Water-soluble self-assembled butadiyne-bridged bisporphyrin: a potential two-photon-absorbing photosensitizer for photodynamic therapy

We have synthesized a novel, two-photon-absorbing photosensitizer for two-photon-absorption photodynamic therapy (2PA-PDT). The molecule is a butadiyne-bridged porphyrin dimer terminated with two water-soluble porphyrin monomers connected through Zn-imidazolyl self-assembly and covalently linked through olefin metathesis. It has an effective two-photon-absorption (2PA) cross-section value, sigma((2)), of 33 000+/-4600 GM with 5-ns pulses at 890 nm measured by using the open-aperture Z-scan technique. The compound was found to generate singlet oxygen, cytotoxic for tumor cells in photodynamic therapy (PDT), under 2PA conditions by conducting photobleaching experiments with anthracene-9,10-dipropionic acid sodium salt (ADPA).     

How Important Is Molecular Rigidity for the Complex Stability of Artificial Host–Guest Systems? A Theoretical Study on Self‐Assembly of Gas‐Phase Arginine

Arginine forms much less stable dimers than 2-(guanidiniocarbonyl)-1H-pyrrole-5-carboxylate although the principal binding interactions are very similar. The reasons for this difference are addressed in this work by state-of-the-art ab initio computations. The investigation shows that the extraordinary high stability of the 2-(guanidiniocarbonyl)-1H-pyrrole-5-carboxylate dimer results to about 50 % from the rigidity of its monomer. Within this study monomer and dimer conformers of arginine were calculated leading to new low lying structures which have not been reported before as well as new global minima are predicted. In these structures stacking interactions with the guanidinium moiety are especially important. For the monomer we predict the energy minimum to be the canonical form with the lowest lying zwitterionic structure being only 9 kJ mol(-1) less stable. During the course of these calculations we found that DFT did not predict the structures and their relative energy correctly in comparison to perturbation theory (MP2) and some potential reasons for the failure of DFT in these cases are discussed. Vibrational frequencies of the various structures are presented and a suitable wavenumber region for an experimental determination of the global minimum of the arginine monomer is identified. The effect of molecular rigidity on the self-assembly is probed using a local minimum of the arginine monomer which does not possess any intramolecular stabilizing effects. Our results suggest that the deliberate control of the conformational flexibility is a powerful instrument to steer the complex affinity of artificial hosts.     

Capillary electrophoresis-chemiluminescence determination of norfloxacin and prulifloxacin

A capillary electrophoresis (CE)–chemiluminescence (CL) method for determining norfloxacin (NFLX) and prulifloxacin (PFLX) was developed based on the enhanced CL intensity of the cerium(IV)–sulfite–fluoroquinolone (FQ) reaction sensitized by terbium(III). The separation was conducted in buffer composed of 20 mM sodium citrate, 4 mM citric acid and 10 mM sodium sulfite at pH 6.1. The CL reagent solution consisted of 2 mM cerium(IV), 4 mM terbium(III) and 1.1 mM hydrochloric acid. NFLX and PFLX were baseline separated within 11 min with detection limits (S/N = 3) of 0.057 and 0.084 μg mL⁻¹, respectively. The maximum intra- and inter-day relative standard deviations (R.S.D.s) of migration time of the analytes were less than 4.0% and 4.2%, respectively. The proposed method was applied to detect NFLX and PFLX in fortified urine sample and the results were comparable to high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)–UV method. Moreover, the high selectivity of the CL detection and the high-separation efficiency of CE render the method the potential of quick analyzing fluoroquinolones in real complex matrix.     

Protein nanotubes comprised of an alternate layer-by-layer assembly using a polycation as an electrostatic glue

