PTML modeling for peptide discovery: in silico design of non-hemolytic peptides with antihypertensive activity

Molecular Diversity - Hypertension is a medical condition that affects millions of people worldwide. Despite the high efficacy of the current antihypertensive drugs, they are associated with...     

A non-isothermal Ginzburg–Landau model in superconductivity: Existence,uniqueness and asymptotic behaviour

In this paper we study a Ginzburg–Landau model which describes the behaviour of a superconducting material including thermal effects. We extend the traditional formulation of the problem, by introducing the temperature as an additional state variable. Accordingly, together with the Gor’kov–Eliashberg system, we introduce an evolution equation for the absolute temperature. We examine in detail the case which allows only variations of the concentration of superconducting electrons and of the temperature, neglecting the electromagnetic field. For this problem existence and uniqueness of the solution are shown. Finally we analyze the asymptotic behaviour of the solutions, proving that the system possesses a global attractor.     

A novel approach based on recurrent neural networks applied to nonlinear systems optimization

This paper presents an efficient approach based on recurrent neural network for solving nonlinear optimization. More specifically, a modified Hopfield network is developed and its internal parameters are computed using the valid subspace technique. These parameters guarantee the convergence of the network to the equilibrium points that represent an optimal feasible solution. The main advantage of the developed network is that it treats optimization and constraint terms in different stages with no interference with each other. Moreover, the proposed approach does not require specification of penalty and weighting parameters for its initialization. A study of the modified Hopfield model is also developed to analyze its stability and convergence. Simulation results are provided to demonstrate the performance of the proposed neural network.     

Electrochemical determination of minoxidil in different pharmaceutical formulations by flow injection analysis.

The electrochemical behavior and amperometric-FIA quantification of minoxidil at a glassy carbon electrode is described. The procedure is based on electrochemical oxidation at 0.800 V (vs. Ag/AgCl/NaCl(3 M) in a phosphate buffer solution. Minoxidil was determined over the range 1 x 10(-7) - 1 x 10(-4) M. Different analytical parameters and electrode stability were analyzed to obtain the best electrode performance. The optimal conditions were: working potentials, 0.800 V; flow rate, 0.74 mL min(-1); and solution pH 7.0. This system allowed a sampling rate of 120 samples per hour without any pretreatment. The proposed method was used for minoxidil quantification in pharmaceutical preparations with satisfactory results. The accuracy of FIA-amperometric method was established by a comparison with the conventional UV determination technique using a paired t-test indicating the absence of systematic errors.     

Binding of hexacyanoferrate(II) by aliphatic amines in aqueous solution

The stability of hexacyanoferrate(II)-amine(methylamine, ethylenediamine, diethylenetriamine and tetraethylenepentamine) was determined potentiometrically. Species Fe(CN)₆(A)H _j ^(j–4) (A=amine) are formed in all the systems investigated, with j=1...n+2 (n=number of aminogroups). Some other complexes Fe(CN)₆(A)_iH_j (with i>1) were also found. The stability of these complexes is fairly high: the full protonated amine species, show for the reaction Fe(CN)₆ ^4- + H_nAⁿ⁺ = Fe(CN)₆(A)H_n ^(n-4) an equilibrium constant given by logK=0.686+2.10n. Factors affecting the stability are discussed in comparison with similar systems, together with the importance of interferences.     

Nanophase segregation and water dynamics in the dendrion diblock copolymer formed from the Fréchet polyaryl ethereal dendrimer and linear PTFE

We propose a new material consisting of a dendrion copolymer formed from (a) a water-soluble dendritic polymer and (b) a hydrophobic backbone. Using molecular dynamics simulations techniques, we determine the structure and dynamics of the dendrion formed by second-generation Fréchet polyaryl ethereal dendrimer as the hydrophilic component and linear polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) as the hydrophobic polymer, with 5 and 10 wt % of water. We find that this material produces a well-developed nanoscale structure in which water forms a continuous nanophase, making this new family of compounds promising candidates for applications in fuel cell membranes. We find that the water molecules are incorporated into the dendrimer block of the copolymer to form a nanophase-segregated structure. The well-developed nanophase-segregated structures rendered by this material have characteristic dimensions of segregation ( approximately 30 Angstrom) and dendrimer conformational properties that are independent of water content. Calculations of water dynamics and proton transport in these nanophase-segregated structures indicate that the dendrion copolymer membrane with 10 wt % of water content has a water structure and transport properties equivalent to that of the hydrated Nafion membrane with 20 wt % of water content.     

