RAMPED-UP NMR: multiplexed NMR-based screening for drug discovery

The crucial step in drug discovery is the identification of a lead compound from a vast chemical library by any number of screening techniques. NMR-based screening has the advantage of directly detecting binding of a compound to the target. The spectra resulting from these screens can also be very complex and difficult to analyze, making this an inefficient process. We present here a method, RAMPED-UP NMR, (Rapid Analysis and Multiplexing of Experimentally Discriminated Uniquely Labeled Proteins using NMR) which generates simple spectra which are easy to interpret and allows several proteins to be screened simultaneously. In this method, the proteins to be screened are uniquely labeled with one amino acid type. There are several benefits derived from this unique labeling strategy: the spectra are greatly simplified, resonances that are most likely to be affected by binding are the only ones observed, and peaks that yield little or no information upon binding are eliminated, allowing the analysis of multiple proteins easily and simultaneously. We demonstrate the ability of three different proteins to be analyzed simultaneously for binding to two different ligands. This method will have significant impact in the use of NMR spectroscopy for both the lead generation and lead optimization phases of drug discovery by its ability to increase screening throughput and the ability to examine selectivity. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time in any format that multiple proteins can be screened in one tube.     

Solid-phase synthesis of metal-complex containing peptides

We report the synthesis of Fmoc protected single amino acid chelates (SAAC) and their metal complexes. The modified amino acids are suitable for solid-phase peptide synthesis. The use of 4-hydroxymethylbenzoic acid AM (HMBA-AM) resin allows the nucleophilic cleavage of the peptide-metal complexes from the resin without decomplexation.     

Relative magnitudes of singlet and triplet state dipole moments: the lowest nπ* excited states of p-methylbenzaldehyde and p-chlorobenzaldehyde

The molecular dipole moment changes upon ¹nπ* and ³nπ* excitation of p-methylbenzaldehyde and p-chlorobenzaldehyde isolated in p-dimethoxybenzene host crystals have been determined from measurements of the Stark splittings in phosphorescence excitation and phosphorescence spectra. Within the experimental uncertainty, the changes are identical for the corresponding triplet and singlet states. This result contrasts with similar determinations for formaldehyde, benzophenone, and 4,4′-dichlorobenzophenone and with predictions based on simple molecular orbital and electron correlation arguments. The result is considered to be a consequence of a relatively large mixing of ³nμ* and ³μμ* states.     

Probing the contribution of electronic coupling to the directionality of electron transfer in photosynthetic reaction centers

Subpicosecond transient absorption studies are reported for a set of Rhodobacter (R.) capsulatus bacterial photosynthetic reaction centers (RCs) designed to probe the origins of the unidirectionality of charge separation via one of two electron transport chains in the native pigment-protein complex. All of the RCs have been engineered to contain a heterodimeric primary electron donor (D) consisting of a bacteriochlorophyll (BChl) and a bacteriopheophytin (BPh). The BPh component of the M heterodimer (Mhd) or L heterodimer (Lhd) is introduced by substituting a Leu for His M200 or His L173, respectively. Previous work on primary charge separation in heterodimer mutants has not included the Lhd RC from R. capsulatus, which we report for the first time. The Lhd and Mhd RCs are used as controls against which we assess RCs that combine the heterodimer mutations with a second mutation (His substituted for Leu at M212) that results in replacement of the native L-side BPh acceptor with a BChl (beta). The transient absorption spectra reveal clear evidence for charge separation to the normally inactive M-side BPh acceptor (H(M)) in Lhd-beta RCs to form D+H(M)- with a yield of approximately 6%. This state also forms in Mhd-beta RCs but with about one-quarter the yield. In both RCs, deactivation to the ground state is the predominant pathway of D decay, as it is in the Mhd and Lhd single mutants. Analysis of the results indicates an upper limit ofV2L/V2m < or = 4 for the contribution of the electronic coupling elements to the relative rates of electron transfer to the L versus M sides of the wild-type RC. In comparison to the L/M rate ratio (kL/kM) approximately 30 for wild-type RCs, our findings indicate that electronic factors contribute approximately 35% at most to directionality with the other 65% deriving from energetic considerations, which includes differences in free energies, reorganization energies, and contributions of one- and two-step mechanisms on the two sides of the RC.