Attractions, water structure, and thermodynamics of hydrophobic polymer collapse

We explore the prospects of a perturbation approach for predicting how weak attractive interactions affect collapse thermodynamics of hydrophobic polymers in water. Specifically, using molecular dynamics simulations of model polymers in explicit water, we show that the hydration structure is sensitive to the strength of the van der Waals attractions but that the hydration contribution to the potential of mean force for collapse is not. We discuss how perturbation theory ideas developed for small spherical apolar solutes need to be modified in order to account for the effect of attractions on the conformational equilibria of polymers.     

Enthalpy-entropy contributions to salt and osmolyte effects on molecular-scale hydrophobic hydration and interactions

Salts and additives can significantly affect the strength of water-mediated interactions in solution. We present results from molecular dynamics simulations focused on the thermodynamics of hydrophobic hydration, association, and the folding-unfolding of a hydrophobic polymer in water and in aqueous solutions of NaCl and of an osmolyte trimethylamine oxide (TMAO). It is known that addition of NaCl makes the hydration of hydrophobic solutes unfavorable and, correspondingly, strengthens their association at the pair as well as the many-body level (Ghosh, T.; Kalra, A.; Garde, S. J. Phys. Chem. B 2005, 109, 642), whereas the osmolyte TMAO has an almost negligible effect on the hydrophobic hydration and association (Athawale, M. V.; Dordick, J. S.; Garde, S. Biophys. J. 2005, 89, 858). Whether these effects are enthalpic or entropic in origin is not fully known. Here we perform temperature-dependent simulations to resolve the free energy into entropy and enthalpy contributions. We find that in TMAO solutions, there is an almost precise entropy-enthalpy compensation leading to the negligible effect of TMAO on hydrophobic phenomena. In contrast, in NaCl solutions, changes in enthalpy dominate, making the salt-induced strengthening of hydrophobic interactions enthalpic in origin. The resolution of total enthalpy into solute-solvent and solvent-solvent terms further shows that enthalpy changes originate primarily from solvent-solvent energy terms. Our results are consistent with experimental data on the hydration of small hydrophobic solutes by Ben-Naim and Yaacobi (Ben-Naim, A.; Yaacobi, M. J. Phys. Chem. 1974, 78, 170). In combination with recent work by Zangi, Hagen, and Berne (Zangi, R.; Hagen, M.; Berne, B. J. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 4678) and the experimental data on surface tensions of salt solutions by Matubayasi et al. (Matubayasi, N.; Matsuo, H.; Yamamoto, K.; Yamaguchi, S.; Matuzawa, A. J. Colloid Interface Sci. 1999, 209, 398), our results highlight interesting length scale dependences of salt effects on hydrophobic phenomena. Although NaCl strengthens hydrophobic interactions at both small and large length scales, that effect is enthalpy-dominated at small length scales and entropy-dominated for large solutes and interfaces. Our results have implications for understanding of additive effects on water-mediated interactions, as well as on biocompatibility of osmolyte molecules in aqueous solutions.     

Chromium‐metformin ternary complexes: Thermal,DNA interaction and Docking studies

Three chromium ternary complexes with metformin (met) as a primary ligand and bipyridine (bipy) or ortho‐phenylenediamine (opda) or ortho‐phenanthroline (phen) as secondary ligand were synthesized. These complexes [Cr (Cl)₂(Hmet)(bipy)]‐( 1 ), [Cr (Cl)₂(Hmet)(opda)]‐( 2 ) and [Cr (Cl)₂(Hmet)(phen)]‐( 3 ) were characterized by LC–MS, elemental analysis, molar conductance, thermal analysis, infrared spectroscopy, electronic spectroscopy. The geometrical structures have been found to be octahedral. Degradation pattern of the compounds is shown by thermal studies. The Kinetic parameters‐ energy of activation (E_a), enthalpy (ΔH), entropy (ΔS) and free energy changes (ΔG) have been determined by thermogravimetric data. Coats‐Redfern integration method with thirteen kinetic models was used to calculate the kinetic and thermodynamic parameters for the degradation of all the complexes. The stabilities of the complexes were obtained from their molecular orbital structures from which the quantum chemical parameters were calculated using the HOMO‐LUMO energies. UV–Visible absorption, fluorescence, and viscosity measurements have been conducted to assess the interaction of the complexes with CT DNA. The complexes showed absorption hyperchromism in its UV–Vis spectrum with DNA. The binding constants K_b from UV–Vis absorption studies were 3.1x10⁴, 4.4x10⁴, 5x10⁴ M^?1 for 1, 2, 3 respectively and Stern–Volmer quenching constants (K_sq) from fluorescence studies were 0.137, 0.532, 0.631 for 1, 2, 3 respectively. Finally, viscosity measurements revealed that the binding of the complexes with CT‐DNA could be surface binding, mainly due to groove binding. The activity of complexes towards DNA cleavage decrease in the order of 3 > 2 > 1.The light switching properties of the complexes were also evaluated. The complexes were docked in to B‐DNA sequence, 5′(D*AP*CP*CP*GP*AP*CP*GP*TP*CP*GP*GP*T)‐3′ retrieved from protein data bank (PDB ID: 423D), using Discovery Studio 2.1 software.     

