Host-guest-like thiamine-anion complexation in thiaminium bis(tetrafluoroborate)

In the title compound, 3-[(4-amino-2-methyl-5-pyrimidin-1-io)methyl]-5-(2-hydroxyethyl)-4-methylthiazolium(2+) bis(tetrafluoroborate), C12H18N4OS2+. 2BF(4)(-), the divalent thiamine cation (in the F conformation) is associated with BF4- anions via two characteristic bridging interactions between the thiazolium and pyrimidinium rings, i.e. C-H . . . BF4- . . . pyrimidinium and N-H . . . BF4- . . . thiazolium interactions. Thiamine molecules are linked by N-H . . .O hydrogen bonds to form a helical chain structure.

Single crystal structure of form I syndiotactic poly(butene-1)

The structures of single crystals of syndiotactic poly(butene-1) in form I, produced by thin-film growth, are studied by transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction. Bright-field electron microscopy observation shows that the single crystal exhibits a regular rectangular shape with the long axis along its crystallographic b-axis. Electron diffraction results indicate an isochiral C-centered packing of a-fold helical chains in an orthorhombic unit cell corresponding to the C222(1) space group, according to the model proposed in the literature. The differences with the polymorphic behavior of syndiotactic polypropylene concerning the formation and the stability of the isochiral mode of packing are outlined.

Mechanical and thermal induced chain conformational transformations in syndiotactic polypropylene (sPP)

Stretching a stacked sPP lamellar morphology at room temperature leads to a mechanical induced transformation from the (t(2)g(2))(2) (helical) into the (tttt) (zigzag) chain conformation of the polymer. The so prepared samples exhibit after annealing above 80 degreesC a thermal induced retransformation into the cell I and cell III crystal structure of the helical chain conformation. The mechanical induced chain conformational transformation as well as the thermal induced retransformation was studied by means of transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction. (C) 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Conformation transformation of syndiotactic polypropylene induced by stretching and annealing

Conformation transformation of syndiotactic polypropylene(sPP) induced by stretching and annealing processes has been investigated by WAXD, IR and DSC, The results indicate that not only the quenched samples but also the isothermally crystallized samples can form the crystals with all-trans conformation by means of uniaxially stretching at room temperature. The all-trans conformation crystals are of metastability, which can transform to stable crystals with (TTGG)(2) helical conformation at higher annealing temperatures.

Characterization of the structural and functional changes of hemoglobin in dimethyl sulfoxide by spectroscopic techniques

Circular dichroism (CD), fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and fluorescence spectroscopy were used to explore the effect of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) on the structure and function of hemoglobin (Hb). The native tertiary structure was disrupted completely when the concentration of DMSO reached 50% (v/v), which was determined by loss of the characteristic Soret CD spectrum. Loss of the native tertiary structure could be mainly caused by breaking the hydrogen bonds, between the heme propionate groups and nearby surface amino acid residues, and by disorganizing the hydrophobic interior of this protein. Upon exposure of Hb to 52% DMSO for ca. 12 h in a D2O medium no significant change in 1652 cm(-1) band of the FTIR spectrum was produced, which demonstrated that alpha-helical structure predominated. When the concentration of DMSO increased to 57%: (1) the band at 1652 cm(-1) disappeared with the appearance of two new bands located at 1661 and 1648 cm(-1); (2) another new band at 1623 cm(-1) was attributed to the formation of intermolecular beta-sheet or aggregation, which was the direct consequence of breaking of the polypeptide chain by the competition of S=O groups in DMSO with C=O groups in amide bonds. Further increasing the DMSO concentration to 80%, the intensity at 1623 cm(-1) increased, and the bands at 1684, 1661 and 1648 cm(-1) shifted to 1688, 1664 and 1644 cm(-1), respectively. These changes showed that the native secondary structure of Hb was last and led to further aggregation and increase of the content of 'free' amide C=O groups. In pure DMSO solvent, the major band at 1664 cm(-1) indicated that almost all of both the intermolecular beta-sheet and any residual secondary structure were completely disrupted. The red shift of the fluorescence emission maxima showed that the tryptophan residues were exposed to a greater hydrophilic environment as the DMSO content increased. GO-binding experiment suggested that the biological function of Hb was disrupted seriously even if the content of DMSO was 20%. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Interfacial characteristics of the self-assembly system of poly-L-lysine 3-mercaptopropionic acid gold electrode

The interfacial characteristics of poly-L-lysine (PL) attached on self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) were studied by an electrochemical method. The results indicated that PL\MPA layer inhibited partly the diffusion process of redox species in solution, and the electrode surface behaved like a microelectrode array. Its permeation effect was also strongly affected by Mg2+. The more Mg2+ ions were added into the electrolyte solution, the greater the difficulty with which the electron transfer of potassium ferricyanide took place. The three different conformations of PL on the electrode surface had different influences on the electron transfer processes of ferricyanide. PL in random coil state hindered most strongly the electron transfer behavior of ferricyanide,while the alpha-helical PL had nearly no effect and the effect of the beta-sheet state PL was intermediate of these. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.

