Functionalization of isophthalic acid ligands with linear alkoxide groups from ethoxy through pentoxy is shown to have a pronounced effect on both the synthesis of porous paddlewheel-based molecular ...assemblies and their resulting surface areas and gas adsorption properties. Shorter chain length is compatible with either tetragonal or hexagonal two-dimensional materials, with the hexagonal phase favored with longer chain length. Precise tuning of reaction conditions affords discrete molecular species that are soluble in a variety of organic solvents. The isolated porous molecules display BET surface areas ranging from 125 m2/g to 545 m2/g. The pentoxide-based molecular assembly shows considerable promise for the separation of hydrocarbons with average isosteric heats of adsorption of −48 and −31 kJ/mol for ethylene and ethane, respectively.
Electronic Structure of Copper Corroles Lemon, Christopher M.; Huynh, Michael; Maher, Andrew G. ...
Angewandte Chemie (International ed.),
February 5, 2016, Letnik:
55, Številka:
6
Journal Article
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The ground state electronic structure of copper corroles has been a topic of debate and revision since the advent of corrole chemistry. Computational studies formulate neutral Cu corroles with an ...antiferromagnetically coupled CuII corrole radical cation ground state. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, EPR, and magnetometry support this assignment. For comparison, CuII isocorrole and TBACu(CF3)4 were studied as authentic CuII and CuIII samples, respectively. In addition, the one‐electron reduction and one‐electron oxidation processes are both ligand‐based, demonstrating that the CuII centre is retained in these derivatives. These observations underscore ligand non‐innocence in copper corrole complexes.
Innocent until proven guilty: The electronic structure of Cu corroles is studied using a variety of techniques in conjunction with DFT calculations. Given this data, the compound is best described as an antiferromagnetically coupled CuII corrole radical cation. Electrons are added to or removed from the corrole ligand in these redox processes, preserving the CuII centre. This result underscores corrole non‐innocence in these compounds.
Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP) is a congenital disorder of progressive and widespread postnatal ossification of soft tissues and is without known effective treatments. Affected ...individuals harbor conserved mutations in the ACVR1 gene that are thought to cause constitutive activation of the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) type I receptor, activin receptor-like kinase-2 (ALK2). Here we show that intramuscular expression in the mouse of an inducible transgene encoding constitutively active ALK2 (caALK2), resulting from a glutamine to aspartic acid change at amino acid position 207, leads to ectopic endochondral bone formation, joint fusion and functional impairment, thus phenocopying key aspects of human FOP. A selective inhibitor of BMP type I receptor kinases, LDN-193189 (ref. 6), inhibits activation of the BMP signaling effectors SMAD1, SMAD5 and SMAD8 in tissues expressing caALK2 induced by adenovirus specifying Cre (Ad.Cre). This treatment resulted in a reduction in ectopic ossification and functional impairment. In contrast to localized induction of caALK2 by Ad.Cre (which entails inflammation), global postnatal expression of caALK2 (induced without the use of Ad.Cre and thus without inflammation) does not lead to ectopic ossification. However, if in this context an inflammatory stimulus was provided with a control adenovirus, ectopic bone formation was induced. Like LDN-193189, corticosteroid inhibits ossification in Ad.Cre-injected mutant mice, suggesting caALK2 expression and an inflammatory milieu are both required for the development of ectopic ossification in this model. These results support the role of dysregulated ALK2 kinase activity in the pathogenesis of FOP and suggest that small molecule inhibition of BMP type I receptor activity may be useful in treating FOP and heterotopic ossification syndromes associated with excessive BMP signaling.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The adoption of pulmonary vaccines to advantageously provide superior local mucosal protection against aerosolized pathogens has been faced with numerous logistical and practical challenges. One of ...these persistent challenges is the lack of effective vaccine adjuvants that could be well tolerated through the inhaled route of administration. Despite its widespread use as a vaccine adjuvant, aluminum salts (alum) are not well tolerated in the lung. To address this issue, we evaluated the use of porous aluminum (Al)-based metal-organic framework (MOF) nanoparticles (NPs) as inhalable adjuvants. We evaluate a suite of Al-based MOF NPs alongside alum including DUT-4, DUT-5, MIL-53 (Al), and MIL-101-NH
(Al). As synthesized, MOF NPs ranged between ~ 200 nm and 1 µm in diameter, with the larger diameter MOFs matching those of commercial alum. In vitro examination of co-stimulatory markers revealed that the Al-based MOF NPs activated antigen presenting cells more effectively than alum. Similar results were found during in vivo immunizations utilizing ovalbumin (OVA) as a model antigen, resulting in robust mucosal humoral responses for all Al MOFs tested. In particular, DUT-5 was able to elicit mucosal OVA-specific IgA antibodies that were significantly higher than the other MOFs or alum dosed at the same NP mass. DUT-5 also was uniquely able to generate detectable IgG2a titers, indicative of a cellular immune response and also had superior performance relative to alum at equivalent Al dosed in a reduced dosage vaccination study. All MOF NPs tested were generally well-tolerated in the lung, with only acute levels of cellular infiltrates detected and no Al accumulation; Al content was largely cleared from the lung and other organs at 28 days despite the two-dose regime. Furthermore, all MOF NPs exhibited mass median aerodynamic diameters (MMADs) of ~ 1.5-2.5 µm when dispersed from a generic dry powder inhaler, ideal for efficient lung deposition. While further work is needed, these results demonstrate the great potential for use of Al-based MOFs for pulmonary vaccination as novel inhalable adjuvants.
