2D Nanoarchitectonics: Soft Interfacial Media as Playgrounds for Microobjects,Molecular Machines,and Living Cells

Soft and flexible two-dimensional (2D) systems, such as liquid interfaces, would have much more potentials in dynamic regulation on nano–macro connected functions. In this Minireview article, we focus especially on dynamic motional functions at liquid dynamic interfaces as 2D material systems. Several recent examples are selected to be explained for overviewing features and importance of dynamic soft interfaces in a wide range of action systems. The exemplified research systems are mainly classified into three categories: (i) control of microobjects with motional regulations; (ii) control of molecular machines with functions of target discrimination and optical outputs; (iii) control of living cells including molecular machine functions at cell membranes and cell/biomolecular behaviors at liquid interface. Sciences on soft 2D media with motional freedom and their nanoarchitectonics constructions will have increased importance in future technology in addition to popular rigid solid 2D materials.     

May Trifluoromethylation and Polymerization of Styrene Occur from a Perfluorinated Persistent Radical (PPFR)?

The radical polymerization of styrene (St) initiated by a trifluoromethyl radical generated from a perfluorinated highly branched persistent radical (PPFR) is presented with an isolated yield above 70 %. The release of ^.CF₃ radical occurred from a temperature above 85 °C. Deeper ¹H and ¹⁹F NMR spectroscopies of the resulting fluorinated polystyrenes (CF₃-PSts) evidenced the presence of both CF₃ end-group of the PSt chain and the trifluoromethylation of the phenyl ring (in meta-position mainly). [PPFR]₀/[St]₀ initial molar ratios of 3:1, 3:10 and 3:100 led to various molar masses ranging from 1750 to 5400 g mol⁻¹ in 70–86 % yields. MALDI-TOF spectrometry of such CF₃-PSts highlighted polymeric distributions which evidenced differences between m/z fragments of 104 and 172 corresponding to styrene and trifluoromethyl styrene units, respectively. Such CF₃-PSt polymers were also compared to conventional PSts produced from the radical polymerization of St initiated by a peroxydicarbonate initiator. A mechanism of the polymerization is presented showing the formation of a trifluoromethyl styrene first, followed by its radical (co)polymerization with styrene. The thermal properties (thermal stability and glass transition temperature, T_g) of these polymers were also compared and revealed a much better thermal stability of the CF₃-PSt (10 % weight loss at 356–376 °C) and a T_g of around 70 °C.     

Amyloid-β peptide structure in aqueous solution varies with fragment size

Various fragment sizes of the amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide have been utilized to mimic the properties of the full-length Aβ peptide in solution. Among these smaller fragments, Aβ16 and Aβ28 have been investigated extensively. In this work, we report the structural and thermodynamic properties of the Aβ16, Aβ28, and Aβ42 peptides in an aqueous solution environment. We performed replica exchange molecular dynamics simulations along with thermodynamic calculations for investigating the conformational free energies, secondary and tertiary structures of the Aβ16, Aβ28, and Aβ42 peptides. The results show that the thermodynamic properties vary from each other for these peptides. Furthermore, the secondary structures in the Asp1-Lys16 and Asp1-Lys28 regions of Aβ42 cannot be completely captured by the Aβ16 and Aβ28 fragments. For example, the β-sheet structures in the N-terminal region of Aβ16 and Aβ28 are either not present or the abundance is significantly decreased in Aβ42. The α-helix and β-sheet abundances in Aβ28 and Aβ42 show trends--to some extent--with the potential of mean forces but no such trend could be obtained for Aβ16. Interestingly, Arg5 forms salt bridges with large abundances in all three peptides. The formation of a salt bridge between Asp23-Lys28 is more preferred over the Glu22-Lys28 salt bridge in Aβ28 but this trend is vice versa for Aβ42. This study shows that the Asp1-Lys16 and Asp1-Lys28 regions of the full length Aβ42 peptide cannot be completely mimicked by studying the Aβ16 and Aβ28 peptides.     

