Preparation, characterization, surface modification and redox reactions of silver nanoparticles in the presence of tryptophan

The synthesis and characterization of water-soluble dispersions of Ag nanoparticles by the reduction of AgNO(3) using tryptophan under alkaline synthesis conditions are reported. The Ag nanoparticle formation was very slow at low concentration and rapid at extremes. For surface modification and redox reactions, manipulating the interparticles interaction controlled the size of Ag nanoparticles aggregates. Our results suggest that the replacement of the BH(4)(-) ions adsorbed on the nanoparticle surface by tryptophan destabilizes the particles and further caused aggregation. A mechanism is proposed for the formation of silver nanoparticles by tryptophan. The experimental results are supported by theoretical calculations. The Ag nanoparticles were characterized by UV-vis absorption, dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy techniques.     

System-oriented dispersion models of general-shaped electrophoresis microchannels

This paper presents a system-oriented model for analyzing the dispersion of electrophoretic transport of charged analyte molecules in a general-shaped microchannel, which is represented as a system of serially connected elemental channels of simple geometry. Parameterized analytical models that hold for analyte bands of virtually arbitrary initial shape are derived to describe analyte dispersion, including both the skew and broadening of the band, in elemental channels. These models are then integrated to describe dispersion in the general-shaped channel using appropriate parameters to represent interfaces of adjacent elements. This lumped-parameter system model offers orders-of-magnitude improvement in computational efficiency over full numerical simulations, and is verified by results from experiments and numerical simulations. The model is used to perform a systematic parametric study of serpentine channels consisting of a pair of complementary turn microchannels, and the results indicate that dispersion in a particular turn can contribute to either an increase or decrease of the overall band broadening. The efficiency and accuracy of the system model is further demonstrated by its application to general-shaped channels that occur in practice, including a serpentine channel with multiple complementary turns and a multi-turn spiral-shaped channel. The results indicate that our model is an accurate and efficient simulation tool useful for designing optimal electrophoretic separation microchips.     

2,3-Unsaturated enoses. A Pummerer rearrangement route to sugar vinyl sulfides and synthesis of 3-deoxy-3-alkyl/arylsulfinyl pyranosides

A Pummerer rearrangement of 2,3-dideoxy-3-alkyl/arylsulfinyl-arabino-hexopyranosides is reported. Treatment of sulfinyl-arabino-hexopyranoside derivatives, obtained through oxidation of the corresponding thio-derivatives, with trifluoroacetic anhydride (TFAA)/pyridine led to a facile formation of 2,3-dideoxy-3-alkyl/arylthio-hex-2-enopyranosides. Upon conversion of sugar vinyl sulfides to vinyl sulfoxides, conjugate addition reactions were conducted with alkoxides, to afford 3-deoxy-3-alkyl/arylsulfinyl pyranosides, in the manno-configuration exclusively. Whereas the conjugate addition reaction did not proceed with ether protecting groups, ester protecting groups and free hydroxyl groups in the sugar vinyl sulfoxide permitted the reaction.     

<Superscript>90</Superscript>Y-DOTA-Lanreotide: A potential agent for targeted therapy

Several human tumors such as neuroendocrine tumors, medullary thyroid carcinoma, etc., express somatostatin receptors which specifically bind somatostatin and its analogues such as lanreotide, octreotide, etc. In order to prepare a therapeutic agent for targeting such tumors, attempts were made to prepare ⁹⁰Y-DOTA-Lanreotide. Lanreotide could be successfully conjugated with the macrocyclic chelating agent DOTA (1,4,7,10-tetraaza cyclododecane tetracetic acid) which forms stable complexes with ⁹⁰Y. ⁹⁰Y-DOTA-Lanreotide could be prepared in >98% radiochemical purity and remained stable for 72 hours at room temperature. The tracer showed specific binding to A431 cells. Biodistribution studies in C57BL6 mice bearing melanoma showed ∼1.3% uptake pergram of tumor at 24-hour p.i.     

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.     

Atomistic De-novo Inhibitor Generation-Guided Drug Repurposing for SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein with Free-Energy Validation by Well-Tempered Metadynamics

Computational drug design is increasingly becoming important with new and unforeseen diseases like COVID-19. In this study, we present a new computational de novo drug design and repurposing method and applied it to find plausible drug candidates for the receptor binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). Our study comprises three steps: atom-by-atom generation of new molecules around a receptor, structural similarity mapping to existing approved and investigational drugs, and validation of their binding strengths to the viral spike proteins based on rigorous all-atom, explicit-water well-tempered metadynamics free energy calculations. By choosing the receptor binding domain of the viral spike protein, we showed that some of our new molecules and some of the repurposable drugs have stronger binding to RBD than hACE2. To validate our approach, we also calculated the free energy of hACE2 and RBD, and found it to be in an excellent agreement with experiments. These pool of drugs will allow strategic repurposing against COVID-19 for a particular prevailing conditions.     

Synthetic reactions catalyzed by immobilized lipase from oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.)