The mRNA processing body (P-body) is a cellular structure that has an important role in mRNA degradation. P-bodies have also been implicated in RNAi-mediated post-transcriptional gene silencing. The ...objective of this study was to identify and characterize novel components of the mammalian P-body. Approximately 5% of patients with the autoimmune disease primary biliary cirrhosis have antibodies directed against this structure. Serum from one of these patients was used to identify a cDNA encoding RAP55, a 463-amino acid protein. RAP55 colocalized with previously identified P-body components DCP1a and Ge-1. RAP55 contains an N-terminal Sm-like domain and two C-terminal RGG-rich domains separated by an FDF motif. The two RGG domains and the FDF domain were necessary and sufficient to target the protein to P-bodies. A fragment of RAP55 consisting of the FDF and the second RGG domains did not localize to P-bodies, but was able to displace other P-body components from this structure. After cells were subjected to arsenite-induced stress, RAP55 was detected in TIA-containing stress granules. The second RGG domain was necessary and sufficient for stress granule localization. siRNA-mediated knock-down of RAP55 resulted in loss of P-bodies, suggesting that RAP55 acts prior to the 5'-decapping step in mRNA degradation. The results of this study show that RAP55 is a component of P-bodies in cells at rest and localizes in stress granules in arsenite-treated cells. RAP55 may serve to shuttle mRNAs between P-bodies and stress granules.
Porous organic cages are a class of adsorbents that have shown promise for a variety of applications. The octahedral cyclohexane-functionalised imine-based cage, commonly referred to as CC3, is ...perhaps most recognisable in this regard. However, most gas adsorption studies concerning this cage have focused on chromatographic or noble gas separations. Here, we examine this cage for the adsorptive separation of a wide variety of small molecules, including acetylene, ethylene, ethane, methane, and others. The internal surface of the cage is an optimal binding environment for gaseous substrates and as such the material displays adsorption enthalpies of −15 to −35 kJ/mol, depending on adsorbate. These values are particularly high for an adsorbent lacking coordinatively unsaturated metal sites and are likely a result of optimal cage geometry, which can be inferred from its isostructural nature to one of the pores in a well-known metal-organic framework, HKUST-1. Given this and the soluble nature of this cage, we additionally report optimisation of the high-pressure methane storage properties of this cage by tuning its density.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The crystallographic characterization of framework-guest interactions in metal-organic frameworks allows the location of guest binding sites and provides meaningful information on the nature of these ...interactions, enabling the correlation of structure with adsorption behavior. Here, techniques developed for in situ single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments on porous crystals have enabled the direct observation of CO, CH4, N2, O2, Ar, and P4 adsorption in Co2(dobdc) (dobdc4- = 2,5-dioxido-1,4-benzenedicarboxylate), a metal-organic framework bearing coordinatively unsaturated cobalt(ii) sites. All these molecules exhibit such weak interactions with the high-spin cobalt(ii) sites in the framework that no analogous molecular structures exist, demonstrating the utility of metal-organic frameworks as crystalline matrices for the isolation and structural determination of unstable species. Notably, the Co-CH4 and Co-Ar interactions observed in Co2(dobdc) represent, to the best of our knowledge, the first single-crystal structure determination of a metal-CH4 interaction and the first crystallographically characterized metal-Ar interaction. Analysis of low-pressure gas adsorption isotherms confirms that these gases exhibit mainly physisorptive interactions with the cobalt(ii) sites in Co2(dobdc), with differential enthalpies of adsorption as weak as -17(1) kJ mol-1 (for Ar). Moreover, the structures of Co2(dobdc).3.8N2, Co2(dobdc).5.9O2, and Co2(dobdc).2.0Ar reveal the location of secondary (N2, O2, and Ar) and tertiary (O2) binding sites in Co2(dobdc), while high-pressure CO2, CO, CH4, N2, and Ar adsorption isotherms show that these binding sites become more relevant at elevated pressures.
