An approach to the tricyclic core of madangamines based upon a biogenetic scheme

[reaction: see text] A short synthesis of intermediates possessing the tricyclic core of natural madangamines, bioactive alkaloids found in marine sponges, is described. The key reaction entails the condensation of the sodium salt of diethylacetonedicarboxylate with a dihydropyridinium salt derivative. This new approach is modeled on a biogenetic proposal linking madangamines to ircinals, related alkaloids occurring in sponges of the same order.     

Fractionation of basic nuclear proteins of human sperm by zinc chelate affinity chromatography

Immobilized metal affinity chromatography was investigated for the fractionation of basic nuclear proteins of human sperm. Human sperm nuclei essentially contain two classes of protamines: a protamine of type P1 (HPl), rich in cysteine but with only one histidine, and three protamines of type P2 (HP2, HP3, HP4), rich in cysteine and histidine (nine in protamine HP2), potential ligands for transition metal ions. The critical conditions for metal affinity chromatography were defined: choice of metal, protein material and buffer, type of elution and sample loading. Chromatography of nuclear proteins, without histones and with cysteine residues alkylated by iodoacetamide, was optimum on zinc Chelating Sepharose in a Tris-acetate buffer and elution with an increasing concentration gradient of imidazole. Under these conditions, the two classes of protamines were completely separated. The intermediate basic proteins were further purified by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Heterogeneity of binding to zinc of protamine HP1 was demonstrated. The proposed method is simple and reproducible and the recovery of proteins is high. It may be applied to study the expression and function of P1 and P2 protamines, e.g., in the case of infertile men.     

Reactivity of pyrrole pigments,part 15: On the oxidation of bilirubins and biliverdins

Summary Characteristic oxidation reactions of bilin-1,19-diones (biliverdins) and biladien-ac-1,19-diones (bilirubins) were reinvestigated. These include bromine and iodine oxidation of biliverdin IX, bilirubin IX and their Zn(II) complexes, the reaction described by Siedel (1941) of mesobilirubin XIII dimethyl ester with nitric acid (Gmelin reaction) and Smith's oxidation (1977) of etiobiliverdin IV using Tl triacetate and Pb tetra-acetate. For some of these reaction products new structures were assigned on the basis of their spectrometric data. These structures agreed with the expected reactivity pattern of biliverdins and bilirubins.

---

Reaktivität von Pyrrolpigmenten, 15 Mitt.: Über die Oxidation von Bilirubinen und Biliverdinen

Zusammenfassung Einige bekannte Oxydationen von Bilin-1,19-dionen (Biliverdinen) und Biladien-ac-dionen (Bilirubinen) wurden neuerlich untersucht, und zwar die Brom- und Jodoxydation von Biliverdin IX und Bilirubin IX sowie der entsprechenden Zn(II)-Komplexe, die Reaktion des Dimethylesters von Mesobilirubin XIII mit HNO₃ (Gmelinreaktion; Siedel 1941) und Smith's Oxydation von Etiobiliverdin IV mit Thaliumtriacetat und Bleitetraacetat. Für einige Reaktionsprodukte wurden aufgrund spektroskopischer Daten neue Strukturen-konsistent mit dem bekannten Reaktionsverhalten von Biliverdinen und Bilirubinen-formuliert.

     

Oxidative addition of the ethane C-C bond to Pd. An ab initio benchmark and DFT validation study

We have computed a state-of-the-art benchmark potential energy surface (PES) for the archetypal oxidative addition of the ethane C-C bond to the palladium atom and have used this to evaluate the performance of 24 popular density functionals, covering LDA, GGA, meta-GGA, and hybrid density functionals, for describing this reaction. The ab initio benchmark is obtained by exploring the PES using a hierarchical series of ab initio methods [HF, MP2, CCSD, CCSD(T)] in combination with a hierarchical series of five Gaussian-type basis sets, up to g polarization. Relativistic effects are taken into account either through a relativistic effective core potential for palladium or through a full four-component all-electron approach. Our best estimate of kinetic and thermodynamic parameters is -10.8 (-11.3) kcal/mol for the formation of the reactant complex, 19.4 (17.1) kcal/mol for the activation energy relative to the separate reactants, and -4.5 (-6.8) kcal/mol for the reaction energy (zero-point vibrational energy-corrected values in parentheses). Our work highlights the importance of sufficient higher angular momentum polarization functions for correctly describing metal-d-electron correlation. Best overall agreement with our ab initio benchmark is obtained by functionals from all three categories, GGA, meta-GGA, and hybrid DFT, with mean absolute errors of 1.5 to 2.5 kcal/mol and errors in activation energies ranging from -0.2 to -3.2 kcal/mol. Interestingly, the well-known BLYP functional compares very reasonably with a slight underestimation of the overall barrier by -0.9 kcal/mol. For comparison, with B3LYP we arrive at an overestimation of the overall barrier by 5.8 kcal/mol. On the other hand, B3LYP performs excellently for the central barrier (i.e., relative to the reactant complex) which it underestimates by only -0.1 kcal/mol.     

