Rapid determination of orotic acid in urine by a fast liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometric method

Quantification of orotic acid (uracil-6-carboxylic acid) in urine is an important tool to diagnose some inherited diseases, such as urea cycle disorder (OTCD) and hereditary orotic aciduria. New rapid analytical methods are necessary to provide high-throughput orotic acid analyses. A new analytical method has been developed for the rapid analysis of orotic acid in urine by liquid chromatography coupled with ion spray tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). After a sample dilution 1:20, the analysis was performed in the selected reaction monitoring mode in which orotic acid was detected through the transition m/z 155 to 111. The retention time was 3.9 min in a 4.5-min analysis. Daily calibration between 0.5-5.0 micromol/L of orotic acid, corresponding to 10-100 micromol/L in urine before the 1:20 dilution, offered consistent linearity and reproducibility. Interassay coefficient of variance (c.v.) was 4.97% at a mean concentration of 10.99 micromol/L. The sensitivity and specificity of tandem mass spectrometry permitted a high volume of analyses of orotic acid. The sample preparation is simple, inexpensive and not time demanding.     

Analogues of Sialic Acids as Potential Sialidase Inhibitors Synthesis of 2-C-Hydroxymethyl Derivatives of N-Acetyl-6-amino-2,6-dideoxy-neuraminic Acid

The intramolecular cycloaddition of the previously described azidoalkene 16 , the related diacetates 7 and 13 , and the monoacetate 8 led diastereoselectivity to the (2R)- and (2S)-configurated hydropyridotriazoles 17 , 9 and 11 , 14 and 15 , and 10 and 12 , respectively (Scheme 1). Thermolysis of 16 gave also the aziridine 18 , its proportion increasing with reaction time. The diastereoselectivity of the cycloaddition- is rationalized on the basis of steric interactions and of H? bonds in the transition state. Photolysis in benzene partially transformed 9 into the aziridine 19 . Treatment of 9 with aqueous AcOH gave 19 and the tetrahydrofuran 20 , with AcOH in benzene 20 and the triacetate 23 , and with aqueous H₂SO₄ in THF, the primary alcohol 22 (room temperature) or 19 and 22 (0°). Deacetylation of 9 followed by reaction with pyridinium hydrochloride led to the tetrahydrofuran 21 and the chloride 24 (Scheme 2). The diacetate 22 and the triacetate 23 gave the tripl 25 which was deprotected to 26 . Reduction of the keto-aziridine 18 (NaBH₄) gave the alcohols 27 and 29 which were acetylated to give 28 and 19 , respectively (Scheme 3). Treatment of the aziridine 28 with AcOH in benzene followed by deacetylation gave 30 and hence 31 . AcOH in benzene transformed the triazoline 15 first into the aziridine 32 and hence into 33 , which was deprotected to give the triol 34 and hence 35 . The 2-(hydroxymethyl)piperidines 26 , 31 , and 35 inhibited Vibrio cholerae sialidase with K₁ = 3.8 · 10^?2 M, 3.4 · 10^?3 M, and 1.5 · 10^?4 M, respectively. The conformation of the glycerol side chain of these compounds and of the unbranched piperidines 2–4 deviates from the one of Neu5Ac (and Neu2en5Ac). This finding is rationalized by an H-bond between OH? C(8) and NH? C(6). The conformations and the K₁ values of 26 , 31 , and 35 correlate with each other.     

Wavy graphene sheets from electrochemical sewing of corannulene

The presence of non-hexagonal rings in the honeycomb carbon arrangement of graphene produces rippled graphene layers with valuable chemical and physical properties. In principle, a bottom-up approach to introducing distortion from planarity of a graphene sheet can be achieved by careful insertion of curved polyaromatic hydrocarbons during the growth of the lattice. Corannulene, the archetype of such non-planar polyaromatic hydrocarbons, can act as an ideal wrinkling motif in 2D carbon nanostructures. Herein we report an electrochemical bottom-up method to obtain egg-box shaped nanographene structures through a polycondensation of corannulene that produces a new conducting layered material. Characterization of this new polymeric material by electrochemistry, spectroscopy, electron microscopy (SEM and TEM), scanning probe microscopy, and laser desorption-ionization time of flight mass spectrometry provides strong evidence that the anodic polymerization of corannulene, combined with electrochemically induced oxidative cyclodehydrogenations (Scholl reactions), leads to polycorannulene with a wavy graphene-like structure.

A bottom-up synthesis of wavy graphene structures obtained through an anodic polymerization process, combined with an electrochemically triggered oxidative cyclodehydrogenation, of the bowl-shaped polyaromatic hydrocarbon corannulene.     

