Doped metal clusters as bimetallic AuCo nanocatalysts: insights into structural dynamics and correlation with catalytic activity by in situ spectroscopy.

Co-doped Au25 nanoclusters with different numbers of doping atoms were synthesized and supported on CeO2. The catalytic properties were studied in the CO oxidation reaction. In all cases, an enhancement in catalytic activity was observed compared to the pure Au25 nanocluster catalyst. Interestingly, a different catalytic performance was obtained depending on the number of Co atoms within the cluster. This was related to the mobility of atoms within the cluster's structure under pretreatment and reaction conditions, resulting in active CoAu nanoalloy sites. The evolution of the doped Au clusters into nanoalloys with well-distributed Co atoms within the Au cluster structure was revealed by combined XAFS, DRIFTS, and XPS studies. Overall, these studies contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics of doped nanoclusters on supports upon pretreatment and reaction, which is key information for the future development and application of bimetallic nanocluster (nanoalloy) catalysts.

CeO2 Supported Gold Nanocluster Catalysts for CO Oxidation: Surface Evolution Influenced by the Ligand Shell.

Monolayer protected Au nanocluster catalysts are known to undergo structural changes during catalytic reactions, including dissociation and migration of ligands onto the support, which strongly affects their activity and stability. To better understand how the nature of ligands influences the catalytic activity of such catalysts, three types of ceria supported Au nanoclusters with different kinds of ligands (thiolates, phosphines and a mixture thereof) have been studied, employing CO oxidation as model reaction. The thiolate-protected Au25/CeO2 showed significantly higher CO conversion after activation at 250 °C than the cluster catalysts possessing phosphine ligands. Temperature programmed oxidation and in situ infrared spectroscopy revealed that while the phosphine ligands seemed to decompose and free Au surface was exposed, temperatures higher than 250 °C are required to efficiently remove them from the whole catalyst system. Moreover, the presence of residues on the support seemed to have much greater influence on the reactivity than the gold particle size.

Selective ligand exchange synthesis of Au16(2-PET)14 from Au15(SG)13.

Replacement of protecting ligands of gold nanoclusters by ligand exchange has become an established post-synthetic tool for selectively modifying the nanoclusters' properties. Several Au nanoclusters are known to additionally undergo size transformations upon ligand exchange, enabling access to cluster structures that are difficult to obtain by direct synthesis. This work reports on the selective size transformation of Au15(SG)13 (SG: glutathione) nanoclusters to Au16(2-PET)14 (2-PET: 2-phenylethanethiol) nanoclusters through a two-phase ligand exchange process at room temperature. Among several parameters evaluated, the addition of a large excess of exchange thiol (2-PET) to the organic phase was identified as the key factor for the structure conversion. After exchange, the nature of the clusters was determined by UV-vis, electrospray ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry, attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared, and extended x-ray absorption fine-structure spectroscopy. The obtained Au16(2-PET)14 clusters proved to be exceptionally stable in solution, showing only slightly diminished UV-vis absorption features after 3 days, even when exposed to an excess of thiol ligands.

Systems-level organization of yeast methylotrophic lifestyle.

