Search

We report the analysis of complex samples obtained during the microwave irradiation/heating of norbixin, which has been identified as a potential therapeutic target for age‐related macular degeneration (AMD). In this context, identifying the different isomers that are obtained during its degradation is of primary importance. However, this characterization is challenging because, on the one hand, some of these isomers are unstable, and on the other hand, the 1H spectra of these isomeric mixtures are poorly resolved. We could successfully apply 1D pure shift experiments to obtain ultrahigh‐resolution 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of the norbixin isomer samples and exploit their information content to analyze complementary 2D NMR data and describe accurately their isomeric composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance in chiral liquid crystalline media is a powerful tool for deciphering mixtures of enantiomers. 1 H NMR appears to be the most sensitive technique for analyzing enantiomers but remains very challenging for the analysis of chiral solutes interacting with weakly orienting media. Indeed, probing 1 H networks even for small sized molecules is difficult because in oriented media, partially averaged anisotropic interactions such as residual dipolar couplings contribute to broaden NMR signals and lead to crowded spectra. For this reason, using 1 H NMR for analyzing enantiomeric mixtures has long required a complex and tedious analytical process to extract a qualitative and quantitative information about each enantiomer. Several methods have been developed in the last decade to overcome this difficulty. SElective ReFocussing (SERF) based techniques allowed the possibility to get access to high resolution spectra and measure accurately every homonuclear 1 H total couplings for each enantiomer. Among them, the Gradient encoded SERF (G-SERF) pulse sequence is an advanced tool for a rapid analysis of whole networks of residual dipolar couplings. Moreover, other multi-dimensional experiments have been developed to acquire homonuclear correlation spectra in which complex proton lineshapes of fully coupled systems are simplified. Finally, heteronuclear correlation methods that eventually combine the signal dispersion of another heteronucleus with the homonuclear decoupling of the proton dimension, were successfully implemented to separate lines from 1 H sites in each enantiomer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a method for fitting curves acquired by chemical shift titration experiments, in the frame of a three-step complexation mechanism. To that end, we have implemented a fitting procedure, based on a nonlinear least squares fitting method, that determines the best fitting curve using a 'coarse grid search' approach and provides distributions for the different parameters of the complexation model that are compatible with the experimental precision. The resulting analysis protocol is first described and validated on a theoretical data set. We show its ability to converge to the true parameter values of the simulated reaction scheme and to evaluate complexation constants together with multidimensional uncertainties. Then, we apply this protocol to the study of the supramolecular interactions, in aqueous solution, between a lanthanide complex and three different model molecules, using NMR titration experiments. We show that within the uncertainty that can be evaluated from the parameter distributions generated during our analysis, the affinities between the lanthanide derivative and each model molecule can be discriminated, and we propose values for the corresponding thermodynamic constants. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

J‐resolved at a glance: Passive coupling refocusing‐COSY experiments based on a frequency encoding of the sample along two directions of space are presented. It allows various spin evolutions to be triggered in different parts of the sample in a selective and fully controlled manner. This yields 2D spectra in which the whole proton network appears as a series of fully resolved and straightforwardly assignable doublets, triplets or quartets (see figure). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solid state NMR sample preparation and resonance assignments of the U-[13C,15N] 2×10.4 kDa dimeric form of the regulatory protein Crh in microcrystalline, PEG precipitated form are presented. Intra– and interresidue correlations using dipolar polarization transfer methods led to nearly complete sequential assignments of the protein, and to 88% of all 15N, 13C chemical shifts. For several residues, the resonance assignments differ significantly from those reported for the monomeric form analyzed by solution state NMR. Dihedral angles obtained from a TALOS-based statistical analysis suggest that the microcrystalline arrangement of Crh must be similar to the domain-swapped dimeric structure of a single crystal form recently solved using X-ray crystallography. For a limited number of protein residues, a remarkable doubling of the observed NMR resonances is observed indicative of local static or dynamic conformational disorder. Our study reports resonance assignments for the largest protein investigated by solid state NMR so far and describes the conformational dimeric variant of Crh with previously unknown chemical shifts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the determination of molecular dynamics in proteins. relationships. While great progress has been made in this field using solution-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods, there are currently no experimental probes available that provide detailed information about local dynamics throughout solid proteins. The introduction of microcrystalline protein samples, as well as substantial improvements in the sensitivity and resolution of multidimensional solid-state NMR experiments, has led to very rapid recent progress being made in this field, resulting in the first complete assignments of proteins in the solid state and the first three-dimensional structure. There is a correlation between measured relaxation rates and a simple but coherent preliminary picture of internal mobility, with increased mobility providing faster mobility.