Lipase from rape (Brassica napus L., immobilized onto celite, catalyzes esterification and transesterification reactions in hexane. The activity of the lipase is stimulated up to 35 fold by the addition of water (1.3% w/v). The activity of the lipase in hydrolysis is about 8 times higher than in the esterification reactions in hexane. Interesteri-fication reactions between mono- and diacylglycerols and transesterification reactions of mono- and diacylglycerols with alcohols were also catalyzed at relatively high rates but transesterification/esterification of these acylglycerols with fatty acids was comparatively slow. In transesterification reactions, triacylglycerols reacted rather slowly.     

Thermodynamics of water entry in hydrophobic channels of carbon nanotubes

Experiments and computer simulations demonstrate that water spontaneously fills the hydrophobic cavity of a carbon nanotube. To gain a quantitative thermodynamic understanding of this phenomenon, we use the recently developed two phase thermodynamics method to compute translational and rotational entropies of confined water molecules inside single-walled carbon nanotubes and show that the increase in energy of a water molecule inside the nanotube is compensated by the gain in its rotational entropy. The confined water is in equilibrium with the bulk water and the Helmholtz free energy per water molecule of confined water is the same as that in the bulk within the accuracy of the simulation results. A comparison of translational and rotational spectra of water molecules confined in carbon nanotubes with that of bulk water shows significant shifts in the positions of the spectral peaks that are directly related to the tube radius.     

Synthesis and characterization of pyridine amide cation radical complexes of iron: stabilization due to coordination with low-spin iron(III) center

We reported the synthesis and characterization of peptide complexes of low-spin iron(III) [Fe(bpb)(py)2][ClO4] (1) and Na[Fe(bpb)(CN)2] (2) [H2bpb = 1,2-bis(pyridine-2-carboxamido)benzene; py = pyridine], where iron is coordinated to four nitrogen donors in the equatorial plane with two amide nitrogen anions and two pyridine nitrogen donors (Ray, M.; Mukherjee, R.; Richardson, J. F.; Buchanan, R. M. J. Chem. Soc., Dalton Trans. 1993, 2451). Chemical oxidation of 2 and a new low-spin iron(III) complex Na[Fe(Me6bpb)(CN)2].H2O (4) [synthesized from a new iron(III) complex [Fe(Me6bpb)(py)2][ClO4] (3) (S = 1/2)] [H2Me6bpb = 1,2-bis(3,5-dimethylpyridine2-carboxamido)-4,5-dimethylbenzene) by (NH4)2Ce(NO3)6 afforded isolation of two novel complexes [Fe(bpb)-(CN)2] (5) and [Fe(Me6bpb)(CN)2].H2O (6). All the complexes have been characterized by physicochemical techniques. While 1-4 are brown/green, 5 and 6 are violet/bluish violet. The collective evidence from infrared, electronic, M?ssbauer, and 1H NMR spectroscopies, from temperature-dependent magnetic susceptibility data, and from cyclic voltammetric studies provides unambiguous evidence that 5 and 6 are low-spin iron(III) ligand cation radical complexes rather than iron(IV) complexes. Cyclic voltammetric studies on isolated oxidized complexes 5 and 6 display identical behavior (a metal-centered reduction and a ligand-centered oxidation) to that observed for complexes 2 and 4, respectively. The M?ssbauer data for 6 are almost identical with those of the parent compound 4, providing compelling evidence that oxidation has occurred at the ligand in a site remote from the iron atom. Strong antiferromagnetic coupling (-2J > or = 450 cm(-1)) of the S = 1/2 iron atom with the S = 1/2 ligand pi-cation radical leads to an effectively S = 0 ground state of 5 and 6. The oxidized complexes display 1H NMR spectra (in CDCl3 solution), characteristic of diamagnetic species.     

囊泡型荧光纳米界面的构建及其对CD44蛋白的比例型传感

本文设计合成了两亲性Eu(Ⅲ)配合物(Eu L^3+)、两亲性香豆素衍生物(CA)以及荧光素修饰的透明质酸(HA-FA).Eu L^3+和CA可在水中共组装形成带正电荷的囊泡型荧光纳米界面(Eu L^3+/CA).HA-FA可通过静电引力络合在Eu L^3+/CA表面,促使CA与FA之间发生有效的荧光共振能量转移,体系的荧光发射以荧光素的绿色荧光为主.当肿瘤细胞标识物CD44蛋白与络合在囊泡表面上的透明质酸发生特异相互作用后,降低了CA与FA之间的能量转移效率,体系的荧光发射从绿色转变为蓝色.据此,实现了对CD44的高灵敏检测(DL=1.79×10^-7g/m L),而所测试的氨基酸、蛋白质等生物分子几乎不对荧光纳米界面的荧光性质产生影响.基于此,我们成功地将Eu L^3+/CA/HA-FA用于人乳腺癌细胞MCF-7和MDA-MB-231悬浮液中CD44蛋白的高效检测,该工作为构建新型CD44蛋白荧光探针提供了思路,为癌症早期诊断和治疗奠定了基础.