Direct assignment of enantiofacial discrimination on single heterocyclic substrates by self-induced CD

The first direct assignment of highly dynamic enantiofacial discrimination acting on a single heterocyclic substrate has been achieved by a combination of experimental and theoretical CD spectroscopy. The interaction of chirally modified hosts based on triphenylene ketals with appropriate prochiral guests can lead to the preferential formation of one diastereomeric host-guest complex. This reversible stereoselective binding transmits the chiral information from remote chiral groups in the host to the strongly absorbing triphenylene chromophore, which gives rise to self-induced CD. This effect was exploited for the determination of the enantiofacial recognition in various host-guest systems. Inversion of the steric demand either of the chiral substituents at the host or of the prochiral guest leads to almost complete inversion of the resulting CD spectra. For the assignment of the absolute stereochemistry of the complexes, a combined molecular dynamics/quantum-chemical approach was successfully employed. Despite the size and the highly dynamic character of the supramolecular systems, fundamental properties of the systems and details of the spectra were simulated accurately, providing access to fast and reliable assignment of the enantiofacial preference. The results are highly consistent with available X-ray data.     

DABCO-directed self-assembly of bisporphyrins (DABCO=1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane)

Three isomeric zinc bisporphyrins have been prepared by covalently linking together two aminoporphyrins with an isophthalic acid derivative. The porphyrins differ in the substitution pattern on the meso phenyl groups, that is, ortho, meta, or para. Titrations carried out by UV-visible and 1H NMR spectroscopy have been used to map out the stabilities and the stoichiometries of the complexes formed with 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane (DABCO) in chloroform. The ortho- and meta-substituted bisporphyrins form 1:1 intramolecular sandwich complexes. The para-substituted bisporphyrin cannot adopt the cofacial conformation required for this type of complex and forms a higher order 2:2 intermolecular assembly, which is stable over a wide range of DABCO concentrations.     

Palladium-benzimidazolium salt catalyst systems for Suzuki coupling: development of a practical and highly active palladium catalyst system for coupling of aromatic halides with arylboronic acids

Palladium-benzimidazolium salt catalyst systems have been studied for the Suzuki coupling. A different substitutent effect has been uncovered with respect to nitrogen substituents in the benzimidazolium salts from the palladium-imidazolium salt analogs. A practical and highly active palladium catalyst system, PdCl₂/N,N′-dibenzylbenzimidazolium chloride 2, has been identified for the Suzuki coupling of aromatic halides with arylboronic acids. The coupling of a wide array of aromatic halides with arylboronic acids with the PdCl₂-2 catalyst system gave good to excellent yields. The effective palladium loading could be as low as 0.0001 mol% and 0.01-0.1 mol% for iodide and bromide substrates, respectively. The coupling of unactivated aromatic chlorides with arylboronic acids also gave good results using Cs₂CO₃ as base with a 2 mol% palladium loading. The electronic factors from aromatic halides exert a significant influence on the Suzuki coupling catalyzed by the PdCl₂-2 system while the electronic effect from the arylboronic counterparts is negligible. The aromatic halides with modest steric hindrance could also couple smoothly with phenylboronic acids using the PdCl₂-2 catalyst system.     

New Molecular Receptors with Cyclophosphazene Subunits: Synthesis, Reactivity, and Structure-Property Relationships

A series of hydrophopic ( 2 and 3) and new hydrophilic ( 4– 7) molecular receptors of the PNP-lariat ether with tetra-substituted cyclotriphosphazene subunits have been prepared by the complete nucleophilic substitution of chlorine atoms in the reactive PNP-crown precursor 1 with the respective sodium cation-paired oxyanions (phenoxy 2, -naphthoxy 3, and methoxytrioxyethylenoxy 4) and aliphatic amines (n-propylamine 5 aziridine 6, and pyrrolidine 7). Their structures were established by MS and ³¹P NMR spectroscopy and their metal ion complexing properties tested by a TLC method. Comparison of the complexation behaviour for ligands 1– 7 shows that the affinity for particular cations is strongly substituent-dependent and, in general, is significantly enhanced by cooperation of the side arm donor atoms (O or N) with the parent PNP-crown structure in the binding process. The remarkable affinity of some ligands for selected cations, in particular lithium, cesium, and silver ions, is interpreted in terms of structure-property relationships.     

Molecular modeling study of the differential ligand–receptor interaction at the μ, δ and κ opioid receptors

3D models of the opioid receptors , and were constructed using BUNDLE, an in-house program to build de novo models of G-protein coupled receptors at the atomic level. Once the three opioid receptors were constructed and before any energy refinement, models were assessed for their compatibility with the results available from point-site mutations carried out on these receptors. In a subsequent step, three selective antagonists to each of three receptors (naltrindole, naltrexone and nor-binaltorphamine) were docked onto each of the three receptors and subsequently energy minimized. The nine resulting complexes were checked for their ability to explain known results of structure-activity studies. Once the models were validated, analysis of the distances between different residues of the receptors and the ligands were computed. This analysis permitted us to identify key residues tentatively involved in direct interaction with the ligand.     

Nanoscale organization of the pathogen receptor DC-SIGN mapped by single-molecule high-resolution fluorescence microscopy.

