Functional Binding Surface of a β‐Hairpin VEGF Receptor Targeting Peptide Determined by NMR Spectroscopy in Living Cells

In this study, the functional interaction of HPLW peptide with VEGFR2 (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor 2) was determined by using fast ¹⁵N‐edited NMR spectroscopic experiments. To this aim, ¹⁵N uniformly labelled HPLW has been added to Porcine Aortic Endothelial Cells. The acquisition of isotope‐edited NMR spectroscopic experiments, including ¹⁵N relaxation measurements, allowed a precise characterization of the in‐cell HPLW epitope recognized by VEGFR2.     

Solid‐state 31P NMR investigation on the status of guanine nucleotides in paclitaxel‐stabilized microtubules

Microtubule dynamics is a target for many chemotherapeutic drugs. In order to understand the biochemical effects of paclitaxel on the GTPase activity of tubulin, the status of guanine nucleotides in microtubules was investigated by ³¹P cross‐polarization magic angle spinning (CPMAS) NMR. Microtubules were freshly prepared in vitro in the presence of paclitaxel and then lyophilized in sucrose buffer for solid‐state NMR experiments. A ³¹P CPMAS NMR spectrum with the SNR of 25 was successfully acquired from the lyophilized microtubule sample. The broadness of the ³¹P spectral lines in the spectrum indicates that the molecular environments around the guanine nucleotides inside tubulin may not be as crystalline as reported by many diffraction studies. Deconvolution of the spectrum into four spectral components was carried out in comparison with the ³¹P NMR spectra obtained from five control samples. The spectral analysis suggested that about 13% of the nucleotides were present as GTP and 37% as GDP in the β‐tubulin (E‐site) of the microtubules. It was found that most of the GDPs were present as GDP‐P_i complex in the microtubules, which seems to be one of the effects of paclitaxel binding. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

氢化丁苯共聚物结构的核磁共振波谱表征Ⅱ.微观结构的定量计算

在氢化丁苯共聚物¹³C-NMR谱脂肪碳部分谱带归属的基础上,根据各谱带的主要来源,推导出六个二单元浓度的计算公式。计算出二单元、一单元的相对含量,各结构单元的数均序列长度、嵌段含量和其它结构参数。加氢前后的¹H-和¹³C-NMR谱的组成计算结果基本一致。初步探讨了作为粘度指数改进剂的氢化丁苯共聚物微观结构与性能的关系,为合成提供了依据。     

Studies of the compositions of Pd(II) hydrolysis products

The characterization of the clusters formed on alkaline hydrolysis of [PdCl₄]^2– was performed using¹⁷O,²³Na,³⁵Cl,¹³³Cs NMR and UV spectroscopy. The chemical composition of the clusters was found to be [Pd(OH)₂] _n ·nNaCl. No mononuclear oxo- or hydroxocomplexes were detected. The spatial structure of the clusters is stabilized by alkali metal cations.Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 4, pp. 675–679, April, 1993.     

Non‐empirical calculations of NMR indirect carbon–carbon coupling constants. Part 4: Bicycloalkanes

A systematic study of the one‐bond and long‐range J(C,C), J(C,H) and J(H,H) in the series of nine bicycloalkanes was performed at the SOPPA level with special emphasis on the coupling transmission mechanisms at bridgeheads. Many unknown couplings were predicted with high reliability. Further refinement of SOPPA computational scheme adjusted for better performance was carried out using bicyclo[1.1.1]pentane as a benchmark to investigate the influence of geometry, basis set and electronic correlation. The calculations performed demonstrated that classical ab initio SOPPA applied with the locally dense Dunning's sets augmented with inner core s‐functions used for coupled carbons and Sauer's sets augmented with tight s‐functions used for coupled hydrogens performs perfectly well in reproducing experimental values of different types of coupling constants (the estimated reliability is ca 1–2 Hz) in relatively large organic molecules of up to 11 carbon atoms. Additive coupling increments were derived for J(C,C), J(C,H) and J(H,H) based on the calculated values of coupling constants within SOPPA in the model bicycloalkanes, in reasonably good agreement with the known values obtained earlier on pure empirical grounds. Most of the bridgehead couplings in all but one bicycloalkane appeared to be essentially additive within ca 2–3 Hz while bicyclo[1.1.1]pentane demonstrated dramatic non‐additivity of ?14.5 Hz for J(C,C), +16.6 Hz for J(H,H) and ?5.5 Hz for J(C,H), in line with previous findings. Non‐additivity effects in the latter compound established at the SOPPA level should be attributed to the through‐space non‐bonded interactions at bridgeheads due to the essential overlapping of the bridgehead rear lobes which provides an additional and effective non‐bonding coupling path for the bridgehead carbons and their protons in the bicyclopentane framework. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

