Versatile Near-Infrared Super-Resolution Imaging of Amyloid Fibrils with the Fluorogenic Probe CRANAD-2

CRANAD-2 is a fluorogenic curcumin derivative used for near-infrared detection and imaging in vivo of amyloid aggregates, which are involved in neurodegenerative diseases. We explore the performance of CRANAD-2 in two super-resolution imaging techniques, namely stimulated emission depletion (STED) and single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM), with markedly different fluorophore requirements. By conveniently adapting the concentration of CRANAD-2, which transiently binds to amyloid fibrils, we show that it performs well in both techniques, achieving a resolution in the range of 45–55 nm. Correlation of SMLM with atomic force microscopy (AFM) validates the resolution of fine features in the reconstructed super-resolved image. The good performance and versatility of CRANAD-2 provides a powerful tool for near-infrared nanoscopic imaging of amyloids in vitro and in vivo.     

Evaluation of education scenarios for acquiring digital competences of secondary school students in Slovenia

Central European Journal of Operations Research - Digital competences are among the most important competences in modern society, with the education system playing a key role in the acquisition of...     

Sensitive CE-MS method for monitoring of riociguat and desmethylriociguat levels in human serum

Riociguat is novel antihypertensive drug for treatment of pulmonary hypertension. As such, it is still being tested in many clinical and pharmacokinetic trials. Existing methods that determine serum riociguat and desmethylriociguat (DMR) are based solely on liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry. Therefore, we present a novel capillary electrophoresis with mass spectrometry method (CE-MS) for their determination in human serum as alternative method for ongoing trials. Complete resolution of both analytes was achieved by means of pH optimization of ammonium formate background electrolytes that are fully compatible with ESI/MS detection. Simple liquid-liquid extraction was used as sample pretreatment. The calibration dependence of the method was linear (in the range of 10–1000 ng/mL), with adequate accuracy (90.1–114.9%) and precision (13.4%). LOD and LOQ were arbitrarily set at 10 ng/mL for both analytes. Clinical applicability was validated using serum samples from patients treated with riociguat in pharmacokinetic study and the results corresponded with reference HPLC-MS/MS values. Capillary electrophoresis proved to be sensitive and selective tool for the analysis of riociguat and DMR.     

Influence of Polarity and Activation Energy in Microwave–Assisted Organic Synthesis (MAOS)

The aim of this work was to determine the parameters that have decisive roles in microwave-assisted reactions and to develop a model, using computational chemistry, to predict a priori the type of reactions that can be improved under microwaves. For this purpose, a computational study was carried out on a variety of reactions, which have been reported to be improved under microwave irradiation. This comprises six types of reactions. The outcomes obtained in this study indicate that the most influential parameters are activation energy, enthalpy, and the polarity of all the species that participate. In addition to this, in most cases, slower reacting systems observe a much greater improvement under microwave irradiation. Furthermore, for these reactions, the presence of a polar component in the reaction (solvent, reagent, susceptor, etc.) is necessary for strong coupling with the electromagnetic radiation. We also quantified that an activation energy of 20–30 kcal mol⁻¹ and a polarity (μ) between 7–20 D of the species involved in the process is required to obtain significant improvements under microwave irradiation.     

Experimental and Theoretical Studies on the Rearrangement of 2‐Oxoazepane α,α‐Amino Acids into 2′‐Oxopiperidine β2,3,3‐Amino Acids: An Example of Intramolecular Catalysis

Enantiopure β‐amino acids represent interesting scaffolds for peptidomimetics, foldamers and bioactive compounds. However, the synthesis of highly substituted analogues is still a major challenge. Herein, we describe the spontaneous rearrangement of 4‐carboxy‐2‐oxoazepane α,α‐amino acids to lead to 2′‐oxopiperidine‐containing β^2,3,3‐amino acids, upon basic or acid hydrolysis of the 2‐oxoazepane α,α‐amino acid ester. Under acidic conditions, a totally stereoselective synthetic route has been developed. The reordering process involved the spontaneous breakdown of an amide bond, which typically requires strong conditions, and the formation of a new bond leading to the six‐membered heterocycle. A quantum mechanical study was carried out to obtain insight into the remarkable ease of this rearrangement, which occurs at room temperature, either in solution or upon storage of the 4‐carboxylic acid substituted 2‐oxoazepane derivatives. This theoretical study suggests that the rearrangement process occurs through a concerted mechanism, in which the energy of the transition states can be lowered by the participation of a catalytic water molecule. Interestingly, it also suggested a role for the carboxylic acid at position 4 of the 2‐oxoazepane ring, which facilitates this rearrangement, participating directly in the intramolecular catalysis.