The synthesis and spectroscopic properties of some but-2-yne tungsten complexes of the type [WIX(CO){Ph2P(CH2)PPh2}(η-MeC2Me)] (X = Cl, Br, I, NO2, NO3, NCS or OH)

Reaction of the cationic complex [WI(CO)(NCMe){Ph₂P(CH₂)PPh₂}(η²-MeC₂ME)][BF₄] with an equimolar amount of MX (MX = NaCl, NaBr, NaI, KNO₂, KNO₃, NaNCS or KOH) in acetone at room temperature gave the neutral complex [WIX(CO){Ph₂P(CH₂)PPh₂}(η²-MeC₂Me)] (1–7) in good yield. Complexes 1–7 have been characterized by elemental analysis (C, H and N), IR and ¹H NMR spectroscopy.     

JenPep: a novel computational information resource for immunobiology and vaccinology

JenPep is a relational database containing a compendium of thermodynamic binding data for the interaction of peptides with a range of important immunological molecules: the major histocompatibility complex, TAP transporter, and T cell receptor. The database also includes annotated lists of B cell and T cell epitopes. Version 2.0 of the database is implemented in a bespoke postgreSQL database system and is fully searchable online via a perl/HTML interface (URL: http://www.jenner.ac.uk/JenPep).     

A general method for the preparation of N-heterocyclic carbene–silver(I) complexes in water

A new synthetic method leading to N-heterocyclic carbene–silver(I) complexes [(R₂-NHC)₂Ag]⁺ [AgX₂]^? is developed by using benzimidazolium compounds, NaOH (as a base), silver salts and water (as the reaction medium). Single-crystal X-ray structure revealed that compound 1 comprises a linear [Ag-(Et₂-Bimy)₂]⁺ cation and a linear [AgBr₂]^? anion. These two ions are linked through an Ag^I–Ag^I association and staggered at an angle of 90.3°.     

Visual spatial memory is enhanced in female rats (but inhibited in males) by dietary soy phytoestrogens

Background  

In learning and memory tasks, requiring visual spatial memory (VSM), males exhibit superior performance to females (a difference attributed to the hormonal influence of estrogen). This study examined the influence of phytoestrogens (estrogen-like plant compounds) on VSM, utilizing radial arm-maze methods to examine varying aspects of memory. Additionally, brain phytoestrogen, calbindin (CALB), and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) levels were determined.     

Synchrotron FTIR analysis of drug treated ovarian A2780 cells: an ability to differentiate cell response to different drugs?

Recently a new di-gold(I) organometallic complex [1,3-(Ph(3)PAu)(2)-C(6)H(4)] (KF0101) has been synthesised and found to exhibit cytotoxic activity in vitro. Subsequently it has been demonstrated that KF0101 shows little or no cross-resistance against a number of the cisplatin resistant ovarian cancer cell lines in vitro suggesting a different mode of action for the drug. In this study, syncrotron radiation infrared microspectroscopy (SR-IRMS) has been used on drug treated single A2780 cells in order to determine if this different mode of action can be identified spectroscopically. The aim of the study was to establish: (i) if single cell SR-IRMS could be used to give insight into the cellular response on treatment with different cytotoxic agents relative to non-treated cells (control) and (ii) that if the cytotoxic drugs elicit a different biochemical response these responses could be distinguished from each other. The most striking features obtained after Principal Components Analysis (PCA) of Resonant Mie Scattering (RMieS) corrected single cell spectra of drug treated ovarian A2780 cells are: (i) The spectra obtained for the control are quite heterogeneous and several hundred spectra are required to adequately define the nature of the control; (ii) after drug treatment at the IC50 level for 24 h with cisplatin, KF0101, methotrexate, paclitaxel or 5-fluorouracil the cell spectra, as represented on a PCA scores plot, generally concentrate in certain well defined areas of the control, there are however a small number of spectra that fall outside of the area defined by the control; and (iii) a differentiation between cell spectra obtained on treatment with different drugs is observed which fits well with different in vitro cell culture behaviour and a flow cytometry cell cycle analysis of the control and drug treated cells. Inspection of the loading plots shows that PC1 is essentially the same for all plots and reflects changes in cell biochemistry related to the cell cycle. PC2, however, on comparison of the control versus cisplatin or cisplatin versus KF0101 is indicative of differences induced by drug treatment and has been termed as cell cycle-plus behaviour. These data are shown to be consistent with that obtained using bench-top IRMS by averaging a number of single cell spectra and carrying out a PCA, but SR-IRMS offers more insight into how the drug is affecting the cell population. More importantly, this approach enables the influence of the cell cycle on both the control and drug treated samples to be taken into consideration when evaluating the drug-cell interaction.     

Derivation of O(3) Electrodynamics from the Einstein–Sachs Theory of General Relativity

General relativity is reduced to O(3) electrodynamics by consideration of the irreducible representations of the Einstein group and through a particular choice of basis. The photon is shown always to possess a scalar curvature R, and so the origin of quantization is found in general relativity.     

Synthesis and spectroscopic properties of the novel cationic alkyne complexes [WI(CO)(NCMe)L2(η-RC2R)][BF4] (L = PEt3 or PMe2Ph; R = Me or Ph)

The complexes [WI₂(CO)L₂(η²-RC₂R)] (L = PEt₃ or PMe₂Ph; R = Me or Ph) react with an equimolar quantity of Ag[BF₄] in acetonitrile at room temperature to give good yields of the new purple cationic alkyne complexes [WI(CO)(NCMe)L₂(η²-RC₂R)][BF₄]. ³¹P NMR spectroscopy indicates that the phosphines are trans to each other in these compounds. ¹³C NMR spectroscopy suggests that the alkyne ligands are donating four electrons to the tungsten in these complexes.