Sub-5 Ångstrom Porosity Tuning in Calixarene-Derived Porous Liquids via Supramolecular Complexation Construction.

Precise sub-Ångstrom-level porosity engineering, which is appealing in gas separations, has been demonstrated in solid carbon, polymer, and framework materials but rarely achieved in the liquid phase. In this work, a gas molecular sieving effect in the liquid phase at sub-5 Ångstrom scale is created via sophisticated porosity tuning in calixarene-derived porous liquids (PLs). Type II PLs are constructed via supramolecular complexation between the sodium salts of calixarene derivatives and crown ether solvents.

Taming Conformational Heterogeneity on Ion Racetrack to Unveil Principles that Drive Membrane Permeation of Cyclosporines.

Our study reveals the underlying principles governing the passive membrane permeability in three large methylated macrocyclic peptides (MeMPs): cyclosporine A (CycA), Alisporivir (ALI), and cyclosporine H (CycH). We determine a series of conformers required for robust passive membrane diffusion and those relevant to other functions, such as binding to protein targets or intermediates, in the presence of solvent additives. We investigate the conformational interconversions and establish correlations with the membrane permeability.

Entropy stabilized cubic LiLaZrO with reduced lithium diffusion activation energy: studied using solid-state NMR spectroscopy.

Stabilizing cubic polymorph of LiLaZrO at low temperatures is challenging and currently limited to mono- or dual-ion doping with aliovalent ions. Herein, a high-entropy strategy at the Zr sites was deployed to stabilize the cubic phase and lower the lithium diffusion activation energy, evident from the static Li and MAS Li NMR spectra.

Syntheses of Group 5 Amide Amidinates and Their Reactions with Water: Different Reactivities of Nb(V) and Ta(V) Complexes.

Chemistries of Nb(V) and Ta(V) compounds are essentially identical as a result of lanthanide contraction. Hydrolysis of M(NMe) (M = Nb, Ta), for example, yields [M(μ-O)(NMe)] (M = Nb, ; Ta, ) reported earlier. The similar reactivities of Nb(V) and Ta(V) compounds make it challenging, for example, to separate the two metals from their minerals.

Atomic View of Aqueous Cyclosporine A: Unpacking a Decades-Old Mystery.

An atomic view of a main aqueous conformation of cyclosporine A (CycA), an important 11-amino-acid macrocyclic immunosuppressant, is reported. For decades, it has been a grand challenge to determine the conformation of free CycA in an aqueous-like solution given its poor water solubility. Using a combination of X-ray and single-crystal neutron diffraction, we unambiguously resolve a unique conformer (A1) with a novel -amide between residues 11 and 1 and two water ligands that stabilize hydrogen bond networks.

Structural Flexibility of Cyclosporine A Is Mediated by Amide - Isomerization and the Chameleonic Roles of Calcium.

Falling outside of Lipinski's rule of five, macrocyclic drugs have accessed unique binding sites of their target receptors unreachable by traditional small molecules. Cyclosporin(e) A (CycA), an extensively studied macrocyclic natural product, is an immunosuppressant with undesirable side effects such as electrolytic imbalances. In this work, a comprehensive view on the conformational landscape of CycA, its interactions with Ca, and host-guest interactions with cyclophilin A (CypA) is reported through exhaustive analyses that combine ion-mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry (IMS-MS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, distance-geometry modeling, and NMR-driven molecular dynamics.

Syntheses and characterization of hepta-coordinated Group 4 amidinate complexes.

Tri-amidinate chloride complexes M[MeC(NiPr)2]3Cl [M = Zr (1), Hf (2)] have been prepared from MCl4 and lithium amidinate Li[MeC(NiPr)2]. The uncommon hepta-coordinated complexes Zr-Cl (1) and Hf-Cl (2) undergo metathesis reactions with 1 equiv. of MeLi and EtMgCl to give alkyl derivatives M[MeC(NiPr)2]3R [R = Me, M = Zr (3), Hf (4); R = Et, M = Zr (5), Hf (6)].

Synthesis, structural characterization and NMR studies of group 10 metal complexes with macrocyclic amine N-heterocyclic carbene ligands.

A series of Ni(ii), Pd(ii) and Pt(ii) complexes [ML][PF] [L = L, M = Ni (1), Pd (2), Pt (3); L = L, M = Ni (4), Pd (5), Pt (6)] and [Pt(L)(acac)] (7) have been prepared by the reactions of two tetradentate macrocyclic amine-NHC ligand precursors, [HL][PF] and [HL][PF], with Ni(OAc)·4HO, Pd(OAc) and Pt(acac) in the presence of NaOAc. Complex 7 is isolated along with 6 from the same reaction between [HL][PF] and Pt(acac). There are two atropisomers in 1-3 and two achiral conformers in 4-6.

C-H bond activation during and after the reactions of a metallacyclic amide with silanes: formation of a μ-alkylidene hydride complex, its H-D exchange, and β-H abstraction by a hydride ligand.

