Synthesis and Reactions of Some New Pyrrolylfuro[2,3‐d]Pyrimidines and Pyrrolopyrazinofuropyrimidines

5‐Amino‐4‐methyl‐2‐phenyl‐6‐substitutedfuro[2,3‐d]pyrimidines ( 2a‐c ) were reacted with 2,5‐dimethoxytetrahydrfuran to afford the pyrrolyl derivatives 3a‐c . Compound 3a was chosen as intermediate for the synthesis of poly fused heterocycles incorporated furopyrimidines moiety 4–11 . Some of the synthesized compounds were screened for their antibacterial and antifungal activities.     

Patents and literature

Protein engineering and site-directed mutagenesis is becoming immensely important in both fundamental studies and commercial applications involving proteins and enzymes in biocatalysis. Protein engineering has become a powerful tool to help biochemists and molecular enzymologists elucidate structure-function relationships in enzymic active sites, to understand the intricacies of protein folding and denaturation, and to alter the selectivity of enzymatic catalysis. Commercial applications of engineered enzymes are being developed to increase protein stability, widen or narrow substrate specificity, and to develop novel approaches for use of enzymes in organic synthesis, drug design, and clinical applications. In addition to protein engineering, novel expression systems have been designed to prepare large quantities of genetically engineered proteins. Recent US patents and scientific literature on protein engineering, site-directed mutagenesis, and protein expression systems related to protein engineering are surveyed. Patent abstracts are summarized individually and a list of literature references are given.     

Determination of trimethylsilyl methylated nucleic acid bases in urine by gas-liquid chromatography.

A method for the determination of the urinary excretion level of methylated nucleic acid bases by gas-liquid chromatography (GLC) has been developed. A clean-up procedure prior to GLC analysis consisted of hydrolysis, filtration, charcoal adsorption, and anion exchange. Studies to determine optimum derivatization conditions for conversion of the methylated bases to their trimethylsilyl derivatives and to evaluate GLC parameters and columns to obtain the best separation were conducted. Application of the method was shown by determining the excretion levels of methylated bases in urine of normal controls and of patients with various types of malignancy.     

High-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of biogenic amines in biological materials as o-phthalaldehyde derivatives.

A remarkably sensitive, simple and selective reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method has been developed, allowing, for the first time, the direct measurement of histamine, norepinephrine, octopamine, normetanephrine, dopamine, serotonin and tyramine in a single sample of plasma (2 ml), tissue (0.2 g), or urine. The biogenic amines were modified by pre-column derivatization with o-phthalaldehyde which stabilizes the molecules, aids in extraction, and improves HPLC detection at the nanogram level. To minimize losses during the sampling procedure a careful collection procedure was designed. We developed a simple sample cleanup in which the samples were thawed, neutralized with KOH, immediately derivatized, extracted into ethyl acetate (EtOAc) and then chromatographed by HPLC. The derivatives were stable in EtOAc for more then 24 h. Interfering amino acids were removed from the EtOAc by partitioning twice with Na2HPO4 buffer (pH 10.0). Complete separation was achieved in ca. 60--90 min on a muBondapak phenyl column using a stepwise gradient of acetonitrile and/or methanol-phosphate buffer (pH 5.1). A variable wavelength fluorometer with a 5-microliter flow-cell was used (excitation 340 nm; emission 480 nm). Linearity ranged from 200 pg to 50 ng onto the column. Precision (R.S.D.) for retention times was 1% and for derivatization and injection 2.5%. Recoveries of the seven biogenic amines from plasma spiked with 25 ng/ml averaged 70%, with a relative standard deviation of 6%. Separation studies were also done using a muBondapak C18 column. The effects of various eluents are presented. Gas-liquid chromatography was also investigated but lacked the sensitivity achieved by HPLC. The HPLC method is used routinely for the determination of biogenic amines in plasma from pigs with malignant hyperthemia and thermally stressed bovine. Significant differences in levels of biogenic amines were noted between stressed and non-stressed animals. Data on rat brain tissue samples were compared with the trihydroxyindole method and canine heart tissue was analyzed for ventricular norepinephrine and dopamine. Application of the method to urine from normal persons and a patient with a brain tumor has been demonstrated.     

Reinvestigation of the Conformation of Cyclosporin A in Chloroform

New investigations of cyclosporin A in CDCl₃ have been performed to obtain additional and more accurate distance restraints than utilized in our previous studies of cyclosporin A. Build-up rates at 600 MHz using 6 different mixing times at low temperatures (252.5 K) were determined and transformed into distances using the two-spin approximation. With the new distance restraints in the MD simulations using the GROMOS package, we can unambiguously conclude the presence of a βII′-turn. The new structure resembles the X-ray structure more than the structure previously determined, especially regarding the orientation of the MeBmt side chain. In the new structure and in the solid state, the side chain is folded over the backbone (although there are substantial differences in the χ₁ torsion), in contrast to the old structure, where the side chain is extended away from the backbone.     

Microporous, fast response cellulose ether hydrogel prepared by freeze-drying

A simple and effective method of preparing fast-response gels is developed. The freeze-drying and subsequent rehydration of thermosensitive gels alters the microstructural properties of the gels in a way that leads to rapid shrinking rates. Microporous hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) gels were created by this method to investigate the influence of the process on the swelling and shrinking kinetics of the gels in response to temperature changes. Micropores of different size ranges were produced by freezing gels with different amounts of water at −20 °C. Water content was the key factor to control the microporosity and the shrinking rates of gels. After the freezing treatment, an effective diffusion coefficient for shrinking could be determined by fitting Fick's law to the data (5.2 × 10⁻⁴ cm²/s). This was an increase of two orders of magnitude over that of the untreated, non-porous gel (6.0 × 10⁻⁶ cm²/s). The magnitude of the shrinking coefficient indicates that the shrinking rate of the microporous gel is probably limited by the convective flow, as unsteady flow through porous media follows the same differential equation as Fick's law, but with much greater transport coefficients, as observed here. Physically, the shrinking rate may be determined by the level of interconnected-cells in a microporous structure present at the beginning of shrinking process because the convection through the interconnected-cells is estimated to be much slower than the polymer network diffusion rate of the struts of micropores (0.1–3.0 μm) as well as heat transfer.     

On the Discrete Hardy Inequality

Necessary and sufficient conditions for the boundedness of thediscrete Hardy operator of the form , from to when 0 < q < 1 <p , is given.