Electron-transfer reaction of cinnamic acids and their methyl esters with the DPPH(*) radical in alcoholic solutions

The kinetic behavior of cinnamic acids, their methyl esters, and two catechols 1-10 (ArOH) in the reaction with DPPH(*) in methanol and ethanol is not compatible with a reaction mechanism that involves hydrogen atom abstraction from the hydroxyl group of 1-10 by DPPH(*). The rate of this reaction at 25 degrees C is, in fact, comparatively fast despite that the phenolic OH group of ArOH is hydrogen bonded to solvent molecules. The observed rate constants (k(1)) relative to DPPH(*) + ArOH are 3-5 times larger for the methyl esters than for the corresponding free acids and, for the latter, decrease as their concentration is increased according to the relation k(1) = B/[ArOH](0)(m), where k(1) is given in units of M(-1) s(-1), m is ca. 0.5, and B ranges from 0.02 (p-coumaric acid) to ca. 3.48 (caffeic acid) in methanol and from 0.04 (p-coumaric acid) to ca. 13 (sinapic acid) in ethanol. Apparently, the reaction mechanism of DPPH(*) + ArOH involves a fast electron-transfer process from the phenoxide anion of 1-10 to DPPH(*). Kinetic analysis of the reaction sequence for the free acids leads to an expression for the observed rate constant, k(1), proportional to [ArOH](0)(-1/2) in excellent agreement with the experimental behavior of these phenols. The experimental results are also interpreted in terms of the influence that adventitious acids or bases present in the solvent may have. These impurities dramatically influence the ionization equilibrium of phenols and cause a reduction or an enhancement, respectively, of the measured rate constants.     

Light-emitting molecular machines: pH-induced intramolecular motions in a fluorescent nickel(II) scorpionate complex

A cyclam-like macrocycle has been synthesized with a pendant arm containing a dansylamide group. In the corresponding nickel(II) complex, binding of the pendant arm to the metal is pH controlled. In particular, at pH 4.3, the sulfonamide group deprotonates and coordinates the NiII center, giving rise to a complex of trigonal bipyramidal stereochemistry, as shown by X-ray diffraction studies performed on the crystalline complex salt. At pH 7.5, an OH- ion binds the metal and a six-coordinate species forms. The binding-detachment of the pendant arm to/from the NiII center is signaled by changes in the emission properties of the dansyl subunit in the side chain; the fluorescence of this side chain is high when the pendant arm is not coordinated and low when the sulfonamide group is bound to the metal. The system investigated represents the prototype of a light-emitting molecular machine, driven by a pH change.     

Formation and stability of pyrophosphate complexes with aliphatic amines in aqueous solution

The complex formation between pyrophosphate (P(2)O(7)(4-)) and protonated methylamine, ethylenediamine, diethylenetriamine, triethylenetetramine, tetraethylenepentamine and pentaethylenehexamine, has been studied potentiometrically, in aqueous solution, at 25 degrees C. It was found that the species ALH(q)(A = amine, L = P(2)O(7)(4-)) are formed with q = 1 ... n(n = 3, 5, 6, 7, 7 and 8 for the above amines respectively). Mono- and di-amines form species A(p)LH(q) too. The stability of these species is quite high [e.g. H(4)A(4+) + HL(3-)ALH(5)(+): log K = 8.1 (A = pentaethylenehexamine)] and depends strictly on the charges involved in the formation reaction. Charges of reactants being equal, the stability trend is penten > tetren > trien > dien > en > meta and cationic mixed species are more stable than anionic ones. These results are discussed in relation to speciation problems in natural and biological fluids.