Biogenic amines in Australian animal by-product meals

Biogenic amines were determined in Australian by-product meals including fish meals, poultry meals, meat meals, feather meals and blood meals. They were extracted with 0.1 mol/L HCl, derivatised with dansyl chloride and analysed using HPLC with UV detection at 254 nm. Median levels of putrescine, cadaverine and histamine were determined in the by-product meals, with the ranges being 13-102 mg/kg, 7-220 mg/kg and 4-570 mg/kg, respectively. High levels of biogenic amines were found particularly in fish meals. The results indicate that further studies are required to determine the maximum limits for biogenic amines in by-product meals that will not impair production when fed to poultry.

Functionalized macrocycles from functionalized tetra-amines: Pendent-arm macrocycles derived from dichloropivalic acid

Reaction between ethane-1,2-diamine and 3,3'-dichloropivalic acid results in different, isomeric tetra-amine derivatives, one a tetraamino carboxylic acid and the other a carboxamidotriamino alcohol, depending upon reaction conditions, Intended conversion of the Cu(II) complex of the former to a cyclam-like macrocycle through reaction with nitroethane and formaldehyde results in isolation of derivatives of both the former and the latter. This can be rationalized by assuming the intermediacy of an azetidinone, a species similar to that seen in simpler reactions of dichloropivalates. A single reaction thereby provides pendent-arm macrocycles where one has an electrophilic and the other a nucleophilic substituent. Parallel chemistry is not seen in the reaction between propane-1,3-diamine and 3,3'-dichloropivalate.

Role of glutamic acid 216 in cytochrome P450 2D6 substrate binding and catalysis

Human cytochrome P450 (P450) 2D6 is an important enzyme involved in the metabolism of drugs, many of which are amines or contain other basic nitrogen atoms. Asp301 has generally been considered to be involved in electrostatic docking with the basic substrates, on the basis of previous modeling studies and site-directed mutagenesis. Substitution of Glu216 with a residue other than Asp strongly attenuated the binding of quinidine, bufuralol, and several other P450 2D6 ligands. Catalytic activity with the substrates bufuralol and 4-methoxyphenethylamine was strongly inhibited by neutral or basic mutations at Glu216 (>95%), to the same extent as the substitution of Asn at Asp301. Unlike the Asp301 mutants, the Gln216 mutant (E216Q) retained 40% enzyme efficiency with the substrate spirosulfonamide, devoid of basic nitrogen, suggesting that the substitutions at Glu216 affect binding of amine substrates more than other catalytic steps. Attempts to induce catalytic specificity toward new substrates by substitutions at Asp301 and Glu216 were unsuccessful. Collectively, the results provide evidence for electrostatic interaction of amine substrates with Glu216, and we propose that both of these acidic residues plus at least another residue(s) is (are) involved in binding the repertoire of P450 2D6 ligands.

Oxidation of mixed-valence CoIII/FeII complexes reversed at high pH: A kinetico-mechanistic study of water oxidation

