Conformational Study of Glycal-Type Neuraminidase Inhibitors

The conformational flexibility of two glycal-type neuraminidase inhibitors has been studied, using several molecular modeling techniques. In agreement with the experimental data available, an intramolecular hydrogen bond, representing a key structural feature that controls the conformer distribution in solution, has been identified. The contribution of each substituent to the overall equilibrium was evaluated using simplified derivatives. Additionally, four methods for estimating NMR coupling constants from dihedral angles were evaluated and the Haasnoot method was found to be appropriate for this class of sugars. These results should allow a better understanding of the structural parameters governing physico-chemical properties of glycal-like compounds. Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Journal of Carbohydrate Chemistry to view the free supplemental file.     

Radii of Redox Components from Absolute Redox Potentials Compared with Covalent and Aqueous Ionic Radii

Aqueous standard potentials, referred to that of the SHE as zero, were recently shown to vary linearly with gaseous ionization potentials, with the absolute potential of SHE as the intercept. This enabled arriving at the absolute redox potentials of elements. Here, the distances between the oxidized and reduced forms in aqueous solutions have been evaluated. From the linear dependence of these distances on the covalent radii of atoms, the radii of the redox components have been obtained. The latter also vary linearly with the aqueous ionic radii estimated earlier from ion‐water distances, and indicate the presence of aqueous molecular anions.     

Dynamic chirality in selected diaryl methane containing drugs. An exploratory ab initio conformational study

Diaryl methane molecules (Ar–CH₂–Ar) represent double rotor conformational problems. The simplest diaryl methane, diphenyl methane (Ph–CH₂–Ph), governs certain symmetric conformational potential energy surface (PES) topology. With the replacement of one of the phenyl groups by a heterocyclic moiety, the PES topology may change dramatically. The induction of point-chirality, in the prochiral CH₂ group, by axis-chirality or plane-chirality is explored within the framework of ‘dynamic chirality’.     

Molecular chemistry of plant protein structure at a cellular level by synchrotron-based FTIR spectroscopy: Comparison of yellow (Brassica rapa) and Brown (Brassica napus) canola seed tissues

The objective of this study was to use synchrotron light sourced FTIR microspectroscopy as a novel approach to characterize protein molecular structure of plant tissue: compared yellow and brown Brassica canola seed within cellular dimensions. Differences in the molecular chemistry and the structural-chemical characteristics were identified between two type of plant tissues. The yellow canola seeds contained a relatively lower (P < 0.05) percentage of model-fitted -helices (33 vs. 37), a higher (P < 0.05) relative percentage of model-fitted β-sheets (27 vs. 21) and a lower (P < 0.05) ratio of -helices to β-sheets (1.3 vs. 1.9) than the brown seeds. These results may indicate that the protein value of the yellow canola seeds as food or feed was different from that of the brown canola seeds. The cluster analysis and principal component analysis did not show clear differences between the yellow and brown canola seed tissues in terms of protein amide I structures, indicating they are related to each other. Both yellow and brown canola seeds contain the same proteins but in different ratios.     

Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Impact Fracture in Polycrystalline Materials

Technique for creation of polycrystalline computer materials is presented. The method considered allows for the obtaining of not only polycrystalline particle packings with various grains sizes but also the creating of materials with the preset value of porosity. Plate impact experiments were performed to compare strength properties of mono- and polycrystalline computer materials and also to investigate influence of the material porosity on the shock wave penetration and spallation processes. The experiments show significant differences in the impact fracture processes between mono- and polycrystalline materials. Smearing the shock waves due to heterogeneity of the granular structure of the polycrystals decreases localization effects, and the fracture occupies larger areas but with the smaller level of injury. Porosity adds significant resistance due to the strong plastic deformation during the pore collapsing. This effect can strongly decrease the penetration distance of the shock wave and even prevent the spallation.     

Synthesis and Characterization of Ferrocene-terminated Ruthenium Phenylacetylide COmplexes with Alligator Clips

Ferrocene-terminated trans-Ru(dppm)2 (dppm=Ph2PCH2pph2)-containing molecular wires with alligator clips were prepared.They are suitable for self-assembly on gold electrode to investigate the influence of metal incorporation on the electron transportation property of the molecular wires.     

Texture of molybdenum thin films on SrTiO3(1 0 0): A RHEED study

The structure of ultrathin Mo films on SrTiO₃(1 0 0) was studied by in situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED). A different structure was observed for films less than 20 Å thick than for thicker films. These films were epitaxial and had a metastable structure. Thicker films had the dimensions of equilibrium bcc Mo(1 1 0). Relaxation processes transformed the metastable Mo into bcc Mo, resulting in the following orientation relationships between Mo and SrTiO₃: (1 1 0)[0 0 1]_bcc Mo ∥ (1 0 0)[0 0 1]_SrTiO3 and (1 1 0)[1 1 1]_bcc Mo ∥ (1 0 0)[0 1 1]_SrTiO3. The formation of such specific orientations is related to transformations via the Bain and Needle Path, respectively.     

Long-wavelength luminescence from GaSb quantum dots grown on GaAs substrates

Self-assembled GaSb quantum dots (QDs) with a photoluminescence wavelength longer than 1.3 μm were successfully grown by suppressing the replacement of As and Sb on the surface of the GaSb QDs. This result means that GaSb can thus join InAs or GaInAs as a suitable material for QD lasers for optical communications.