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Simultaneous detection of multiple amino acids (AAs) instead of individual AAs is inherently worthwhile for improving diagnostic accuracy in clinical applications. Here, a facile and reliable colorimetric microfluidic paper-based analytical device (μPAD) using carbon dots doped with transition metals (Cr3+, Mn2+, Fe3+, Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+, and Zn2+) has been provided to detect and discriminate 20 natural amino acids. To make the colourless metal-doped carbon dots suitable for colorimetric assays, they were mixed with ninhydrin to form a charge transfer complex. This optical tongue system, which was constructed by dropping mixtures of ninhydrin with a series of metal-doped carbon dots on a paper substrate in an array format, represented obvious but different colorimetric signatures for every examined amino acid. Since bovine serum albumin was used as a chiral selector reagent for synthesizing the CDs, the sensor device represented excellent selectivity to identify enantiomeric species of AAs. This is the first optical array device that can simultaneously discriminate AAs and several of their enantiomers. We employed various statistical and chemometric methods to analyze the digital data library collected by Image J software, including principal component analysis (PCA), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA). Twenty AAs could be well distinguished at various concentrations (10.00, 5.00, 2.50, and 1.25 mM). The colorimetric patterns were highly repeatable and were characteristic of individual AAs. Besides qualitative analysis, the designed μPAD-based optical tongue represented quantitative analysis ability, e.g., for lysine in the concentration ranges of 0.005–20.0 mM with a detection limit of 1.0 × 10−6 M and for arginine in the concentration range of 0.12–20.00 mM with a detection limit of 80.0 × 10−6 M. In addition, the binary, ternary, and quaternary mixtures of AAs could also be well recognized with this sensor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel fluorescent probe, TPA-PAT, with continuous recognition based on triphenylamine was designed, synthesized, and characterized by NMR, IR, and fluorescence spectrophotometry techniques. The research results showed that the probe could specifically recognize Cu2+ in DMSO/H2O (99:1, v/v) with a detection limit as low as 0.40 mM and a coordination ratio of 1: 2. On this basis, it was found that its complex TPA-PAT-Cu2+ could achieve a continuous progressive recognition of the anion S2- and amino acids GSH, L-His, and L-Gly, while simultaneously showing high sensitivity for them with low detection limits of 25.7, 18.9, 21.7, and 45.9 nM, respectively. The probe had good reversibility and could be recycled. In addition, the probe TPA-PAT could simultaneously recognize Cu2+ and Hg2+ in acetone/H2O (99:1, v/v) with detection limits of 0.16 and 0.20 mM, respectively, while their coordination ratios were 1: 2. Similarly, its complex TPA-PAT-Hg2+ was able to continuously recognize the amino acids Cys and GSH with detection limits of 0.34 and 0.29 mM, respectively. It was also found that the probe and its complexes were able to be prepared for convenient dipstick applications, which could achieve a rapid fluorescence response to anions and amino acids and suggested its very good application prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copper complexes are considered as potential candidates for anticancer therapy and medical applications. In this paper, three new Cu(II) complexes, [Cu(IPY)2](ClO4)2·H2O (CuI1), [Cu(IPY)(L -Phe)H2O]ClO4·0.5H2O (CuI2) and [Cu(IPY)(L -Val)H2O]ClO4 (CuI3) (where IPY = 2-(1H-imidazol-2-yl)pyridine, L -Phe = L -phenylalanine, and L -Val = L -valine), with good amphipathic properties were synthesized and characterized. Their single crystal X-ray diffraction results revealed that CuI1 was four-coordinated, while CuI2 and CuI3 both adopted a five-coordinated tetragonal pyramidal configuration. Multi-spectral methods, viscosity experiment and molecular docking technique showed that the three complexes interacted with DNA through insertion. The results of the gel electrophoresis experiments indicated that DNA was oxidatively cleaved by all the complexes in a concentration-dependent manner. Moreover, singlet oxygen (1O2), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and superoxide anion radicals (˙O2−) were associated with the oxidative cleavage of DNA. All the complexes also had good binding affinity with human serum albumin (HSA). The MB degradation assay revealed that all complexes could react with H2O2 to form ˙OH through Fenton-like processes. The complexes displayed good antiproliferative activity against the tested human cancer cells in vitro, including cervical carcinoma cells (HeLa), liver cancer cells (HepG2 and BEL-7402) and gastric adenocarcinoma cells (SGC-7901), but showed lower toxicity to normal liver cells (LO2). The anticancer mechanism research revealed that CuI1, CuI2 and CuI3 arrested the cell cycle at the S phase, elevated intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and induced loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP). The results indicated that these Cu(II) complexes could induce DNA damage and ROS-mediated mitochondrial dysfunction, leading to cancer cell apoptosis. Our work provides a theoretical basis for the design of new low-toxicity and highly efficient anticancer Cu(II) complexes by incorporating biological metabolites and aromatic heterocyclic ligands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Covering: up to October 2020 Furanocoumarins are plant secondary metabolites used to treat several skin disorders, such as psoriasis and vitiligo, and also with other potential therapeutic activities. Furanocoumarins are extracted from plants where they accumulate in low amounts over long growth periods. In addition, their extraction and purification are difficult in an environmentally unfriendly and expensive process. Hence, new sustainable and greener production schemes able to overcome such limitations ought to be developed. While the heterologous production of simple coumarins has been demonstrated, the biosynthesis of more complex furanocoumarins remains greatly unexplored. Although several important steps of the pathway have been elucidated in the last decade, the complete pathway has not been completely unravelled. In this paper, we review the natural conversion of amino acids into furanocoumarins, as well as the heterologous expression of each enzyme of the pathway. We also explore the challenges that need to be addressed so that their heterologous production can become a viable alternative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Samarium macrocycle-based complex Sm-2n, a luminescent matrix bearing two dynamic imine bonds as recognition sites and a Sm(III) emitter as the fluorescence indicator, can selectively probe cysteine over other analogous amino acids and show remarkable turn-off fluorescent character. Moreover, using Sm-2n-impregnated paper-based test strips and RGB outputs, we develop a smartphone-based analysis method to give a convenient approach with satisfactory results for cysteine detection and determination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new benzothiazole azo dye [(E)-1-((6-methoxybenzo[d]thiazole-2-yl)diazenyl)naphthalene-2,6-diol] (also known as “BAN”), has been synthesised and used as a chemosensor for the rapid and selective detection of mercury(ii) ions in water. The pink coloured chemosensor turns blue when reacted with mercury(ii) ions due to the formation of a 2 : 1 coordination complex. The complex formation causes a bathochromic shift of the chemosensor's UV absorption peak from 540 to 585 nm and turns on a highly selective fluorescence emission at 425 nm. The change in the optical property of BAN upon complexation with mercury(ii) was confirmed by ab initio calculations. The new chemosensor was used to quantify mercury(ii) ions in water by fluorescence spectroscopy down to 5 × 10−8 M (10 ppb). The limit of detection (LOD) of Hg2+ was 9.45 nM (1.8 ppb) which satisfies the maximum allowable Hg2+ concentration in drinking water that is set by the WHO. The BAN–Hg(ii) complex was used for the determination of cysteine (Cys) in aqueous solution by UV-Vis spectroscopy down to 1 × 10−7 M. The thiol-containing amino acid preferentially coordinates the mercury ions of the BAN–Hg(ii) complex. This causes dissociation of the blue-coloured complex and the liberation of the pink-coloured BAN dye. The colour change of the BAN–Hg(ii) complex from blue to pink was selective to the Cys biothiol while other non-thiol containing amino acids did not cause a colour change. For the in-field application, filter paper strips were loaded with the BAN–Hg(ii) complex and used as a disposable sensor for the detection of cysteine (Cys) by the naked eye. Therefore, the BAN chemosensor offers a sensitive, and rapid tool for the detection of mercury(ii) in water. In addition, the BAN–Hg(ii) complex can be used as a simple and selective chemosensor of the screening of purified biothiols, such cysetine, homocysteine and glutathione in biology research and pharmaceutical/food industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the tenth Atomic Spectrometry Update (ASU) to focus on advances in elemental speciation and covers a period of approximately 12 months from December 2016. This ASU review deals with all aspects of the analytical atomic spectrometry speciation methods developed for: the determination of oxidation states; organometallic compounds; coordination compounds; metal and heteroatom-containing biomolecules, including metalloproteins, proteins, peptides and amino acids; and the use of metal-tagging to facilitate detection via atomic spectrometry. The review does not cover fractionation, which is sometimes termed operationally defined speciation. As with all ASU reviews the focus of the research reviewed includes those methods that incorporate atomic spectrometry as the measurement technique. However, because speciation analysis is inherently focused on the relationship between the metal(loid) atom and the organic moiety