Sterol Glycosyltransferases—The Enzymes That Modify Sterols

Sterols are important components of cell membranes, hormones, signalling molecules and defense-related biotic and abiotic chemicals. Sterol glycosyltransferases (SGTs) are enzymes involved in sterol modifications and play an important role in metabolic plasticity during adaptive responses. The enzymes are classified as a subset of family 1 glycosyltransferases due to the presence of a signature motif in their primary sequence. These enzymes follow a compulsory order sequential mechanism forming a ternary complex. The diverse applications of sterol glycosides, like cytotoxic and apoptotic activity, anticancer activity, medicinal values, anti-stress roles and anti-insect and antibacterial properties, draws attention towards their synthesis mechanisms. Many secondary metabolites are derived from sterol pathways, which are important in defense mechanisms against pathogens. SGTs in plants are involved in changed sensitivity to stress hormones and their agrochemical analogs and changed tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. SGTs that glycosylate steroidal hormones, such as brassinosteroids, function as growth and development regulators in plants. In terms of metabolic roles, it can be said that SGTs occupy important position in plant metabolism and may offer future tools for crop improvement.     

An improved stereoselective total synthesis of (R)-rugulactone

A novel route for the stereoselective total synthesis of (R)-rugulactone 1 has been developed, starting from substituted epoxide 4 and 3-phenylpropionaldehyde 5 employing Julia-Kocienski olefination as a key step to construct E-configured α,β-unsaturated keto-group. The overall yield of the synthesized rugulactone is 19.94% and is better than the reported methods.     

Compounds of imidazoles with ruthenium(III) chloride

Summary Reaction of ruthenium(III) chloride with imidazole(Im) and different substituted imidazoles,viz. N-methylimidazole (N-MeIm), 2-methylimidazole(2-MeIm), 4-methylimidazole (4-MeIm),N-vinylimidazole(N-VIm), 2-methyl- 1-vinyl-imidazole(2-Me-1-VIm), 1,2-dimethylimidazole(1,2-Me,Im), 2-ethylimidazole(2-EtIm) and 2-ethyl-4(5)-methylimidazole (2-Et-4(5)-MeIm] yield products of the types [Ru₂L₄Cl₆] · 2 H₂O (L = N-VIm or 4-MeIm), [Ru₂L₄Cl₆] · 4 H₂O (L = Im or 2-Et-4(5)-MeIm), [Ru₂L ³ (H₂O)Cl₆] (L =N-MeIm or 2-MeIm), [Ru₂L ² (H₂O)₂Cl₆] (L = 1,2-Me₂Im or 4-MeIm), [Ru(2-Me-1-VIm)₃Cl₃] · H₂O and [Ru(2-EtIm)₃(H₂O)Cl₂]. These compounds were characterised by elemental analyses, conductometric measurements, i.r. and electronic spectral analyses. Magnetic moments range from 1.01 to 1.9 B.M. The e.s.r. spectra and g values of some of the compounds are indicative of high distortion.     

Polymeric complexes of bivalent transition metal ions with 2-hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde oxaldihydrazone and 2-hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde malondihydrazone

Summary Polymeric complexes prepared by solid-solution reactions, from 2-hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde oxaldihydrazone (HNODH) and 2-hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde malondihydrazone (HNMDH), had the empirical composition M(L-2H)·nH₂O where M=Fe^II, Mn^II, Co^II, Ni^II, Cu^II, Zn^II, Cd^II and Hg^II; L=HNODH, HNMDH andn=0,1, 2. The complexes, which are intensely coloured and insoluble in common organic solvents, were characterized by elemental analysis, magnetic susceptibility, electronic and i.r. spectral data. The absence of anions indicates that the ligands which bind the metal ions from the hydroxyl and the imino groups have been deprotonated.     

Nano-TiO2-Induced Apoptosis by Oxidative Stress-Mediated DNA Damage and Activation of p53 in Human Embryonic Kidney Cells

The aim of the present study is to explore the mechanism of cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of TiO₂ nanoparticles on human embryonic kidney (HEK-293) cells. Toxicity was evaluated using changes in various cellular parameters of HEK-293 cells like morphology, viability, metabolic activity, oxidative stress and apoptosis. Oxidative stress was measured by the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS), lipid peroxidation, superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase. Apoptosis induced by nano-TiO₂ was characterized by PI staining and DNA ladder assay. Furthermore, apoptotic proteins such as p53 and Bax were analysed by western blot. Our results indicate that nano-TiO₂ induces cytotoxicity in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Oxidative stress and apoptosis were induced by exposure to nano-TiO₂. Moreover, the expression of p53, Bax and caspase-3 were increased in a dose-dependent pattern. In conclusion, ROS-mediated oxidative stress, the activation of p53, Bax, caspase-3 and oxidative DNA damage are involved in the mechanistic pathways of nano-TiO₂-induced apoptosis in HEK-293 cells.     

