Structural insights on the selective interaction of the histidine-rich piscidin antimicrobial peptide Of-Pis1 with membranes.

Of-Pis1 is a potent piscidin antimicrobial peptide (AMP), recently isolated from rock bream (Oplegnathus fasciatus). This rich in histidines and glycines 24-amino acid peptide displays high and broad antimicrobial activity and no significant hemolytic toxicity against human erythrocytes, suggesting low toxicity. To better understand the mechanism of action of Of-Pis1 and its potential selectivity, using NMR and CD spectroscopies, we studied the interaction with eukaryotic and procaryotic membranes and membrane models.

Exploring the Association of Electron-Donating Corroles with Phthalocyanines as Electron Acceptors.

Electron-donating corroles (Cor) were integrated with electron-accepting phthalocyanines (Pc) to afford two different non-covalent Cor ⋅ Pc systems. At the forefront was the coordination between a 10-meso-pyridine Cor and a ZnPc. The complexation was corroborated in a combination of NMR, absorption, and fluorescence assays, and revealed association with binding constants as high as 10  m .

Discovery of Novel Imidazopyridine GSK-3β Inhibitors Supported by Computational Approaches.

The interest of research groups and pharmaceutical companies to discover novel GSK-3β inhibitors has increased over the years considering the involvement of this enzyme in many pathophysiological processes and diseases. Along this line, we recently reported on 1H-indazole-3-carboxamide (INDZ) derivatives -, showing good GSK-3β inhibition activity. However, they suffered from generally poor central nervous system (CNS) permeability.

Silicon(IV) Corroles.

Silicon complexes of corrole were obtained for the first time by reaction of the free-base corrole with hexachlorodisilane. The peripheral substituents of corrole strongly influence the nature of the reaction products: β-octaalkyl corrole was mainly isolated as the μ-oxo dimer, while a hydroxo complex was obtained in the case of 5,10,15-tris-(pentafluorophenyl)corrole. In the case of meso-tritolyl corrole, a mixture of monomer/μ-oxo dimer was obtained.

Looking for the peptide 2.0(5) -helix: a solvent- and main-chain length-dependent conformational switch probed by electron transfer across c(α,α) -diethylglycine homo-oligomers.

The elusive, multiple fully extended (2.0(5) -helix) peptide conformation was searched with a series of C(α,α) -diethylglycine homo-oligomers (n = 1 to 5) functionalized by an electron transfer (ET) donor···acceptor (D···A) pair in acetonitrile and chloroform solutions. In the former solvent, all peptides investigated were shown to populate the 3(10) -helix conformation, whereas in chloroform the two shortest members of the series (n = 1 and n = 2) adopt predominantly the 2.