Polymeric peptide pigments with sequence-encoded properties.

Melanins are a family of heterogeneous polymeric pigments that provide ultraviolet (UV) light protection, structural support, coloration, and free radical scavenging. Formed by oxidative oligomerization of catecholic small molecules, the physical properties of melanins are influenced by covalent and noncovalent disorder. We report the use of tyrosine-containing tripeptides as tunable precursors for polymeric pigments.

Nano-Photoelectrochemical Cell Arrays with Spatially Isolated Oxidation and Reduction Channels.

Photoelectrochemical conversion of solar energy is explored for many diverse applications but suffers from poor efficiencies due to limited solar absorption, inadequate charge carrier separation, redox half-reactions occurring in close proximity, and/or long ion diffusion lengths. We have taken a drastically different approach to the design of photoelectrochemical cells (PECs) to spatially isolate reaction sites at the nanoscale to different materials and flow channels, suppressing carrier recombination and back-reaction of intermediates while shortening ion diffusion paths and, importantly, avoiding mixed product generation. We developed massively parallel nano-PECs composed of an array of open-ended carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with photoanodic reactions occurring on the outer walls, uniformly coated with titanium dioxide (TiO), and photocathodic reactions occurring on the inner walls, decorated with platinum (Pt).

Antitumor activity of 3,4-dihydroquinazoline dihydrochloride in A549 xenograft nude mice.

In the previous article we have reported that 3,4-dihydroquinazoline 1 is a potent and selective T-type calcium channel blocker that exhibited strong anti-cancer activity in vitro. Compound 1·2HCl was further in vivo evaluated against A549 xenograft in BALB/c nude mice, which exhibited 49% tumor-weight inhibition through intravenous administration of 2 mg/kg of body weight and was more potent than doxorubicin. Moreover, compound 1·2HCl has an oral bioavailability of 98% with LD(50) values of 693 mg/kg (p.

Synthesis and PGE(2) production inhibition of 1H-furan-2,5-dione and 1H-pyrrole-2,5-dione derivatives.

3,4-Diphenyl-substituted 1H-furan-2,5-dione and 1H-pyrrole-2,5-dione derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for the inhibitory activities on LPS-induced PGE(2) production in RAW 264.7 macrophage cells. Both 1H-furan-2,5-dione and 1H-pyrrole-2,5-dione rings as main scaffolds were easily obtained using one of three synthetic methods.