Serum Chloride Optical Sensors Based on Dynamic Quenching of the Fluorescence of Photo-Immobilized Lucigenin

This article describes the preparation and performance of an optical sensor for continuous measurement of chloride at extracellular (serum) levels (20–200mM). The sensor is based on dynamic quenching of the fluorescence of lucigenin which was photo-immobilized on a hydrogel. Quenching occurs via a collisional mechanism, and the decrease in fluorescence intensity on exposure to 100mM chloride typically is –60%. It allows the determination of chloride in the 1 to 200mM concentration range, with a precision of ±3mM at 120mM. Bromide, iodide and salicylate act as interferents, while the effect of pH and oxygen is negligibly small. The sensor displays strong fluorescence intensity, excellent reproducibility, long-term stability, response times in the order of 2–5min, and is used in a commercial serum and blood chloride analyzer.Received January 21, 2003; accepted April 6, 2003 Published online July 28, 2003     

Synthese und Fluoreszenzeigenschaften von cyansubstituierten 2-Aminopyridinen

The synthesis of several 2-aminopyridines is described. The reaction of tetracyanoethylene with 3-imino-propane-carbonitrile gives 2-amino-3,4,5-tricyano-pyridines with alkyl and aryl-substituents, resp., in position 6. Nucleophilic substitution of 2-amino-6-chloro-3,5-dicyanopyridines and 2-amino-6-chloro-3,4,5-tricyano-pyridines with phenolates leads to a variety of pyridines. Spectroscopical data of absorption and fluorescence are presented and the influence of the cyano groups is discussed. The results are in good agreement with quantum chemical calculations (PPP).

Herrn Univ-Prof. Dr.A. Holasek zum 60. Geburtstag gewidmet.     

Integer points on hypersurfaces

Very general hypersurfaces in ⁴ contain r ^2+(4/9) integer points in any ball of radiusr>1. As a consequence, an irreducible algebraic hypersurface in ⁿ (wheren4) which is not a cylinder and is of degreed, contains c(d, n)r ^{n–1–(5/9)} integer points in a ball of radiusr. This improves on the known boundc(d, n)r ^n–(3/2).Meinem verehrten Lehrer Professor E. Hlawka zum siebzigsten Geburtstag gewidmetWritten with partial support from NSF-MCS-8211461.     

Comparative studies of static dipole polarizabilities of ionic crystals on the basis of different self-consistent potentials

The static dipole polarizabilities, ^D , have been studied for the ions O^2–, F^–, Na⁺, Mg²⁺, Cl^–, K⁺ and Ca²⁺ in the crystals NaF, KF, NaCl, KC1, MgO and CaO. The starting zero-order wave functions have been generated using various exchange- and exchange-correlation potentials in order to study the effect of these potentials on ^D . The direct contribution to the dipole polarizability, _o ^D , has been determined by the uncoupled Hartree-Fock method. Self-consistency effects have been included by the geometric approximation. The crystal potential is incorporated using the Watson sphere model. Good agreement between theoretical and experimental results are found for those self-consistent potentials which exclude self-interaction.     

Biosynthesis of isoprenoids. purification and properties of IspG protein from Escherichia coli

[Structure: see text]. The IspG protein is known to catalyze the transformation of 2-C-methyl-d-erythritol 2,4-cyclodiphosphate into 1-hydroxy-2-methyl-2-(E)-butenyl 4-diphosphate in the nonmevalonate pathway of isoprenoid biosynthesis. We have found that the apparent IspG activity in the cell extracts of recombinant Escherichia coli cells as observed by a radiochemical assay can be enhanced severalfold by coexpression of the isc operon which is involved in the assembly of iron-sulfur clusters. The recombinant protein was isolated by affinity chromatography under anaerobic conditions. With a mixture of flavodoxin, flavodoxin reductase, and NADPH as the reducing agent, stringent assay methods based on photometry or on 13C NMR detection of multiply 13C-labeled substrate/product ratios afforded catalytic activities greater than 60 nmol mg(-1) min(-1) for the protein "as isolated" (i.e., without reconstitution of any kind). Lower apparent activities were found using photoreduced deazaflavin as an artifactual electron donor, whereas dithionite was unable to serve as an artificial electron donor. The apparent Michaelis constant for 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 2,4-cyclodiphosphate was 700 microM. The enzyme was inactivated by EDTA and could be reactivated by Mn2+. The pH optimum was at 9.0. The protein contained 2.4 iron ions and 4.4 sulfide ions per subunit. The replacement of any of the three conserved cysteine residues afforded mutant proteins which were devoid of catalytic activity and contained less than 6% of Fe2+ and less than 23% of S2- as compared to the wild-type protein. Sequence comparison indicates that putative IspG proteins of plants, the apicomplexan protozoan Plasmodium falciparum, and bacteria from the Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi group contain an insert of about 170-320 amino acid residues as compared with eubacterial enzymes.     

Accurate pKa determination for a heterogeneous group of organic molecules.

Single-molecule studies that allow to compute pKa values, proton affinities (gas-phase acidity/basicity) and the electrostatic energy of solvation have been performed for a heterogeneous set of 26 organic compounds. Quantum mechanical density functional theory (DFT) using the Becke-half&half and B3LYP functionals on optimized molecular geometries have been carried out to investigate the energetics of gas-phase protonation. The electrostatic contribution to the solvation energies of protonated and deprotonated compounds were calculated by solving the Poisson equation using atomic charges generated by fitting the electrostatic potential derived from the molecular wave functions in vacuum. The combination of gas-phase and electrostatic solvation energies by means of the thermodynamic cycle enabled us to compute pKa values for the 26 compounds, which cover six distinct chemical groups (carboxylic acids, benzoic acids, phenols, imides, pyridines and imidazoles). The computational procedure for determining pKa values is accurate and transferable with a root-mean-square deviation of 0.53 and 0.57 pKa units and a maximum error of 1.0 pKa and 1.3 pKa units for Becke-half&half and B3LYP DFT functionals, respectively.     

Synthesis of functionalized 2-alkylidenetetrahydrofurans by cyclization of 1,3-bis(trimethylsilyloxy)-1,3-butadienes with epoxides

The Lewis acid mediated cyclization of epoxides with 1,3-bis(trimethylsilyloxy)-1,3-butadienes, electroneutral equivalents of 1,3-dicarbonyl dianions, results in the formation of 2-alkylidenetetrahydrofurans with a great variety of substitution patterns and functional groups. This includes the synthesis of 2,3'-bifuranylidenes and 7-oxabicyclo[4.3.0]nonanes. The cyclization of dienes with functionalized epoxides containing base-labile groups proceeds with good chemoselectivity. In all reactions, good regio- and E diastereoselectivities are observed. Based on the stereoselectivities observed for reactions of 1,2-disubstituted epoxides, a working hypothesis for the mechanism of the reaction is suggested.