Screening Anti-Cancer Drugs against Tubulin using Catch-and-Release Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry

Tubulin, which is the building block of microtubules, plays an important role in cell division. This critical role makes tubulin an attractive target for the development of chemotherapeutic drugs to treat cancer. Currently, there is no general binding assay for tubulin–drug interactions. The present work describes the application of the catch-and-release electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (CaR-ESI-MS) assay to investigate the binding of colchicinoid drugs to αβ-tubulin dimers extracted from porcine brain. Proof-of-concept experiments using positive (ligands with known affinities) and negative (non-binders) controls were performed to establish the reliability of the assay. The assay was then used to screen a library of seven colchicinoid analogues to test their binding to tubulin and to rank their affinities.

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Pyrolysis and TG Analysis of Shivee Ovoo Coal from Mongolia

The coal sample of the Shivee Ovoo deposits has been non-isothermally pyrolysed in a thermogravimetric analyser to determine the influence of temperature, heating rate and purge gas employed on the thermal degradation of the sample. The heating rates investigated in the TG were 10–50 K min^–1 to final temperature of 1000°C. N₂or CO₂ were employed as well as type of purge gas on the process of thermal degradation of the coal sample. The coal was also investigated in a fixed bed reactor to determine the influence of temperature and heating rate of the pyrolysis on the yield of products and composition of the gases evolved. The main gases produced were H₂, CH₄, C₂H₂, C₂H₄, C₂H₆, C₃H₆ and C₃H₈ and also minor concentrations of other gases. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Conflict minerals (3TG): Mining production,applications and recycling

The growing public awareness of conflict minerals used in consumer electronics and various other devices (e.g. GPS in vehicles, medical equipment, airplane equipment and instruments, etc.) is accompanied by increasing regulatory obligations for companies affected by different laws and certification standards e.g. Dodd Frank Act section 1502, the ICGLR Regional Certification, the OECD Due Diligence Guidance or the planned EU Certification regulation.The so called conflicts minerals are natural mineral resources such as tin, tantalum, tungsten and Gold (3TG) that are critical resources for the electronic and automotive industries but also for other industries (aviation, medical equipment, etc.).Extraction of the 3TGs is widespread and includes primary industrial mining and artisanal mining as well as recycling.     

How Does Substitutional Doping Affect Visible Light Absorption in a Series of Homodisperse Ti11 Polyoxotitanate Nanoparticles?

Homodisperse doped polyoxotitanate nanoclusters with formulae Ti₁₁(MX)O₁₄(OiPr)₁₇ (M=Mn, Fe or Co; X=Cl, Br or I, OiPr=isopropoxide) display strongly dopant‐dependent properties. Spectroscopic solution and reflectance measurements backed up by density of states and time‐dependent DFT calculations based on the determined structures, show the prominent effect of FeX substitution by decreasing the HOMO–LUMO gap of the particles. The effect is attributed to the presence of an occupied Fe β orbital halfway up the bandgap, leading to long‐wavelength absorption with electron transfer to the titanium atoms of the cluster. Whereas the light absorption varies significantly with variation of the transition metal dopant, its dependency on the nature of the halogen atom or the change in dipole moment across the series is minor.     

Coordination chemistry of Si5Cl10 with organocyanides

Organocyanides readily coordinate to decachlorocyclopentasilane (Si(5)Cl(10)) to form "inverse sandwich" compounds 1-3 with a planar Si(5) ring. The products were isolated in high yield and fully characterized by elemental analysis, multinuclear NMR, IR and UV-Vis spectroscopy. While the spectroscopic data suggests the presence of a fairly weak interaction between the Si(5) ring and the coordinative organocyanide ligands, single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies of compound 1 and 2 show μ(5)-coordination of the apical cyano nitrogen atoms to the silicon atoms in the Si(5) ring. Distances between silicon atoms and nitrogen atoms are significantly shorter than a Si-N van der Waals bond but longer than the sum of their covalent radii. Multiple interactions between the cyano groups and equatorial Cl atoms, and intermolecular interactions were observed in the solid state for both compounds 1 and 2.     

Synthesis and structural characterization of [PhE(BNMe2)2]2 (E = P or As): Six-Membered P2B4 and As2B4 Rings with Unusual Structures

The reaction of either Li₂PPh or Li₂AsPh with the diborane(4) derivative B₂(NMe₂)₂Br₂ affords the compounds [PhP(BNMe₂)₂]₂ ( 1 ) or [PhAs(BNMe₂)₂]₂ ( 2 ) in good yield. Both 1 and 2 have cyclic structures featuring non-planar P₂B₄ or As₂B₄ six-membered rings which have chair configurations. Although all four borons in each ring have planar coordination, the two phosphorus or arsenic centers have different degrees of pyramidalization. Bond distances within the rings indicate that the B? B, B? P or B? As bonds are single, whereas the exo-B? N bond lengths are consistent with significant π-bonding. The ring structures of 1 and 2 are in sharp contrast to the related boron-nitrogen species (t-BuN)₂N₄Me₄ which has a nido-N₂B₄ framework. The attempted synthesis of the nitrogen analogue of 1 or 2 by using a similar approach did not result in the isolation of [PhN(BNMe₂)₂]₂, instead the tetramino diborane(4) species [B(NMe₂)NHPh]₂ ( 3 ), which has a structure similar to other tetramine diborane(4) compounds, was isolated.     

Trace level analysis of volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds in water using a membrane/jet separator interfaced to an ion trap mass spectrometer

An ion trap mass spectrometer, equipped with a membrane/jet separator interface, is used for the direct detection of volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds in aqueous solutions. Aqueous sample is passed through a capillary membrane, the outside surface of which is continuously purged by helium. The permeate is pneumatically transported to the mass spectrometer via a jet separator which acts as an additional enrichment device. The performance and response characteristics of non-porous silicone and microporous polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membranes are studied. The microporous membrane allows sufficient water to pass for it to be used as a reagent gas for chemical ionization. Both types of membranes provide detection limits in the parts per trillion (pptr) to parts per billion (ppb) range with a linear dynamic range of 3 orders of magnitude for some volatile organic compounds. Results show that there is no detectable matrix effect on response in the selected cases examined. The use of microporous membranes to analyze more polar compounds, such as 5-hydroxymethyl furfuraldehyde and lactic acid, is also demonstrated. The effects of other experimental parameters, such as membrane temperature and length, on sensitivity are also investigated.     

Towards conformationally dependent redox-responsive molecular switches. New polyferrocene bis benzo crown ether receptors

New polyferrocene bis benzo-15-crown-5 ligands have been prepared and shown to form 1:1 intramolecular sandwich complexes with the potassium cation. Electrochemical investigations reveal that both receptors undergo small anodic perturbations of the respective ferrocene-ferrocenium redox couples in the presence of alkali metal cations.     

(Benzo[4, 5]cyclohepta[l, 2-b]thiophen-4-ylidene)acetic Acids: Novel Non-ulcerogenic Antiinflammatory Agents

Compound (Z)- 8a has been found to display interesting antiinflammatory activity. In order to prepare derivatives with a wide variety of substituents in the aromatic part of the molecule, a new synthesis of the key intermediates 9a-g was developed starting from thiophene-3-carboxylic acid ( 11 ) and substituted benzyl bromides. The conversion of 9a-g to 10a-g follows a known procedure. Ketones 10a-g , on reaction with alkyl (dialkoxy-phosphoryl)acetate, followed by isomer separation and alkaline ester hydrolysis, yielded the desired derivatives (Z)- 8a-g and (E)- 8a-g . The biologically most interesting compound (Z)- 8a is currently undergoing clinical trials.