Molecular factors governing the viscosity peak of giant micelles in the presence of salt and fragrances.

HYPOTHESIS: The formation of transient networks of giant micelles leads to a viscosity peak when salt is added to aqueous solutions of charged surfactants. It is the consequence of an increase of the packing parameter due to charge screening of the surfactant headgroups, leading to a continuous transformation of the aggregates from spherical to wormlike micelles, and finally to branched networks. It should therefore be possible to predict the macroscopic viscosity of entangled giant micelles by modelling the packing parameter at nanoscale. EXPERIMENTS: A thermodynamic model is presented with a minimum of adjustable parameters, where branched networks are considered to be built from three coexisting microphases: cylinders, endcaps, and junctions. We use spontaneous packing parameters, in which the whole molecular length instead of the commonly used hydrocarbon chain length is considered. Standard reference chemical potentials and subsequently the occurrence of each microphase can be explicitly derived at specific electrolyte concentrations. Effective micellar length of giant micelles can be obtained from the microphase composition and is subsequently used to calculate the viscosity. FINDINGS: The model successfully predicts position and intensity of the viscosity maximum observed in experimental salt curves of sodium laureth sulfate (SLES). The robustness of the model was further investigated for various types of added salts or fragrance oils that affect differently spontaneous packing parameters or interfacial bending energy. An excellent agreement of the simulated salt curves with experimental data was achieved.

Internal Referencing for ¹³C Position-Specific Isotope Analysis Measured by NMR Spectrometry.

The intramolecular (13)C composition of a molecule retains evidence relevant to its (bio)synthetic history and can provide valuable information in numerous fields ranging from biochemistry to environmental sciences. Isotope ratio monitoring by (13)C NMR spectrometry (irm-(13)C NMR) is a generic method that offers the potential to conduct (13)C position-specific isotope analysis with a precision better than 1‰. Until now, determining absolute values also required measurement of the global (or bulk) (13)C composition (δ(13)Cg) by mass spectrometry. In a radical new approach, it is shown that an internal isotopic chemical reference for irm-(13)C NMR can be used instead. The strategy uses (1)H NMR to quantify both the number of moles of the reference and of the studied compound present in the NMR tube. Thus, the sample preparation protocol is greatly simplified, bypassing the previous requirement for precise purity and mass determination. The key to accurate results is suppressing the effect of radiation damping in (1)H NMR which produces signal distortion and alters quantification. The methodology, applied to vanillin with dimethylsulfone as an internal standard, has an equivalent accuracy (<1‰) to that of the conventional approach. Hence, it was possible to clearly identify vanillin from different origins based on the (13)C isotopic profiles.

Spectroscopic separation of (13) C NMR spectra of complex isomeric mixtures by the CSSF-TOCSY-INEPT experiment.

Isomeric mixtures from synthetic or natural origins can pose fundamental challenges for their chromatographic separation and spectroscopic identification. A novel 1D selective NMR experiment, chemical shift selective filter (CSSF)-TOCSY-INEPT, is presented that allows the extraction of (13) C NMR subspectra of discrete isomers in complex mixtures without physical separation. This is achieved via CSS excitation of proton signals in the (1) H NMR mixture spectrum, propagation of the selectivity by polarization transfer within coupled (1) H spins, and subsequent relaying of the magnetization from (1) H to (13) C by direct INEPT transfer to generate (13) C NMR subspectra. Simple consolidation of the subspectra yields (13) C NMR spectra for individual isomers. Alternatively, CSSF-INEPT with heteronuclear long-range transfer can correlate the isolated networks of coupled spins and therefore facilitate the reconstruction of the (13) C NMR spectra for isomers containing multiple spin systems. A proof-of-principle validation of the CSSF-TOCSY-INEPT experiment is demonstrated on three mixtures with different spectral and structural complexities. The results show that CSSF-TOCSY-INEPT is a versatile, powerful tool for deconvoluting isomeric mixtures within the NMR tube with unprecedented resolution and offers unique, unambiguous spectral information for structure elucidation.

Site-specific 13C content by quantitative isotopic 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry: a pilot inter-laboratory study.

