pH-controlled self-assembling of meso-tetrakis(4-sulfonatophenyl)porphyrin-chitosan complexes.

Solid meso-tetrakis(4-sulfonatophenyl)porphyrin (TPPS(4))-chitosan supramolecular complexes were prepared by addition of porphyrin to an aqueous solution of chitosan at pH values. The precipitates obtained were assigned as 1 (pH 6.8) and 2 (pH 2.

Application of infrared spectroscopy to the assessment of authenticity of tea.

Diffusion reflectance fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in the mid-IR region was used to assess the authenticity of tea varieties. The differences between the spectra of 12 different tea varieties (seven black, two green, three semifermented grades) were sufficient to allow their discrimination by the soft independent modelling of class analogy classification method or linear discriminant analysis, despite a significant heterogeneity of the samples as revealed by variance analysis.

Molecular structure of guanine-quartet supramolecular assemblies in a gel-state based on a DFT calculation of infrared and vibrational circular dichroism spectra.

The infrared (IR) and vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectra of guanosine-5'-hydrazide ( G-1), a powerful hydrogelator, have been measured and analyzed on the basis of ab initio modeling. B3LYP/6-31G** DFT calculations predict that G-1, forming a clear solution in deuterated DMSO, is present in monomeric form in this solvent, whereas strong gelation in a phosphate buffer is due to the formation of a guanine-quartet structure, ( G-1)4, in which the four G-1 are linked by hydrogen-bonded guanine moieties and stabilized by an alkali metal cation. The B3LYP/6-31G** IR and VCD spectra of the nearly planar G-quartet, whose structure is slightly distorted from the C4h symmetry, in which the G-bases interact via four Hoogsteen-type hydrogen bonds and a sodium cation is positioned in the middle of the G-quartet, are in very good agreement with the experimental spectra, indicating that this structure is the predominant structure in the gel state.

Investigation of guanosine-quartet assemblies by vibrational and electronic circular dichroism spectroscopy, a novel approach for studying supramolecular entities.

The self-assembly of guanosine-5'-hydrazide G-1 in D(2)O, in the presence and absence of sodium cations, has been investigated by chiroptical techniques: electronic (ECD) and the newly introduced vibrational (VCD) circular dichroism spectroscopy. Using a combination of ECD and VCD with other methods such as IR, electron microscopy, and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) it was found that G-1 produces long-range chiral aggregates consisting of G-quartets, (G-1)(4), subsequently stacked into columns, [(G-1)(4)](n), induced by binding of metal cations between the (G-1)(4) species. This process, accompanied by gelation of the sample, is highly efficient in the presence of an excess of sodium cations, leading to aggregates with strong quartet-quartet interaction.

Interaction of meso-tetrakis(4-sulphonatophenyl)porphine with chitosan in aqueous solutions.

Interaction of meso-tetrakis(4-sulphonatophenyl)porphine (TPPS4) with chitosan (Mr approximately 400 kDa, N-acetyls approximately 20 mol.%) was studied in aqueous solutions. UV-vis absorption and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopic titration of 10 micromol l-1 TPPS4 with chitosan demonstrated that an addition of the polysaccharide at appropriate concentrations and pH values induce and support self-aggregation of the macrocycles.