Electropolymeric generation of optically active polypyrrole

The facile synthesis of optically active polypyrrole has been achieved via the enantioselective electropolymerization of pyrrole on indium-tin-oxide-coated glass electrodes in aqueous solution containing D-(+) or L-(-) tartaric acid, (1S)-(+)-10-camphorsulfonic acid and L-lactic acid. The dark films of conducting polypyrroles salt formed under electrostatic conditions (+0.65V vs. Ag/AgCl) exhibited strong circular dichroism (CD) spectra typical of polymers possessing helical chirality. The quantitative reversal of the CD spectrum of the salt grown in (+)-tartaric acid as opposed to (-)-tartaric acid suggests that electropolymerization is highly enantioselective, with one helical screw of the polymer chain being preferentially produced depending on the hand of the tartaric anion incorporated. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Asymmetric polymerization of the mixture of TrMA and MMA initiated by chiral complexes

A mixture of triphenylmethyl methacrylate (TrMA) and methyl methacrylate (MMA) was polymerized with chiral anionic initiator, such as fluorenyl lithium-(-)-sparteine [FlLi-(-)-Sp] and fluorenyl lithium-(+)-2S,3S-dimethoxy-1,4-bis(dimethylamino) butane [FlLi-(+)-DDB] in toluene at -78 degrees C. The results show that after the stable helix formed, when FlLi-(+)-DDB was used as the initiator, TrMA and MMA could be copolymerized, whereas when FlLi-(-)-Sp was used, the two monomers tended to be selectively polymerized into two polymers. This phenomenon has been explained by the existence of helix-selective polymerization. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

SYNTHESIS AND PROPELLER-PROPELLER TRANSITION OF OPTICALLY-ACTIVE POLY(DIPHENYL-O-TOLYLMETHYL METHACRYLATE)

Diphenyl-o-tolylmethyl methacrylate (DPTMA) was synthesized and polymerized using initiators of organolithium complexes with (+) - (2S,3S) -dimethoxy-1,4-bis(dimethylamino) butane (DDB) and (-) -sparteine (Sp) as the chiral ligands. DDB was suitable for its complex effective to prepare optically active poly(diphenyl-o-tolylmethyl methacrylate) (PDPTMA) with one-handed helical conformation, whereas only low-molecular weight polymer was formed when Sp was used as ligand due to the repulsive hindrance between the triarylmethyl group and the ligand. A new mutarotation, propeller-propeller transition, was observed for PDPTMA from the optical rotation curves and CD spectra in THF solution. The equivalent period of PDPTMA was estimated to be 14 angstrom based on the x-ray diffraction. (C) 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

INTERACTIONS OF THIAMINE WITH ANIONS - STRUCTURE OF THIAMINE DITHIOCYANATE

The crystal structure analysis of {3-[(4-amino-2-methyl-5-pyrimidinyl)methyl]-5-(2-hydroxyethyl)-4-methylthiazol}ium dithiocyanate reveals that there are two types of anion bridges between the two aromatic rings of the same thiamine which adopts the usual F conformation, one of which involves a contact between H(C2) on the thiazolium ring and the hydroxy O atom from a neighbouring molecule. The crystal packing shows a novel triple helical structure formed by strongly hydrogen-bonded thiamine-SCN- molecular chains.

STRUCTURE OF MESOMORPHIC FORM OF ISOTACTIC POLYPROPYLENE

The structure of quenched isotactic polypropylene (iPP) films, including samples etched with fuming nitric acid (FNA), has been studied by infrared (IR) spectra, wide-angle x-ray diffraction (WAXD), small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements. The changes of IR, SAXS, DSC, and WAXD results induced by annealing for etched samples have been compared with those for unetched ones. The IR absorbance spectrum of the quenched iPP etched by FNA did not change. In addition, the SAXS intensity did not increase when these samples were annealed, indicating that the total (IR) crystallinity (i.e., the content of chain segments in the helical conformations) of the etched samples does not increase. However, WAXD patterns of the samples changed in a manner similar to those of the unetched one, from the original two blurred diffraction peaks to the sharp crystal patterns of alpha-form iPP, suggesting that the mesomorphic (or liquid crystal-like) phase has reorganized to alpha-form crystals. It is concluded that the change of WAXD of quenched iPP films during annealing results mainly from transformation of order in the mesomorphic phase, rather than only from an increase of crystal size. In other words, mesomorphic-form iPP is not constituted by any known crystals (such as alpha or beta crystals) in small sizes; its WAXD pattern reflects truly the degree of order in the mesomorphic phase.

