Dendrimers and combinatorial chemistry—tools for fluorescent enhancement in protease assays

FRET based systems are some of the best methods available to detect and monitor proteolytic activity. To enhance fluorescent signals and hence assay sensitivity, two different systems were developed using two different dendrimeric constructs. In the first case, a triple branched dendrimer bearing three dansyl groups was used to enhance assay sensitivity and showed a significant enhancement of fluorescence following enzymatic cleavage. In another example, a tris-fluorescein probe, that undergoes self-quenching, was utilized in a combinatorial library synthesis to map the substrate specificity of proteases.     

Carbohydrate-Based Scaffolds for the Generation of Sortiments of Bioactive Compounds

Summary.  The polyfunctionality and conformational rigidity of carbohydrates make this class of compounds ideal scaffolds for the production of sortiments¹ of bioactive compounds. Examples of carbohydrate-derived peptidomimetics of biological interest, such as somatostatin agonists and integrin antagonists, are presented. In order to have access to solid phase supported sortiments of compounds, orthogonally protected or unprotected carbohydrates were linked to polymers and reacted in the solid phase employing different regioselective strategies. Original bicyclic and tricyclic glycidic scaffolds were easily obtained starting from natural sugars such as D-arabinose and D-fructose. Manipulation of these conformationally blocked compounds afforded different carbohydrate-based derivatives, among which azidoacids are useful precursors of β-turn peptidomimetics. Received September 10, 2001. Accepted November 2, 2001     

Vibrational spectroscopic encoding of polystyrene-based resin beads: converting the encoding peaks into barcodes

A detailed approach is described for the vibrational spectroscopic encoding of polystyrene-based resin beads by converting the infrared absorption peaks suitable for encoding (encoding peaks) into barcodes. Based on combining the FT-IR measurements and the quantum-chemical computations, the vibrational characteristics of p-tert-butylstyrene monomer, polystyrene and poly(p-tert-butylstyrene) resin beads are analyzed, which are helpful for the selection of encoding peaks. The vibrational spectroscopic encoding of polystyrene-based resin beads could be obtained by converting the wavenumber, intensity and full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the encoding peaks into barcodes automatically through a computer program designed in our laboratory.     

Computational combinatorial ligand design: Application to human α-thrombin

Summary A new method is presented for computer-aided ligand design by combinatorial selection of fragments that bind favorably to a macromolecular target of known three-dimensional structure. Firstly, the multiple-copy simultaneous-search procedure (MCSS) is used to exhaustively search for optimal positions and orientations of functional groups on the surface of the macromolecule (enzyme or receptor fragment). The MCSS minima are then sorted according to an approximated binding free energy, whose solvation component is expressed as a sum of separate electrostatic and nonpolar contributions. The electrostatic solvation energy is calculated by the numerical solution of the linearized Poisson-Boltzmann equation, while the nonpolar contribution to the binding free energy is assumed to be proportional to the loss in solvent-accessible surface area. The program developed for computational combinatorial ligand design (CCLD) allows the fast and automatic generation of a multitude of highly diverse compounds, by connecting in a combinatorial fashion the functional groups in their minimized positions. The fragments are linked as two atoms may be either fused, or connected by a covalent bond or a small linker unit. To avoid the combinatorial explosion problem, pruning of the growing ligand is performed according to the average value of the approximated binding free energy of its fragments. The method is illustrated here by constructing candidate ligands for the active site of human -thrombin. The MCSS minima with favorable binding free energy reproduce the interaction patterns of known inhibitors. Starting from these fragments, CCLD generates a set of compounds that are closely related to high-affinity thrombin inhibitors. In addition, putative ligands with novel binding motifs are suggested. Probable implications of the MCSS-CCLD approach for the evolving scenario of drug discovery are discussed.     

