Insight into Aluminum Sulfate-Catalyzed Xylan Conversion into Furfural in a γ-Valerolactone/Water Biphasic Solvent under Microwave Conditions.

A simple and efficient biphasic system with an earth-abundant metal salt catalyst was used to produce furfural from xylan with a high yield of up to 87.8 % under microwave conditions. Strikingly, the metal salt Al2 (SO4 )3 exhibited excellent catalytic activity for xylan conversion, owing to a combination of Lewis and Brønsted acidity and its ability to promote good phase separation. The critical role of the SO42- anion was first analyzed, which resulted in the aforementioned characteristics when combined with the Al3+ cation. The mixed solvent system with γ-valerolactone (GVL) as the organic phase provided the highest furfural yield, resulting from its good dielectric properties and dissolving capacity, which facilitated the absorption of microwave energy and promoted mass transfer. Mechanistic studies suggested that the xylan-to-furfural conversion proceeded mainly through a hydrolysis-isomerization-dehydration pathway and the hexa-coordinated Lewis acidic [Al(OH)2 (aq)]+ species were the active sites for xylose-xylulose isomerization. Detailed kinetic studies of the subreaction for the xylan conversion revealed that GVL regulates the reaction rates and pathways by promoting the rates of the key steps involved for furfural production and suppressing the side reactions for humin production. Finally, the Al2 (SO4 )3 catalyst was used for the production of furfural from several lignocellulosic feedstocks, revealing its great potential for other biomass conversions.

Modeling and analysis of the compatibility of polystyrene/poly(methyl methacrylate) blends with four inducing effects.

The compatibility of polystyrene (PS) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) blends was studied over a wide range of compositions at 383, 413 and 443 K, respectively, by atomistic and mesoscopic modeling. All the calculated Flory-Huggins interaction parameters showed positive values; furthermore, they were all above the critical Flory-Huggins interaction parameter value, which means that the PS/PMMA blends were immiscible. Both the addition of a block copolymer and the introduction of a shear field influenced the phase morphologies of the blends, while the degree of influence depended on the compositions of the blends. The study of PS/PMMA blends doped with nanoparticles showed that the mesoscopic phase was influenced by not only the properties of the nanoparticles, such as their size, number and number density, but also the compositions of the blends. The effect of the surface roughness of the planes on the phase separation of the blends was also studied.

The 3D structures of G-quadruplexes of HIV-1 integrase inhibitors: molecular dynamics simulations in aqueous solution and in the gas phase.

The unimolecular G-quadruplex structures of d(GGGTGGGTGGGTGGGT) (G1) and d(GTGGTGGGTGGGTGGGT) (G2) are known as the potent nanomolar HIV-1 integrase inhibitors, thus investigating the 3D structures of the two sequences is significant for structure-based rational anti-HIV drug design. In this research, based on the experimental data of circular dichroism (CD) spectropolarimetry and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), the initial models of G1 and G2 were constructed by molecular modeling method. The modeling structures of G1 and G2 are intramolecular parallel-stranded quadruplex conformation with three guanine tetrads. Particularly, the structure of G2 possesses a T loop residue between the first and the second G residues that are the component of two adjacent same-stranded G-tetrad planes. This structure proposed by us has a very novel geometry and is different from all reported G-quadruplexes. The extended (35 ns) molecular dynamic (MD) simulations for the models indicate that the G-quadruplexes maintain their structures very well in aqueous solution whether the existence of K(+) or NH (4) (+) in the central channel. Furthermore, we perform 500 ns MD simulations for the models in the gas phase. The results show that all the ion-G-quadruplex complexes are maintained during the whole simulations, despite the large magnitude of phosphate-phosphate repulsions. The gas phase MD simulations provide a good explanation to ESI-MS experiments. Our 3D structures for G1 and G2 will assist in understanding geometric formalism of G-quadruplex folding and may be helpful as a platform for rational anti-HIV drug design.

Homology modeling of a novel epoxide hydrolase (EH) from Aspergillus niger SQ-6: structure-activity relationship in expoxides inhibiting EH activity.

