oil, and squalene were tested, and squalene, a branched hydrocarbon, yielded the highest efficiency.     

Palladium-catalyzed beta-allylation of 2,3-disubstituted indoles

Given the prevalence of the indole nucleus in biologically active compounds, the direct C3-functionalization of 2,3-disubstituted indoles represents an important problem. Described is a general, high-yielding method for the palladium-catalyzed beta-allylation of carba- and heterocycle fused indoles, including complex natural product substrates.     

Efforts toward expansion of the genetic alphabet: structure and replication of unnatural base pairs

Expansion of the genetic alphabet has been a long-time goal of chemical biology. A third DNA base pair that is stable and replicable would have a great number of practical applications and would also lay the foundation for a semisynthetic organism. We have reported that DNA base pairs formed between deoxyribonucleotides with large aromatic, predominantly hydrophobic nucleobase analogues, such as propynylisocarbostyril (dPICS), are stable and efficiently synthesized by DNA polymerases. However, once incorporated into the primer, these analogues inhibit continued primer elongation. More recently, we have found that DNA base pairs formed between nucleobase analogues that have minimal aromatic surface area in addition to little or no hydrogen-bonding potential, such as 3-fluorobenzene (d3FB), are synthesized and extended by DNA polymerases with greatly increased efficiency. Here we show that the rate of synthesis and extension of the self-pair formed between two d3FB analogues is sufficient for in vitro DNA replication. To better understand the origins of efficient replication, we examined the structure of DNA duplexes containing either the d3FB or dPICS self-pairs. We find that the large aromatic rings of dPICS pair in an intercalative manner within duplex DNA, while the d3FB nucleobases interact in an edge-on manner, much closer in structure to natural base pairs. We also synthesized duplexes containing the 5-methyl-substituted derivatives of d3FB (d5Me3FB) paired opposite d3FB or the unsubstituted analogue (dBEN). In all, the data suggest that the structure, electrostatics, and dynamics can all contribute to the extension of unnatural primer termini. The results also help explain the replication properties of many previously examined unnatural base pairs and should help design unnatural base pairs that are better replicated.     

Synthesis and elaboration of the dinuclear iron-imide cluster core [Fe2(mu-NR)2]2+

The protolysis of mononuclear ferric amide precursors FeCl[N(SiMe3)2]2(THF) (1) or [FeCl2{N(SiMe3)2}2]- (2) by primary amines provides, under suitable conditions, an effective route to dinuclear weak-field ferric-imide clusters with [Fe2(mu-NR)2]2+ cores. In the synthesis of known arylimide clusters [Fe2(mu-NAr)2Cl4]2- (Ar = Ph, p-Tol, Mes) from 2, the counterion has a major effect on selectivity and yield, and the use of quaternary ammonium salts affords a substantial improvement over earlier, Li+-based chemistry. The new tert-butylimide core is obtained by protolysis of 1 with excess tBuNH2 to give crystalline cis-Fe2(mu-NtBu)2Cl2(NH2tBu)2 (9). Complex 9 can be transformed to other dinuclear species through substitution of the terminal amines by pyridines, PEt3, or chloride, or through protolysis of bridging alkylimides by arylamines, allowing isolation of trans-Fe2(mu-NtBu)2Cl2(DMAP)2 (DMAP = 4-dimethylaminopyridine), cis-Fe2(mu-NtBu)2Cl2(PEt3)2, [Fe2(mu-NtBu)2Cl4]-, and trans-Fe2(mu-NPh)2Cl2(NH2tBu)2. The susceptibility of alkyl substituents to beta-elimination appears to limit the general applicability of protolytic cluster assembly using alkylamines. The dinuclear clusters have been characterized by X-ray, spectroscopic, and electrochemical analyses.     

Speciation of nitrogen containing aromatics by atmospheric pressure photoionization or electrospray ionization fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry

We determine the elemental compositions of aromatic nitrogen model compounds as well as a petroleum sample by atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI) and electrospray Ionization (ESI) with a 9.4 Tesla Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometer. From the double-bond equivalents calculated for the nitrogen-containing ions from a petroleum sample, we can infer the aromatic core structure (pyridinic versus pyrrolic nitrogen heterocycle) based on the presence of M(+.) (odd-electron) versus [M+H](+) (even-electron) ions. Specifically, nitrogen speciation can be determined from either a single positive-ion APPI spectrum or two ESI (positive- and negative-ion) spectra. APPI operates at comparatively higher temperature than ESI and also produces radical cations that may fragment before detection. However, APPI fragmentation of aromatics can be eliminated by judicious choice of instrumental parameters.     

