Identification of metabolites of rupestonic acid in rat urine by liquid chromatography combined with electrospray ionization quadrupole time‐of‐flight tandem mass spectrometry

Rupestonic acid, a potential anti‐influenza agent, is an important and characteristic compound in Artemisia rupestris L., a well‐known traditional Uighur medicine for the treatment of colds. In the present study, high‐performance liquid chromatography combined with electrospray ionization quadrupole time‐of‐flight tandem mass spectrometry was used to detect and identify the metabolites in rat urine after oral administration of rupestonic acid. A total of 10 metabolites were identified or partially characterized. The structure elucidations of the metabolites were performed by comparing the changes in accurate molecular masses and fragment ions with those of the parent compound. The results showed that the main metabolites of rupestonic acid in rat urine were formed by oxidation, hydrogenation and glucuronidation. A metabolism pathway was proposed for the first time based on the characterized structures. This metabolism study can provide essential information for drug discovery, design and clinical application of rupestonic acid. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Anil-Synthese. 23. Mitteilung. Über die Herstellung von Styryl- und Stilbenyl-Derivaten des Pyrimidins

Preparation of Styryl and Stilbenyl Derivatives of Pyrimidines 2- and 4-(p-Tolyl)-substituted pyrimidines react with anils of hetero-aromatic aldehydes in the presence of dimethylformamide and potassium hydroxide or potassium t-butoxide to yield the corresponding 2- and 4-[4″-(heteroaryl)stilben-4′-yl]pyrimidines or the 2- and 4-[a-(heteroaryl)-4′-styryl]pyrimidines respectively (‘Anil synthesis’). Furthermore, the Schiff′s bases derived from p-chloroaniline and 4-(pyrimidine-2-yl and 4-yl)benzaldehydes give, with methyl- and with p-tolyl-substituted heterocycles, the corresponding heterocyclic substituted styryl and stilbenyl derivatives. Alkyl-, alkoxy- or phenyl-substituted pyrimidines undergo also the ‘Anil synthesis’.     

Improvement in dye sensitized solar cells from past to present

Several emerging renewable technologies are available to satisfy the current energy demand and to minimize the effect of environmental degradation caused by high consumption of fossil fuels. These technologies are not mature enough to solve this problem but require more time for improving the efficiency, and cost reduction to become the economical alternative of fossil fuels. In this paper Dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) has been discussed in detail owing to advancement in the technology. Since each component of DSSC is responsible for a specific function, therefore, comprehensive literature studies has been done on individual section to understand the technology in depth. All the advancement in sensitizer, semiconductors, electrolyte, electrodes, additives, sealing and anchoring groups are included in this review with performance parameter of DSSC. Focus of this article is to provide summary of all available literature since beginning to date.     

Modulation of the photocycle of a LOV domain photoreceptor by the hydrogen-bonding network

An extended hydrogen-bonding (HB) network stabilizes the isoalloxazine ring of the flavin mononucleotide (FMN) chromophore within the photosensing LOV domain of blue-light protein receptors, via interactions between the C(2)═O, N(3)H, C(4)═O, and N(5) groups and conserved glutamine and asparagine residues. In this work we studied the influence of the HB network on the efficiency, kinetics, and energetics of a LOV protein photocycle, involving the reversible formation of a FMN-cysteine covalent adduct. The following results were found for mutations of the conserved amino acids N94, N104, and Q123 in the Bacillus subtilis LOV protein YtvA: (i) Increased (N104D, N94D) or strongly reduced (N94A) rate of adduct formation; this latter mutation extends the lifetime of the flavin triplet state, i.e., adduct formation, more than 60-fold, from 2 μs for the wild-type (WT) protein to 129 μs. (ii) Acceleration of the overall photocycle for N94S, N94A, and Q123N, with recovery lifetimes 20, 45, and 85 times faster than for YtvA-WT, respectively. (iii) Slight modifications of FMN spectral features, correlated with the polarization of low-energy transitions. (iv) Strongly reduced (N94S) or suppressed (Q123N) structural volume changes accompanying adduct formation, as determined by optoacoustic spectroscopy. (v) Minor effects on the quantum yield, with the exception of a considerable reduction for Q123N, i.e., 0.22 vs 0.49 for YtvA-WT. The data stress the importance of the HB network in modulating the photocycle of LOV domains, while at the same time establishing a link with functional responses.     

Design and synthesis of bombykol analogues for probing pheromone-binding protein-ligand interactions

Mono-, difluorinated, and thioanalogues of Bombyx mori female sex pheromones (bombykol, 1) were designed according to the ab initio calculations. These rationally designated analogues were synthesized using hydroboration and Sonogashira coupling strategy via (5E,7Z)-undecadien-1-ol (10) as a common intermediate. A new simplified binding assay based on nanoLC-linear ion trap ESI-MS for quantifying complexation of the B. mori pheromone-binding protein (BmPBP) with native (1) and prepared analogues was developed. The binding properties of native 1 and thioanalogue 4 with PBP were studied in detail. The dissociation constant (K_D) of 1 and 4 was determined to be 2.1×10⁻⁶ M and 2.4×10⁻⁶ M, respectively. The similar values for both ligands correlated with ab initio calculations. The new binding assay could be used to determine the K_D of other PBPs.     

Efficacy of Biologically Active Food Supplements for People with Atherosclerotic Vascular Changes

The current paper deals with the development of a new biologically active food supplement (BAFS) aimed at treating atherosclerosis. Since atherosclerosis is considered to be a disease of aging, the composition of the supplement includes such essential minerals as magnesium and potassium, which are commonly used to prevent atherosclerosis, as well as vitamins C, E and the B-group vitamins in order to address the needs of the elderly. The authors outline the supplement-manufacturing technology and discuss the clinical trial undertaken by patients, aged about 60 years, with peripheral atherosclerosis. The research methodology focuses on studying the effectiveness of the developed supplement by assessing the influence of the active ingredients on treating metabolic disorders. To establish the efficacy of the supplement, blood tests, ultrasound and physical examinations were applied. The combination therapy resulted in improved metabolism and an overall better performance of the cardiovascular system; therefore, the BASF can be recommended as part of combination therapy to prevent and treat atherosclerotic and age-related changes in blood vessels.     

A non-linear structure preserving matrix method for the low rank approximation of the Sylvester resultant matrix

A non-linear structure preserving matrix method for the computation of a structured low rank approximation of the Sylvester resultant matrix S(f,g) of two inexact polynomials f=f(y) and g=g(y) is considered in this paper. It is shown that considerably improved results are obtained when f(y) and g(y) are processed prior to the computation of , and that these preprocessing operations introduce two parameters. These parameters can either be held constant during the computation of , which leads to a linear structure preserving matrix method, or they can be incremented during the computation of , which leads to a non-linear structure preserving matrix method. It is shown that the non-linear method yields a better structured low rank approximation of S(f,g) and that the assignment of f(y) and g(y) is important because may be a good structured low rank approximation of S(f,g), but may be a poor structured low rank approximation of S(g,f) because its numerical rank is not defined. Examples that illustrate the differences between the linear and non-linear structure preserving matrix methods, and the importance of the assignment of f(y) and g(y), are shown.     

Modulo Periodic Poisson Stable Solutions of Quasilinear Differential Equations

In this paper, modulo periodic Poisson stable functions have been newly introduced. Quasilinear differential equations with modulo periodic Poisson stable coefficients are under investigation. The existence and uniqueness of asymptotically stable modulo periodic Poisson stable solutions have been proved. Numerical simulations, which illustrate the theoretical results are provided.