The 3D structure of a novel epoxide hydrolase from Aspergillus niger SQ-6 (sqEH) was constructed by using homology modeling and molecular dynamics simulations. Based on the 3D model, Asp191, His369 and Glu343 were predicted as catalytic triad. The putative active pocket is a hydrophobic environment and is rich in some important non-polar residues (Pro318, Trp282, Pro319, Pro317 and Phe242). Using three sets of epoxide inhibitors for docking study, the interaction energies of sqEH with each inhibitor are consistent with their inhibitory effects in previous experiments. Moreover, a critical water molecule which closes to the His369 was identified to be an ideal position for the hydrolysis step of the reaction. Two tyrosine residues (Tyr249 and Tyr312) are able to form hydrogen bonds with the epoxide oxygen atom to maintain the initial binding and positioning of the substrate in the active pocket. These docked complex models can well interpret the substrate specificity of sqEH, which could be relevant for the structural-based design of specific epoxide inhibitors.

The metabolism of CYP2C9 and CYP2C19 for gliclazide by homology modeling and docking study.

With homology modeling techniques, a 3D structure model of CYP2C19 was built and refined with molecular mechanics and molecular dynamics simulations. The refined model was assessed to be reasonable by Profile-3D and PROCHECK programs. With the aid of the automatic molecular docking, one substrate and two inhibitors were docked to CYP2C19 by InsightII/Affinity program. The docking results, which are in well agreement with the reported results, demonstrate that the refined model of CYP2C19 is reliable. Then, with the refined model of CYP2C19 and the crystal structure of CYP2C9, the metabolisms of them for gliclazide in two different metabolic pathways were studied and the results show that both enzymes have more favorable interaction energies and stronger affinity with gliclazide in methylhydroxylation pathway than in 6beta-hydroxylation pathway. It is exciting that substrate inhibition phenomenon can be found in metabolisms of CYP2C9 and CYP2C19 for gliclazide in two metabolic pathways. Gliclazide can change the conformation of the active sites and decrease obviously the affinities between gliclazide in the active site and enzymes when it is docked in the second active sites in CYP2C9 and CYP2C19. These results are in well agreement with the kinetic experimental results.

Understanding structural/functional properties of amidase from Rhodococcus erythropolis by computational approaches.

The 3D structure of the amidase from Rhodococcus erythropolis (EC 3.5.1.4) built by homology-based modeling is presented. Propionamide and acetamide are docked to the amidase. The reaction models were used to characterize the explicit enzymatic reaction. The calculated free energy barrier at B3LYP/6-31G* level of Model A (Ser194 + propionamide) is 19.72 kcal mol(-1) in gas (6.47 kcal mol(-1) in solution), and of Model B (Ser194 + Gly193 + propionamide) is 18.71 kcal mol(-1) in gas (4.57 kcal mol(-1) in solution). The docking results reveal that propionamide binds more strongly than acetamide due to the ethyl moiety of propionamide, which makes the carboxyl oxygen center of the substrate slightly more negative, making formation of the positively charged tetrahedral intermediate slightly easier. The quantum mechanics results demonstrate that Ser194 is essential for the acyl-intermediate, and Gly193 plays a secondary role in stabilizing acyl-intermediate formation as the NH groups of Ser194 and Gly193 form hydrogen bonds with the carbonyl oxygen of propionamide. The new structural and mechanistic insights gained from this computational study should be useful in elucidating the detailed structures and mechanisms of amidase and other homologous members of the amidase signature family.

Mechanism of CYP2C9 inhibition by flavones and flavonols.

This article describes an in vitro investigation of the inhibition of cytochrome P450 (P450) 2C9 by a series of flavonoids made up of flavones (flavone, 6-hydroxyflavone, 7-hydroxyflavone, chrysin, baicalein, apigenin, luteolin, scutellarein, and wogonin) and flavonols (galangin, fisetin, kaempferol, morin, and quercetin). With the exception of flavone, all flavonoids were shown to inhibit CYP2C9-mediated diclofenac 4'-hydroxylation in the CYP2C9 RECO system, with K(i) value

The 3D structure of the defense-related rice protein Pir7b predicted by homology modeling and ligand binding studies.

To better understand the ligand-binding mechanism of protein Pir7b, important part in detoxification of a pathogen-derived compound against Pyricularia oryzae, a 3D structure model of protein Pir7b was constructed based on the structure of the template SABP2. Three substrates were docking to this protein, two of them were proved to be active, and some critical residues are identified, which had not been confirmed by the experiments. His87 and Leu17 considered as 'oxyanion hole' contribute to initiating the Ser86 nucleophilic attack. Gln187 and Asp139 can form hydrogen bonds with the anilid group to maintain the active binding orientation with the substrates. The docking model can well interpret the specificity of protein Pir7b towards the anilid moiety of the substrates and provide valuable structure information about the ligand binding to protein Pir7b.