Metabolic profiling of Escherichia coli by ion mobility-mass spectrometry with MALDI ion source

Comprehensive metabolome analysis using mass spectrometry (MS) often results in a complex mass spectrum and difficult data analysis resulting from the signals of numerous small molecules in the metabolome. In addition, MS alone has difficulty measuring isobars and chiral, conformational and structural isomers. When a matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) source is added, the difficulty and complexity are further increased. Signal interference between analyte signals and matrix ion signals produced by MALDI in the low mass region (<1500 Da) cause detection and/or identification of metabolites difficult by MS alone. However, ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) coupled with MS (IM-MS) provides a rapid analytical tool for measuring subtle structural differences in chemicals. IMS separates gas-phase ions based on their size-to-charge ratio. This study, for the first time, reports the application of MALDI to the measurement of small molecules in a biological matrix by ion mobility-time of flight mass spectrometry (IM-TOFMS) and demonstrates the advantage of ion-signal dispersion in the second dimension. Qualitative comparisons between metabolic profiling of the Escherichia coli metabolome by MALDI-TOFMS, MALDI-IM-TOFMS and electrospray ionization (ESI)-IM-TOFMS are reported. Results demonstrate that mobility separation prior to mass analysis increases peak-capacity through added dimensionality in measurement. Mobility separation also allows detection of metabolites in the matrix-ion dominated low-mass range (m/z < 1500 Da) by separating matrix signals from non-matrix signals in mobility space.     

On the controversy of metal ion composition on amine oxygenase (AurF): a computational investigation

An energetics-spectroscopic approach based on DFT method reveals that the active site structure of AurF has {Fe(III)(2)O} central core with one protonated terminal glutamate.     

Structure and ionization energies of some analogues of iron-only hydrogenases studied by density functional theory methods

Density functional theory calculations using both the B3LYP and BP86 functional in conjunction with a medium and large size basis set have been used to predict the structures and ionization energies of 12 models of iron-only hydrogenases. Although the structural predictions do not allow a clear discrimination between the different computational models, these models do yield significantly different adiabatic and vertical ionization energies. The closest agreement with experiment is given by the BP86 functional and the large all-electron basis. At this level of theory the adiabatic ionization energies are very close to experiment, but the vertical values are uniformly too small, leading to an underestimation of the reorganization energies. The calculations also suggest that measured ionization energies may help in identifying both the bridge-head group and whether CO bridging takes place upon ionization.     

An Effective Approach for Coupling Direct Analysis in Real Time with Atmospheric Pressure Drift Tube Ion Mobility Spectrometry

Drift tube ion mobility spectrometry (DTIMS) has evolved as a robust analytical platform routinely used for screening small molecules across a broad suite of chemistries ranging from food and pharmaceuticals to explosives and environmental toxins. Most modern atmospheric pressure IM detectors employ corona discharge, photoionization, radioactive, or electrospray ion sources for efficient ion production. Coupling standalone DTIMS with ambient plasma-based techniques, however, has proven to be an exceptional challenge. Device sensitivity with near-ground ambient plasma sources is hindered by poor ion transmission at the source–instrument interface, where ion repulsion is caused by the strong electric field barrier of the high potential ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) inlet. To overcome this shortfall, we introduce a new ion source design incorporating a repeller point electrode used to shape the electric field profile and enable ion transmission from a direct analysis in real time (DART) plasma ion source. Parameter space characterization studies of the DART DTIMS setup were performed to ascertain the optimal configuration for the source assembly favoring ion transport. Preliminary system capabilities for the direct screening of solid pharmaceuticals are briefly demonstrated. Figure

?     

Synthesis and Spectroscopic Distinction of Benzonaphthonaphthyridine and Its Isomer

Distinction of benzo[h]naphtho[1,2-b][1,6]naphthyridine and its isomeric benzo[b]naphtho[1,2-h][1,6]naphthyridine is well explained on the basis of various spectroscopic techniques. Initially these isomers were prepared from their respective chloroquinolines via anilinoquinolines as potential intermediates. Spectroscopic dissimilarities of their precursors and intermediates have also been considered and compared with the final benzonaphthonaphthyridine isomers.     

