Gadolinium Complexes as Contrast Agent for Cellular NMR Spectroscopy.

Aqua Gd3+ and Gd-DOTA (gadolinium-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7,10-tetraacete) complexes were studied as a contrast agent in cellular NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectroscopy for distinguishing between intracellular and extracellular spaces. The contrast agents for this purpose should provide strong paramagnetic relaxation enhancement and localize in the extracellular space without disturbing biological functions. Cell membrane permeability to Gd complexes was evaluated from the concentrations of gadolinium complexes in the inside and outside of E. coli cells measured by the 1H-NMR relaxation. The site-specific binding of the complexes to E. coli cells was also analyzed by high-resolution solid-state 13C-NMR. The aqua Gd3+ complex did not enhance T1 relaxation in proportion to the amount of added Gd3+. This Gd3+ concentration dependence and the 13C-NMR indicated that its strong cytotoxicity should be due to the binding of the paramagnetic ions to cellular components especially at the lipid membranes. In contrast, Gd-DOTA stayed in the solution states and enhanced relaxation in proportion to the added amount. This agent exhibited strong T1 contrast between the intra- and extracellular spaces by a factor of ten at high concentrations under which the cells were viable over a long experimental time of days. These properties make Gd-DOTA suitable for selectively contrasting the living cellular space in NMR spectroscopy primarily owing to its weak interaction with cellular components.

Calculations of 13 C NMR chemical shifts and F-C coupling constants of ciprofloxacin.

Ciprofloxacin is a widely used fluoroquinolone antibiotic. In this work, a comprehensive evaluation of MP2 and DFT with different functionals and basis sets was carried out to select the most suitable level of theory for the study of the NMR properties of ciprofloxacin. Their relative predictive capabilities were evaluated comparing the theoretically predicted and experimental spectral data. Our computational results indicated that in contrast to the solid state, the molecule of ciprofloxacin does not exist as a zwitterion in gaseous state. The results of the calculations of the chemical shifts most close to the experimental were obtained with B3LYP/aug-cc-pVDZ. The F-C coupling constants were calculated systematically with different DFT methods and several basis sets. In general, the calculations of the coupling constants with the BHandH computational method including the applied in this work 6-311++G**, EPRII, and EPRIII basis sets showed a good reproducibility of the experimental values of the coupling constants.

Metabolite assignment of ultrafiltered synovial fluid extracted from knee joints of reactive arthritis patients using high resolution NMR spectroscopy.

Currently, there are no reliable biomarkers available that can aid early differential diagnosis of reactive arthritis (ReA) from other inflammatory joint diseases. Metabolic profiling of synovial fluid (SF)-obtained from joints affected in ReA-holds great promise in this regard and will further aid monitoring treatment and improving our understanding about disease mechanism. As a first step in this direction, we report here the metabolite specific assignment of 1 H and 13 C resonances detected in the NMR spectra of SF samples extracted from human patients with established ReA. The metabolite characterization has been carried out on both normal and ultrafiltered (deproteinized) SF samples of eight ReA patients (n = 8) using high-resolution (800 MHz) 1 H and 1 H─13 C NMR spectroscopy methods such as one-dimensional 1 H CPMG and two-dimensional J-resolved1 H NMR and homonuclear 1 H─1 H TOCSY and heteronuclear1 H─13 C HSQC correlation spectra. Compared with normal SF samples, several distinctive 1 H NMR signals were identified and assigned to metabolites in the 1 H NMR spectra of ultrafiltered SF samples. Overall, we assigned 53 metabolites in normal filtered SF and 64 metabolites in filtered pooled SF sample compared with nonfiltered SF samples for which only 48 metabolites (including lipid/membrane metabolites as well) have been identified. The established NMR characterization of SF metabolites will serve to guide future metabolomics studies aiming to identify/evaluate the SF-based metabolic biomarkers of diagnostic/prognostic potential or seeking biochemical insights into disease mechanisms in a clinical perspective.

One-Dimensional 13C NMR Is a Simple and Highly Quantitative Method for Enantiodiscrimination.

The discrimination of enantiomers of mandelonitrile by means of 1D 13C NMR and with the aid of the chiral solvating agent (S)-(+)-1-(9-anthryl)-2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (TFAE) is presented. ¹H NMR fails for this specific compound because proton signals either overlap with the signals of the chiral solvating agent or do not show separation between the (S)-enantiomer and the (R)-enantiomer. The 13C NMR method is validated by preparing artificial mixtures of the (R)-enantiomer and the racemate, and it is shown that with only 4 mg of mandelonitrile a detection limit of the minor enantiomer of 0.5% is obtained, corresponding to an enantiomeric excess value of 99%. Furthermore, the method shows high linearity, and has a small relative standard deviation of only 0.3% for the minor enantiomer when the relative abundance of this enantiomer is 20%. Therefore, the 13C NMR method is highly suitable for quantitative enantiodiscrimination. It is discussed that 13C NMR is preferred over ¹H NMR in many situations, not only in molecules with more than one chiral center, resulting in complex mixtures of many stereoisomers, but also in the case of molecules with overlapping multiplets in the ¹H NMR spectrum, and in the case of molecules with many quaternary carbon atoms, and therefore less abundant protons.

What Is the Structure of the Antitubercular Natural Product Eucapsitrione?