We present the synthesis and structure of various protein nanotubes comprised of an alternate layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly using a polycation as an electrostatic glue. The nanotubes were fabricated by sequential LbL depositions of positively charged polycations and negatively charged proteins into a porous polycarbonate (PC) membrane, followed by release of the cylindrical core by quick dissolution of the template with CH(2)Cl(2). This procedure provides a variety of protein nanotubes without interlayer cross-linking. The three-cycle depositions of poly-L-arginine (PLA) and human serum albumin (HSA, M(w)=66.5 kDa) into the porous PC template (pore diameter, D(p)=400 nm) yielded well-defined (PLA/HSA)(3) nanotubes with an outer diameter of 419+/-29 nm and a wall thickness of 46+/-8 nm, revealed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations. The outer diameter of the tubules can be controlled by the pore size of the template (200-800 nm), whereas the wall thickness is always constant, independent of the D(p) value. The (PEI/HSA)(3) (PEI: polyethylenimine) nanotubes showed a slightly thin wall of 39+/-5 nm. CD spectra of the multilayered (PEI/HSA)(n) film on a flat quartz plate suggested that the secondary structure of HSA between the polycations was almost the same as that in aqueous solution. The three-cycle LbL depositions of PLA and ferritin (M(w)=460 kDa) or myoglobin (Mb, M(w)=1.7 kDa) into the porous PC membrane also gave cylindrical hollow structures. The wall thickness of the (PLA/ferritin)(3) and (PLA/Mb)(3) nanotubes were 55+/-5 nm and 31+/-4 nm; it depends on the globular size of the protein (ferritin>HSA>Mb). The individual ferritin molecule was clearly seen in the tubular walls by SEM and TEM measurements.     

Microrobotics and MEMS-based fabrication techniques for scaffold-based tissue engineering

Scaffold based tissue engineering strategies use cells, biomolecules and a scaffold to promote the repair and regeneration of tissues. Although scaffold-based tissue engineering approaches are being actively developed, most are still experimental, and it is not yet clear what defines an ideal scaffold/cell construct. Solid free form fabrication (SFF) techniques can precisely control matrix architecture (size, shape, interconnectivity, branching, geometry and orientation). The SFF methods enable the fabrication of scaffolds with various designs and material compositions, thus providing a control of mechanical properties, biological effects and degradation kinetics. This paper reviews the application of micro-robotics and MEMS-based fabrication techniques for scaffold design and fabrication. It also presents a novel robotic technique to fabricate scaffold/cell constructs for tissue engineering by the assembly of microscopic building blocks.     

Spontaneous transmission of chirality through multiple length scales

The hierarchical transfer of chirality in nature, from the nano‐, to meso‐, to macroscopic length scales, is very complex, and as of yet, not well understood. The advent of scanning probes has allowed chirality to be monitored at the single molecule or monolayer level and has opened up the possibility to track enantiospecific interactions and chiral self‐assembly with molecular‐scale detail. This paper describes the self‐assembly of a simple, model molecule (naphtho[2,3‐a]pyrene) that is achiral in the gas phase, but becomes chiral when adsorbed on a surface. This polyaromatic hydrocarbon forms a stable and reversibly ordered system on Cu(111) in which the transmission of chirality from single surface‐bound molecules to complex 2D chiral architectures can be monitored as a function of molecular packing density and surface temperature. In addition to the point chirality of the surface‐bound molecule, the unit cell of the molecular domains was also found to be chiral due to the incommensurate alignment of the molecular rows with respect to the underlying metal lattice. These molecular domains always aggregated in groups of three, all of the same chirality, but with different rotational orientations, forming homochiral “tri‐lobe” ensembles. At a larger length scale, these tri‐lobe ensembles associated with nearest‐neighbor tri‐lobe units of opposite chirality at lower packing densities before forming an extended array of homochiral tri‐lobe ensembles at higher converges. This system displayed chirality at a variety of size scales from the molecular (≈1 nm) and domain (≈5 nm) to the tri‐lobe ensemble (≈10 nm) and extended array (>25 nm) levels. The chirality of the tri‐lobe ensembles dictated how the overall surface packing occurred and both homo‐ and heterochiral arrays could be reproducibly and reversibly formed and interchanged as a function of surface coverage. Finally, these chirally templated surfaces displayed remarkable enantiospecificity for naphtho[2,3‐a]pyrene molecules adsorbed in the second layer. Given its simplicity, reversibility, and rich degree of order, this system represents an ideal test bed for the investigation of symmetry breaking and the hierarchical transmission of chirality through multiple length scales.     

Characterization of multimetallic grid-type complexes by electrospray mass spectrometry

The self-assembly of the terdentate ligands 1a-h, based on terpyridine-like binding sites, with octahedrally coordinated metal ions, such as Fe(II), Co(II), Cu(II), Zn(II), Cd(II), Hg(II) and Pb(II), leads to the formation of the supramolecular grid-type complexes 2a-c(M(II)), 3d-g(M(II)) and 4h(M(II)). The structures and compositions of these coordination complexes in solution were deduced from electrospray mass spectrometry (ESMS) measurements. The results agree with the data available from x-ray radiocrystallography in the solid state and/or NMR spectroscopy in solution. ESMS may be applied in cases where other methods are difficult to use or inconclusive. This study stresses the power of ESMS in supramolecular chemistry.