Classes of organic pigments meet tentative PSLT criteria and lack toxicity in short-term inhalation studies.

Here, we present a non-animal testing battery to identify PSLT (poorly soluble, low toxicity) substances based on their solubility in phagolysosomal lung fluid simulant, surface reactivity and effects on alveolar macrophages in vitro. This is exemplified by eleven organic pigments belonging to five chemical classes that cover a significant share of the European market. Three of the pigments were tested as both, nanoform and non-nanoform. The results obtained in this integrated non-animal testing battery qualified two pigments as non PSLT, one pigment as poorly soluble and eight pigments as poorly soluble and low toxicity in vitro. The low toxic potency of the eight PSLT and the one poorly soluble pigment was corroborated by short-term inhalation studies with rats. These pigments did not elicit apparent toxic effects at 10 mg/m3 (systemic and in the respiratory tract). One of the pigments, Diarylide Pigment Yellow 83 transparent, however, caused minimal infiltration of neutrophils; hence its low toxicity is ambiguous and needs further verification or falsification. The present test battery provides an opportunity to identify PSLT-properties of test substances to prioritise particles for further development. Thus, it can help to reduce animal testing and steer product development towards safe applications.

Indicators for lack of systemic availability of organic pigments.

Experimental data of all 143 organic pigments registered with the European Chemicals Agency, of which 88 were listed in a nanomaterial inventory, was retrieved from the registered substance fact sheets. Availability of the data was 93% for solubility, 82% for bacterial mutagenicity, 79% for acute oral toxicity, 75% for irritation, 59% for skin sensitisation, 36% for repeated dose toxicity and 34% for each clastogenicity and mutagenicity in mammalian cells and 23% for toxicity to reproduction. Pigments mostly had a water and octanol solubility of significantly below 0.1 mg/L, but fourteen were found to be of higher solubility. None were irritating to skin and eyes. Except for the metal salt and the ß-naphthol pigments, none of the insoluble pigments showed adverse effects up to limit doses indicating that poor solubility prevents systemic uptake of toxicologically relevant amounts. The few available toxicokinetic data shows absence of metabolism or significant uptake and is in support of this. Occasional effects observed on bacterial mutagenicity and skin sensitisation are attributed to impurities. There is no indication that for organic pigments other particle characteristics such as surface area or morphology have an impact on the investigated toxicological endpoints.

Protein disulphide isomerase-assisted functionalization of keratin-based matrices.

In living systems, protein disulphide isomerase (PDI, EC 5.3.4.1) regulates the formation of new disulphide bonds in proteins (oxidase activity) and catalyzes the rearrangement of non-native disulphide bonds (isomerase activity), leading proteins towards their native configuration. In this study, PDI was used to attach cysteine-containing compounds (CCCs) onto hair, to enhance compound migration within hair fibre and to trigger protein release. A fluorescent (5(6)-TAMRA)-labelled keratin peptide was incorporated into hair by using PDI. Similarly, PDI promoted the grafting of a cysteine-functionalized dye onto wool, as suggested by matrix-assisted laser desorption and ionization time-of-flight results. These reactions were thought to involve oxidation of disulphide bonds between CCCs and wool or hair cysteine residues, catalyzed by the oxidized PDI active site. On the other hand, PDI was demonstrated to enhance the migration of a disulphide bond-functionalized dye within the keratin matrix and trigger the release of RNase A from wool fibres' surface. These observations may indicate that an isomerisation reaction occurred, catalyzed by the reduced PDI active site, to achieve the thiol-disulphide exchange, i.e. the rearrangement of disulphide bonds between CCCs and keratin. The present communication aims to highlight promising biotechnological applications of PDI, derived from its almost unique properties within the isomerase family.

Total synthesis and biological evaluation of a C(10)/C(12)-phenylene-bridged analog of epothilone D.

The total synthesis of compound 8, a conformationally constrained analog of epothilone D (2), has been achieved through a convergent strategy based on three key fragments comprising C(1)-C(6) (26), C(7)-C(12) (16), and C(13)-O(16) (19) of the macrocyclic framework. Construction of the C(12)-C(13) bond involved Pd(0)-mediated B-alkyl Suzuki coupling between aryl bromide 16 and olefin 19, and proceeded in excellent yield, while formation of the C(6)-C(7) bond through aldol reaction was somewhat less efficient. Surprisingly, macrolactonization was rather low-yielding and gave protected 8 only in 39% yield. Although 8 had been suggested by pharmacophore modeling to adopt a conformation similar to the bioactive conformation of epothilone B, the compound was devoid of any significant antiproliferative activity.

Immobilized catalysts in industrial research and application.

The present state of the art of the application of immobilized/heterogenized homogeneous catalysts in industrial research and production will be introduced. Special attention is drawn to catalysts which have been tested for the synthesis of chiral compounds. In a second part, commercially available immobilized catalyst systems will be presented, giving the reader an impression of what the favored directions of industrial development are and where future applications of such systems are most likely to occur.

Immobilized biocatalysts in industrial research and production.

The use of various immobilized biocatalysts in industrial research and production will be introduced. The applied catalysts span the range from isolated enzymes to microbial whole cells, and even examples of the use of plant cells and mammalian cells could be found. Approximately 65 processes have been reviewed in this article, roughly 50% of which are actual production processes in the chemical industry. The remaining 50% refer to biocatalytic transformations which were carried out at laboratory scale up to pilot scale. In this review special attention was drawn to the range of transformable substrates and the variety of different supports.