Synthesis of mesoporous carbons using ordered and disordered mesoporous silica templates and polyacrylonitrile as carbon precursor

Mesoporous carbons were synthesized from polyacrylonitrile (PAN) using ordered and disordered mesoporous silica templates and were characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), powder X-ray diffraction, nitrogen adsorption, and thermogravimetry. The pores of the silica templates were infiltrated with carbon precursor (PAN) via polymerization of acrylonitrile from initiation sites chemically bonded to the silica surface. This polymerization method is expected to allow for a uniform filling of the template with PAN and to minimize the introduction of nontemplated PAN, thus mitigating the formation of nontemplated carbon. PAN was stabilized by heating to 573 K under air and carbonized under N2 at 1073 K. The resulting carbons exhibited high total pore volumes (1.5-1.8 cm3 g(-1)), with a primary contribution of the mesopore volume and with relatively low microporosity. The carbons synthesized using mesoporous templates with a 2-dimensional hexagonal structure (SBA-15 silica) and a face-centered cubic structure (FDU-1 silica) exhibited narrow pore size distributions (PSDs), whereas the carbon synthesized using disordered silica gel template had broader PSD. TEM showed that the SBA-15-templated carbon was composed of arrays of long, straight, or curved nanorods aligned in 2-D hexagonal arrays. The carbon replica of FDU-1 silica appeared to be composed of ordered arrays of spheres. XRD provided evidence of some degree of ordering of graphene sheets in the carbon frameworks. Elemental analysis showed that the carbons contain an appreciable amount of nitrogen. The use of our novel infiltration method and PAN as a carbon precursor allowed us to obtain ordered mesoporous carbons (OMCs) with (i) very high mesopore volume, (ii) low microporosity, (iii) low secondary mesoporosity, (iv) large pore diameter (8-12 nm), and (v) semi-graphitic framework, which represent a desirable combination of features that has not been realized before for OMCs.     

Chiral Se Nanobrooms with Wavelength and Polarization Sensitive Scattering

High-index dielectric nanostructures offer strong magnetic and electric resonances in the visible range and low optical losses, stimulating research interest in their use for light manipulation technologies. Lithographic fabrication of dielectric nanostructures, while providing precise control over the pattern dimensions, limits the scalability of this approach for practical applications due to an inefficient fabrication process and limited production quantity. Here, the colloidal synthesis of high-index chiral dielectric nanostructures with a broom-like geometry made from trigonal Se is demonstrated. The anisotropic morphology and crystal structure of Se nanobrooms enable both linearly and circularly polarized scattering, as well as spectrum variation along the particle axis, which is, to the authors’ knowledge, the first observation of such behavior from dielectric colloidal nanostructures. To show the versatility of the highly scattering Se NB suspensions, 2D and 3D printing of Se NB inks are demonstrated as a proof of concept. This approach provides a way to manipulate light using aqueous dispersions of high-index dielectric nanostructures, unlocking their potential to fit in various morphologies and dimensions in 2D and 3D for broad applications.     

Fluorescent, Siderophore-Based Chelators. Design and Synthesis of a Trispyrenyl Trishydroxamate Ligand, an Intramolecular Excimer-Forming Sensing Molecule Which Responds to Iron(III) and Gallium(III) Metal Cations

Two pyrene-labeled hydroxylamines, 5-Bn and 5-Bz, O-protected with the benzyl and the benzoyl group, respectively, have been prepared for the generation of siderophore-based new chelators incorporating both the pyrene chromophore and the hydroxamic acid functionality. 5-Bz formed the starting point toward the synthesis of the tripod-shaped trishydroxamate, 1. That trichromophoric ligand displays remarkable fluorescence emission properties (dual emission: "monomer" and excimer type) which are markedly and selectively modified by binding Fe(NO(3))(3) and Ga(NO(3))(3). Ferric ions induce a quasi total quenching of the pyrene fluorescence, whereas the nonquenching Ga(III) cations are observed to affect the value of the excimer-to-monomer fluorescence intensity ratio. Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) competition reactions yielded an estimated value of 3.8 for log K of the complex LFe in methanol/water (80/20 v/v), where K = ([LFe][H(+)](3))/([LH(3)][Fe(3+)]) and L is the ligand in its totally deprotonated form. Compound 1 is the prototype of a new class of photoresponsive molecular systems which could act as sensitive probes for metal cation detection and recognition.     

Metallic Conductivity in Metal Tetraaza [14]Annulene Iodides: The Crystal Structures of Dihydrodibenzo-[b,i]-1, 4, 8, 11-tetraazacyclotetradecinenickel and -palladium Iodides

Single crystals of dihydrodibenzo[b, i]-1, 4, 8, 11-tetraazacyclotetradecinenickel iodide show metallic conductivity between room temperature and approx. 110 K. The crystals are orthorhombic, space group I_bam with four formula units per cell of the following dimensions: a = 20.245, b = 13.416, c = 6.418 Å. The analogous palladium complex is isomorphous, the cell constants being a = 20.452, b = 13.430 and c = 6.499 Å. A number of other partially oxidized metal tetraaza [14]annulenes also show electrical conductivity.     

A theoretical investigation of the enantioselective hydrogenation mechanism of α-ketoesters

The enantioselective hydrogenation of α-ketoesters to α-hydroxyesters over Pt/Al₂O₃ catalysts modified by cinchona alkaloids is an interesting model reaction for the investigation of heterogeneous catalysis capable of producing optically active products. The aim of the present theoretical study is to rationalize the interaction between protonated cinchona alkaloids (modifiers) and methyl pyruvate (substrate) by investigating the possible weak complexes formed by these two species. For this purpose we use molecular mechanics and the AM1 semiempirical method. The optimization leads to two stable forms of the complexes, where the substrate is bound to the modifier via hydrogen bonding between the oxygen of the α-carbonyl of pyruvate and the quinuclidine nitrogen of the alkaloid. In such complexes the methyl pyruvate is transformed into a half-hydrogenated species which can be adsorbed on the platinum surface and, after hydrogenation, leads to methyl lactate product. The results show that adsorption of the complex leading to (R)-methyl lactate is more favorable than that of the corresponding system yielding (S)-methyl lactate, which may be the key for the enantio-differentiation.