Tricarbonyl rhenium(i) complexes with 8-hydroxyquinolines: structural, chemical, antibacterial, and anticancer characteristics.

Twelve tricarbonyl rhenium(i) complexes in the '2 + 1' system with the anionic bidentate N,O-donor ligand (deprotonated 8-hydroxyquinoline (HQ) or its 2-methyl (MeHQ) or 5-chloro (ClHQ) derivative) and neutral N-donor diazoles (imidazole (Him), 2-methylimidazole (MeHim), 3,5-dimethylpyrazole (Hdmpz), and 3-phenylpyrazole (HPhpz)) were synthesized: [Re(CO)3(LN,O)LN] (LN,O = Q-, MeQ-, ClQ-; LN = Him, MeHim, Hdmpz, HPhpz). Their crystal structures were determined by the scXRD method, compared with the DFT-calculated ones, and characterized by analytical (EA) and spectroscopic techniques (FT-IR, NMR, and UV-Vis) interpreted with DFT and TD-DFT calculations. Most of the Re(i) complexes did not show relevant antibacterial activity against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial strains. Only [Re(CO)3(MeQ)Him] demonstrated significant action 4-fold better against Gram-negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa than the free MeHQ ligand. The cytotoxicity of the compounds was estimated using human acute promyelocytic leukemia (HL-60), ovarian (SKOV-3), prostate (PC-3), and breast (MCF-7) cancer, and breast non-cancerous (MCF-10A) cell lines. Only HQ and ClHQ ligands and [Re(CO)3(Q)Hdmpz] complex had good selectivity toward MCF-7 cell line. HL-60 cells were sensitive to all complexes (IC50 = 1.5-14 µM). Still, pure HQ and ClHQ ligands were slightly more active than the complexes.

Structural studies on radiopharmaceutical DOTA-minigastrin analogue (CP04) complexes and their interaction with CCK2 receptor.

BACKGROUND: The cholecystokinin receptor subtype 2 (CCK-2R) is an important target for diagnostic imaging and targeted radionuclide therapy (TRNT) due to its overexpression in certain cancers (e.g., medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC)), thus matching with a theranostic principle. Several peptide conjugates suitable for the TRNT of MTC have been synthesized, including a very promising minigastrin analogue DOTA-(DGlu)6-Ala-Tyr-Gly-Trp-Met-Asp-Phe-NH2 (CP04). In this contribution, we wanted to see whether CP04 binding affinity for CCK-2R is sensitive to the type of the complexed radiometal, as well as to get insights into the structure of CP04-CCK2R complex by molecular modeling. RESULTS: In vitro studies demonstrated that there is no significant difference in CCK-2R binding affinity and specific cellular uptake between the CP04 conjugates complexed with [68Ga]Ga3+ or [177Lu]Lu3+. In order to investigate the background of this observation, we proposed a binding model of CP04 with CCK-2R based on homology modeling and molecular docking. In this model, the C-terminal part of the molecule enters the cavity formed between the receptor helices, while the N-terminus (including DOTA and the metal) is located at the binding site outlet, exposed in large extent to the solvent. The radiometals do not influence the conformation of the molecule except for the direct neighborhood of the chelating moiety. CONCLUSIONS: The model seems to be in agreement with much of structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies reported for cholecystokinin and for CCK-2R-targeting radiopharmaceuticals. It also explains relative insensitivity of CCK-2R affinity for the change of the metal. The proposed model partially fits the reported site-directed mutagenesis data.

Structural Insights into σ1 Receptor Interactions with Opioid Ligands by Molecular Dynamics Simulations.

Despite considerable advances over the past years in understanding the mechanisms of action and the role of the σ1 receptor, several questions regarding this receptor remain unanswered. This receptor has been identified as a useful target for the treatment of a diverse range of diseases, from various central nervous system disorders to cancer. The recently solved issue of the crystal structure of the σ1 receptor has made elucidating the structure-activity relationship feasible. The interaction of seven representative opioid ligands with the crystal structure of the σ1 receptor (PDB ID: 5HK1) was simulated for the first time using molecular dynamics (MD). Analysis of the MD trajectories has provided the receptor-ligand interaction fingerprints, combining information on the crucial receptor residues and frequency of the residue-ligand contacts. The contact frequencies and the contact maps suggest that for all studied ligands, the hydrophilic (hydrogen bonding) interactions with Glu172 are an important factor for the ligands' affinities toward the σ1 receptor. However, the hydrophobic interactions with Tyr120, Val162, Leu105, and Ile124 also significantly contribute to the ligand-receptor interplay and, in particular, differentiate the action of the agonistic morphine from the antagonistic haloperidol.

Prediction of (L)-methionine VCD spectra in the gas phase and water solution.

