The use of electrospray mass spectrometry to determine speciation in a dynamic combinatorial library for anion recognition.

The composition of a dynamic mixture of similar 2,2'-bipyridine complexes of iron(II) bearing either an amide (5-benzylamido-2,2'-bipyridine and 5-(2-methoxyethane)amido-2,2'-bipyridine) or an ester (2,2'-bipyridine-5-carboxylic acid benzylester and 2,2'-bipyridine-5-carboxylic acid 2-methoxyethane ester) side chain have been evaluated by electrospray mass spectroscopy in acetonitrile. The time taken for the complexes to come to equilibrium appears to be dependent on the counteranion, with chloride causing a rapid redistribution of two preformed heteroleptic complexes (of the order of 1 hour), whereas the time it takes in the presence of tetrafluoroborate salts is in excess of 24 h. Similarly the final distribution of products is dependent on the anion present, with the presence of chloride, and to a lesser extent bromide, preferring three amide-functionalized ligands, and a slight preference for an appended benzyl over a methoxyethyl group. Furthermore, for the first time, this study shows that the distribution of a dynamic library of metal complexes monitored by ESI-MS can adapt following the introduction of a different anion, in this case tetrabutylammonium chloride to give the most favoured heteroleptic complex despite the increasing ionic strength of the solution.

Mass spectrometry evidence for cisplatin as a protein cross-linking reagent.

Cisplatin is a potent anticancer drug, which functions by cross-linking adjacent DNA guanine residues. However within 1 day of injection, 65-98% of the platinum in the blood plasma is protein-bound. It is generally accepted that cisplatin binds to methionine and histidine residues, but what is often underappreciated is that platinum from cisplatin has a 2+ charge and can form up to four bonds. Thus, it has the potential to function as a cross-linker. In this report, the cross-linking ability of cisplatin is demonstrated by Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) mass spectrometry (MS) with the use of standard peptides, the 16.8 kDa protein calmodulin (CaM), but was unsuccessful for the 64 kDa protein hemoglobin. The high resolution and mass accuracy of FTICR MS along with the high degree of fragmentation of large peptides afforded by collisionally activated dissociation (CAD) and electron capture dissociation (ECD) are shown to be a valuable means of characterizing cross-linking sites. Cisplatin is different from current cross-linking reagents by targeting new functional groups, thioethers, and imidazoles groups, which provides complementarity with existing cross-linkers. In addition, platinum(II) inherently has two positive charges which enhance the detection of cross-linked products. Higher charge states not only promote the detection of cross-linking products with less purification but result in more comprehensive MS/MS fragmentation and can assist in the assignment of modification sites. Moreover, the unique isotopic pattern of platinum flags cross-linking products and modification sites by mass spectrometry.

Shape changes induced by N-terminal platination of ubiquitin by cisplatin.

The three-dimensional conformation of a protein is an important property and plays a key role in its biological activity. We show here that ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS) can be used to detect conformational changes in the protein ubiquitin in the gas phase induced by reaction with the anticancer drug cisplatin. The primary adduct was ubiquitin-{Pt(NH(3))(2)} under denaturing conditions. Up to three different conformations appear to be generated upon platination depending on the charge state. The collision cross-sections (Omega) for each conformation indicate that the conformations of the platinated protein are contracted in size compared with unmodified ubiquitin with generally smaller Omega values. Ion mobility-tandem MS allowed determination of the platinum binding site without a requirement for prior chromatographic separation. A rapid 30-min digestion of cisplatin-modified ubiquitin with trypsin allowed the platination site to be identified as the N-terminal methionine following low-energy collision-induced dissociation (CID) studies of the modified peptide. The data were generated using a Traveling-Wave based ion mobility-MS approach. Such cisplatin-induced shape changes may have a significant effect on its function in vivo. This work highlights the usefulness of the ion-mobility mass spectrometry technique for shedding new light on such protein interactions.

Decomposition pathways for the photoactivated anticancer complex cis,trans,cis-[Pt(N3)2(OH)2(NH3)2]: insights from DFT calculations.

Density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) provide new insights into the photodegradation pathways of the cytotoxic complex cis,trans,cis-[Pt(N(3))(2)(OH)(2)(NH(3))(2)] allowing assignment of (1)LMCT transitions in the visible region of the UV-Vis spectrum; upon excitation to these low-energy (1)LMCT states, release of one N(3)(-) ligand is facilitated, and on triplet formation, the dissociation of both NH(3) and N(3)(-) groups trans to each other is promoted with no apparent reduction of the Pt(IV) centre.

Photoinduced reactions of cis,trans,cis-[Pt(IV)(N3)2(OH)2(NH3)2) with 1-methylimidazole.

The photodecomposition of cis,trans,cis-[Pt(IV)(N(3))(2)(OH)(2)(NH(3))(2)] in phosphate buffered saline (PBS), as well as in the presence of 1-methylimidazole (1-MeIm), induced by UVA light (centred at lambda=365 nm) has been studied by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy. We show that photoreduction, photoisomerisation and trans-labilisation pathways are involved. The photodecomposition pathway in PBS, which involves azide release, as detected by (14)N NMR spectroscopy, appears to differ from that in acidic aqueous conditions, under which N(2) is a product. A number of trans-{N-Pt(II)-NH(3)} species were also observed as photoproducts, as well as the release of free ammonia with a corresponding increase in pH. Oxygen was also detected as a product in solution. In the presence of 1-methylimidazole, surprisingly the major photoproduct was the tetra-substituted Pt(II) complex [Pt(II)(1-MeIm-N(3))(4)](2+) (structure confirmed by crystallography), even at a Pt/1-MeIm molar ratio of 1:1, together with cis- and trans-[Pt(II)(NH(3))(2)(1-MeIm-N(3))(2)](2+) as minor products. In these photoinduced 1-MeIm reactions, free ammonia, azide and oxygen were also detected. The results from this study illustrate that photoinduced reactions of platinum complexes can lead to novel reaction pathways, and therefore to new cytotoxic mechanisms in cancer cells.