The outer-sphere oxidation of Fell in the mixed-valence complex trans-[(LCoNCFeII)-Co-14S-N-III(CN)(6)](-), being L-14S an N3S2 macrocylic donor set on the cobalt(III) center, has been studied. The comparison with the known processes of N-5 macrocycle complexes has been carried out in view of the important differences occurring on the redox potential of the cobalt center. The results indicate that the outer-sphere oxidation reactions with S2O82- and [Co(ox)(3)](3-) involve a great amount of solvent-assisted hydrogen bonding that, as a consequence from the change from two amines to sulfur donors, are more restricted. This is shown by the more positive values found for DeltaS(double dagger) and DeltaV(double dagger). The X-ray structure of the oxidized complex has been determined, and it is clearly indicative of the above-mentioned solvent-assisted hydrogen bonding between nitrogen and cyanide donors on the cobalt and iron centers, respectively. trans-[(LCoNCFeIII)-Co-14S-N-III(CN)(6)], as well as the analogous N-5 systems trans-[(LCoNCFeIII)-Co-14-N-III(CN)(6)], trans-[(LCoNCFeIII)-Co-15-N-III-(CN)(6)], and cis-[(LCoNCFeIII)-Co-n-N-III(CN)(6)], Oxidize water to hydrogen peroxide at pH > 10 with a rather simple stoichiometry, i.e., [(LCoNCFeIII)-Co-n-N-III(CN)(5)] + OH- - [(LCoNCFeII)-Co-n-N-III(CN)(5)](-) + 1/2H(2)O(2). In this way, the reversibility of the iron oxidation process is achieved. The determination of kinetic and thermal and pressure activation parameters for this water to hydrogen peroxide oxidation leads to the kinetic determination of a cyanide based OH- adduct of the complex. A second-order dependence on the base concentration is associated with deprotonation of this adduct to produce the final inner-sphere reduction process. The activation enthalpies are found to be extremely low (15 to 35 kJ mol(-1)) and responsible for the very fast reaction observed. The values of DeltaS(double dagger) and DeltaV(double dagger) (-76 to -113 J K-1 mol(-1) and -5.5 to -8.9 cm(3) mol(-1), respectively) indicate a highly organized but not very compressed transition state in agreement with the inner-sphere one-electron transfer from O2- to Fe-III.

1H-1,3-Diazepines, 5H-1,3-diazepines, 1,3-diazepinones, and 2,4-diazabicyclo[3.2.0]heptenes

Tetrazolo[1,5-a] pyridines/ 2-azidopyridines 1 undergo photochemical nitrogen elimination and ring expansion to 1,3-diazacyclohepta-1,2,4,6-tetraenes 3, which react with alcohols to afford 2-alkoxy-1H-1,3-diazepines 4 (5), with secondary amines to 2-dialkylamino-5H-1,3-diazepines 16, sometimes via isolable 2-dialkylamino-1H-1,3-diazepines 15, and with water to 1,3-diazepin-2-ones 19. The latter are also obtained by elimination of isobutene or propene from 2-tert-butoxy- or 2-isopropoxy-1H-1,3-diazepines 4 or 5. 1,3-Diazepin-2-one 22B and 1,3-diazepin-4-one 24 were obtained from hydrolysis of the corresponding 4-chlorodiazepines. Diazepinones 19 undergo photochemical ring closure to diazabicycloheptenones 25 in high yields. The 2-alkoxy-1H-1,3-diazepines 4 and 5 interconvert by rapid proton exchange between positions N1 and N3. The free energies of activation for the proton exchange were measured by the Forsen - Hoffman method as DeltaGdouble dagger(298) = 16.2 +/- 0.6 kcal mol(-1) as an average for 4a - c in CD2Cl2, acetone-d(6), and methanol-d(4), and 14.1 +/- 0.6 kcal mol(-1) for 4c in acetone/D2O. The structures of 2-methoxy-5,6-bis( trifluoromethyl)-1H-1,3-diazepine 4k, 1,2-dihydro-4-diethylamino-5H-1,3-diazepin-2-one 22bB, and diazabicycloheptanone 26 were determined by X-ray crystallography. The former represents the first reported X-ray crystal structure of any monocyclic N-unsubstituted 1H-azepine.