A review on the use of nanometals as catalysts for the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate

In this review, an attempt to collect summarized literature data on catalytic effect of nanosized metals and nanoalloys on the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorates (AP) is made. Several experimental results show nanometals are more effective catalysts as compared to nanosized metal oxides. During decomposition process; metal react with oxygen containing species that are produced in decomposition process; and metal oxide is formed with large amount of heat which enhances the catalytic activity of metals as compared to metal oxide nanoparticles.     

Grid potential analysis,virtual screening studies and ADME/T profiling on N‐arylsulfonylindoles as anti‐HIV‐1 agents

A grid potential analysis employing a novel approach of 3D quantitative structure–activity relationships (QSAR) as AutoGPA module in MOE2009.10 was performed on a dataset of 42 compounds of N‐arylsulfonylindoles as anti‐HIV‐1 agents. The uniqueness of AutoGPA module is that it automatically builds the 3D‐QSAR model on the pharmacophore‐based molecular alignment. The AutoGPA‐based 3D‐QSAR model obtained in the present study gave the cross‐validated Q² value of 0.588, r²_pred value of 0.701, r²_m statistics of 0.732 and Fisher value of 94.264. The results of 3D‐QSAR analysis indicated that hydrophobic groups at R₁ and R₂ positions and electron releasing groups at R₃ position are favourable for good activity. To find similar analogues, virtual screening on ZINC database was carried out using generated AutoGPA‐based 3D‐QSAR model and showed good prediction. In addition to those mentioned earlier, in‐silico ADME absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion profiling and toxicity risk assessment test was performed, and results showed that majority of compounds from current dataset and newly virtually screened hits generated were within their standard limit. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Trisulfide‐Bond Acenes for Organic Batteries

The molecular design of organic battery electrodes is a big challenge. Here, we synthesize two metal‐free organosulfur acenes and shed insight into battery properties using first‐principles calculations. A new zone‐melting chemical‐vapor‐transport (ZM‐CVT) apparatus was fabricated to provide a simple, solvent‐free, and continuous synthetic protocol, and produce single crystals of tetrathiotetracene (TTT) and hexathiapentacene (HTP) at a large scale. Single crystals of HTP showed better Li‐ion battery performance and higher cycling stability than those of TTT. A two‐step, three‐electron lithiation mechanism instead of the commonly depicted two‐electron mechanism is proposed for the HTP Li‐ion battery. The superior performance of HTP is linked to unique trisulfide bonding scenarios, which are also responsible for the formation of empty channels along the stacking direction. In‐depth theoretical analysis suggests that organosulfur acenes are potential prototypes for organic battery materials with tunable properties, and that the tuning of sulfur bonds is critical in designing these new materials.     

Quantum chemical and experimental studies on the structure and vibrational spectra of substituted 2-pyranones

A systematic study on the structural characteristics of the 2-pyranone ring containing molecules with bromine, nitrile, and amide substituents at the C-3 position in the ring is conducted in the electronic ground (S ₀) state by DFT calculations using the B3LYP/6-311++G** method. The geometrical structure of the bromine substituted compound, which shows potent hepatoprotective activity, is studied both in the ground (S ₀) and first excited singlet (S ₁) states using RHF/6-311++G** and CIS/6-311++G** methods respectively. The molecules are found to exist in two isomeric forms gauche and trans that have the enthalpy difference of less than 3.32 kcal/mol; the latter is the preferred orientation in the gaseous phase. The S ₁ state is a ¹(π,π*) state that arises π-electron transfer from the region of a double bond in the pyranone ring to the region of the internuclear bond connecting the 2-pyranone and benzene rings. A complete vibrational analysis is conducted for the 3-bromo-6-(4-chlorophenyl)-4-thiomethyl-2H-pyran-2-one molecule based on the experimental infrared spectra in the 50–4000 cm⁻¹ region and DFT/6- 311++G** computations of vibrational frequencies for the gauche and trans isomeric forms. Spectral assignments based on the potential energy distribution along the internal coordinates confirm the nonplanar structure of the molecule.     

Nuclear reaction analysis: A study on the interface formation in polymer mixtures below the critical point

We describe a method for directly determining the composition profile of deuterated polymer chains in polymer mixtures. Our technique, nuclear reaction analysis, is based on the ²H(³He, ⁴He)¹H nuclear reaction. By detecting ⁴He in a forward geometry, we achieve a spatial resolution of 14 nm (FWHM). We use this technique to probe the broadening of the interface between two partially miscible polymers. We found that such a system attains a finite interfacial width in equilibrium. For short times, we monitor the dynamics of interface formation. We found that the interfacial width increases significantly slower than in the case of free diffusion.