Conjugated Polymer Nanoparticle‐Triplet Emitter Hybrids in Aqueous Dispersion: Fabrication and Fluorescence Quenching Behavior

Conjugated polymer nanoparticles based on poly[9,9‐bis(2‐ethylhexyl)fluorene] and poly[N‐(2,4,6‐trimethylphenyl)‐N,N‐diphenylamine)‐4,4′‐diyl] are fabricated using anionic surfactant sodium dodecylsulphate in water by miniemulsion technique. Average diameters of polyfluorene and polytriarylamine nanoparticles range from 70 to 100 and 100 to 140 nm, respectively. The surface of the nanoparticles is decorated with triplet emitting dye, tris(2,2′‐bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) chloride. Intriguing photophysics of aqueous dispersions of these hybrid nanoparticles is investigated. Nearly 50% quenching of fluorescence is observed in the case of dye‐coated polyfluorene nanoparticles; excitation energy transfer is found to be the dominant quenching mechanism. On the other hand, nearly complete quenching of emission is noticed in polytriarylamine nanoparticle‐dye hybrids. It is proposed that the excited state electron transfer from the electron‐rich polytriarylamine donor polymer to Ru complex leads to the complete quenching of emission of polytriarylamine nanoparticles. The current study offers promising avenues for developing aqueous solution processed‐electroluminescent devices involving a conjugated polymer nanoparticle host and Ru or Ir‐based triplet emitting dye as the guest.

     

Direct interaction between an allosteric agonist pepducin and the chemokine receptor CXCR4

Cell surface heptahelical G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) mediate critical cellular signaling pathways and are important pharmaceutical drug targets. (1) In addition to traditional small-molecule approaches, lipopeptide-based GPCR-derived pepducins have emerged as a new class of pharmaceutical agents. (2, 3) To better understand how pepducins interact with targeted receptors, we developed a cell-based photo-cross-linking approach to study the interaction between the pepducin agonist ATI-2341 and its target receptor, chemokine C-X-C-type receptor 4 (CXCR4). A pepducin analogue, ATI-2766, formed a specific UV-light-dependent cross-link to CXCR4 and to mutants with truncations of the N-terminus, the known chemokine docking site. These results demonstrate that CXCR4 is the direct binding target of ATI-2341 and suggest a new mechanism for allosteric modulation of GPCR activity. Adaptation and application of our findings should prove useful in further understanding pepducin modulation of GPCRs as well as enable new experimental approaches to better understand GPCR signal transduction.     

A synthetic approach to kingianin A based on biosynthetic speculation

A synthetic approach towards the structurally complex dimer, kingianin A is reported. The strategy involved a cascade of complexity generating reactions, inspired through biosynthetic speculation. A concise protecting group free synthesis of the proposed monomeric precursor pre-kingianin A has been achieved using a tandem Stille cross-coupling reaction and electrocyclisation process. However, preliminary studies of the key dimerisation reaction have been conducted, which indicate that the process is not spontaneous, raising questions as to the origin of this complex natural product.     

Separation of transition metal ions and preconcentration of platinum (IV) and chromium (III) on alumina-immobilized diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid by ligand exchange

Summary Basic alumina-bonded diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) has been utilized for the separation and preconcentration of some transition metal ions on the basis of ligand exchange. Breakthrough capacity and rate of sorption have been studied. The distribution coefficients of 16 transition metal ions have been determined in demineralized water, 0.01 M sodium citrate and in four different pH systems. On the basis of differences in Kd values some quantitative separations of metal ions have been achieved. The greater selectivity behaviour (higher Kd values) of the adsorbent for Pt(IV)and Cr(III) has been utilized for their preconcentration in the presence of other metal ions. The method has been employed for the recovery of Pt(IV) and Cr(III) from tapwater and sea-water samples.     

Effect of metal cationization on the tandem mass spectra of glycosyl dithioacetals

The effect of metal cationization on the tandem mass spectra of glycosyl dithioacetals of glucose, mannose, galactose, rhamnose, arabinose and xylose was studied by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry under ammonium and metal (Li, Na, Ag and Cu) ion cationization conditions. The ammonium-cationized glycosyl dithioacetals fragment by loss of ammonia followed by either two molecules of EtSH or one molecule of EtSH and one molecule of H2O. Lithium cationization leads to additional eliminations such as EtSEt and EtSSEt and C-C cleavages. Elimination of EtSH is not observed under sodium cationization. Silver cationization, on the other hand, leads to additional fragmentations involving the elimination of silver as AgOH and AgSEt. Copper cationization results in adducts where copper has undergone a change of oxidation state from II to I. Li+, Ag+ and Cu+ cationization seem to favour cyclization resulting in elimination of EtSH. However, the mechanisms seem to be differently affected by different metal ions. Li+ and Ag+ cationization appear to be non-specific and favour cyclization involving C2-, C4- and C5-hydroxyl hydrogens, whereas Cu+ cationization seems to favour cyclization involving C4-hydroxyl hydrogen.     

A total synthesis of guanacastepene C

A total synthesis of the structure corresponding to the novel tricyclic diterpene guanacastepene C has been realized in which a Knoevenagel cyclization serves as a key step to annulate the six-membered C-ring on a stereochemically secured bicyclic hydroazulene precursor.     

On the repetitive operation of a self-switched transversely excited atmosphere CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> laser

The repetition rate capability of self-switched transversely excited atmosphere (TEA) CO₂ laser was studied for different gas flow configurations. For an optimized gas flow configuration, repetitive operation was achieved at a much smaller gas replenishment factor between two successive pulses when compared with repetitive systems energized by conventional pulsers.     

Generalized Univex Functions in Nonsmooth Multiobjective Optimization

In this paper, we have considered a nonsmooth multiobjective optimization problem where the objective and constraint functions involved are directionally differentiable. A new class of generalized functions (d???ρ???η???θ)-type I univex is introduced which generalizes many earlier classes cited in literature. Based upon these generalized functions, we have derived weak, strong, converse and strict converse duality theorems for mixed type multiobjective dual program in order to relate the efficient and weak efficient solutions of primal and dual problem.     

Experimental and theoretical studies of Mn(II) and Co(II) metal complexes of a tridentate Schiff's base ligand and their biological activities

We have used the condensation method to synthesize 2-acetyl-5-methylsemicarbazone ligand. Manganese(II) and Cobalt(II) complexes having formula [ML₂]X₂ were synthesized where M = Mn(II) and Co(II), L = ligand, X = Cl⁻, CH₃COO⁻, NO₃⁻, ½SO₄²⁻. The characterization data suggests the octahedral geometry for all the synthesized complexes. Tridentate nature of the 2-acetyl-5-methylsemicarbazone ligand was revealed by IR studies. Molar conductance analysis suggested the electrolytic nature of the complexes. The theoretical study includes geometrical optimization, HOMO-LUMO energy gap, energetic parameters and dipole moment. These results also confirmed the tridentate nature of the ligand and the octahedral geometry of complexes. The molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) study suggested the reactive sites for an electrophilic or nucleophilic attack in the ligand. We tested the synthesized compounds for their antifungal and antibacterial action via well diffusion method and found that parent ligand after the coordination with the metal ion showed more effective inhibition against bacteria and fungi.