Synthesis and conformational analysis by 1H NMR and restrained molecular dynamics simulations of the cyclic decapeptide [Ser-Tyr-Ser-Met-Glu-His-Phe-Arg-Trp-Gly]

Summary The design of enzyme mimics with therapeutic and industrial applications has interested both experimental and computational chemists for several decades. Recent advances in the computational methodology of restrained molecular dynamics, used in conjunction with data obtained from two-dimensional ¹H NMR spectroscopy, make it a promising method to study peptide and protein structure and function. Several issues, however, need to be addressed in order to assess the validity of this method for its explanatory and predictive value. Among the issues addressed in this study are: the accuracy and generizability of the GROMOS peptide molecular mechanics force field; the effect of inclusion of solvent on the simulations; and the effect of different types of restraining algorithms on the computational results. The decapeptide Ser-Tyr-Ser-Met-Glu-His-Phe-Arg-Trp-Gly, which corresponds to the sequence of ACTH_1–10, has been synthesized, cyclized, and studied by two-dimensional ¹H NMR spectroscopy. Restrained molecular dynamics (RMD) and time-averaged restrained molecular dynamics (TARMD) simulations were carried out on four different distance-geometry starting structures in order to determine and contrast the behavior of cyclic ACTH_1–10 in vacuum and in solution. For the RMD simulations, the structures did not fit the NOE data well, even at high values of the restraining potential. The TARMD simulation method, however, was able to give structures that fit the NOE data at high values of the restraining potential. In both cases, inclusion of explicit solvent molecules in the simulation had little effect on the quality of the fit, although it was found to dampen the motion of the cyclic peptide. For both simulation techniques, the number and size of the NOE violations increased as the restraining potential approached zero. This is due, presumably, to inadequacies in the force field. Additional TARMD vacuum-phase simulations, run with a larger memory length or with a larger sampling size (16 additional distance-geometry structures), yielded no significantly different results. The computed data were then analyzed to help explain the sparse NOE data and poor chymotryptic activity of the cyclic peptide. Cyclic ACTH_1–10, which contains the functional moieties of the catalytic triad of chymotrypsin, was evaluated as a potential mimic of chymotrypsin by measurement of the rate of hydrolysis of esters of L-and d-phenylalanine. The poor rate of hydrolysis is attributed to the flexibility of the decapeptide, the motion of the side chains, which result in the absence of long-range NOEs, the small size of the macrocycle relative to that of the substrate, and the inappropriate orientation of the Gly, His, and Ser residues. The results demonstrate the utility of this method in computer-aided molecular design of cyclic peptides and suggest structural modifications for future work based on a larger and more rigid peptide framework.     

二卤二茂钛在水溶液中的水解化学

七十年代末,德国的H.Koepf和P.Koepf-Maier首次证明二氯二茂钛具有抗艾氏腹水癌(EAT)活性后,现在人们又发现了二茂钛衍生物,尤其是二茂钛卤化物对多种肿瘤都具有显著的抑制作用。可以说,二茂钛配合物是继顺铂后又一类型有效的有机金属抗癌剂。现有的研究表明,处量后的二茂钛晶胞中,胞内金属的分布和报导的铂配合物相     

Reaction ofN-(3,3,3-trifluoro-2-trifluoromethylprop-1-enyl)dimethylamine with MgSO4·7H2O. Synthesis of 4,4-difluoro-5-trifluoromethyl-2-(2,2,2-trifluoro-1-trifluoromethylethyl)-4H-1,3-dioxine andcis/trans-3-dimethylamino-2-trifluoromethacryloyl fluoride

4,4-Difluoro-5-trifluoromethyl-2-(2,2,2-trifluoro-1-trifluoromethylethyl)-4H-1,3-dioxine andcis/trans-3-dimethylamino-2-trifluoromethacryloyl fluoride were obtained by reaction ofN-(3,3,3-trifluoro-2-trifluoromethylprop-1-enyl)dimethylamine with MgSO₄·7H₂O. Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 5, pp. 1069–1071, May, 1997.     

Strategies to enhance the enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated softwood with high residual lignin content

Pretreatment of Douglas-fir by steam explosion produces a substrate containing approx 43% lignin. Two strategies were investigated for reducing the effect of this residual lignin on enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose: mild alkali extraction and protein addition. Extraction with cold 1% NaOH reduced the lignin content by only approx 7%, but cellulose to glucose conversion was enhanced by about 30%. Before alkali extraction, addition of exogenous protein resulted in a significant improvement in cellulose hydrolysis, but this protein effect was substantially diminished after alkali treatment. Lignin appears to reduce cellulose hydrolysis by two distinct mechanisms: by forming a physical barrier that prevents enzyme access and by non-productively binding cellulolytic enzymes. Cold alkali appears to selectively remove a fraction of lignin from steam-exploded Douglas-fir with high affinity for protein. Corresponding data for mixed softwood pretreated by organosolv extraction indicates that the relative importance of the two mechanisms by which residual lignin affects hydrolysis is different according to the pre- and post-treatment method used.     

The Degree of Disorder in Hardwood Kraft Pulps Studied by Means of LODP

The amount of disordered material in two types of hardwood kraft pulps was estimated by determining the weight loss at the point where the levelling-off degree of polymerisation (LODP) was reached. The pulps used were commercial pulps viz (1)one conventional birch kraft and (2)one mixed hardwood (MHW) kraft pulp that had been prehydrolysed prior to cooking. The results indicated that the hemicellulose xylan is closely associated with the cellulose in commercial birch pulps. It is therefore only possible to use LODP as a measure of the crystallite length of hardwood cellulose in highly purified pulps, such as prehydrolysed kraft pulp. A model explaining the LODP-results is proposed.     

