All-Inorganic Polyoxometalates Act as Superchaotropic Membrane Carriers.

Polyoxometalates (POMs) are known antitumoral, antibacterial, antiviral, and anticancer agents and considered as next-generation metallodrugs. Herein, a new biological functionality in neutral physiological media, where selected mixed-metal POMs are sufficiently stable and able to affect membrane transport of impermeable, hydrophilic, and cationic peptides (heptaarginine, heptalysine, protamine, and polyarginine) is reported. The uptake is observed in both, model membranes as well as cells, and attributed to the superchaotropic properties of the polyoxoanions. In view of the structural diversity of POMs these findings pave the way toward their biomedical application in drug delivery or for cell-biological uptake studies with biological effector molecules or staining agents.

Metallacarborane Cluster Anions of the Cobalt Bisdicarbollide-Type as Chaotropic Carriers for Transmembrane and Intracellular Delivery of Cationic Peptides.

Cobalt bisdicarbollides (COSANs) are inorganic boron-based anions that have been previously reported to permeate by themselves through lipid bilayer membranes, a propensity that is related to their superchaotropic character. We now introduce their use as selective and efficient molecular carriers of otherwise impermeable hydrophilic oligopeptides through both artificial and cellular membranes, without causing membrane lysis or poration at low micromolar carrier concentrations. COSANs transport not only arginine-rich but also lysine-rich peptides, whereas low-molecular-weight analytes such as amino acids as well as neutral and anionic cargos (phalloidin and BSA) are not transported. In addition to the unsubstituted isomers (known as ortho- and meta-COSAN), four derivatives bearing organic substituents or halogen atoms have been evaluated, and all six of them surpass established carriers such as pyrenebutyrate in terms of activity. U-tube experiments and black lipid membrane conductance measurements establish that the transport across model membranes is mediated by a molecular carrier mechanism. Transport experiments in living cells showed that a fluorescent peptide cargo, FITC-Arg8, is delivered into the cytosol.

A multi-component reaction for covalent immobilization of lipases on amine-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles: production of biodiesel from waste cooking oil.

A new approach was used for the immobilization of Thermomyces lanuginosus lipase (TLL), Candida antarctica lipase B (CALB), and Rhizomucor miehei lipase (RML) on amine-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (Fe3O4@SiO2-NH2) via a multi-component reaction route (using cyclohexyl isocyanide). The used method offered a single-step and very fast process for covalent attachment of the lipases under extremely mild reaction conditions (25 °C, water, and pH 7.0). Rapid and simple immobilization of 20 mg of RML, TLL, and CALB on 1 g of the support produced 100%, 98.5%, and 99.2% immobilization yields, respectively, after 2 h of incubation. The immobilized derivatives were then used for biodiesel production from waste cooking oil. Response surface methodology (RSM) in combination with central composite rotatable design (CCRD) was employed to evaluate and optimize the biodiesel production. The effect of some parameters such as catalyst amount, reaction temperature, methanol concentration, water content for TLL or water-adsorbent for RML and CALB, and ratio of t-butanol (wt%) were investigated on the fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) yield.

Soluble enzyme cross-linking via multi-component reactions: a new generation of cross-linked enzymes.

By using a isocyanide-based multi-component reaction for the immobilization of the soluble forms of Rhizomucor miehei lipase (RML) and Thermomyces lanuginosa lipase (TLL), the first step of enzyme aggregation or crystallization in the traditional methods of cross-linking was bypassed. High immobilization yields and specific activities were achieved for both lipases.

Covalent binding of hyper-activated Rhizomucor miehei lipase (RML) on hetero-functionalized siliceous supports.

Physical adsorption onto hydrophobic supports has proven to be an effective way to improve the activity of lipases. Covalent binding, on the other hand, enhances the active lifetime of the immobilized biocatalysts. To combine the benefits of adsorption and covalent binding, immobilization of RML on new hetero-functional supports are reported. For this, chemical modification of silica and silica mesoporous nanoparticles was performed by the simultaneous use of two coupling linkers; Octyltriethoxysilane (OTES) for hydrophobic interaction and glycidoxypropyltrimethoxylsilane (GPTMS) for covalent linkage of RML. Altering the GPTMS/OTES ratio makes possible to have different amount of octyl and epoxy groups on the supports. The results showed that immobilization of RML on octyl-functionalized supports produces specific activity almost 1.5-2 folds greater than the specific activity of the free enzyme. The observed hyper-activation decreased with increasing epoxy groups on the supports confirming the enhancement of covalent nature of the attachment. Leaching experiment was also confirmed positive effect of the presence of epoxy groups on the supports. Regarding the specific activity of the immobilized preparations and desorption percentages of RML from each support, the most suitable carrier obtains from the functionalization of the supports in presence of GPTMS and OTES in the ratio of 1:1.