1,5,7-Trihydroxy-6H-indeno[1,2-b]anthracene-6,11,13-trione (1), proposed to be the antitubercular natural product eucapsitrione, has been synthesized in 43% overall yield and six steps, including a key Suzuki-Miyaura biaryl coupling and a directed remote metalation (DReM)-initiated cyclization. The physical and spectroscopic properties of 1 do not match the data reported for the natural product. At this time there is insufficient information available to enable a structure reassignment. During the optimization of the Suzuki-Miyaura coupling, an unprecedented biaryl coupling ortho to the borono group was observed. The scope of this unusual reaction has been investigated.

SpinCouple: Development of a Web Tool for Analyzing Metabolite Mixtures via Two-Dimensional J-Resolved NMR Database.

A new Web-based tool, SpinCouple, which is based on the accumulation of a two-dimensional (2D) (1)H-(1)H J-resolved NMR database from 598 metabolite standards, has been developed. The spectra include both J-coupling and (1)H chemical shift information; those are applicable to a wide array of spectral annotation, especially for metabolic mixture samples that are difficult to label through the attachment of (13)C isotopes. In addition, the user-friendly application includes an absolute-quantitative analysis tool. Good agreement was obtained between known concentrations of 20-metabolite mixtures versus the calibration curve-based quantification results obtained from 2D-Jres spectra. We have examined the web tool availability using nine series of biological extracts, obtained from animal gut and waste treatment microbiota, fish, and plant tissues. This web-based tool is publicly available via http://emar.riken.jp/spincpl.

(1) H and (13) C NMR spectral assignment of N,N'-disubstituted thiourea and urea derivatives active against nitric oxide synthase.

The (1) H and (13) C NMR resonances of seventeen N-alkyl and aryl-N'-[3-hydroxy-3-(2-nitro-5-substitutedphenyl)propyl]-thioureas and ureas (1-17), and seventeen N-alkyl or aryl-N'-[3-(2-amino-5-substitutedphenyl)-3-hydroxypropyl]-thioureas and ureas (18-34), designed as NOS inhibitors, were assigned completely using the concerted application of one- and two-dimensional experiments (DEPT, HSQC and HMBC). NOESY studies confirm the preferred conformation of these compounds. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Differential Dynamics at Glycosidic Linkages of an Oligosaccharide as Revealed by 13C NMR Spin Relaxation and Stochastic Modeling.

Among biomolecules, carbohydrates are unique in that not only can linkages be formed through different positions, but the structures may also be branched. The trisaccharide ß-d-Glcp-(1→3)[ß-d-Glcp-(1→2)]-α-d-Manp-OMe represents a model of a branched vicinally disubstituted structure. A 13C site-specific isotopologue, with labeling in each of the two terminal glucosyl residues, enabled the acquisition of high-quality 13C NMR relaxation parameters, T1 and T2, and heteronuclear NOE, with standard deviations of ≤0.5%. For interpretation of the experimental NMR data, a diffusive chain model was used, in which the dynamics of the glycosidic linkages is coupled to the global reorientation motion of the trisaccharide. Brownian dynamics simulations relying on the potential of mean force at the glycosidic linkages were employed to evaluate spectral densities of the spin probes. Calculated NMR relaxation parameters showed a very good agreement with experimental data, deviating <3%. The resulting dynamics are described by correlation times of 196 and 174 ps for the ß-(1→2)- and ß-(1→3)-linked glucosyl residues, respectively, i.e., different and linkage dependent. Notably, the devised computational protocol was performed without any fitting of parameters.

Solid-state NMR investigation of effect of fluorination and methylation on prednisolone conformation.

Prednisolone (Prd) is a polymorphous synthetic corticosteroid that has three crystalline forms mediated by different solvents. In this study, we have demonstrated that solid-state {(1)H}(13)C cross-polarization/magic angle spinning (CP/MAS) NMR spectroscopy is able to resolve the effects of methylation and fluorination on the conformation of the steroidal rings in Prd. Two compounds were chosen for the study, 6-α-methylprednisolone (Prd-6M) and 6-α-fluoroprednisolone (Prd-6F). The (13)C signals of Prd-6F showed primarily doublet patterns, with splittings of 40-380 Hz, indicating multiple ring conformations, whereas the (13)C signals of Prd and Prd-6M exhibited a singlet pattern, indicating a unique conformation. Using evidence from chemical shift deviation and anisotropy analysis, we have demonstrated by solid-state NMR that Prd-6F adopts two different steroidal ring conformations that are different from that of Prd-6M, and less similar to that of unsubstituted Prd.

Development of a stability-indicating HPLC method of etifoxine with characterization of degradation products by LC-MS/TOF, 1H and 13C NMR.

This paper describes a new LC-MS/TOF method for the degradation products determination when Etifoxine (ETI) is submitted to different stress conditions. Chromatography is performed by using Kromasil C18 column (250mm×4.6mm, 5µm particle size). The selected mobile phase consists of formate buffer 0.02M, pH 3 and methanol (70/30, v/v). ETI is submitted to oxidative, acidic, basic, hydrolytic, thermal and UV light degradations. Detection is made at 254nm by photodiode array detector and mass spectrometry. A number of degradation products (DPs) called DPA, DPB, DPC and DPD are found depending on the stress; DPA with heat, DPA and DPB in acidic media or under UV-light; DPA, DPB and DPC under basic stress; DPA, DPB, DPC and DPD with oxidation. LC-MS/TOF is used to characterize the four DPs of ETI resulting from different stress conditions. (1)H and (13)C NMR are used to confirm the DP structures. The ETI fragmentation pathway is proposed. The method is validated with reference to International Conference on Harmonization guidelines and ETI are selectively determined in presence of its DPs, demonstrating its stability-indicating nature. Finally, for the validation step, specificity, linearity, accuracy and precision are determined for ETI and its DPs.