Metallacyclic complex [(Me2N)3Ta(η(2)-CH2SiMe2NSiMe3)] (3) undergoes C-H activation in its reaction with H3SiPh to afford a Ta/μ-alkylidene/hydride complex, [(Me2N)2{(Me3Si)2N}Ta(μ-H)2(μ-C-η(2)-CHSiMe2NSiMe3)Ta(NMe2)2] (4). Deuterium-labeling studies with [D3]SiPh show H-D exchange between the Ta-D-Ta unit and all methyl groups in [(Me2N)2{(Me3Si)2N}Ta(μ-D)2(μ-C-η(2)-CHSiMe2NSiMe3)Ta(NMe2)2] ([D2]-4) to give the partially deuterated complex [Dn]-4. In addition, 4 undergoes β-H abstraction between a hydride and an NMe2 ligand and forms a new complex [(Me2N){(Me3 Si)2N}Ta(μ-H)(μ-N-η(2)-C,N-CH2NMe)(μ-C-η(2)-C,N-CHSiMe2NSiMe3)Ta(NMe2)2] (5) with a cyclometalated, η(2)-imine ligand.

Reactions of Group 4 amide guanidinates with dioxygen or water. Studies of the formation of oxo products.

Reactions of the zirconium amide guanidinates (R2N)2M[(i)PrNC(NR2)N(i)Pr]2 (R = Me, M = Zr, 1; M = Hf, 2; R = Et, M = Zr, 3) with O2 or H2O give products that are consistent with the oxo dimers {M(μ-O)[(i)PrNC(NR2)N(i)Pr]2}2 (R = Me, M = Zr, 4; M = Hf, 5; R = Et, M = Zr, 6) and polymers {M(μ-O)[(i)PrNC(NR2)N(i)Pr]2}n (R = Me, M = Zr, 7; M = Hf, 8; R = Et, M = Zr, 9). Mass spectrometric (MS) analyses of the reactions of water in air with 1 and 2 show formation of the Zr monomer Zr(═O)[(i)PrNC(NMe2)N(i)Pr]2 (10), oxo dimers 4 and 5, and dihydroxyl complexes M(OH)2[(i)PrNC(NMe2)N(i)Pr]2 (M = Zr, 11; Hf, 12). Similar MS analyses of the reaction of diethylamide guanidinate 3 with water in air show the formation of Zr(═O)[(i)PrNC(NEt2)N(i)Pr]2 (13), Zr(OH)2[(i)PrNC(NEt2)N(i)Pr]2 (14), 6, and {(Et2N)Zr[(i)PrNC(NEt2)N(i)Pr]2}(+) (15).

Unexpected formation of a trinuclear complex containing a Ta(IV)-Ta(IV) bond in the reactions of Bu(t)N=Ta(NMe2)3 with silanes.

A new trinuclear species containing a Ta(IV)-Ta(IV) bond, Ta(3)(μ-H)(μ-NMe(2))(μ=NBu(t))(2)(=NBu(t))(NMe(2))(5), has been formed by reductive elimination of H(2). Ta(2)H(2)(μ-NMe(2))(2)(NMe(2))(2)(=NBu(t))(2) has also been isolated. O(2) oxidizes the Ta(IV)-Ta(IV) bond to yield Ta(3)(μ(3)-O)(H)(μ=NBu(t))(μ-NMe(2))(2)(NMe(2))(4)(=NBu(t))(2) under ligand exchange.

Backbone resonance assignments of a promiscuous aminoglycoside antibiotic resistance enzyme; the aminoglycoside phosphotransferase(3')-IIIa.

The aminoglycoside phosphotransferase(3')-IIIa (APH) is a promiscuous enzyme and renders a large number of structurally diverse aminoglycoside antibiotics useless against infectious bacteria. A remarkable property of this approximately 31 kDa enzyme is in its unusual dynamic behavior in solution; the apo-form of the enzyme exchanges all of its backbone amide protons within 15 h of exposure to D ( 2 ) O while aminoglycoside-bound forms retain approximately 40% of the amide protons even after >90 h of exposure. Moreover, the number of observable peaks and their dispersion in HSQC spectra varies with each aminoglycoside, rendering the resonance assignments very challenging.

Sequence specific resonance assignment via Multicanonical Monte Carlo search using an ABACUS approach.

ABACUS [Grishaev et al. (2005) Proteins 61:36-43] is a novel protocol for automated protein structure determination via NMR. ABACUS starts from molecular fragments defined by unassigned J-coupled spin-systems and involves a Monte Carlo stochastic search in assignment space, probabilistic sequence selection, and assembly of fragments into structures that are used to guide the stochastic search.

Defining an inhibitory domain in the alpha-subunit of the epithelial sodium channel.

Epithelial sodium channels (ENaC) are processed by proteases as they transit the biosynthetic pathway. We recently observed that furin-dependent processing of the alpha-subunit of ENaC at two sites within its extracellular domain is required for channel activation due to release of a 26-residue inhibitory domain. While channels with alpha-subunits lacking the furin sites are not cleaved and have very low activity, channels lacking the furin consensus sites as well as the tract between these sites (alphaD206-R231) are active.