1H and 13C NMR spectroscopic study of oxidation of D,L‐cystine and 3,3′‐dithiobis(propionic acid) with hydrogen peroxide in aqueous solution

The oxidation of symmetrical disulfides [D ,L ‐cystine ( 1 ) and 3,3′‐dithiobis(propionic acid) ( 2 )] with hydrogen peroxide in D₂O–NaOH solution (pH 10–11) was studied by NMR spectroscopy. Assignments of the proton and carbon NMR signals of starting materials ( 1 and 2 ) and products of oxidation are based on conventional 1D NMR methods (DEPT, selective spin decoupling). Formation of C—S bond cleavage products or, in case of 2 , partially oxidized intermediates was not detected. The accelerating effect of Cu²⁺ cations, but not Fe³⁺ cations, on the oxidation rate of 1 in basic medium was demonstrated. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synthesis and conformational investigation of tetrapeptide analogues of the fragment B23-B26 of insulin

Tetrapeptides containing one of a set of four different α,α-dialkyl glycines at the C-terminus were synthesized by conventional methods in solution and their conformational behavior investigated by ¹H NMR spectroscopy in connection with molecular mechanics calculations. The results were consistent with conformations stabilized by a γ-turn in the case of compounds with alkyl groups larger than methyl, while the corresponding Aib derivative did not exhibit intramolecular hydrogen bonding.     

Molecular dynamics and information on possible sites of interaction of intramyocellular metabolites in vivo from resolved dipolar couplings in localized H NMR spectra

Proton NMR resonances of the endogenous metabolites creatine and phosphocreatine ((P)Cr), taurine (Tau), and carnosine (Cs, β-alanyl-l-histidine) were studied with regard to residual dipolar couplings and molecular mobility. We present an analysis of the direct ¹H–¹H interaction that provides information on motional reorientation of subgroups in these molecules in vivo. For this purpose, localized ¹H NMR experiments were performed on m. gastrocnemius of healthy volunteers using a 1.5-T clinical whole-body MR scanner. We evaluated the observable dipolar coupling strength SD₀ (S = order parameter) of the (P)Cr-methyl triplet and the Tau-methylene doublet by means of the apparent line splitting. These were compared to the dipolar coupling strength of the (P)Cr-methylene doublet. In contrast to the aliphatic protons of (P)Cr and Tau, the aromatic H2 (δ = 8 ppm) and H4 (δ = 7 ppm) protons of the imidazole ring of Cs exhibit second-order spectra at 1.5 T. This effect is the consequence of incomplete transition from Zeeman to Paschen-Back regime and allows a determination of SD₀ from H2 and H4 of Cs as an alternative to evaluating the multiplet splitting which can be measured directly in high-resolution ¹H NMR spectra. Experimental data showed striking differences in the mobility of the metabolites when the dipolar coupling constant D₀ (calculated with the internuclear distance known from molecular geometry in the case of complete absence of molecular dynamics and motion) is used for comparison. The aliphatic signals involve very small order parameters S ≈ (1.4 − 3) × 10⁻⁴ indicating rapid reorientation of the corresponding subgroups in these metabolites. In contrast, analysis of the Cs resonances yielded S ≈ (113 − 137) × 10⁻⁴. Thus, the immobilization of the Cs imidazole ring owing to an anisotropic cellular substructure in human m. gastrocnemius is much more effective than for (P)Cr and Tau subgroups. Furthermore, ¹H NMR experiments on aqueous model solutions of histidine and N-acetyl-l-aspartate (NAA) enabled the assignment of an additional signal component at δ = 8 ppm of Cs in vivo to the amide group at the peptide bond. The visibility of this proton could result from hydrogen bonding which would agree with the anticipated stronger motional restriction of Cs. Referring to the observation that all dipolar-coupled multiplets resolved in localized in vivo ¹H NMR spectra of human m. gastrocnemius collapse simultaneously when the fibre structure is tilted towards the magic angle (θ ≈ 55°), a common model for molecular confinement in muscle tissue is proposed on the basis of an interaction of the studied metabolites with myocellular membrane phospholipids.