BACKGROUND: Some yeasts have evolved a methylotrophic lifestyle enabling them to utilize the single carbon compound methanol as a carbon and energy source. Among them, Pichia pastoris (syn. Komagataella sp.) is frequently used for the production of heterologous proteins and also serves as a model organism for organelle research. Our current knowledge of methylotrophic lifestyle mainly derives from sophisticated biochemical studies which identified many key methanol utilization enzymes such as alcohol oxidase and dihydroxyacetone synthase and their localization to the peroxisomes. C1 assimilation is supposed to involve the pentose phosphate pathway, but details of these reactions are not known to date. RESULTS: In this work we analyzed the regulation patterns of 5,354 genes, 575 proteins, 141 metabolites, and fluxes through 39 reactions of P. pastoris comparing growth on glucose and on a methanol/glycerol mixed medium, respectively. Contrary to previous assumptions, we found that the entire methanol assimilation pathway is localized to peroxisomes rather than employing part of the cytosolic pentose phosphate pathway for xylulose-5-phosphate regeneration. For this purpose, P. pastoris (and presumably also other methylotrophic yeasts) have evolved a duplicated methanol inducible enzyme set targeted to peroxisomes. This compartmentalized cyclic C1 assimilation process termed xylose-monophosphate cycle resembles the principle of the Calvin cycle and uses sedoheptulose-1,7-bisphosphate as intermediate. The strong induction of alcohol oxidase, dihydroxyacetone synthase, formaldehyde and formate dehydrogenase, and catalase leads to high demand of their cofactors riboflavin, thiamine, nicotinamide, and heme, respectively, which is reflected in strong up-regulation of the respective synthesis pathways on methanol. Methanol-grown cells have a higher protein but lower free amino acid content, which can be attributed to the high drain towards methanol metabolic enzymes and their cofactors. In context with up-regulation of many amino acid biosynthesis genes or proteins, this visualizes an increased flux towards amino acid and protein synthesis which is reflected also in increased levels of transcripts and/or proteins related to ribosome biogenesis and translation. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, our work illustrates how concerted interpretation of multiple levels of systems biology data can contribute to elucidation of yet unknown cellular pathways and revolutionize our understanding of cellular biology.

Quantitative metabolite profiling utilizing parallel column analysis for simultaneous reversed-phase and hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography separations combined with tandem mass spectrometry.

In this work, a fully automated parallel LC column method was established in order to perform orthogonal hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) and reversed-phase (RPLC) chromatography within one analytical run for targeted quantitative mass spectrometric determination of metabolites from central carbon metabolism. In this way, the analytical throughput could be significantly improved compared to previously established dual separation work flows involving two separate analytical runs. Two sample aliquots were simultaneously injected onto a dual column setup columns using a ten-port valve, and parallel separations were carried out. Sub 2 µm particle size stationary phases were employed for both separation methods. HILIC and RPLC eluents were combined post column followed by ESI-MS/MS detection. The orthogonal separations were optimized, aiming at an overall separation with 2 retention time segments, while reversed-phase separation was accomplished within 5.5 min; metabolites on the HILIC phase were retained for a minimum time of 6 min. The overall run time was 15 min. The setup was applied to the quantification of 30 primary intercellular metabolites, including amino acids, organic acids, and nucleotides employing internal standardization by a fully (13)C-labeled yeast extract. The comparison with HILIC-MS/MS and RPLC-MS/MS in separate analytical runs revealed that an excellent analytical performance was achieved by the parallel LC column method. The experimental repeatability (N = 5) was on average <5% (only for 2 compounds >5%). Moreover, limits of detection for the new approach ranging from 0.002-15 µM were in a good agreement with ones obtained in separate HILIC-MS/MS and RPLC-MS/MS runs (ranging from 0.01-44 µM).

Mass spectrometry based analysis of nucleotides, nucleosides, and nucleobases--application to feed supplements.

In this work, accurate MS-based methods for quantitative profiling of nucleotides, nucleosides, and nucleobases in yeast extracts used as additives in animal feedstuff are presented. Reversed-phase chromatography utilizing a stationary phase compatible with 100% aqueous mobile phases resulted in superior analytical figures of merit than HILIC or ion-pair reversed-phase separation. The novel separation method was combined with both molecular and elemental mass spectrometry. By use of RP-LC-MS-MS, excellent limits of detection <1 µmol L(-1) could be obtained for all the compounds investigated. The elemental speciation analysis approach enabled determination of nucleotides by phosphorus detection. Sensitivity of LC-ICP-MS was 1-2 orders of magnitude lower than that of LC-MS-MS. Quantitative analysis of yeast products using complementary MS detection furnished values in good agreement.