Polymer-supported approach for solution-phase synthesis of cysteine trap protease inhibitors: procedure for straightforward optimization of the P1-P1' pocket

Peptide-based reversible and irreversible cysteine proteases inhibitors are well reported in the literature. Many of these compounds have an electrophilic carbonyl group as a cysteine trap in the place of a scissile amide moiety of the natural substrate. As a common mechanism strategy, we have designed a probe library of a cysteine trap for rapid optimization of P1-P1' pockets of different cysteine proteases. The synthesis of this library using a straightforward methodology based on polymer-supported reagents and scavengers to avoid tedious purification steps has been achieved. For the selective monobromination of diazo ketones, preparation of a new supported reagent, piperidinoaminomethylpolystyrene hydrobromide, is also described.     

A versatile synthesis of new pyrimidinyl nitronyl nitroxides

Pyrimidinyl nitronyl nitroxides where the bis-N-oxy fragment is included in a six-membered ring were prepared from diacetonamine by a sequence of reactions including a Grignard reaction, a Ritter reaction and oxidation of the intermediate pyrimidine; the properties of the 2-phenyl-substituted representative are fully described.     

An Infrared Spectroscopic Study on the Hofmann-diam-type 1,12-Diaminododecanemetal(II) Tetracyanonickelate(II)-aromatic Guest Clathrates: M(H2N(CH2)12NH2)Ni(CN)4ċG(M=Co, Ni or Cd; G = Benzene, Naphthalene, Anthracene, Phenanthrene or Biphenyl)

Three Hofmann-diaminododecane-type clathrates of the form M(1,12-diaminododecane) Ni(CN)₄G (M = Co, Ni or Cd; G = benzene, naphthalene, anthracene, phenanthrene or biphenyl) have been prepared in powder form. The 1,12-diaminododecane molecules in the host lattice permit the inclusion of bulky guest molecules. The spectral features suggest that these compounds are similar in structure to the other Hofmann-diam-type clathrates.     

In vivo application of intestinal pH measurement using 2',7'-bis(carboxyethyl)-5,6-carboxyfluorescein (BCECF) fluorescence imaging

Measurement of gastrointestinal intramucosal pH (pHim) has been recognized as an important factor in the detection of hypoxia-induced dysfunctions. However, current pH measurement techniques are limited in terms of time and spatial resolutions. A major advance in accurate pH measurement was the development of the ratiometric fluorescent indicator dye, 2',7'-bis(carboxyethyl)-5,6-carboxyfluorescein (BCECF). This study aimed to set up and validate a fluorescence imaging technique to measure in vivo the intramucosal pH (pHim) of the intestine. The intestine was inserted into an optical chamber placed under a microscope. Animals were injected intravenously with the pH-sensitive fluorescent dye BCECF. Fluorescence was visualized by illuminating the intestine alternately at 490 and 470 nm. The emitted fluorescence was directed to an intensified camera. The ratio of emitted fluorescence at excitation wavelengths of 490 and 470 nm was measured, corrected and converted to pHim by constructing a calibration curve. The pHim controls were performed with a pH microelectrode and were correlated with venous blood gas sampling. Results show that pHim is determined with an accuracy of +/- 0.07 pH units and a response time of 1 min. In conclusion pHim mapping of rat intestine can be obtained by fluorescence imaging using BCECF. This technology could be easily adapted for endoscopic pH measurements.     

15N,(1)H Heteronuclear correlation NMR of gramicidin A in DMPC-d(67)

We have studied gramicidin A, an environmentally sensitive polymorphic pentadecapeptide, fully 15N-labelled and dispersed in a highly deuterated phospholipid bilayer system. By submitting the sample to fast magic angle spinning, we were able to reduce the polypeptide amide hydrogen linewidths to 160 Hz, and hence to partially resolve them. By correlating these resonances with the 40 Hz wide dipolar coupled 15N in a 2D-CROPSY (cross-polarization spectroscopy) experiment, it was possible to observe the 20 partially overlapping 1H-15N signal pairs from the polypeptide backbone and sidechains. Both chemical shift distributions closely match those of the same peptide in SDS micelles, but only poorly match those of conformationally different gramicidin A in trifluoroethanol, dimethylsulfoxide, or methanol/chloroform mixture. Our results are indicative of the N-to-N right-handed beta6.3-helix conformation of gramicidin A and offer sufficient resolution to encourage development of experiments to measure orientational or distance restraints using through-space dipolar couplings.     

Assessment of the Fe-Sn-Zn phase diagram at 450°C

The Fe-Sn-Zn system is of interest because Sn is one element added to the Zn galvanizing bath to overcome the drawbacks due to the presence of Si in semi-killed steels. This work has been undertaken with the aim to understand the tin effect on the microstructure and the layers growth in batch galvanized coatings on low alloyed steels. Various experimental techniques such as metallography, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDX) are used in order to characterize the microstructure and the properties of such coatings elaborated in a zinc bath enriched with tin. Solidification phenomena and layers growth mechanisms during galvanization are explained by means of the ternary phase diagram Fe-Sn-Zn at 450°C. The Calphad method allows to obtain this phase diagram from the three optimized binary phase diagrams Fe-Sn, Fe-Zn and Sn-Zn and some experimental data inside the ternary Fe-Sn-Zn system.