PPAR gamma targeted molecular docking and synthesis of some new amide and urea substituted 1, 3, 4-thiadiazole derivative as antidiabetic compound

The PPAR-γ agonist enhances the insulin sensitivity and avoids the disorganized hyperglycemic by promoting the insulin guided cellular uptake of blood glucose. Therefore, in the present work PPAR-γ has chosen as the target for the molecular docking study to design an effective agonist of the same. By this research work an effort has been made to prepare amide and urea series of 1, 3, 4-thiadiazole derivatives as 4-substituted-N-(5-(4-(1-piperidino)1-piperidinyl)-1,3,4-(2-thiadiazolyl)benzamide (4a-f) and 1-(4-substitutedphenyl)-3-(5-(4-(1-piperidino)1-piperidinyl)-1,3,4-(2-thiadiazolyl)urea (6a-f) . Both the docking score as well as the pharmacological animal study data has been suggested that the electron donating group containing compound 4f and 6f are most potent molecules for the antidiabetic activity close to the standard drug pioglitazone. It was further observed that the unsubstituted aromatic ring containing derivatives have also considerable effect (4a and 6a) than the electron withdrawing containing derivatives. After the comparison of biological data for amide and urea series, it was concluded that the urea (6a-f) series is more effective than the amide series.     

Structural Compactness in Hen Egg White Lysozyme Induced by Bisphenol S: A Spectroscopic and Molecular Dynamics Simulation Approach

The endocrine disrupting compound Bisphenol and its analogues are widely used in food packaging products and can cause serious health hazards. The protein, Lysozyme (Lyz), showing anti-microbial properties, is used as a “natural” food and dairy preservative. Herein, we explored the interaction between Lyz and Bisphenol S (BPS) by multi-spectroscopic and theoretical approaches. Lyz interacts with BPS through static quenching, where hydrophobic force governed the underlying interaction. Molecular docking results reveal that tryptophan plays a vital role in binding, corroborated well with near UV-CD studies. A decrease in the radius of gyration (from 1.43 nm to 1.35 nm) of Lyz substantiates the compactness of the protein conformation owing to such an interaction. This structural alteration experienced by Lyz may alter its functional properties as a food preservative. Consequently, this can degrade the quality of the food products and thereby lead to severe health issues.     

Influence of Amine‐Based Cationic Gemini Surfactants on Catalytic Activity of α‐Chymotrypsin

The α‐chymotrypsin activity was tested in aqueous media with the presence of novel cationic amine–based gemini surfactant, with different spacer chain lengths and head group size, and also compared with the cationic cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and cetyltriphenylphosphonium bromide (CTPB) surfactants and aqueous buffer only. The p‐nitrophenyl acetate (PNPA) hydrolysis rate was monitored in the presence of the surfactant concentration at 30°C. Most of these gemini surfactants gave higher catalytic activity as compared to cationic CTAB and CTPB. The highest superactivity was measured in the presence of gemini 16‐12‐16, [dodecanediyl‐1,12‐bis(cetyldimethylammonium bromide)] surfactant at pH 7.5. The catalytic reaction follows the Michaelis–Menten mechanism. The catalytic rate constants, k_cat, show the same profile that the catalytic affinity; K_M being enhanced with increasing space chain length. The results are favorable for considering that the amine‐based gemini surfactant influences more than both the aqueous and cationic micellar media.     

Estimation of PVT properties and vapour pressure of alternate PUREX/UREX extractant TRI-iso amyl phosphate

Tri-iso-amyl phosphate is an alternate solvent, proposed in literature as an alternate to the PUREX/UREX solvent tri-n-butyl phosphate for better physical properties. Its PVT properties and accurate expression for estimation of its vapour pressure are not available in the literature. Recently PVT properties of TiAP were estimated by authors and its vapour pressure was measured in a ASTM certified vapor pressure measurement system at temperatures ranging from 273.15 to 373.15 K. In this paper, results of these studies are presented.     

Thermophysical properties of reversed TALSPEAK (RT) solvent

Thermophysical properties of reversed TALSPEAK extractant (0.3 M D2EPHA/0.2 M TBP/n-dodecane) were not available in literature. Authors have experimentally measured and correlated several thermophysical properties of RT solvent like density, viscosity, refractive index, acid uptake and flash point. In this paper, results of these studies will be discussed in detail.