Carbon nanotube-DNA hybrid used for activity monitoring and inhibitor screening of nuclease

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can efficiently quench the fluorescence of the adsorbed fluorophores and nonconvalently interact with soft single-stranded DNA (ssDNA). Upon disruption of CNTs–fluorescent oligonucleotides hybrid by nuclease S1, fluorescence turn-on was observed. Using this strategy, a platform based on fluorescence signal for monitoring the activity of nuclease with advantages of high sensitivity and commonality was established, and a linear relationship between initial cleavage reaction rate and nuclease S1 concentration is found in the range of 0.6–8.0 U mL⁻¹ with a detection limit of 0.08 U mL⁻¹. Furthermore, by taking pyrophosphate as an example, we use the assay to evaluate the prohibition effect on nuclease, and the extent of fluorescence recovery decreased linearly with increasing the concentration of pyrophosphate in the range of 0.2–1.4 mM, implying that the cleavage reaction by nuclease S1 was prohibited, and therefore this fluorescence assay can also be conveniently utilized for inhibitor screening of nuclease.     

Synthesis of N-acetyl Glucosamine Analogs as Inhibitors for Hyaluronan Biosynthesis

Elevated hyaluronan expression is a hallmark of many types of cancer. Therefore, inhibition of hyaluronan biosynthesis can potentially slow the growth of tumor cells. Herein, we explore a chain termination strategy to reduce hyaluronan synthesis by tumor cells. Several analogs of glucosamine were prepared, which contained modifications at the C-3 positions. These analogs can possibly cap the nonreducing end of a growing hyaluronan chain, thus lowering the amount of hyaluronan synthesized. Upon incubation with pancreatic cancer cells, a fluorine-containing glucosamine analog was found to exhibit significant inhibitory activities of hyaluronan synthesis. Furthermore, it drastically reduced the proliferation of cancer cells.

Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Journal of Carbohydrate Chemistry to view the supplemental file.     

Impedance spectroscopic study of corrosion inhibition of Al-Pure by organic Schiff base in hydrochloric acid

A new corrosion inhibitor namely o-Chloroaniline-N-benzylidene (o-CANB) has been synthesized and its inhibitive performance toward the corrosion of Al-Pure in 1.0 M hydrochloric acid has been investigated. Corrosion inhibition was studied by chemical method (weight loss) and electrochemical techniques including polarization method and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The present study has shown that this inhibitor is good in acidic media and the inhibition efficiency up to >99% in 1.0 M HCl. Polarization measurement revealed that the investigated inhibitor is a mixed type with a predominant action on cathode. Impedance measurement showed that the charge transfer resistance (R_ct) increased and double layer capacitance (C_dl) decreased with an increase in the inhibitor's concentration. Obtained results about inhibition efficiency from weight loss, polarization study and EIS are in good agreement with each other. The adsorption of the inhibitor on the metal surface in the acid solution was found to obey Langmuir's adsorption isotherm.     

Substituent effects on the binding of natural product anthocyanidin inhibitors to influenza neuraminidase with mass spectrometry

The binding of three closely related anthocyanins within the 430-cavity of influenza neuraminidase is studied using a combination of mass spectrometry and molecular docking. Despite their similar structures, which differ only in the number and position of the hydroxyl substituents on the phenyl group attached to the chromenylium ring, subtle differences in their binding characteristics are revealed by mass spectrometry and molecular docking that are in accord with their inhibitory properties by neuraminidase inhibition assays. The cyanidin and delphinidin, with the greatest number of hydroxyl groups, bind more strongly and are better inhibitors than pelargonidin that contains a lone hydroxyl group at the 4′ position. The study demonstrates, for the first time, the sensitivity of the mass spectrometry based approach for investigating the molecular basis and relative affinity of antiviral inhibitors, with subtly different structures, to their target protein. It has broader application for the screening of other protein interactions more generally with reasonable high-throughput.     

In silico design novel (5-imidazol-2-yl-4-phenylpyrimidin-2-yl)[2-(2-pyridylamino)ethyl]amine derivatives as inhibitors for glycogen synthase kinase 3 based on 3D-QSAR,molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation

Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 (GSK-3) is a member of cellular kinase with various functions, such as glucose regulation, cellular differentiation, neuronal function and cell apoptosis. It has been proved as an important therapeutic target in type 2 diabetes mellitus and Alzheimer's disease. To better understand their structure–activity relationships and mechanism of action, an integrated computational study, including three dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D-QSAR), molecular docking, and molecular dynamics (MD), was performed on 79 (5-Imidazol-2-yl-4-phenylpyrimidin-2-yl)[2-(2-pyridylamino)ethyl]amine GSK-3 inhibitors. In this paper, we constructed 3D-QSAR using comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) and comparative molecular similarity index analysis (CoMSIA) method. The results showed that the CoMFA model (q ² = 0.743, r² = 0.980) and the CoMSIA model (q² = 0.813, r² = 0.976) had stable and reliable predictive ability. The electrostatic and H-bond donor fields play important roles in the models. The contour maps of the model visually showed the relationship between the activity of compounds and their three-dimensional structure. Molecular docking was used to identify the key amino acid residues at the active site of GSK-3 and explore its binding mode with ligands. Based on 3D-QSAR models, contour maps and the binding feature between GSK-3 and inhibitor, we designed 10 novel compounds with good potential activity and ADME/T profile. Molecular dynamics simulation results validated that Ile62, Val70 and Lys85 located in the active site play a key role for GSK-3 complexed with inhibitors. These results might provide important information for designing GSK-3 inhibitors with high activity.     