In this paper we provide a computational study of the l-methionine conformational landscape and VCD spectra in the gas phase and a water environment simulated by implicit PCM and the hybrid model, i.e., a combination of explicit "microsolvation" and implicit models. In the gas phase, two groups of conformers differing in H-bonding, i.e., OH···NH2 and NH···O═C, could be distinguished based solely on the IR ν(OH) and ν(NH) stretching vibrations range. On the other hand, VCD better reflected chain differences. The most stable OH···NH2 conformer was predicted to be easily detected, and the presence of two out of four NH···O═C conformers could be confirmed. Three zwitterionic methionine conformers were shown to dominate in water. Their VCD spectra, simulated within the hybrid model at the B3LYP-IEF-PCM/aug-cc-pVDZ level of theory, indicated that they could be recognized in the mixture. Use of the hybrid model is crucial for good reproduction of the hydrogen bonding pattern in the VCD spectra of methionine in water solution. However, the 1300-800 cm(-1) region of the skeleton vibrations of methionine appeared to be relatively insensitive to the model of the solvent.

Chirality measures of α-amino acids.

To measure molecular chirality, the molecule is treated as a finite set of points in the Euclidean R(3) space supplemented by k properties, p(1)((i)), p(2)((i)), ..., p(k)((i)) assigned to the ith atom, which constitute a point in the Property P(k) space. Chirality measures are described as the distance between a molecule and its mirror image minimized over all its arbitrary orientation-preserving isometries in the R(3) × P(k) Cartesian product space. Following this formalism, different chirality measures can be estimated by taking into consideration different sets of atomic properties. Here, for α-amino acid zwitterionic structures taken from the Cambridge Structural Database and for all 1684 neutral conformers of 19 biogenic α-amino acid molecules, except glycine and cystine, found at the B3LYP/6-31G** level, chirality measures have been calculated by a CHIMEA program written in this project. It is demonstrated that there is a significant correlation between the measures determined for the α-amino acid zwitterions in crystals and the neutral forms in the gas phase. Performance of the studied chirality measures with changes of the basis set and computation method was also checked. An exemplary quantitative structure­activity relationship (QSAR) application of the chirality measures was presented by an introductory model for the benchmark Cramer data set of steroidal ligands of the sex-hormone binding globulin.

Phenylisoserine in the gas-phase and water: Ab initio studies on neutral and zwitterion conformers.

The conformational landscape of phenylisoserine (PhIS) was studied. Trial structures were generated by allowing for all combinations of single-bond rotamers. Based on the B3LYP/aug-cc-pVDZ calculations 54 conformers were found to be stable in the gas phase. The six most stable conformers were further optimized at the B3LYP/aug-cc-pVTZ and MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ levels for which characteristic intramolecular hydrogen bond types were classified. To estimate the influence of water on PhIS conformation, the IEF-PCM/B3LYP/aug-cc-pVDZ calculations were carried out and showed 51 neutral and six zwitterionic conformers to be stable in water solution. According to DFT calculations, the conformer equilibrium in the gas phase is dominated by one conformer, whereas the MP2 calculations suggest three PhIS structures to be significantly populated. Comparison of DFT and MP2 energies of all 57 structures stable in water indicates that, in practice, one zwitterionic and one neutral conformer determine the equilibrium in water. Based on the AIM calculations, we found that for the neutral conformers in vacuum and in water, d(H...B) is linearly correlated with Laplacian at the H-bond critical point. Figure Phenylisoserine (PhIS) is an active side chain of cytotoxic Paclitaxel medicine. The conformational landscape of phenylisoserine was studied. One zwitterionic and one neutralconformer determine the equilibrium in water whereas in the gas phase the MP2 calculations suggest three PhIS structures to be significantly populated.

Density functional theory study on vibrational circular dichroism as a tool for analysis of intermolecular systems: (1:1) cysteine-water complex conformations.

This paper presents a discussion of the interaction energies for selected conformers of chiral l-cysteine and their (1:1) complexes with water at the B3LYP/aug-cc-pVDZ level. From among more than forty calculated 1:1 complexes three groups of complexes were singled out and examined by the B3LYP/aug-cc-pVDZ calculated vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectra. On the basis of analysis of the nu(OmicronEta) and nu(NuEta) and beta(OH2) and beta(NH2) ranges, the VCD spectra were found to be sensitive to conformational changes and water arrangement in cysteine complexes, and to be especially useful for discriminating between different chiral forms of intermolecular hydrogen-bonding complexes. In particular, we show that the VCD modes of an achiral water molecule after complex formation acquire significant rotational strengths whose signs change in line with the geometry of the complex. Moreover, for some water arrangements the VCD spectra can be sensitive to water-wagging conformers and, in temperatures low enough, the intensive nu(OmicronEtaWfree) and beta(H2O) VCD bands may be sufficiently separated to be splitted into pair of oppositely directed bands.

Theoretical prediction and the first IR matrix observation of several L-cysteine molecule conformers.

For the first time the argon-matrix low-temperature IR spectra of cysteine are recorded. They reveal a quite complicated spectral pattern, which can also be reproduced in the N2 matrix. Assignment of the observed spectra is undertaken on the basis of comparison of the experimental and calculated B3LYP/aug-cc-pVDZ anharmonic IR spectra. The presence of at least three, and possibly even six or more, cysteine conformers with and without intramolecular hydrogen bonding is confirmed. On the basis of the calculated vibrational circular dichroism spectra, we predict this technique to be more distinctive for conformers than IR absorption is.