Chemistry of unprotected amino acids in aqueous solution: direct bromination of aromatic amino acids with bromoisocyanuric acid sodium salt under strong acidic condition. (57/242)

Brominations of unprotected aromatic amino acids such as phenylalanine, tyrosine, and glycine, with bromoisocyanuric acid mono sodium salt (BICA-Na) were conducted in 60% aq. H(2)SO(4) at 0 degrees C to give a mixture of mono-brominated products in good yield. Unexpectedly, meta-bromophenylglycine was obtained as main product accompanied by ortho- and para-substituted products, while phenylalanine gave only ortho- and para-substituted products. Bromination of 2-phenylethylamine or benzylamine showed a tendency similar to the corresponding amino acids.  (+info)

Efficient generation of 2'-deoxyuridin-5-yl at 5'-(G/C)AA(X)U(X)U-3' (X = Br, I) sequences in duplex DNA under UV-irradiation. (58/242)

A highly sequence-specific photoreaction of 5'-(G/C)AA(X)U(X)U-3' was found by using 450-base pair DNA fragments containing (X)U under UV-irradiation (X = Br, I). The molecular basis of this high photoreactivity was investigated in detail using synthetic octanucleotides. Based on the experimental data, the mechanism for the efficient photoreaction was proposed.  (+info)

Selenium derivatization of nucleic acids for crystallography. (59/242)

The high-resolution structure of the DNA (5'-GTGTACA-C-3') with the selenium derivatization at the 2'-position of T2 was determined via MAD and SAD phasing. The selenium-derivatized structure (1.28 A resolution) with the 2'-Se modification in the minor groove is isomorphorous to the native structure (2.0 A). To directly compare with the conventional bromine derivatization, we incorporated bromine into the 5-postion of T4, determined the bromine-derivatized DNA structure at 1.5 A resolution, and found that the local backbone torsion angles and solvent hydration patterns were altered in the structure with the Br incorporation in the major groove. Furthermore, while the native and Br-derivatized DNAs needed over a week to form reasonable-size crystals, we observed that the Se-derivatized DNAs grew crystals overnight with high-diffraction quality, suggesting that the Se derivatization facilitated the crystal formation. In addition, the Se-derivatized DNA sequences crystallized under a broader range of buffer conditions, and generally had a faster crystal growth rate. Our experimental results indicate that the selenium derivatization of DNAs may facilitate the determination of nucleic acid X-ray crystal structures in phasing and high-quality crystal growth. In addition, our results suggest that the Se derivatization can be an alternative to the conventional Br derivatization.  (+info)

Photo-oxidation of aldehydes with molecular oxygen in the presence of catalytic bromine or hydrobromic Acid. (60/242)

Aldehydes were found to be oxidized with molecular oxygen to the corresponding carboxylic acid in the presence of catalytic hydrobromic acid or bromine under photo-irradiation.  (+info)

Directing macromolecular conformation through halogen bonds. (61/242)

The halogen bond, a noncovalent interaction involving polarizable chlorine, bromine, or iodine molecular substituents, is now being exploited to control the assembly of small molecules in the design of supramolecular complexes and new materials. We demonstrate that a halogen bond formed between a brominated uracil and phosphate oxygen can be engineered to direct the conformation of a biological molecule, in this case to define the conformational isomer of a four-stranded DNA junction when placed in direct competition against a classic hydrogen bond. As a result, this bromine interaction is estimated to be approximately 2-5 kcal/mol stronger than the analogous hydrogen bond in this environment, depending on the geometry of the halogen bond. This study helps to establish halogen bonding as a potential tool for the rational design and construction of molecular materials with DNA and other biological macromolecules.  (+info)

Palladium-catalyzed synthesis of nucleoside adducts from bay- and fjord-region diol epoxides. (62/242)