Synthesis of 1,3-diazepines and ring contraction to cyanopyrroles

Several tetrazolo[1,5-a] pyridines/2-azidopyridines undergo photochemical nitrogen elimination and ring expansion to 1,3-diazacyclohepta-1,2,4,6-tetraenes (7,10,13,16,19,22) as well as ring cleavage to cyanovinylketenimines (8,17,20b) in low temperature Ar matrices. 6,8-Dichlorotetrazolo[1,5-a] pyridine/2-azido-3,5-dichloropridine 6 undergoes ready exchange of the chlorine in position 8 (3) with ROH/RONa. 8-Chloro-6-trifluoromethyltetrazolo[1,5-a] pyridine 15 undergoes solvolysis of the CF3 group to afford 8-chloro-6-methoxycarbonyltetrazolo[1,5-a] pyridine 18. Several tetrazolopyridines/2-azidopyridines afford 1H- or 5H-1,3-diazepines in good yields on photolysis in the presence of alcohols or amines (11,14,23,25). 5-Chlorotetrazolo[1,5-a] pyridines/2-azido-6-chloropyridines 21 and 38 undergo a rearrangement to 1H- and 3H-3-cyanopyrroles 27 and 45, respectively. The mechanism of this rearrangement was investigated by N-15-labelling and takes place via transient 1,3-diazepines. The structures of 6,8-dichloro-tetrazolo[1,5-a] pyridine 6T, 6-chloro-8-ethoxytetrazolo[1,5-a] pyridine 9Tb, dipyrrolylmethane 28, and 2-isopropoxy-4-dimethylamino-5H-1,3-diazepine 25b were determined by X-ray crystallography. In the latter case, this represents the first reported X-ray crystal structure of a 5H-1,3-diazepine.

New alkaloids from Pandanus amaryllifolius

Three new alkaloids, the two pyrrolidine type alkaloids (1 and 2) and 6E-pandanamine (3), together with five known alkaloids (4-8), were isolated from the leaves of Pandanus amaryllifolius collected in West Java, Indonesia. All the new alkaloids have two alpha-methyl alpha,beta-unsaturated gamma-lactone moieties, while compound 2 also has an additional seven-membered ring, which has not been encountered before in Pandanus alkaloids. Two different extraction methods, namely, a solvent partitioning extraction and acid-base treatment, were tested, giving secondary and tertiary amines, respectively. Spectroscopic and chemical studies showed that the tertiary amines isolated from the acid-base treatment were artifacts formed during the extraction process. This finding suggests that the use of conventional acid-base treatment in isolating Pandanus alkaloids should be reviewed since it can introduce artifacts.

Active site mutations and substrate inhibition in human sulfotransferase 1A1 and 1A3

Human SULT1A1 is primarily responsible for sulfonation of xenobiotics, including the activation of promutagens, and it has been implicated in several forms of cancer. Human SULT1A3 has been shown to be the major sulfotransferase that sulfonates dopamine. These two enzymes shares 93% amino acid sequence identity and have distinct but overlapping substrate preferences. The resolution of the crystal structures of these two enzymes has enabled us to elucidate the mechanisms controlling their substrate preferences and inhibition. The presence of two p-nitrophenol (pNP) molecules in the crystal structure of SULT1A1 was postulated to explain cooperativity at low and inhibition at high substrate concentrations, respectively. In SULT1A1, substrate inhibition occurs with pNP as the substrate but not with dopamine. For SULT1A3, substrate inhibition is found for dopamine but not with pNP. We investigated how substrate inhibition occurs in these two enzymes using molecular modeling, site-directed mutagenesis, and kinetic analysis. The results show that residue Phe-247 of SULT1A1, which interacts with both p-nitrophenol molecules in the active site, is important for substrate inhibition. Mutation of phenylalanine to leucine at this position in SULT1A1 results in substrate inhibition by dopamine. We also propose, based on modeling and kinetic studies, that substrate inhibition by dopamine in SULT1A3 is caused by binding of two dopamine molecules in the active site. © 2004 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Polymorphisms in the trace amine receptor 4 (TRAR4) gene on chromosome 6q23.2 are associated with susceptibility to schizophrenia

