Comparison of the redox chemistry of sulfur- and selenium-containing analogs of uracil.

Selenium is present in proteins in the form of selenocysteine, where this amino acid serves catalytic oxidoreductase functions. The use of selenocysteine in nature is strongly associated with redox catalysis. However, selenium is also found in a 2-selenouridine moiety at the wobble position of tRNA, tRNA and tRNA.

Crystal structures of (N-methyl-N-phenyl-amino)(N-methyl-N-phenyl-carbamoyl)sulfide and the corresponding disulfane.

The title compounds, (N-methyl-N-phenyl-amino)(N-methyl-N-phenyl-car-bam-oyl)sulfide, C15H16N2OS, (I), and (N-methyl-N-phenyl-amino)-(N-methyl-N-phenyl-carbamo-yl)disulfane, C15H16N2OS2, (II), are stable derivatives of (chloro-carbon-yl)sulfenyl chloride and (chloro-carbon-yl)disulfanyl chloride, respectively. The torsion angle about the S-S bond in (II) is -92.62 (6)°, which is close to the theoretical value of 90°.

Crystal structure of bis-(N-methyl-N-phenyl-amino)-tris-ulfane.

The title compound, C14H16N2S3, crystallized with two independent mol-ecules [(1 a ) and (1 b )] in the asymmetric unit. Both mol-ecules display a pseudo-trans conformation. The two consecutive S-S bond lengths of the tris-ulfane unit of mol-ecule (1 a ) are 2.

Bis(N-methyl-N-phenyl-carbamo-yl)disulfane.

The title compound, C(16)H(16)N(2)O(2)S(2), has been synthesized by several different high-yield routes, and has been encountered as a co-product in a number of reaction pathways, ever since it became of inter-est to our research program over 30 years ago. We now confirm the proposed mol-ecular structure in which the mol-ecule exhibits a twofold axis of symmetry through the mid-point of the S-S bond and the two planes defined by the (carbamo-yl)sulfenyl moieties are essentially perpendicular to each other [dihedral angle = 81.55 (14)°].

The use of 2,2'-dithiobis(5-nitropyridine) (DTNP) for deprotection and diselenide formation in protected selenocysteine-containing peptides.

In contrast to the large number of sidechain protecting groups available for cysteine derivatives in solid phase peptide synthesis, there is a striking paucity of analogous selenocysteine Se-protecting groups in the literature. However, the growing interest in selenocysteine-containing peptides and proteins requires a corresponding increase in availability of synthetic routes into these target molecules. It therefore becomes important to design new sidechain protection strategies for selenocysteine as well as multiple and novel deprotection chemistry for their removal.

2,2'-Dithiobis(5-nitropyridine) (DTNP) as an effective and gentle deprotectant for common cysteine protecting groups.

Of all the commercially available amino acid derivatives for solid phase peptide synthesis, none has a greater abundance of side-chain protection diversity than cysteine. The high reactivity of the cysteine thiol necessitates its attenuation during peptide construction. Moreover, the propensity of cysteine residues within a peptide or protein sequence to form disulfide connectivity allows the opportunity for the peptide chemist to install these disulfides iteratively as a post-synthetic manipulation through the judicious placement of orthogonal pairs of cysteine S-protection within the peptide's architecture.

Synthetic routes to, transformations of, and rather surprising stabilities of (N-methyl-N-phenylcarbamoyl)sulfenyl chloride, ((N-methyl-N-phenylcarbamoyl)dithio)carbonyl chloride, and related compounds.

The title compound classes, (carbamoyl)sulfenyl chlorides and ((carbamoyl)dithio)carbonyl chlorides, have been implicated previously as unstable, albeit trappable, intermediates in organosulfur chemistry. The present work reports for each of these functional groups: (i) several routes to prepare it in the N-methylaniline family; (ii) its direct structural characterization by several spectroscopic techniques; (iii) its rather unexpected stability and its ultimate fate when it decomposes; (iv) a series of further chemical transformations that give highly stable derivatives, each in turn subject to thorough characterization. Relevant kinetic and mechanistic experiments were carried out, including some with p-methyl- and 2,6-dimethyl-substituted N-methylanilines.

Chemical footprinting of structural and functional elements of dhfr oribeta during the CHOC 400 cell cycle.

Oribeta, an origin of replication 3' to Chinese hamster dihydrofolate reductase (dhfr) gene, contains several sequence elements that function as components of a chromosomal replicator. Here we have examined sensitivity to KMnO(4) in vitro and in living cells of three regions within dhfr oribeta which contribute to replicator function: the origin of bidirectional DNA replication (OBR) that serves as an initiation site for DNA synthesis, a stably bent DNA region that binds activator protein one (AP-1) and RIP60 in vitro, and an AT-rich region that contains a dA/dT(23) dinucleotide repeat that has properties of a DNA unwinding element. The in vitro patterns of KMnO(4) modification in linear plasmid differed from that in supercoiled plasmid most prominently in the dA/dT(23) repeat, with evidence of palindrome extrusion in supercoiled plasmid.