HELIX-INDUCED ASYMMETRIC POLYMERIZATION

Asymmetric polymerization could be induced by an already formed optically active living prepolymer with one-handed screw sense helix conformation. The usually formed anionic active centre on the prepolymer could be changed to cationic, radical and even of Ziegler-Natta type. These living prepolymers with various kinds of active centre were all effective to induce a consequent asymmetric polymerization of a monomer which may be other than that in the prepolymer, to afford an optically active helical chain with the same screw sense as that of the prepolymer. Eight monomers have been used in the work. Optical rotation, circular dichroism and gelpermeation chromatography have been taken to prove the helix-induced asymmetric polymerization.

STUDY ON OPTICAL-ROTATORY OF HELIX POLYMER POLY(TRIPHENYLMETHYL METHACRYLATE)

The optical rotatory of helix polymer poly(triphenylmethyl methacrylate) (PTrMA) has been studied. The specific rotation of PTrMA is related with the length of helical chain linearly, while P(n)BAR<6 and P(n)BAR greater-than-or-equal-to 15. When P(n)BAR greater-than-or-equal-to 15, [alpha]D/20 = 1.6 P(n)BAR + 290-degrees. The contribution of each repeating unit to [alpha]D/20 is 1.6-degrees. In the 300-600 nm region, the ORD of PTrMA obeys both the Drude equation and Moffitt equation. The relationship between the [alpha]D of PTrMA and the solvent, concentration and temperature has also been investigated.

CRYSTALLINITY OF UNIFORM OLIGO(OXYETHYLENE) MONO-N-ALKYL ETHERS STUDIED BY X-RAY-DIFFRACTION AND DIFFERENTIAL SCANNING CALORIMETRY

The crystallinity of two series of uniform oligo(oxyethylene) mono-n-alkyl ethers has been investigated: alpha-alkyl,omega-hydroxyoligo(oxyethylene)s, H(CH2)n(OCH2CH2)mOH, and alpha-alkyl,omega-methoxyoligo(oxyethylene)s, H(CH2)n(OCH2CH2)mOCH3. The hydroxy-ended oligomers formed bilayer crystals, and the methoxy-ended oligomers formed monolayer crystals. The helical oxyethylene blocks were oriented normal to the layer-crystal end-group plane, whilst the trans-planar alkyl blocks were generally tilted at an angle delta = 60-degrees. The melting temperature and enthalpy of fusion were higher for hydroxy-ended oligomers than for corresponding methoxy-ended oligomers.

In vitro selected peptides bind with thymidylate synthase mRNA and inhibit its translation

Thymidylate synthase (TS), an essential enzyme for catalyzing the biosynthesis of thymidylate, is a critical therapeutic target in cancer therapy. Recent studies have shown that TS functions as an RNA-binding protein by interacting with two different sequences on its own mRNA, thus, repressing translational efficiency. In this study, peptides binding TS RNA with high affinity were isolated using mRNA display from a large peptide library (>10(13) different sequences). The randomized library was subjected up to twelve rounds of in vitro selection and amplification. Comparing the amino acid composition of the selected peptides (12th round, R12) with those from the initial random library (round zero, R0), the basic and aromatic residues in the selected peptides were enriched significantly, suggesting that these peptide regions might be important in the peptide-TS mRNA interaction. Categorizing the amino acids at each random position based on their physicochemical properties and comparing the distributions with those of the initial random pool, an obvious basic charge characteristic was found at positions 1, 12, 17 and 18, suggesting that basic side chains participate in RNA binding. Secondary structure prediction showed that the selected peptides of R12 pool represented a helical propensity compared with R0 pool, and the regions were rich in basic residues. The electrophoretic gel mobility shift and in vitro translation assays showed that the peptides selected using mRNA display could bind TS RNA specifically and inhibit the translation of TS mRNA. Our results suggested that the identified peptides could be used as new TS inhibitors and developed to a novel class of anticancer agents.