Several linkage studies across multiple population groups provide convergent support for a susceptibility locus for schizophrenia - and, more recently, for bipolar disorder - on chromosome 6q13-q26. We genotyped 192 European-ancestry and African American (AA) pedigrees with schizophrenia from samples that previously showed linkage evidence to 6q13-q26, focusing on the MOXD1-STX7-TRARs gene cluster at 6q23.2, which contains a number of prime candidate genes for schizophrenia. Thirty-one screening single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were selected, providing a minimum coverage of at least 1 SNP/20 kb. The association observed with rs4305745 (P = .0014) within the TRAR4 (trace amine receptor 4) gene remained significant after correction for multiple testing. Evidence for association was proportionally stronger in the smaller AA sample. We performed database searches and sequenced genomic DNA in a 30-proband subsample to obtain a high-density map of 23 SNPs spanning 21.6 kb of this gene. Single-SNP analyses and also haplotype analyses revealed that rs4305745 and/or two other polymorphisms in perfect linkage disequilibrium (LD) with rs4305745 appear to be the most likely variants underlying the association of the TRAR4 region with schizophrenia. Comparative genomic analyses further revealed that rs4305745 and/or the associated polymorphisms in complete LD with rs4305745 could potentially affect gene expression. Moreover, RT-PCR studies of various human tissues, including brain, confirm that TRAR4 is preferentially expressed in those brain regions that have been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. These data provide strong preliminary evidence that TRAR4 is a candidate gene for schizophrenia; replication is currently being attempted in additional clinical samples.

Occupational and non-occupational risk factors in bladder cancer patients in an industrialized area located in former east-Germany

Purpose: Several occupational carcinogens are metabolized by polymorphic enzymes. The distribution of the polymorphic enzymes N-acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2; substrates: aromatic amines), glutathione S-transferase M1 (GSTM1; substrates: e.g., reactive metabolites of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), and glutathione S-transferase T1 (GSTT1; substrates: small molecules with 1 - 2 carbon atoms) were investigated. Material and Methods: At the urological department in Lutherstadt Wittenberg, 136 patients with a histologically proven transitional cell cancer of the urinary bladder were investigated for all occupations performed for more than 6 months. Several occupational and non-occupational risk factors were asked. The genotypes of NAT2, GSTM1, and GSTT1 were determined from leucocyte DNA by PCR. Results: Compared to the general population in Middle Europe, the percentage of GSTT1 negative persons (22.1%) was ordinary; the percentage of slow acetylators (59.6%) was in the upper normal range, while the percentage of GSTM1 negative persons (58.8%) was elevated in the entire group. Shifts in the distribution of the genotypes were observed in subgroups who had been exposed to asbestos (6/6 GSTM1 negative, 5/6 slow acetylators), rubber manufacturing (8/10 GSTM1 negative), and chlorinated solvents (9/15 GSTM1 negative). Conclusions: The overrepresentation of GSTM1 negative bladder cancer patients also in this industrialized area and more pronounced in several occupationally exposed subgroups points to an impact of the GSTM1 negative genotype in bladder carcinogenesis.

A versatile synthetic approach to peptidyl privileged structures using a "safety-catch" linker

Peptidyl privileged structures have been widely used by many groups to discover biologically active molecules. In this context, privileged substructures are used as hydrophobic anchors, to which peptide functionality is appended to gain specificity. Utilization of this concept has led to the discovery of many different active compounds at a wide range of biological receptors. A synthetic approach to these compounds has been developed on a safety-catch linker that allows rapid preparation of large libraries of these molecules. Importantly, amide bond formation/cleavage through treatment with amines is the final step; it is a linker strategy that allows significant diversification to be easily incorporated, and it only requires the inclusion of an amide bond. In addition, chemistry has been developed that permits the urea moiety to be inserted at the N-terminus of the peptide, allowing the same set of amines (either privileged substructures or amino acid analogues) to be used at both the N- and C-termini of the molecule. To show the robustness of this approach, a small library of peptidyl privileged structures were synthesized, illustrating that large combinatorial libraries can be synthesized using these technologies.