New Effective Synthetic Method for Preparation of N,N-Dichlorocarbamates

A rapid, efficient, economical, and easy-to-scale method for the effective conversion of carbamates to corresponding N,N-dichlorocarbamates by using sodium hypochlorite in acidic medium has been described. N,N-Dichlorocarbamates were obtained in quantitative yield through a simple workup in reduced reaction time.

Synthesis,Biological Evaluation,and Molecular Docking Studies of Some N‐thiazolyl Hydrazones and Indenopyrazolones

Two new series of N‐thiazolyl hydrazones ( 3a – h ) and indenopyrazolones ( 4a – h ) were synthesized by the reaction of various 2‐acyl‐(1H)‐indene‐1,3(2H)‐diones, thiosemicarbazide, and phenacyl bromide/substituted phenacyl bromides. The in vitro antimicrobial activity of these synthesized compounds was assayed against four bacteria, namely, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and two fungi, namely, Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger, by employing serial dilution method. Ciprofloxacin and fluconazole were used as antibacterial and antifungal reference drugs, respectively. Results of antimicrobial assay showed that the tested compounds have broad range of activity. The compounds 3h and 4a against C. albicans displayed more potency than fluconazole whereas 3b and 3c against B. subtilis showed activity comparable with ciprofloxacin. The synthesized indenopyrazolones ( 4a – h ) were evaluated for their in vitro antioxidant activity by 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging assay using ascorbic acid as reference. Compound 4b exhibited the highest 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging with IC₅₀ value 33.14 μg/mL. The observed results of antimicrobial activity were supported by molecular docking study performed to understand the binding interaction of hydrazones ( 3a – h ) and indenopyrazolones ( 4a – h ) with lanosterol 14α‐demethylase.     

Permutation Polyhedra and Minimisation of the Variance of Completion Times on a Single Machine

We consider the problem of minimising variance of completion times when n-jobs are to be processed on a single machine. This problem is known as the CTV problem. The problem has been shown to be difficult. In this paper we consider the polytope P _n whose vertices are in one-to-one correspondence with the n! permutations of the processing times [p ₁, p ₂, ..., p _n]. Thus each vertex of P _n represents a sequence in which the n-jobs can be processed. We define a V-shaped local optimal solution to the CTV problem to be the V-shaped sequence of jobs corresponding to which the variance of completion times is smaller than for all the sequences adjacent to it on P _n. We show that this local solution dominates V-shaped feasible solutions of the order of 2 ^n–3 where 2 ^n–2 is the total number of V-shaped feasible solutions.Using adjacency structure an P _n, we develop a heuristic for the CTV problem which has a running time of low polynomial order, which is exact for n 10, and whose domination number is (2 ^n–3). In the end we mention two other classes of scheduling problems for which also ADJACENT provides solutions with the same domination number as for the CTV problem.     

Electrospray ionization-ion mobility spectrometry: a rapid analytical method for aqueous nitrate and nitrite analysis

This paper reports the first example of electrospray ionization (ESI) for the separation and detection of anions in aqueous solutions by ion mobility spectrometry (IMS). Standard solutions of arsenate, phosphate, sulfate, nitrate, nitrite, chloride, formate, and acetate were analyzed using ESI-IMS and distinct peak patterns and reduced mobility constants (K(0)) were observed for respective anions. Real world water samples were analyzed for nitrate and nitrite to determine the feasibility of using ESI-IMS as a rapid analytical method for monitoring nitrate and nitrite in water systems. The data showed satisfactory correlation between the measured value ([similar]0.16 ppm) and the reported maximum nitrate-nitrogen concentration (0.2 ppm) found in a local drinking water system. For on-site measurement applications, direct sample introduction and air as an alternate drift gas to nitrogen were evaluated. The identities of the nitrite and nitrate mobility peaks were verified by comparison of reduced mobility constants with mass identified nitrate and nitrite ions reported in literature. In the mixing ratio, a linear dynamic range of 3 orders of magnitude and instrument detection limits of 10 ppb for nitrate and 40 ppb for nitrite were obtained. The calibration curves showed r(2) value of 0.98 and slope of 0.06 for nitrate and r(2) value of 0.99 and slope of 0.11 for nitrite.