Experimental and DFT evaluation of adsorption and inhibitive properties of Moringa oliefera extract on mild steel corrosion in acidic media

The corrosion response of mild steel in 0.5 M H₂SO₄ acid solution in the presence of Moringer oliefera (MO) leaf extract was investigated using gravimetric, electrochemical, and DFT techniques. Gravimetric results indicate that MO exhibits a high inhibition value up to 93.0% when the concentration was 1.5 g/L. Inhibition value in general increased with an increase in concentration of the extracts but decreased with prolonged exposure time and temperature. Analysis of polarization curves indicated that MO extract acted as mixed-type inhibitors. The adsorption process of MO on a mild steel surface in the acid solution fitted the Langmuir isotherm. GC/MS analysis of MO extract revealed the presence of more than 29 active constituents including 9,12-Octadecadienoic acid (Z, Z) methyl ester (28.55%); n-Hexadecanoic acid (11.24%); 9,12,15-Octadecatrienoic acid methyl ester (9.31%), Benzeneacetonitrile, 4-hydroxy-(6.32%), 2-Furancarboxaldehyde,5-(hydroxymethyl)-(5.6%), Heptadecane (4.85%). Quantum chemical calculations were applied on some of the identified constituents to assess their adsorbability on the mild steel surface and the result revealed remarkable high interaction energies.     

The inhibition effect of some amino acids towards Pb-Sb-Se-As alloy corrosion in sulfuric acid solution

The inhibition effect of three amino acids towards the corrosion of Pb-Sb-Se-As alloy in 1.28 s.g. H₂SO₄ solution was investigated with linear polarization and weight loss measurements methods. The results drawn from two different techniques are comparable. The used amino acids were tryptophane, proline and methionine. The effect of inhibitor concentration and temperature against inhibitor action was investigated. It was found that these inhibitors act as good inhibitors for the corrosion of lead alloy in H₂SO₄ solution. Increasing inhibitor concentration increases the inhibition efficiency. It was found that adsorption of used amino acids on lead alloy surface follows Langmuir isotherm.     

Design,synthesis and biological evaluation of biphenylurea derivatives as VEGFR-2 kinase inhibitors(Ⅱ)

Inhibition of VEGFR-2 signaling pathway is one of the most promising approaches for the treatment of cancer. In this paper, we reported the design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of a series of biphenylurea derivatives as VEGFR-2 inhibitors. Among these compounds, 39 exhibited potent inhibitory activity against VEGFR-2 both in vitro and in vivo. The antiangiogenesis activity of 39 was further confirmed by both tube formation assay and chick chorioallantoic membrane assay.     

碱性介质中POTAS和PDTAS对铜的缓蚀作用

合成了两种吡唑啉酮衍生物POTAS 和PDTAS, 并采用失重法和电化学方法研究了这两种吡唑啉酮衍生物对铜在5%(w)NaHCO3水溶液中的缓蚀性能和吸附行为. 结果表明, 在5%NaHCO3水溶液中这两种化合物对铜均有较好的缓蚀作用, 缓蚀效率大小顺序为POTAS>PDTAS. 并且POTAS与PDTAS均为混合型缓蚀剂. 两种化合物在铜表面的吸附均为单层吸附, 属于物理吸附.     

Potent De Novo Macrocyclic Peptides That Inhibit O-GlcNAc Transferase through an Allosteric Mechanism

Glycosyltransferases are a superfamily of enzymes that are notoriously difficult to inhibit. Here we apply an mRNA display technology integrated with genetic code reprogramming, referred to as the RaPID (random non-standard peptides integrated discovery) system, to identify macrocyclic peptides with high binding affinities for O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT). These macrocycles inhibit OGT activity through an allosteric mechanism that is driven by their binding to the tetratricopeptide repeats of OGT. Saturation mutagenesis in a maturation screen using 39 amino acids, including 22 non-canonical residues, led to an improved unnatural macrocycle that is ≈40 times more potent than the parent compound (K_i^app=1.5 nM). Subsequent derivatization delivered a biotinylated derivative that enabled one-step affinity purification of OGT from complex samples. The high potency and novel mechanism of action of these OGT ligands should enable new approaches to elucidate the specificity and regulation of OGT.