Intra- vs intermolecular photoinduced electron transfer reactions of a macrocyclic donor-acceptor dyad

The synthesis, structural characterization, and photophysical behavior of a 14-membered tetraazamacrocycle with pendant 4-dimethylaminobenzyl (DMAB) and 9-anthracenylmethyl groups is reported (L-3, 6-((9-anthracenylmethyl)amino)-trans-6,13-dimethyl-13-((4-dimethylaminobenzyl)amino)-1,4,8,11-tetraaza-cyclotetradecane). In its free base form, this compound displays rapid intramolecular photoinduced electron transfer (PET) quenching of the anthracene emission, with both the secondary amines and the DMAB group capable of acting as electron donors. When complexed with Zn(II), the characteristic fluorescence of the anthracene chromophore is restored as the former of these pathways is deactivated by coordination. Importantly, it is shown that the DMAB group, which remains uncoordinated and PET active, acts only very weakly to quench emission, by comparison to the behavior of a model Zn complex lacking the pendant DMAB group, [ZnL2](2+) (Chart 1). By contrast, Stern-Volmer analysis of intermolecular quenching of [ZnL2](2+) by N,N-dimethylaniline (DMA) has shown that this reaction is diffusion limited. Hence, the pivotal role of the bridge in influencing intramolecular PET is highlighted.

Human SULT1A genes: Cloning and activity assays of the SULT1A promoters

The three human SULT1A sulfotransferase enzymes are closely related in amino acid sequence (>90%), yet differ in their substrate preference and tissue distribution. SULT1A1 has a broad tissue distribution and metabolizes a range of xenobiotics as well as endogenous substrates such as estrogens and iodothyronines. While the localization of SULT1A2 is poorly understood, it has been shown to metabolize a number of aromatic amines. SULT1A3 is the major catecholamine sulfonating form, which is consistent with it being expressed principally in the gastrointestinal tract. SULT1A proteins are encoded by three separate genes, located in close proximity to each other on chromosome 16. The presence of differential 5′-untranslated regions identified upon cloning of the SULT1A cDNAs suggested the utilization of differential transcriptional start sites and/or differential splicing. This chapter describes the methods utilized by our laboratory to clone and assay the activity of the promoters flanking these different untranslated regions found on SULT1A genes. These techniques will assist investigators in further elucidating the differential mechanisms that control regulation of the human SULT1A genes. They will also help reveal how different cellular environments and polymorphisms affect the activity of SULT1A gene promoters.

Polyamines from polyols - Pathways to azamacrocycles with hydroxymethyl pendent groups

Several pathways to macromonocylic polyamine ligands with pendent hydroxymethyl substituents have been explored. The new ligands have all been characterised by single-crystal, X-ray structure determinations on their complexes with Co(III) (one case) and Cu(II). As in some related systems, four-membered ring species, here oxetanes rather than azetidines, appear to be involved as reaction intermediates and can be quite readily isolated, providing reactants of potential for the construction of even more complicated multidentate ligands. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Synthesis of soluble phosphate polymers by RAFT and their in vitro mineralization

Soluble linear (non-cross-linked) poly(monoacryloxyethyl phosphate) (PMAEP) and poly(2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl phosphate) (PMOEP) were successfully synthesized through reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT)-mediated polymerization and by keeping the molecular weight below 20 K. Above this molecular weight, insoluble (cross-linked) polymers were observed, postulated to be due to residual diene (cross-linkable) monomers formed during purification of the monomers, MOEP and MAEP. Block copolymers consisting of PMAEP or PMOEP and poly(2-(acetoacetoxy) ethyl methacrylate) (PAAEMA) were successfully prepared and were immobilized on aminated slides. Simulated body fluid studies revealed that calcium phosphate (CaP) minerals formed on both the soluble polymers and the cross-linked gels were very similar. Both the PMAEP polymers and the PMOEP gel showed a CaP layer most probably brushite or monetite based on the Ca/P ratios. A secondary CaP mineral growth with a typical hydroxyapatite (HAP) globular morphology was found on the PMOEP gel. The soluble PMOEP film formed carbonated HAP according to Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Block copolymers attached to aminated slides showed only patchy mineralization, possibly due to the ionic interaction of negatively charged phosphate groups and protonated amines.