Isotopic (13)C NMR spectrometry, which is able to measure intra-molecular (13)C composition, is of emerging demand because of the new information provided by the (13)C site-specific content of a given molecule. A systematic evaluation of instrumental behaviour is of importance to envisage isotopic (13)C NMR as a routine tool. This paper describes the first collaborative study of intra-molecular (13)C composition by NMR. The main goals of the ring test were to establish intra- and inter-variability of the spectrometer response. Eight instruments with different configuration were retained for the exercise on the basis of a qualification test. Reproducibility at the natural abundance of isotopic (13)C NMR was then assessed on vanillin from three different origins associated with specific δ (13)Ci profiles. The standard deviation was, on average, between 0.9 and 1.2‰ for intra-variability. The highest standard deviation for inter-variability was 2.1‰. This is significantly higher than the internal precision but could be considered good in respect of a first ring test on a new analytical method. The standard deviation of δ (13)Ci in vanillin was not homogeneous over the eight carbons, with no trend either for the carbon position or for the configuration of the spectrometer. However, since the repeatability for each instrument was satisfactory, correction factors for each carbon in vanillin could be calculated to harmonize the results.

Stabilized hemiacetal complexes as precursors for the controlled release of bioactive volatile alcohols.

Hemiacetals of pyridine-2-carbaldehyde derivatives and volatile alcohols can be stabilized in organic solution in the presence of protons or different metal cations. Despite the inherent instability of hemiacetals in H(2) O, stabilizing them with zinc(II) triflate and adding them to a cationic surfactant formulation resulted in the slow release of the alcohol from cotton surfaces being treated with the hemiacetal complex. Stabilized hemiacetals might thus be suitable delivery systems of bioactive volatiles by rapid hydrolysis in H(2) O-based media.

Release of bioactive volatiles from supramolecular hydrogels: influence of reversible acylhydrazone formation on gel stability and volatile compound evaporation.

In the presence of alkali metal cations, guanosine-5'-hydrazide (1) forms stable supramolecular hydrogels by selective self-assembly into a G-quartet structure. Besides being physically trapped inside the gel structure, biologically active aldehydes or ketones can also reversibly react with the free hydrazide functions at the periphery of the G-quartet to form acylhydrazones. This particularity makes the hydrogels interesting as delivery systems for the slow release of bioactive carbonyl derivatives. Hydrogels formed from 1 were found to be significantly more stable than those obtained from guanosine. Both physical inclusion of bioactive volatiles and reversible hydrazone formation could be demonstrated by indirect methods. Gel stabilities were measured by oscillating disk rheology measurements, which showed that thermodynamic equilibration of the gel is slow and requires several cooling and heating cycles. Furthermore, combining the rheology data with dynamic headspace analysis of fragrance evaporation suggested that reversible hydrazone formation of some carbonyl compounds influences the release of volatiles, whereas the absolute stability of the gel seemed to have no influence on the evaporation rates.

Oil droplet size determination in complex flavor delivery systems by diffusion NMR spectroscopy.

Droplet size distribution of flavor oils in two different solid flavor delivery systems were determined with pulsed field gradient NMR spectroscopy: yeast encapsulation system, a spray dried flavor encapsulation system based on empty yeast cells, and glassy encapsulation system, an extruded solid water soluble carbohydrate delivery system. The oil droplet sizes are limited by the yeast cell walls in the yeast encapsulation system and the size distribution is unimodal according to images from transmission electron microscopy. The droplet size determination with diffusion NMR is based on the Murday and Cotts theory of restricted diffusion of liquids in geometrical confinements. Good fits of the diffusion data could be obtained by applying a unimodal, log-normal size distribution model and average droplet sizes of about 2 µm were found that correspond approximately to the inner diameter of the yeast cells. Scanning electron microscopy images showed a multimodal droplet size distribution in the glassy extruded delivery systems. To fit the NMR data a bimodal log-normal distribution function with five independent fitting parameters was implemented that yielded consistent and robust results. The two size populations were found in the micron and sub-micron range, respectively. The method was sufficiently accurate to depict variation of droplet size distributions in glassy encapsulation systems of different formulation.

Controlled release of volatile fragrance molecules from PEO-b-PPO-b-PEO block copolymer micelles in ethanol-water mixtures.

Active materials that can solubilize in different compartments of a sample show release properties which might be of interest in some applications where a delayed release of solutes for instance is required. We studied perfume solutes in compartments of Pluronic block copolymers of different compositions and molecular weights over a range of ethanol-water mixtures. Phase diagrams were constructed to identify and map micellar phases, then dynamic light scattering was used to characterize the solute-swollen micelles; NMR provided with the partition of solutes between solvent and micelles, and equilibrium constants K(c) were estimated using headspace analysis. Finally solute-evaporation rates were measured by thermogravimetry. We focused on two typical behaviors: when solubilization in a micellar compartment occurs, delayed release increased with K(c). When solubilization was limited or absent, either because no micelles form or, in the presence of micelles, because solubilization was minor or absent, delayed release was correspondingly absent.

Detection of initiation sites in protein folding of the four helix bundle ACBP by chemical shift analysis.

