Production of Graft Copolymers of Cod Collagen with Butyl Acrylate and Vinyl Butyl Ether in the Presence of Triethylborane-Prospects for Use in Regenerative Medicine.

Collagen is a suitable material for regenerative medicine because it is characterized by its good biocompatibility. However, due to its fibrillar structure, it cannot organize itself into three-dimensional porous structures without additional modification. The introduction of synthetic monomer elements into the collagen macromolecules is a technique used to form three-dimensional, collagen-based, branched, and crosslinked structures. New types of graft copolymers made from cod collagen with a butyl acrylate and vinyl butyl ether copolymer in aqueous dispersion were obtained in the presence of triethylborane by a radical mechanism. The process of graft copolymer formation proceeded as usual by radical initiation, through radicals formed during triethylborane oxidation by oxygen residues, collagen borination, and reversible inhibition with the participation of a boroxyl radical. The characteristics of the graft copolymers were determined using methods of physical and chemical analysis (GPC, SEM, IR spectroscopy, etc.), while the cytotoxicity was assessed using the MTT assay method. It is shown that the grafting of alternating blocks of butyl acrylate and vinyl butyl ether to the protein macromolecules results in changes in the morphological pattern of the graft co-polymer in comparison with native collagen. This is manifested in the development of consolidations around the collagen fibers of the structural matrices, with the co-polymer cellular structure consisting of interpenetrating pores of unequal size. Additionally, it is important that the graft co-polymer solutions are not toxic at a certain concentration. The above properties confirm the promising nature of the technique's application as the basis for producing new materials for regenerative medicine.

Graft Polymerization of Acrylamide in an Aqueous Dispersion of Collagen in the Presence of Tributylborane.

Graft copolymers of collagen and polyacrylamide (PAA) were synthesized in a suspension of acetic acid dispersion of fish collagen and acrylamide (AA) in the presence of tributylborane (TBB). The characteristics of the copolymers were determined using infrared spectroscopy and gel permeation chromatography (GPC). Differences in synthesis temperature between 25 and 60 °C had no significant effect on either proportion of graft polyacrylamide generated or its molecular weight. However, photomicrographs taken with the aid of a scanning electron microscope showed a breakdown of the fibrillar structure of the collagen within the copolymer at synthesis temperatures greater than 25 °C. The mechanical properties of the films and the cytotoxicity of the obtained copolymer samples were studied. The sample of a hybrid copolymer of collagen and PAA obtained at 60 °C has stronger mechanical properties compared to other tested samples. Its low cytotoxicity, when the monomer is removed, makes materials based on it promising in scaffold technologies.

Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Marine Collagen and Fibrinogen Proteins in the Presence of Thrombin.

: Enzymatic hydrolysis of native collagen and fibrinogen was carried out under comparable conditions at room temperature. The molecular weight parameters of proteins before and after hydrolysis by thrombin were monitored by gel-penetrating chromatography (GPC). An analysis of the experiment results shows that the molecular weight parameters of the initial fibrinogen (Fn) and cod collagen (CC) are very similar. High molecular CC decays within the first minute, forming two low molecular fractions. The main part (~80%) falls on the fraction with a value of Mw less than 10 kDa. The initial high molecular fraction of Fn with Mw ~320-340 kDa is not completely hydrolyzed even after three days of control. The presence of low molecular fractions with Mw ~17 and Mw ~10 kDa in the solution slightly increases within an hour and noticeably increases for three days. The destruction of macromolecules of high molecular collagen to hydrolysis products appears almost completely within the first minute mainly to the polymer with Mw ~10 kDa, and enzymatic hydrolysis of fibrinogen proceeds slower than that of collagen, but also mainly to the polymer with Mw ~10 kDa. Comparative photos of the surfaces of native collagen, fibrinogen and the scaffold based on them were obtained.

Polarization functions for the modified m6-31G basis sets for atoms Ga through Kr.