Synthesis of functionalized polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) macromers by microwave assisted 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition

In this paper we report the first synthesis of isoxazolidine and isoxazoline-POSS macromers by 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions of vinyl- and styryl-POSS with N-methyl-C-ethoxycarbonylnitrone and ethoxycarbonyl nitrile oxide, promoted by microwave irradiation. The nature of the resulting cycloadducts has been determined by NOE experiments and supported by computational studies at PM3 and DFT B3LYP/6-31G* levels.     

Cellulose hydrolysis using zinc chloride as a solvent and catalyst

Cellulose gel with < 10% of crystallinity was prepared by treatment of microcrystalline cellulose, Avicel, with zinc chloride solution at a ratio of zinc chloride to cellulose from 1.5 to 18 (w/w). The presence of zinc ions in the cellulose gels enhanced the rate of hydrolysis and glucose yield. The evidence obtained from X-ray diffraction, iodine absorption experiments; and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectra analysis suggested the presence of zinc-cellulose complex after Avicel was treated with zinc chloride. Zinc-cellulose complex was more susceptible to hydrolysis than amorphous cellulose. Under the experimental condition, cellulose gels with zinc ions were hyrolyzed to glucose with 95% theoretical yield and a concentration of 14% (w/v) by cellulases within 20 h. The same gel was hydrolyzed by acid to glucose with 91.5% yield and a concentration of 13.4% (w/v).     

Xylan hydrolysis in zinc chloride solution

Xylan is the major component of hemicellulose, which consists of up to one-third of the lignocellulosic biomass. When the zinc chloride solution was used as a pretreatment agent to facilitate cellulose hydrolysis, hemicellulose was hydrolyzed during the pretreatment stage. In this study, xylan was used as a model to study the hydrolysis of hemicellulose in zinc chloride solution. The degradation of xylose that is released from xylan was reduced by the formation of zinc-xylose complex. The xylose yield was >90% (w/w) at 70°C. The yield and rate of hydrolysis were a function of temperature and the concentration of zinc chloride. The ratio of zinc chloride can be decreased from 9 to 1.3 (w/w). At this ratio, 76% of xylose yield was obtained. When wheat straw was pretreated with a concentrated zinc chloride solution, the hemicellulose hydrolysate contained only xylose and trace amounts of arabinose and oligosaccharides. With this approach, the hemicellulose hydrolysate can be separated from cellulose residue, which would be hydrolyzed subsequently to glucose by acid or enzymes to produce glucose. This production scheme provided a method to produce glucose and xylose in different streams, which can be fermented in separated fermenters.     

Preparation of Titania from Tetrakis(diethylamino)titanium via Hydrolysis

The conversion of tetrakis(diethylamino)titanium (Ti(NEt₂)₄) into titania via either a combination of hydrolysis (Ti(NEt₂)₄ : THF : H₂O = 1 : 10 : x, x = 2, 4, 10) at ambient conditions and calcination (method A) or hydrolysis in a water-tetrahydrofuran (THF) mixture (Ti(NEt₂)₄ : THF : H₂O = 1 : 10 : 100) at reflux (method B) was investigated. Titanium tertiary butoxide (Ti(O ^t Bu)₄) was also used as a substitute for Ti(NEt₂)₄. The hydrolysis via method A resulted in the formation of amorphous solids containing organics. Thermal analyses showed that the hydrolysis products showed mass losses up to 500°C probably due to the presence of diethylamine (Et₂NH) formed via the hydrolysis of Ti(NEt₂)₄ in the hydrolysis products, while a mass loss of the hydrolysis product from Ti(O ^t Bu)₄ was completed up to about 200°C. After calcination at 600°C, anatase or a mixture of anatase and rutile was obtained. The crystallization behavior of the hydrolysis products from Ti(NEt₂)₄ was different from that of the hydrolysis product from Ti(O ^t Bu)₄. The hydrolysis via method B gave only an amorphous material from Ti(NEt₂)₄, while a crystalline titania (anatase and brookite) formed from Ti(O ^t Bu)₄.     

Hydrolysis of 7,7-Substituted Derivatives of 3-tert-Butyl-3,4-dihydro-2H-thiazolo-[3,2-a][1,3,5]triazin-6(7H)-one

Alkaline hydrolysis of 3-tert-butyl-7,7-bis(hydroxymethyl)-3,4-dihydro-2H-thiazolo[3,2-a][1,3,5]-triazin-6(7H)-one can occur in three directions: with cleavage of the tetrahydrotriazine ring, with cleavage of the thiazolidine ring, and also with opening of both rings. Depending on the process conditions, either the hydrolysis product corresponding to the first direction or the hydrolytic decomposition products corresponding to the second and third directions can be obtained in preparative quantities. Hydrolysis of 3,3′-di-tert-butyl-3′,4′-dihydro-2′ H-spiro[(perhydro-1,3-oxazine)-5,7′-thiazolo[3,2-a][1,3,5]triazin]-6′-one in (NH₄)₂CO₃ solution occurs in two steps: in the first step, cleavage of the tetrahydrotriazine ring occurs; and in the second step, opening of the perhydrooxazine ring occurs. __________ Translated from Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 7, pp. 1089–1097, July, 2005.