组合法优化Ti掺杂Zn-Al合金薄膜的耐腐蚀性能

应用组合技术, 通过离子束溅射法制备了Zn-Al-Ti合金薄膜材料芯片(其中wAl:wZn=55%:45%(w, 质量分数)), 表征了热处理后薄膜的耐腐蚀性能, 研究了Ti掺杂量对薄膜耐腐蚀性能的影响. 在Ar+5%(φ, 体积分数)H2混合气氛中, 经200 ℃扩散1 h, 再经370 ℃热处理2 h后可以得到高质量的合金薄膜. 通过X射线衍射仪(XRD)和扫描电子显微镜(SEM)分别对热处理后的典型样品进行相结构和形貌表征. 使用电化学方法测试样品的耐腐蚀性能. 结果表明, Ti适量掺杂样品的腐蚀速率明显下降, 其中Ti掺杂量为6.0%(w)的Zn-Al-Ti合金薄膜(94.0%(w) Zn-Al, 其中wAl:wZn=55%:45%)具有最优异的耐腐蚀性能, 其原因在于, Ti适量掺入后晶粒明显细化, 表面更为致密, 且钝化作用增强.     

Rapid Screening of Olefin Polymerization Catalyst Libraries by Electrospray Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometry

The simultaneous screening of catalysts according to their propensity for catalyzing the polymerization of ethylene (see scheme) can be achieved with the help of electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. A small (eight catalysts) library of Pd^II complexes synthesized simultaneously in a one-pot reaction has demonstrated the efficiency of this new screening technique. This method could be widened to libraries of other olefin polymerization catalysts.     

Efficient resolution of racemic 1,1'-bi-2-naphthol with chiral selectors identified from a small library

Efficient resolution of racemic 1,1'-bi-2-naphthol, a well-studied analyte in chiral separation, was achieved using selectors developed from a small library. Separation factors (up to 7.2) obtained are significantly higher than the ones reported previously for this analyte. The library consists of 121 members and it does not contain the pi deficient 3,5-dinitrobenzoyl (Dnb) group. These highly efficient stationary phases may lead to the practical large-scale chromatographic resolution of enantiomers of 1,1'-bi-2-naphthol, which are widely used as chiral auxiliaries and ligands in asymmetric synthesis.     

组合电化学--电化学研究中的新策略

组合电化学是一种新的电化学研究策略，通过设计和构建大量多样性的电极阵列，并对其进行高通量筛选和表征，快速、高效地实现了体系的电化学研究。本文综述了近年来进行的组合电化学研究，重点介绍了组合光学筛选方法、组合电化学合成方法以及电化学平行筛选方法，并探讨了各种方法的优势和存在的问题。     

Polyethylene glycol phospholipids encapsulated silicon 2,3-naphthalocyanine dihydroxide nanoparticles (SiNcOH-DSPEPEG(NH2) NPs) for single NIR laser induced cancer combination therapy

Currently, the combination of photothermal therapy (PTT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT) has emerged as a powerful technique for cancer treatment. However, most examples of combined PTT and PDT reported use multi-component nanocomposites under excitation of separate wavelength, resulting in complex treatment process. In this work, a novel theranostic nanoplatform (SiNcOH-DSPE-PEG(NH₂) NPs) has been successfully developed by coating silicon 2,3-naphthalocyanine dihydroxide (SiNcOH) with DSPE-PEG and DSPE-PEG-NH₂ for photoacoustic (PA) imaging-guided PTT and PDT tumor ablation for the first time. The as-prepared single-agent SiNcOH-DSPE-PEG(NH₂) NPs not only have good water solubility and biocompatibility, but also exhibit high photothermal conversion efficiency and singlet oxygen generation capability upon 808 nm NIR laser irradiation. In addition, owing to their high absorption at NIR region, the SiNcOH-DSPE-PEG(NH₂) NPs can also be employed as an effective diagnostic nanoagent for photoacoustic (PA) imaging. In vitro and in vivo experimental results clearly indicated that the simultaneously combined PTT and PDT under the guidance of PA imaging with single NIR laser excitation can effectively kill cancer cells or eradicate tumor tissues. Taking facile synthesis and high efficiency in cancer treatment by SiNcOH-DSPE-PEG(NH₂) NPs into consideration, our study provides a promising strategy to realize molecular imaging-guided combination therapy.     

Functional Peptides from One-bead One-compound High-throughput Screening Technique

Combinatorial chemistry provides a cost-effective method for the rapid discovery of new functional peptides. One-bead one-compound(OBOC) high-throughput screening technique offers a lot of structurally diverse peptides to be rapidly synthesized and screened for binding to a target of interest. The OBOC peptide library screening involves three main steps: library construction, positive beads separation, and peptide sequencing. This review mainly summarizes some special technique tips during functional peptide screening and potential future directions of the OBOC high-throughput screening technique.