DC-SIGN, a C-type lectin exclusively expressed on dendritic cells (DCs), plays an important role in pathogen recognition by binding with high affinity to a large variety of microorganisms. Recent experimental evidence points to a direct relation between the function of DC-SIGN as a viral receptor and its spatial arrangement on the plasma membrane. We have investigated the nanoscale organization of fluorescently labeled DC-SIGN on intact isolated DCs by means of near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) combined with single-molecule detection. Fluorescence spots of different intensity and size have been directly visualized by optical means with a spatial resolution of less than 100 nm. Intensity- and size-distribution histograms of the DC-SIGN fluorescent spots confirm that approximately 80 % of the receptors are organized in nanosized domains randomly distributed on the cell membrane. Intensity-size correlation analysis revealed remarkable heterogeneity in the molecular packing density of the domains. Furthermore, we have mapped the intermolecular organization within a dense cluster by means of sequential NSOM imaging combined with discrete single-molecule photobleaching. In this way we have determined the spatial coordinates of 13 different individual dyes, with a localization accuracy of 6 nm. Our experimental observations are all consistent with an arrangement of DC-SIGN designed to maximize its chances of binding to a wide range of microorganisms. Our data also illustrate the potential of NSOM as an ultrasensitive, high-resolution technique to probe nanometer-scale organization of molecules on the cell membrane.     

The structure-activity relationship of inhibitors of serotonin uptake and receptor binding

Summary An analysis of five different datasets of inhibitors of serotonin uptake has yielded quantitative structure/ activity relationships (QSARs) which delineate the role of steric and hydrophobic properties essential for inhibition by phenylethylamine-type analogues.     

点击功能化的叶酸受体靶向荧光纳米探针用于肿瘤细胞成像

采用点击化学偶联法对荧光二氧化硅纳米粒子表面进行叶酸功能化修饰,构建了一种叶酸受体靶向的荧光纳米探针,并成功用于肿瘤细胞的成像研究.首先通过St?ber法制备包裹钌联吡啶的荧光二氧化硅纳米粒子(RSiNPs),然后利用叠氮化硅烷偶联剂(Az-PTES)的水解反应在其表面引入叠氮基团,最后通过点击化学反应将炔丙基叶酸衍生物偶联到粒子表面.利用红外光谱对其偶联前后的叠氮基特征峰(2105 cm-1)进行表征,证实了叶酸功能化的荧光纳米探针(RSiNPs-Folate)已被成功制备.在生理pH条件下,以458 nm为激发波长,RSiNPs-Folate在601 nm处发射较强的红色荧光,且光稳定性较好.细胞成像结果表明,这种叶酸受体靶向的荧光纳米探针能够有效地标记叶酸受体呈阳性的人宫颈癌细胞(HeLa),而叶酸受体呈阴性的人肺癌细胞(A549)未观察到明显的荧光.叶酸竞争性结合实验证明了这种叶酸受体介导的肿瘤细胞成像机制.此探针能够实现混合细胞体系中HeLa细胞的选择性识别与荧光成像.与酰胺化反应偶联叶酸相比,这种点击功能化的纳米探针的合成方法简单、反应条件温和、产率高,可用于不同肿瘤细胞的荧光标记与成像.     

Design,synthesis and insecticidal activities of novel anthranilic diamides containing polyfluoroalkyl pyrazole moiety

In order to discover new molecules with good insecticidal activities, a series of anthranilic diamides containing polyfluoroalkyl pyrazole were designed and synthesized, and their structures were characterized by ¹H NMR and HRMS. Bioassays demonstrated that some of the title compound exhibited excellent insecticidal activities. The larvicidal activities of compound 8a, 8c, 8g, 8k and 8l against Mythimna separata Walker were 100% at 0.8 mg/L. The insecticidal activities of compound 8a, 8c, 8e, 8g, 8k and 8l against Plutella xylostella Linnaeus were 100% at 0.4 mg/L. Surprisingly compounds 8a and 8c still showed 100% larvicidal activities against Plutella xylostella Linnaeus at 0.08 mg/L comparable to the commercialized Chlorantraniliprole. The LC₅₀ of compound 8a and 8c against M. separata is 0.048 and 0.043 mg/L respectively.     

Understanding the Chloride Affinity of Barbiturates for Anion Receptor Design

Due to their potential binding sites, barbituric acid (BA) and its derivatives have been used in metal coordination chemistry. Yet their abilities to recognize anions remain unexplored. In this work, we were able to identify four structural features of barbiturates that are responsible for a certain anion affinity. The set of coordination interactions can be finely tuned with covalent decorations at the methylene group. DFT-D computations at the BLYP-D3(BJ)/aug-cc-pVDZ level of theory show that the C−H bond is as effective as the N−H bond to coordinate chloride. An analysis of the electron charge density at the C−H⋅⋅⋅Cl⁻ and N−H⋅⋅⋅Cl⁻ bond critical points elucidates their similarities in covalent character. Our results reveal that the special acidity of the C−H bond shows up when the methylene group moves out of the ring plane and it is mainly governed by the orbital interaction energy. The amide and carboxyl groups are the best choices to coordinate the ion when they act together with the C−H bond. We finally show how can we use this information to rationally improve the recognition capability of a small cage-like complex that is able to coordinate NaCl.