The toxicity of tacrolimus metabolites and their potential pharmacodynamic (PD) interactions with tacrolimus might respectively explain the surprising combination of higher toxicity and lower efficacy of tacrolimus despite normal blood concentrations, described in extensive metabolizers. To evaluate such interactions, we produced tacrolimus metabolites in vitro and characterized them by high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS, for all) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR, for the most abundant, M-I). We quantified tacrolimus metabolites and checked their structure in patient whole blood and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). We explored the interactions of M-I with tacrolimus in silico , in vitro and ex vivo. In vitro metabolization produced isoforms of tacrolimus and of its metabolites M-I and M-III, whose HRMS fragmentation suggested an open-ring structure. M-I and M-III open-ring isomers were also observed in patient blood. By contrast, NMR could not detect these open-ring forms. Transplant patients expressing CYP3A5 exhibited higher M-I/TAC ratios in blood and PBMC than non-expressers. Molecular Dynamics simulations showed that: all possible tacrolimus metabolites and isomers bind FKPB12; and the hypothetical open-ring structures induce looser binding between FKBP12 and calcineurins, leading to lower CN inhibition. In vitro , tacrolimus bound FKPB12 with more affinity than purified M-I, and the pool of tacrolimus metabolites and purified M-I had only weak inhibitory activity on IL2 secretion and not at all on NFAT nuclear translocation. M-I showed no competitive effect with tacrolimus on either test. Finally, M-I or the metabolite pool did not significantly interact with tacrolimus MLR suppression, thus eliminating a pharmacodynamic interaction. [Display omitted] • HRMS, but not NMR, identified isomers of tacrolimus and metabolites with pyranyl-ring opening. • In silico , all tacrolimus derivatives bound FKBP12 with similar affinity. • However, the M-I metabolite had lower calcineurin inhibition potency than tacrolimus. • M-I or a tacrolimus metabolite pool hardly inhibited NFAT nuclear translocation and IL2 secretion and had not effect on one-way lymphocyte reaction. • Tacrolimus metabolites have probably no competitive or antagonistic effects with tacrolimus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose an original concept to measure accurately enantiomeric excesses on proton NMR spectra, which combines high-resolution techniques based on a spatial encoding of the sample, with the use of optically active weakly orienting solvents. We show that it is possible to simulate accurately dipolar edited spectra of enantiomers dissolved in a chiral liquid crystalline phase, and to use these simulations to calibrate integrations that can be measured on experimental data, in order to perform a quantitative chiral analysis. This approach is demonstrated on a chemical intermediate for which optical purity is an essential criterion. We find that there is a very good correlation between the experimental and calculated integration ratios extracted from G-SERF spectra, which paves the way to a general method of determination of enantiomeric excesses based on the observation of 1H nuclei. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The application of the G-SERFph pulse sequence is presented on enantiomeric mixtures dissolved in a chiral liquid crystal. It aims at editing, within one single 2D spectrum, every proton coupling which is experienced by a given proton site in the molecule, and leads to real phased T-edited spectroscopy (T = J +2D). This NMR experiment is based on the combination of homonuclear semi-selective refocusing techniques with a spatial frequency encoding of the sample. This approach, which consists in handling selectively each coupling in separate cross sections of the sample, is applied to the visualization of enantiomers dissolved in a chiral liquid crystalline phase. Advantages and limits of this methodology are widely discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]