Immobilization of trypsin on miniature incandescent bulbs for infrared-assisted proteolysis

A novel efficient proteolysis approach was developed based on trypsin-immobilized miniature incandescent bulbs and infrared (IR) radiation. Trypsin was covalently immobilized in the chitosan coating on the outer surface of miniature incandescent bulbs with the aid of glutaraldehyde. When an illuminated enzyme-immobilized bulb was immersed in protein solution, the emitted IR radiation could trigger and accelerate heterogeneous protein digestion. The feasibility and performance of the novel proteolysis approach were demonstrated by the digestion of hemoglobin (HEM), cytochrome c (Cyt-c), lysozyme (LYS), and ovalbumin (OVA) and the digestion time was significantly reduced to 5 min. The obtained digests were identified by MALDI-TOF-MS with the sequence coverages of 91%, 77%, 80%, and 52% for HEM, Cyt-c, LYS, and OVA (200 ng μL⁻¹ each), respectively. The suitability of the prepared bulb bioreactors to complex proteins was demonstrated by digesting human serum.     

Use of a porous silicon–gold plasmonic nanostructure to enhance serum peptide signals in MALDI-TOF analysis

Small peptides in serum are potential biomarkers for the diagnosis of cancer and other diseases. The identification of peptide biomarkers in human plasma/serum has become an area of high interest in medical research. However, the direct analysis of peptides in serum samples using mass spectrometry is challenging due to the low concentration of peptides and the high abundance of high-molecular-weight proteins in serum, the latter of which causes severe signal suppression. Herein, we reported that porous semiconductor-noble metal hybrid nanostructures can both eliminate the interference from large proteins in serum samples and significantly enhance the matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) yields of peptides captured on the nanostructure. Serum peptide fingerprints with high fidelity can be acquired rapidly, and successful discrimination of colorectal cancer patients based on peptide fingerprints is demonstrated.     

Spectroscopic and magnetic investigations of actinide‐based nanomagnets

Magnetic exchange is an essential feature of transition‐metal nanomagnets because it combines the relatively low spin‐only moments of several ions into a “giant spin” ground state, which can make slow magnetic relaxation very favorable in an axially anisotropic environment. In contrast, most of the early research on lanthanide‐based complexes focused on single‐ion magnets, where the required large moment is generated by the unquenched orbital contribution (which is parallel to the spin in heavy rare earths). With their unfilled 5f electronic shell being on the verge between localization and itinerancy, actinides are expected to combine the best of both 3d and 4f metals in terms of exchange and anisotropy, and are therefore under consideration as potential building blocks for the next generation of single‐molecule magnets. In this Perspective, a review of the recent development in this field is given, and some discrepancies between the spectroscopic and magnetic data are discussed. © 2014 European Commission. International Journal of Quantum Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Intramolecular interactions of L‐phenylalanine: Valence ionization spectra and orbital momentum distributions of its fragment molecules

Intramolecular interactions between fragments of L ‐phenylalanine, i.e., phenyl and alaninyl, have been investigated using dual space analysis (DSA) quantum mechanically. Valence space photoelectron spectra (PES), orbital energy topology and correlation diagram, as well as orbital momentum distributions (MDs) of L ‐phenylalanine, benzene and L ‐alanine are studied using density functional theory methods. While fully resolved experimental PES of L ‐phenylalanine is not yet available, our simulated PES reproduces major features of the experimental measurement. For benzene, the simulated orbital MDs for 1e_1g and 1a_2u orbitals also agree well with those measured using electron momentum spectra. Our theoretical models are then applied to reveal intramolecular interactions of the species on an orbital base, using DSA. Valence orbitals of L ‐phenylalanine can be essentially deduced into contributions from its fragments such as phenyl and alaninyl as well as their interactions. The fragment orbitals inherit properties of their parent species in energy and shape (ie., MDs). Phenylalanine orbitals show strong bonding in the energy range of 14‐20 eV, rather than outside of this region. This study presents a competent orbital based fragments‐in‐molecules picture in the valence space, which supports the fragment molecular orbital picture and building block principle in valence space. The optimized structures of the molecules are represented using the recently developed interactive 3D‐PDF technique. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2011     

Methylation of zebularine investigated using density functional theory calculations

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) methylation is an epigenetic phenomenon, which adds methyl groups into DNA. This study reveals methylation of a nucleoside antibiotic drug 1‐(β‐D ‐ribofuranosyl)‐2‐pyrimidinone (zebularine or zeb) with respect to its methylated analog, 1‐(β‐D ‐ribofuranosyl)‐5‐methyl‐2‐pyrimidinone (d5) using density functional theory calculations in valence electronic space. Very similar infrared spectra suggest that zeb and d5 do not differ by types of the chemical bonds, but distinctly different Raman spectra of the nucleoside pair reveal that the impact caused by methylation of zeb can be significant. Further valence orbital‐based information details on valence electronic structural changes caused by methylation of zebularine. Frontier orbitals in momentum space and position space of the molecules respond differently to methylation. Based on the additional methyl electron density concentration in d5, orbitals affected by the methyl moiety are classified into primary and secondary contributors. Primary methyl contributions include MO8 (57a), MO18 (47a), and MO37 (28a) of d5, which concentrates on methyl and the base moieties, suggest certain connection to their Frontier orbitals. The primary and secondary methyl affected orbitals provide useful information on chemical bonding mechanism of the methylation in zebularine. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2011     

