Analysis of tea components by high-performance liquid chromatography and high-performance capillary electrophoresis

Tea is one of the most popular beverages in the world. The number of reports on the analysis of tea components, especially for catechins, has recently been increasing. We review the recent reports on the analysis of tea components using the analytical methods of high-performance liquid chromatography and high-performance capillary electrophoresis.     

Highly organized spherical hosts that bind organic guests in aqueous solution with micromolar affinity: microcalorimetry studies

Two novel closed-shell hemicarcerand-like hosts with spherical cavities of 11 A diameter that are soluble in aqueous solution were constructed. The binding of xylenes, aryl ethers, polyaromatic compounds, ferrocene derivatives, and bicyclic aliphatic compounds were examined by NMR spectroscopy and microcalorimetry. NMR binding studies indicated that binding depended upon guest hydrophobicity and shape. No binding was detected for guests in which a charge must be desolvated as part of inclusion or for guests that can not fit within the cavity of the host. Three complexes 2.naphthalene, 2.p-xylene, and 2.ferrocene were isolated and found to be indefinitely stable in the solid phase and in aqueous solution. The binding constants for these complexes are estimated to be greater than 10(8) M-1. Thirteen guests were examined by microcalorimetry with binding constants ranging between 10(7) and 10(3) M-1. A comparison of results obtained here with those from previous work with beta-cyclodextrin and cyclophane hosts, along with analysis of the entropy-enthalpy compensation data, indicate that there is a higher degree of guest desolvation with this host structure than with open-shell hosts. This accounts at least partially for the increase in affinity observed with these closed-shell hosts. Replacing a hydroxy group in the host portal with a hydrogen atom does not affect the binding constant, a finding consistent with the guest residing deeply buried within the host cavity. It was observed that aromatic guests are bound with higher affinity than aliphatic ones in agreement with results that point to the importance of London dispersion forces in the association of aromatic components in face-to-edge orientations. The correlation of changes in NMR chemical shift with microcalorimetry data supports a model in which increased CH-pi interactions strengthen association between host and guest due to the dominant role of van der Waals dispersion forces. Remarkably, the binding constant for the 1,4 isomer of dimethoxybenzene is 32 times higher than for the 1,2 isomer, and even greater discrimination is observed between the xylene guests since the binding constant for p-xylene is 80 times greater than that for o-xylene. This discrimination between isomeric guests by a rigid host indicates that changes in specific hydrophobic interactions have substantial effects upon binding affinity.     

Design,synthesis, and evaluation of 6-carboxyalkyl and 6-phosphonoxyalkyl derivatives of 7-oxo-8-ribitylaminolumazines as inhibitors of riboflavin synthase and lumazine synthase

A series of 6-carboxyalkyl and 6-phosphonoxyalkyl derivatives of 7-oxo-8-D-ribityllumazine were synthesized as inhibitors of both Escherichia coli riboflavin synthase and Bacillus subtilis lumazine synthase. The compounds were designed to bind to both the ribitylpurine binding site and the phosphate binding site of lumazine synthase. In the carboxyalkyl series, maximum activity against both enzymes was observed with the 3'-carboxypropyl compound 22. Lengthening or shortening the chain linking the carboxyl group to the lumazine by one carbon resulted in decreased activity. In the phosphonoxyalkyl series, the 3'-phosphonoxypropyl compound 33 was more potent than the 4'-phosphonoxybutyl derivative 39 against lumazine synthase, but it was less potent against riboflavin synthase. Molecular modeling suggested that the terminal carboxyl group of 6-(3'-carboxypropyl)-7-oxo-8-D-ribityllumazine (22) may bind to the side chains of Arg127 and Lys135 of the enzyme. A hypothetical molecular model was also constructed for the binding of 6-(2'-carboxyethyl)-7-oxolumazine (15) in the active site of E. coli riboflavin synthase, which demonstrated that the active site could readily accommodate two molecules of the inhibitor.     

Fractional Brownian dynamics in proteins

Correlation functions describing relaxation processes in proteins and other complex molecular systems are known to exhibit a nonexponential decay. The simulation study presented here shows that fractional Brownian dynamics is a good model for the internal dynamics of a lysozyme molecule in solution. We show that both the dynamic structure factor and the associated memory function fit well the corresponding analytical functions calculated from the model. The numerical analysis is based on autoregressive modeling of time series.