it is bound to, or incorporated within, atomic spectrometry alone cannot be the sole analytical approach of interest. For this reason molecular detection techniques are also included where they have provided a complementary approach to speciation analysis. As in previous years, As speciation continues to dominate the current literature with a significant number of publications concerning Hg and Se speciation and ‘biomolecules’, in which category a number of papers covered in the Se section could also belong. The number of elements covered in these updates also continues to rise with speciation analysis of over 20 elements reported this year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we reported the synthesis and the in vitro and the in vivo biological evaluation of linear pseudo-peptides incorporating the N-VGCC blocker tripeptide Phe-NMe-Leu-Tyr(OBz)-NtBu and the biphalin pharmacophore Tyr-d-Ala-Gly-Phe. The novel sequences have been designed by using amino acids of different length to join the two pharmacophores and explore the structure–activity relationships of the novel compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the consequences of incorporating a constrained heterocyclic aromatic β-amino acid 3-aminothiophenecarboxylic acid (3-Atc) into peptides containing β-turn forming elements such as Pro-Gly motif and the effect on the secondary structural architecture of the entire peptide backbone. Conformational investigations of oligomers comprising an α,β,α peptide sequence were carried out by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, solution-state NMR, nOe-restrained MD simulation and circular dichroism studies. The results suggested that these peptide sequences assume helical architecture. The helical folding in the oligomers was found to be devoid of inter-residual H-bonding, instead found to be stabilized by a co-operative effect of 6-membered H-bonding within the 3-Atc unit and conformational restrictions of individual amino acids in the peptide backbone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper reports the one-pot synthesis of N-doped graphene–Ag nanocomposites (N-GrAg) involving the in situ generation of Ag nanoparticles (NPs). The simultaneous reduction of GO and Ag+ to produce N-GrAg has been achieved under mild reaction conditions using an environmentally benign reducing agent, glycine, in aqueous medium without adding any external stabilizer. XRD and SAED analyses revealed the presence of Ag in the fcc structure. HRTEM analysis shows a ‘d’ spacing of 0.236 nm corresponding to the highest intensity (111) reflection of Ag which matches the fcc structure. The N-doping of graphene and its uniform decoration by Ag NPs (with an av. dia. of 17.5 nm) having a relatively low surface atomic % of Ag (0.309) are evidenced by TEM and XPS analyses. Raman spectroscopy has also revealed that the decoration of N-Gr with Ag NPs resulted in the enhancement of the D and G bands by about 365%. The presence of Ag in N-GrAg prevents the folding of the graphene sheet as was revealed by TEM analysis. The supramolecular interactions of Ag with different moieties of N in N-GrAg were evidenced by IR, 13C NMR and XPS analyses, which resulted in the enhancement of its surface area and electrical conductivity as compared to that of N-Gr. The presence of Ag NPs on N-Gr increased the current response in cyclic voltammetry by more than seven fold as compared to that of N-Gr. These nanocomposites exhibited a fairly high SERS activity for 4-aminothiophenol, employed as the probe molecule, and allowed its detection at a 50 nM concentration even for the fairly small sized Ag NPs used in the present work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we report a novel sample introduction and chemical reaction strategy by drop-by-drop inkjet injection for an electrophoretically mediated microanalysis (EMMA). This method makes it possible to achieve an on-line introduction of reactant solutions by alternately ejecting small plugs, with an overlapping region of the plugs for mixing the reactants by electrophoresis, supporting chemical reactions, followed by electrophoretic separation of the final compounds. As a proof-of-concept of the method, the EMMA of an inkjetted mixture of 4-fluoro-7-nitrobenzofurazan (NBD-F) and amino acids was carried out as a model chemical reaction. The product NBD-amino acids were quantified by detection with laser induced fluorescence. The optimal conditions for the procedure were: inkjet driving voltage: +40–44 V; pulse width: 20–24 μs; drop-by-drop injection of reactant solutions: alternately 2 drops × 25 times for the amino acid solution and the NBD-F solution; zone overlapping voltage and time: 3 kV and 2 s; incubation time after overlapping: 5 min; separation voltage: 18 kV. Under the optimized conditions, a significant enhancement in sensitivity and a sensitive quantitative analysis were realized. The results obtained were comparable with those using the off-line labeling method. This method is rapid, cost-effective, and readily automated for EMMA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]