Nanoplasmonics tuned "click chemistry".

Nanoplasmonics is a growing field of optical condensed matter science dedicated to optical phenomena at the nanoscale level in metal systems. Extensive research on noble metallic nanoparticles (NPs) has emerged within the last two decades due to their ability to keep the optical energy concentrated in the vicinity of NPs, in particular, the ability to create optical near-field enhancement followed by heat generation. We have exploited these properties in order to induce a localised "click" reaction in the vicinity of gold nanostructures under unfavourable experimental conditions. We demonstrate that this reaction can be controlled by the plasmonic properties of the nanostructures and we propose two physical mechanisms to interpret the observed plasmonic tuning of the "click" chemistry.

Immobilized Pd on magnetic nanoparticles bearing proline as a highly efficient and retrievable Suzuki-Miyaura catalyst in aqueous media.

A magnetically retrievable nanocatalyst was evaluated for a microwave assisted Suzuki-Miyaura reaction in aqueous media. Excellent yields and conversions were obtained with low Pd loadings (down to 0.01 mol% Pd). It was stable up to 6 months in water under aerobic conditions and efficiency remained unaltered even after 7 repeated cycles.

Microwave assisted nanoparticle surface functionalization.

We introduce the input of microwave energy to elaborate a multimodal magnetic nanoplatform. This magnetic nanomaterial consists of superparamagnetic γFe(2)O(3) nanoparticles conjugated to hydroxymethylene bisphosphonate (HMBP) molecules with an amine function as the terminal group. The feasibility of such a process is illustrated by the coupling of Rhodamine B to the hybrid magnetic nanomaterial. Using a microwave we manage to have approximately a 50 fold increase in molecules per nanoparticle compared to conventional procedures. Moreover we show that the amount of Rhodamine on the nanoparticle surface could be tuned using various stoichiometric ratios. The presence of Rhodamine B on the nanoparticle surface provides an amphiphilic character to facilitate penetration into the cells.

Metabolomic profiling with NMR discriminates between biphosphonate and doxorubicin effects on B16 melanoma cells.

The metabolomic profiles of B16 melanoma cells were investigated in vitro with high resolution-magic angle spinning proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy and OPLS multivariate statistical analyse. We compared the profiles for untreated melanoma B16-F10 cells and Ca(2+) chelating EGTA, doxorubicin or BP7033 bisphosphonate treated cells. The two last molecules are known to induce anti-proliferative effects by different mechanisms of action in cells. Untreated and EGTA treated cells had similar profiles and were considered together as control cells. Several spectral regions could discriminate control from doxorubicin as well as BP7033 treated cells. Doxorubicin and BP7033 displayed distinct metabolic profiles. Important changes in neutral lipids and inositol were related to doxorubicin activity whereas BP7033 affected essentially phospholipids and alanine/lactate metabolism. These results provide new putative targets for both drugs. Metabolomics by NMR is shown here to be a good tool for the investigation of the mechanisms of action of drugs in pre-clinical studies.

Cation substitution in cationic phosphonolipids: a new concept to improve transfection activity and decrease cellular toxicity.

Cationic lipids have been shown to be an interesting alternative to viral vector-mediated gene delivery into in vitro and in vivo model applications. Prior studies have demonstrated that even minor structural modifications of the lipid hydrophobic domain or of the lipid polar domain result in significant changes in gene delivery efficiency. Previously, we developed a novel class of cationic lipids called cationic phosphonolipids and described the ability of these vectors to transfer DNA into different cell lines and in vivo. Up until now, in all new cationic lipids, nitrogen atoms have always carried the cationic or polycationic charge. Recently we have developed a new series of cationic phosphonolipids characterized by a cationic charge carried by a phosphorus or arsenic atom. In a second step, we have also examined the effects of the linker length between the cation and the hydrophobic domain as regards transfection activity. Transfection activities of this library of new cationic phosphonolipids were studied in vitro in different cell lines (HeLa, CFT1, K562) and in vivo using a luciferase reporter gene. A luminescent assay was carried out to assess luciferase expression. We demonstrated that cation substitution on the polar domain of cationic phosphonolipids (N --> P or As) results in significant increase in transfection activity for both in vitro and in vivo assays and decrease of cellular toxicity.

Cationic Phosphonolipids Containing Quaternary Phosphonium and Arsonium Groups for DNA Transfection with Good Efficiency and Low Cellular Toxicity**

Replacing the ammonium polar head in cationic lipids 1 (A=N) by a phosphonium or an arsonium group (A=P, As) improves their properties as synthetic vectors for DNA transfection. The increased volume of the cationic head is supposed to modify the interactions of the vector with the solvent and DNA.