Catalytic and biochemical features of a monoclonal antibody heavy chain, JN1-2, raised against a synthetic peptide with a hemagglutinin molecule of influenza virus

It has long been an important issue to produce a catalytic antibody that possesses the ability to lose the infectivity of a bacteria or virus. The monoclonal antibody JN1-2 was generated using a synthetic peptide (TGLRNGITNKVNSVIEKAA) conjugated with human IgG. The peptide sequence includes the conserved region of the hemagglutinin molecule (HA(1) and HA(2) domains), which locates on the envelope of the influenza virus and plays an important role in influenza A virus infection. The monoclonal antibody specifically reacted with the HA2 domain, not only of H2 but also of an H1 strain of the H1N1 subtype (H1 strain). The heavy chain (JN1-2-H) isolated from the parent antibody showed catalytic activity cleaving the above antigenic peptide with very high turnover (kcat = 26 min(-1)), and it could slowly degrade the recombinant HA(2) domain by the catalytic function. Interestingly, the heavy chain exhibited the ability to reduce the infectivity of type A H1N1 but not type B, indicating specificity to type A. This characteristic monoclonal catalytic antibody heavy chain could suppress the infection of the influenza virus in vitro assays.     

First example of continuous-flow reaction conditions for biomimetic reductive amination of fluorine-containing carbonyl compounds

This study presents the first example of continuous-flow reaction conditions for biomimetic reductive amination of fluorinated carbonyl compounds using silica-adsorbed DBU as catalyst for on-column process. This new on-column process features operationally convenient conditions, higher chemical yields and purity of products as compared with traditional in-flask reactions. Furthermore the removal of base-catalyst is not an issue in this process at all, as the catalyst (DBU) remains on the column in the “reaction zone”, the feature which makes the overall process substantially more efficient and inexpensive, in particular, for large-scale synthesis of the target α-perfluoroalkyl amines.     

Self-disproportionation of enantiomers of isopropyl 3,3,3-(trifluoro)lactate via sublimation: Sublimation rates vs. enantiomeric composition

The presented results convincingly demonstrate that self-disproportionation of enantiomers via sublimation is substantially more complex phenomenon then was previously believed. We demonstrate that the racemic form of isopropyl 3,3,3-trifluoro-2-hydroxypropanoate (1) sublimed faster regardless of the starting enantiomeric composition of the enantiomerically enriched mixtures studied in the range from 20.8, 36.8, 58.7 to 79.4% ee. This preferential sublimation of the racemic form allowed for, the most possibly simple, preparation of optically pure samples of compound 1. In this work we also suggest some general experimental procedures, which may be easily used to facilitate the interpretation of the data collected in different laboratories.     

Development and application of latent hydrosilylation catalysts [2]—Control of catalytic activity of platinum catalyst by polystyrene derivatives having propargyl moieties

A new thermal latent hydrosilylation catalyst on the basis of H₂PtCl₆ and polystyrene derivatives having propargyl moieties is described. The polystyrene derivatives having various propargyl moieties were obtained by the reaction of propargyl alcohols with poly(p‐chloromethylstyrene) or its copolymer with styrene. The polymer‐supported platinum catalysts were prepared by aging H₂PtCl₆ with these polymers in tetrahydrofuran at 30 °C for 12 h. In the presence of the polymers, the hydrosilylation activity of H₂PtCl₆ was found to be controlled thermally in the model reaction of trimethylsilane and triethylvinylsilane. Effective control of the crosslinking reaction of silicone resin was also achieved by using these latent catalyst systems. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 38: 35–42, 2000     

A mechanically controlled indicator displacement assay

Push a host: Mechanical compression was applied to a host monolayer at an interface, which facilitated an indicator displacement assay. The fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between the host and indicator was switched on by this compression. Addition of D-glucose caused the indicator to be displaced, effectively quenching the FRET process.