Spatially polarizing autocloned elements

A space-variant polarization converting element is introduced that utilizes an autocloning effect to produce high aspect ratio from birefringent gratings. This method utilizes a multilayer deposition process on a template to convert a linearly polarized incident beam to an azimuthally polarized output at a wavelength of 1.55 microm with more than 90% efficiency.     

Microcontact click printing for templating ultrathin films of metal-organic frameworks

The controlled growth of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) over surfaces has been investigated using a variety of surface analytical techniques. The use of microcontact printing to prepare surfaces, patterned with regions capable of nucleating the growth of MOFs, has been explored by employing copper-catalyzed alkyne-azide cycloaddition (CuAAC) to pattern silicon wafers with carboxylic acids, a functional group that has been shown to nucleate the growth of MOFs on surfaces. Upon subjecting the patterned silicon surfaces to solvothermal conditions, MOF thin films were obtained and characterized subsequently by AFM, SEM, and grazing-incidence XRD (GIXRD). Large crystals (～0.5 mm) have also been nucleated, as indicated by the presence of a bas-relief of the original pattern on one surface of the crystal, suggesting that it is possible to transfer the template surface pattern onto a single crystal of a MOF.     

Cubic Nonlinearity in Elastic Materials: Theoretical Prediction and Computer Modelling of New Wave Effects

Our object of interest is nonlinear interaction of waves in elastic materials. The new model of a material is proposed that takes into account the mechanism of simultaneous quadratic and cubic nonlinear deformations. Introduction of cubic nonlinearity into the model makes the general wave picture more complicated and creates new possibilities for the wave analysis. We present four possibilities for the evolution of profiles of plane harmonic waves. It is noted that quadratic and cubic nonlinearities emerge first of all in the second and third harmonics generation, respectively. Further, we discuss the results of computer modelling of the wave profile evolution. The influence of the progress of second and third harmonics on the wave profile evolution is studied separately. We study separately how second and third harmonics influence the evolution of the wave profile. We also investigate how the progress of harmonics depends on the initial frequency and amplitude. We find two distinct schemes of the evolution progress: the scheme (in) with four stages for the second harmonics and the scheme with three stages for the third harmonics. As a result the influence of both harmonics could be observed simultaneously, and such a case is demonstrated in the paper. Nevertheless this phenomenon is not necessarily present in every material which explains the absence of experimental observations of the third harmonics by this time.     

Nanoporous carbohydrate metal-organic frameworks

The binding of alkali and alkaline earth metal cations by macrocyclic and diazamacrobicyclic polyethers, composed of ordered arrays of hard oxygen (and nitrogen) donor atoms, underpinned the development of host-guest supramolecular chemistry in the 1970s and 1980s. The arrangement of -OCCO- and -OCCN- chelating units in these preorganized receptors, including, but not limited to, crown ethers and cryptands, is responsible for the very high binding constants observed for their complexes with Group IA and IIA cations. The cyclodextrins (CDs), cyclic oligosaccharides derived microbiologically from starch, also display this -OCCO- bidentate motif on both their primary and secondary faces. The self-assembly, in aqueous alcohol, of infinite networks of extended structures, which have been termed CD-MOFs, wherein γ-cyclodextrin (γ-CD) is linked by coordination to Group IA and IIA metal cations to form metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), is reported. CD-MOF-1 and CD-MOF-2, prepared on the gram-scale from KOH and RbOH, respectively, form body-centered cubic arrangements of (γ-CD)(6) cubes linked by eight-coordinate alkali metal cations. These cubic CD-MOFs are (i) stable to the removal of solvents, (ii) permanently porous, with surface areas of ~1200 m(2) g(-1), and (iii) capable of storing gases and small molecules within their pores. The fact that the -OCCO- moieties of γ-CD are not prearranged in a manner conducive to encapsulating single metal cations has led to our isolating other infinite frameworks, with different topologies, from salts of Na(+), Cs(+), and Sr(2+). This lack of preorganization is expressed emphatically in the case of Cs(+), where two polymorphs assemble under identical conditions. CD-MOF-3 has the cubic topology observed for CD-MOFs 1 and 2, while CD-MOF-4 displays a channel structure wherein γ-CD tori are perfectly stacked in one dimension in a manner reminiscent of the structures of some γ-CD solvates, but with added crystal stability imparted by metal-ion coordination. These new MOFs demonstrate that the CDs can indeed function as ligands for alkali and alkaline earth metal cations in a manner similar to that found with crown ethers. These inexpensive, green, nanoporous materials exhibit absorption properties which make them realistic candidates for commercial development, not least of all because edible derivatives, fit for human consumption, can be prepared entirely from food-grade ingredients.