A simple alternative method for obtaining "random coil" chemical shifts by intrinsic referencing using the protein's own peptide sequence is presented. These intrinsic random coil backbone shifts were then used to calculate secondary chemical shifts, that provide important information on the residual secondary structure elements in the acid-denatured state of an acyl-coenzyme A binding protein. This method reveals a clear correlation between the carbon secondary chemical shifts and the amide secondary chemical shifts 3-5 residues away in the primary sequence. These findings strongly suggest transient formation of short helix-like segments, and identify unique sequence segments important for protein folding.

Formation of native and non-native interactions in ensembles of denatured ACBP molecules from paramagnetic relaxation enhancement studies.

Paramagnetic relaxation enhancement measurements in the denatured state of ACBP have provided distance restraints that have been used in computer simulations to determine the conformational ensembles representing the denatured states of ACBP under a variety of conditions. A detailed comparison of the residual structure in the denatured state of ACBP under these different conditions has enabled us to infer that regions in the N and C-terminal parts of the protein sequence have a high tendency to interact in the unfolded state under physiological conditions. By comparing the structural features in the denatured states with those in the transition state for folding we also provided new insights into the mechanism of formation of the native state of this protein.

Reversible dimerization of acid-denatured ACBP controlled by helix A4.

The peptide segment corresponding to helix A4 in acyl-coenzyme-A-binding protein (ACBP) is an exceptionally stable helix in the denatured state of the protein as well as in its isolated form. Circular dichroism spectroscopy showed an alpha-helix content in the helix A4 peptide (HA4) of 45%, and under denaturing conditions at pH 2.3, helix conformations are still populated in 24% of the ensemble of molecules. The structure of HA4 at atomic resolution was assessed using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Long-range NOEs between remote residues at opposite peptide ends suggested the formation of an antiparallel homodimer, and the resulting structure was treated as the minimum higher-order structure. The dimerization property of helix A4 is maintained in the full-length protein under denaturing conditions. NMR diffusion studies and concentration-dependent experiments on ACBP at low pH proved the formation of dimers and revealed a cooperative stabilization of helix A4 in this process. This emphasizes its special role in the structure formation in the denatured state of ACBP. No dimers are formed in the presence of guanidine hydrochloride, which underlines the fundamental difference between the nature of these two denatured states.

Short-range, long-range and transition state interactions in the denatured state of ACBP from residual dipolar couplings.

Residual dipolar couplings in the denatured state of bovine acyl-coenzyme A binding protein (ACBP) oriented in strained polyacrylamide gels have been shown to be a sensitive, sequence-specific probe for residual secondary structure. Results supporting this were obtained by comparing residual dipolar couplings under different denaturing conditions. The data were analyzed using the program molecular fragment replacement (MFR), which demonstrated alpha-helix propensity in four isolated stretches along the protein backbone, and these coincide with the location of native helices. This is in full agreement with earlier findings based on secondary chemical shift values. Furthermore, N-H residual dipolar couplings provided direct evidence for the existence of native-like hydrophobic interactions in the acid-denatured state of ACBP at pH 2.3. It was shown that replacement of the hydrophobic side-chain of residue Ile27 with alanine in helix A2 leads to large decreases of residual dipolar couplings in residues that form helix A4 in the native state. It is suggested that the Ile to Ala mutation changes the probability for the formation of long-range interactions, which are present in the acid-denatured state of the wild-type protein. These long-range interactions are similar to those proposed to form in the transition state of folding of ACBP. Therefore, the application of residual dipolar couplings in combination with a comparative mutation study has demonstrated the presence of precursors to the folding transition state under acid-unfolding conditions.

Determination of an ensemble of structures representing the denatured state of the bovine acyl-coenzyme a binding protein.

The denatured state of a protein contains important information about the determinants of the folding process. By combining site-directed spin-labeling NMR experiments and restrained computer simulations, we have determined ensembles of conformations that represent the denatured state of the bovine acyl-coenzyme A binding protein (ACBP) at three different concentrations of guanidine hydrochloride. As the experimentally determined distance information corresponds to weighted averages over a broad ensemble of structures, we applied the experimental restraints to a system of noninteracting replicas of the protein by using a Monte Carlo sampling scheme. This procedure permits us to sample ensembles of conformations that are compatible with the experimental data and thus to obtain information regarding the distribution of structures in the denatured state. Our results show that the denatured state of ACBP is highly heterogeneous. The high sensitivity of the computational method that we present, however, enabled us to identify long-range interactions between two regions, located near the N- and C-termini, that include both native and non-native elements. The preferential formation of these contacts suggests that the sequence-dependent patterns of helical propensity and hydrophobicity are important determinants of the structure in the denatured state of ACBP.