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Four new hexanuclear niobium cluster compounds of the general formula [Nb6Cl12(HIm)(6)](A)(n) . x(solvent molecule) (HIm=1H-imidazole, A=mineral acid anion, Cl- (n=2) (1), (SO4)(2-) (n=1) (2), (CrO4)(2-) (n=1) (3), and (HAsO4)(2-) (n=1) (4)) were prepared. Their synthesis can be done in basic ionic liquids, which form on the addition of a mineral acid, which also delivers the counter anion for the final cluster compound, to an excess of the 1H-imidazole. Some addition of an auxiliary solvent, like methanol, improves the speed of crystallisation. The cluster unit comprises a hexanuclear Nb-6 unit of octahedral shape with the edges bridged by Cl atoms and the exo sites being occupied by N-bonded 1H-imidazole ligands. The cluster cation carries sixteen cluster-based electrons. Between the NH groups of the ligands of the cluster unit, the anions and the co-crystallised water (1), or 1H-imidazole and methanol molecules (2, 3, and 4) a network of hydrogen bonds exists.
The heterogeneous nature of non-cellulosic polysaccharides, such as arabinoxylan, makes it difficult to correlate molecular structure with macroscopic properties. To study the impact of specific structural features of the polysaccharides on crystallinity or affinity to other cell wall components, collections of polysaccharides with defined repeating units are required. Herein, a chemoenzymatic approach to artificial arabinoxylan polysaccharides with systematically altered branching patterns is described. The polysaccharides were obtained by glycosynthase-catalyzed polymerization of glycosyl fluorides derived from arabinoxylan oligosaccharides. X-ray diffraction and adsorption experiments on cellulosic surfaces revealed that the physicochemical properties of the synthetic polysaccharides strongly depend on the specific nature of their substitution patterns. The artificial polysaccharides allow structure-property relationship studies that are not accessible by other means.
Harnessing the evolvability of tricyclic microviridins to dissect protease-inhibitor interactions
(2014)
Understanding and controlling proteolysis is an important goal in therapeutic chemistry. Among the natural products specifically inhibiting proteases microviridins are particularly noteworthy. Microviridins are ribosomally produced and posttranslationally modified peptides that are processed into a unique, cagelike architecture. Here, we report a combined rational and random mutagenesis approach that provides fundamental insights into selectivity-conferring moieties of microviridins. The potent variant microviridin J was co-crystallized with trypsin, and for the first time the three-dimensional structure of microviridins was determined and the mode of inhibition revealed.