Microporous metal–organic frameworks are a class of materials being vigorously investigated for mobile hydrogen storage applications. For high-pressure storage at ambient temperatures, the ...M3(M4Cl)3(BTT)82 (M-BTT; BTT3– = 1,3,5-benzenetristetrazolate) series of frameworks are of particular interest due to the high density of exposed metal cation sites on the pore surface. These sites give enhanced zero-coverage isosteric heats of adsorption (Q st) approaching the optimal value for ambient storage applications. However, the Q st parameter provides only a limited insight into the thermodynamics of the individual adsorption sites, the tuning of which is paramount for optimizing the storage performance. Here, we begin by performing variable-temperature infrared spectroscopy studies of Mn-, Fe-, and Cu-BTT, allowing the thermodynamics of H2 adsorption to be probed experimentally. This is complemented by a detailed DFT study, in which molecular fragments representing the metal clusters within the extended solid are simulated to obtain a more thorough description of the structural and thermodynamic aspects of H2 adsorption at the strongest binding sites. Then, the effect of substitutions at the metal cluster (metal ion and anion within the tetranuclear cluster) is discussed, showing that the configuration of this unit indeed plays an important role in determining the affinity of the framework toward H2. Interestingly, the theoretical study has identified that the Zn-based analogs would be expected to facilitate enhanced adsorption profiles over the compounds synthesized experimentally, highlighting the importance of a combined experimental and theoretical approach to the design and synthesis of new frameworks for H2 storage applications.
Abstract Background The cardiac natriuretic peptides (NPs), atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), have central roles in sodium and blood pressure regulation. ...Extracardiac factors (e.g., obesity and diabetes) influence NP production, potentially altering cardiovascular responses to volume and pressure stress. Objectives This study examined the effects of acute carbohydrate intake on the NP system in humans, and investigated underlying mechanisms. Methods Normotensive subjects (N = 33) were given a high-carbohydrate shake. Venous blood was sampled to measure N-terminal (NT)-proANP and NT-proBNP levels. Human embryonic stem cell–derived cardiomyocytes (hESC-CMs) and HepG2 cells were treated with glucose, and expression levels of NPs and micro ribonucleic acid 425 (miR-425), a negative regulator of ANP, were examined. The role of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) in the glucose-mediated effects was investigated using a NF-κB inhibitor and expression plasmids encoding NF-κB subunits. Results We observed a 27% reduction in the levels of circulating NT-proANP (p < 0.001, maximal at 6 h) after carbohydrate challenge, with no effect on NT-proBNP levels in our human subjects. Glucose treatment of hESC-CMs for 6 h and 24 h increased levels of the primary transcript of miR-425 (pri-miR-425) and mature miR-425. A corresponding decrease in NPPA messenger RNA levels was also observed at both time points. Overexpression of NF-κB subunits in H9c2 cardiomyocytes increased miR-425 levels, whereas inhibition of NF-κB abrogated the glucose-mediated increase in pri-miR-425 levels in HepG2 cells. Conclusions Acute carbohydrate challenge is associated with a reduction in ANP production. The mechanism appears to involve a glucose-induced increase in the expression of miR-425, mediated by NF-κB signaling.
Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are known to facilitate energy-efficient separations of important industrial chemical feedstocks. Here, we report how a class of green MOFsnamely CD-MOFsexhibits ...high shape selectivity toward aromatic hydrocarbons. CD-MOFs, which consist of an extended porous network of γ-cyclodextrins (γ-CDs) and alkali metal cations, can separate a wide range of benzenoid compounds as a result of their relative orientation and packing within the transverse channels formed from linking (γ-CD)6 body-centered cuboids in three dimensions. Adsorption isotherms and liquid-phase chromatographic measurements indicate a retention order of ortho- > meta- > para-xylene. The persistence of this regioselectivity is also observed during the liquid-phase chromatography of the ethyltoluene and cymene regioisomers. In addition, molecular shape-sorting within CD-MOFs facilitates the separation of the industrially relevant BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene isomers) mixture. The high resolution and large separation factors exhibited by CD-MOFs for benzene and these alkylaromatics provide an efficient, reliable, and green alternative to current isolation protocols. Furthermore, the isolation of the regioisomers of (i) ethyltoluene and (ii) cymene, together with the purification of (iii) cumene from its major impurities (benzene, n-propylbenzene, and diisopropylbenzene) highlight the specificity of the shape selectivity exhibited by CD-MOFs. Grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations and single component static vapor adsorption isotherms and kinetics reveal the origin of the shape selectivity and provide insight into the capability of CD-MOFs to serve as versatile separation platforms derived from renewable sources.
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