Highly stable atropisomers by electrophilic amination of a chiral γ-lactam within the synthesis of an elusive conformationally restricted analogue of α-methylhomoserine.

Starting from chiral-protected 4-hydroxymethyl pyrrolidin-2-ones, the otherwise elusive 3,4-trans-3,3,4-trisubstituted isosteres of α-methyl homoserine, tethered on a γ-lactam ring, were prepared exploiting stereoselective electrophilic aminations. These reactions led to the isolation and characterization of a novel type of atropisomers, exceedingly stable at room temperature, that were directly converted to the desired products by a novel non-reductive N-N bond cleavage reaction.

Amyloid fibril formation by bovine α1-acid glycoprotein in a reducing environment: The role of disulfide bridges on the observed aggregation kinetics.

Bovine α1-acid glycoprotein (bAGP), a thermostable counterpart of its human homologue, is a positive acute phase protein involved in binding and transportation of a large number of bio-active molecules and drugs across the body. We have investigated the effect of low pH and reducing conditions on the structure of the protein and found that it aggregates at high temperatures. The aggregates show a fibrillar structure when observed with electron microscopy. Aggregation assays using the amyloid-specific dye Thioflavin T show the presence of a lag phase which was neither abolished nor shortened when seeds were added. A priori reduction of the two disulfide bridges of bAGP, on the other hand, abolished the lag phase and reveals a connection between the kinetics of reduction and aggregation. We provide a kinetic interpretation and the corresponding rate laws allowing to model the process of fibril formation by bAGP under reducing conditions. Our interpretation allows to assess the role of disulfide bridges on the fibrillation kinetics of bAGP and can provide a more accurate interpretation of the fibrillation kinetics of other amyloidogenic proteins containing disulfide bridges.

Bovine α1-acid glycoprotein, a thermostable version of its human counterpart: insights from Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and in silico modelling.

α1-Acid glycoprotein (AGP) is a plasma protein and a member of the acute phase response. AGP is known to bind and carry several biologically active compounds, as well as to down-modulate the immune system activities. In this work, the structure of bovine AGP has been investigated by Fourier-Transform infrared spectroscopy. A model structure has been obtained on the basis of human AGP and refined by molecular dynamics. In spite of the similar structure, bovine AGP shows an unexpectedly higher (∼20 °C) thermostability than its human counterpart. Inspection of the model structure has pointed out the presence of 12 ionic bridges and 2 sulphur-aromatic interactions, whereas only 6 ionic bridges were detected in human AGP. The high number (9) of glutamic acid residues involved in the ionic interactions might explain the significantly decreased thermostability measured at pH 5.5 (Tm ∼ 71 °C) with respect to pH 7.4 (Tm ∼ 81 °C), whereas thermostability of human AGP was only slightly affected by lowering the pH. As in human AGP and several other lipocalins, a temperature-induced molten globule state has been observed in the denaturation pathway of bovine AGP.