The 2df polarization functions for the modified m6-31G basis sets of the third-row atoms Ga through Kr (Int J Quantum Chem, 2007, 107, 3028; Int J. Quantum Chem, 2009, 109, 1158) are proposed. The performances of the m6-31G, m6-31G(d,p), and m6-31G(2df,p) basis sets were examined in molecular calculations carried out by the density functional theory (DFT) method with B3LYP hybrid functional, Møller-Plesset perturbation theory of the second order (MP2), quadratic configuration interaction method with single and double substitutions and were compared with those for the known 6-31G basis sets as well as with the other similar 641 and 6-311G basis sets with and without polarization functions. Obtained results have shown that the performances of the m6-31G, m6-31G(d,p), and m6-31G(2df,p) basis sets are better in comparison with the performances of the known 6-31G, 6-31G(d,p) and 6-31G(2df,p) basis sets. These improvements are mainly reached due to better approximations of different electrons belonging to the different atomic shells in the modified basis sets. Applicability of the modified basis sets in thermochemical calculations is also discussed.

Anomeric effect in N-azidomethylpyrrolidine: gas-phase electron diffraction and theoretical study.

Gas-phase electron-diffraction data and high-level quantum chemical calculations have been used to study the conformational behaviour of N-azidomethylpyrrolidine. The two most stable conformers with a relative abundance of about 80% at 298 K possess gauche orientation of the azidomethyl group around the C-N(pyr) bond (C-N(azido)gauche with respect to the endocyclic N(pyr)-C bond). This orientation is a strong manifestation of an anomeric effect. The influence of the anomeric effect is also reflected in shortening of the C-N(pyr) bond and lengthening of the C-N(azido) bond as compared to such bonds in other compounds.

Quantum mechanical investigations of heme structure and vibrational spectra: effects of conformation, oxidation state, and electric field.

Three conformers of a complex consisting of a Fe-porphyrin ring with axial imidazole groups FeP(Im)(2) that differed by orientation of axial imidazole groups were studied with quantum mechanical calculations in both reduced (neutral) and oxidized (cationic) states. In the reduced state, all three conformers correspond to local minima. On the other hand, in the oxidized state the conformer with the imidazole groups perpendicular to one another does not have a local minimum, which suggests that there could be changes in the structure of heme groups depending on oxidation state. The relative energy differences between conformers are small as well the differences of orbital energies. However, the populations of Fe 3d orbitals, and hence charge distributions, are predicted to change significantly between conformations. The orientation of heme groups can affect the kinetics of interheme electron transfer, so this electronic population redistribution will affect electron transfer kinetics. A comparison of calculated Raman spectra with measured surface-enhanced Raman spectra (Biju et al. Langmuir 2007, 23, 1333) shows excellent agreement for frequencies, but correlations of Raman intensities are less satisfactory. Possible explanations of the observed discrepancies could arise due to a problem in assignments of vibration bands in the experiment, a dependence of Raman spectra on heme complex on oxidation state, long-range protein structure, or membrane electric field are discussed. In particular, it was shown that the oxidation state does not dramatically alter the calculated Raman spectrum. However, the cell membrane electric field can significantly modify Raman spectra. An interpretation of the experimental oxidized cytochrome surface-enhanced Raman spectra is discussed.

Two-component relativistic density-functional calculations of the dimers of the halogens from bromine through element 117 using effective core potential and all-electron methods.

A two-component quasirelativistic Hamiltonian based on spin-dependent effective core potentials is used to calculate ionization energies and electron affinities of the heavy halogen atom bromine through the superheavy element 117 (eka-astatine) as well as spectroscopic constants of the homonuclear dimers of these atoms. We describe a two-component Hartree-Fock and density-functional program that treats spin-orbit coupling self-consistently within the orbital optimization procedure. A comparison with results from high-order Douglas-Kroll calculations--for the superheavy systems also with zeroth-order regular approximation and four-component Dirac results--demonstrates the validity of the pseudopotential approximation. The density-functional (but not the Hartree-Fock) results show very satisfactory agreement with theoretical coupled cluster as well as experimental data where available, such that the theoretical results can serve as an estimate for the hitherto unknown properties of astatine, element 117, and their dimers.

Parallel stored-integral and semidirect Hartree-Fock and DFT methods with data compression.

Recent developments in magnetic disk technology have made stored-integral techniques competitive with the currently more widely used direct methods, which involve the recalculation of the basic two-electron integrals. We present efficient conventional (all integrals stored) and semidirect Hartree-Fock and DFT algorithms with data compression for single-processor and distributed memory parallel computers, and compare them with the corresponding direct algorithms. On inexpensive modern personal computer-based hardware, the stored integral method is up to three times more efficient than the direct method in terms of total elapsed job time.