Palladium-catalyzed C-N bond formation has been utilized to synthesize covalent 2'-deoxyadenosine (dA) and 2'-deoxyguanosine (dG) adducts of benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) series 1 (syn) and benzo[c]phenanthrene (BcPh) series 2 (anti) diol epoxides. For this, (+/-)-10 alpha-amino-7 beta,8 alpha,9 beta-trisbenzoyloxy-7,8,9,10-tetrahydro BaP and (+/-)-1 beta-amino-2 alpha,3 alpha,4 beta-trisbenzoyloxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro BcPh were coupled with 6-halo-9-[3,5-bis-O-(tert-butyldimethylsilyl)-beta-D-erythro-pentofuranosyl]purin e and O6-benzyl-3',5'-bis-O-(tert-butyldimethylsilyl)-2-bromo-2'-deoxyinosine, using a (+/-)-BINAP-Pd complex and Cs2CO3. For the synthesis of the dA adducts, both the 6-chloro- as well as the 6-bromopurine nucleoside derivatives were analyzed for the C-N coupling reaction with the hydrocarbon amino tribenzoates. With the BaP amino tribenzoate, the 6-chloronucleoside provided satisfactory results, whereas the 6-bromo analogue proved to be superior with the BcPh amino tribenzoate. Overall, lower yields of the dA adducts were obtained with the more hindered fjord-region BcPh amino tribenzoate as compared to the bay-region BaP amino tribenzoate. In contrast to reactions leading to the dA adducts, the C-N reactions of both BaP and BcPh amino tribenzoates with the 2-bromo-2'-deoxyinosine derivative proceeded in comparable yields. This seems to indicate that such Pd-catalyzed adduct forming reactions at the C-6 position may be influenced by steric constraints of the amine component, whereas those at the C-2 position are less sensitive. Diastereomeric adduct pairs were separated and characterized by spectral methods and by comparisons to adducts produced by direct displacement reactions as well as those formed from DNA alkylation by diol epoxides.  (+info)

Trends of brominated diphenyl ethers in fresh and archived Great Lakes fish (1979-2005). (63/242)

While few environmental measurements of brominated diphenyl ethers (BDEs) were completed prior to the mid-1990s, analysis of appropriately archived samples might enable the determination of contaminant trends back to the introduction of these chemicals. In this paper, we first investigate the stability of BDEs in archived frozen and extracted fish samples, and then characterize trends of these chemicals in rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) and lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) in each of the Great Lakes between 1979 and 2005. We focus on the four most common congeners (BDE-47, 100, 99 and 153) and use a change-point analysis to detect shifts in trends. Analyses of archived fish samples yielded precise BDE concentration measurements with only small losses (0.8% per year in frozen fish tissues, 2.2% per year in refrigerated extracts). Trends in fish from all Great Lakes showed large increases in BDE concentrations that started in the early to mid-1980s with fairly consistent doubling times (generally 2-4 years except in Lake Erie smelt where levels increased very slowly), though concentrations and trends show differences by congener, fish species and lake. The most recent data show that accumulation rates are slowing, and concentrations of penta- and hexa-congeners in trout from Lakes Ontario and Michigan and smelt from Lake Ontario started to decrease in the mid-1990s. Trends in smelt and trout are evolving somewhat differently, and trout concentrations in the five lakes are now ranked as Michigan>Superior=Ontario>Huron=Erie, and smelt concentrations as Michigan>Ontario>Huron>Superior>Erie. The analysis of properly archived samples permits the reconstruction of historical trends, congener distributions, biomagnification and other information that can aid the understanding and management of these contaminants.  (+info)

Cyclic oxonitriles: stereodivergent grignard addition-alkylations. (64/242)

Sequential carbonyl addition-conjugate addition of Grignard reagents to cyclic 5-7-membered oxoalkenenitriles efficiently generates cyclic magnesiated nitriles. Alkylations of these magnesiated nitriles exhibit diastereoselectivities that depend intimately on the size of the carbocyclic ring: 5-membered oxonitriles generate magnesiated nitriles whose alkylations are controlled by steric constraints whereas 6- and 7-membered oxonitriles generate internally coordinated, C-magnesiated nitriles whose alkylations are controlled by stereoelectronic effects. Reversing the alkylation selectivity of 6-membered C-magnesiated nitriles is achieved by conversion to an N-metalated nitrile in which steric, rather than electronic, effects direct the electrophile trajectory. Collectively, the conjugate addition-alkylation generates highly substituted, cyclic 5-7-membered nitriles containing three new stereocenters with selective access to diastereomers at the quaternary nitrile-bearing carbon.  (+info)