Laser Ablation Molecular Isotopic Spectrometry: Parameter influence on boron isotope measurements

Laser Ablation Molecular Isotopic Spectrometry (LAMIS) was recently reported for optical isotopic analysis of condensed samples in ambient air and at ambient pressure. LAMIS utilizes molecular emissions which exhibit larger isotopic spectral shits than in atomic transitions. For boron monoxide ¹⁰BO and ¹¹BO, the isotopic shifts extend from 114 cm⁻¹ (0.74 nm) to 145–238 cm⁻¹ (5–8 nm) at the B²Σ⁺ (v = 0) → X²Σ⁺ (v = 2) and A²Π_i (v = 0) → X²Σ⁺ (v = 3) transitions, respectively. These molecular isotopic shifts are over two orders of magnitude larger than the maximum isotopic shift of approximately 0.6 cm⁻¹ in atomic boron. This paper describes how boron isotope abundance can be quantitatively determined using LAMIS and how atomic, ionic, and molecular optical emission develops in a plasma emanating from laser ablation of solid samples with various boron isotopic composition. We demonstrate that requirements for spectral resolution of the measurement system can be significantly relaxed when the isotopic abundance ratio is determined using chemometric analysis of spectra. Sensitivity can be improved by using a second slightly delayed laser pulse arriving into an expanding plume created by the first ablation pulse.     

Study of the vibrational spectra of SO2, H2O and D2O using the U(4) algebraic model

Using the U(4) algebraic model, in this work we report a study of the vibrational spectra of SO₂, H₂0¹⁸ and D₂O¹⁶. The inclusion of intermode couplings in algebraic models has been stated to give a deep insight into detailed spectroscopy for these bent XY₂ molecules. Improved set of algebraic parameters has been reported to provide improved RMS deviations for these molecules.     

Raman spectroscopic characteristics of octa-substituted bis(phthalocyaninato) rare earth complexes peripherally substituted with (4-methoxy)phenoxy derivatives

The Raman spectroscopic data in the range 500-1800 cm⁻¹ for a series of 15 rare earth double-deckers with tervalent rare earths M^III[Pc(MeOPhO)₈]₂ (M = Y, La, …, Lu, except Ce, Pr and Pm), reduced state HPr[Pc(MeOPhO)₈]₂ and intermediate-valent cerium Ce[Pc(MeOPhO)₈]₂ have been collected using laser excitation source emitting at 632.8 nm. With excitation at 632.8 nm, which is in close resonance with the main Q absorption band of the phthalocyanine ligand, typical Raman marker bands of the monoanion radical [Pc(MeOPhO)₈]⁻ were observed at 1500-1528 cm⁻¹ as very strong bands resulting from the coupling of pyrrole CC and aza CN stretchings. For Ce[Pc(MeOPhO)₈]₂ and HPr[Pc(MeOPhO)₈]₂, a very strong band at 1499 cm⁻¹ with contributions from both pyrrole CC and aza CN stretchings and also isoindole stretching was the marker Raman band of [Pc(MeOPhO)₈]²⁻. In addition, the influence of ionic radius of the rare earth metal and substituent species on the Raman scatting characteristics of sandwich-type compounds has also been tentatively studied.     

Solute-solvent interactions in formamide and zinc chloride solutions: An investigation by Raman spectroscopy

Raman experiments of formamide and zinc chloride solutions in a wide concentration range (0.1-5.0 mol kg⁻¹) have been carried out. The spectral changes were interpreted on three different ways: (i) the rupture of the H-bonds of FA was evidenced by the trend observed in the ν_CO, δ_HNH and restricted (translation or libration) modes; (ii) the appearance of a new band in the ν_CN region (∼1338 cm⁻¹) was assigned to FA coordinated to Zn (II) through nitrogen atom; (iii) the electronic delocalization in the FA structure upon complexation provided the appearance of new features in the δ_CH and ν_CH regions. The quantitative treatment performed at the ν_CN region of FA allowed the determination of an average number of 3 FA molecules per Zn (II) in the first solvation shell. This value is supported by the appearance of features assigned to ZnCl⁺ and ZnCl₂ entities that also occupy vertices of the tetrahedron at higher salt concentrations. The present study may be useful for a better understanding on electrochemical processes employed in the production of dendritic zinc films as well as FA hydrolysis catalyzed by this metal.     

Comment on the assignments of some vibrational bands of oxalyl fluoride

In view of existing contradictory assignments of the symmetrical stretching vibrations associated with the formal C-C and C-F bonds of trans/cis oxalyl fluoride, an additional theoretical analysis of the corresponding calculated wavenumbers was preformed on trans-C₂O₂F₂ and cis-C₂O₂F₂ based on previously calculated ab initio scaled force fields at the HF/6-31G computational level and new force fields calculated at the MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ level. This novel analysis included computational data from the isotopic shifts brought about by incorporating ¹³C and ¹⁴C atoms into the structure. A detailed examination of the calculated wavenumbers made it possible to validate the assignments of the ν₂ and ν₃ wavenumbers in the trans-C₂O₂F₂ and cis-C₂O₂F₂ molecules as the formal C-C bond stretching and the formal C-F bond symmetrical stretching vibrations, respectively.