Lucie Bednárová

Transfer of molecular property tensors in cartesian coordinates: A new algorithm for simulation of vibrational spectra

A direct transfer of Cartesian molecular force fields (FF) and electric property tensors is tested on model systems and compared to transfer in internal coordinates with an aim to improve simulation of vibrational spectra for larger molecules. This Cartesian transformation can be implemented easily and offers greater flexibility in practical computations. It can be also applied for transfer of anharmonic derivatives. The results for model calculations of the force field and vibrational frequencies for N‐methylacetamide show that our method removes errors associated with numerical artifacts caused by nonlinearity of the otherwise required Cartesian to internal coordinate transformation. For determination of IR absorption and vibrational circular dichroism intensities, atomic polar and axial tensors were also transferred in the Cartesian representation. For the latter, which are dependent upon the magnetic dipole operator, a distributed origin gauge is used to avoid an origin dependence. Comparison of the results of transferring ab initio FF and intensity parameters from an amide dimer fragment onto a tripeptide with those from a conventionally determined tripeptide FF document some limitations of the transfer method and its possible applications in the vibrational spectroscopy. Finally, application to determination of the FF and spectra for helical heptapeptide are presented and compared to experimental results.

Rapid Access to Dibenzohelicenes and their Functionalized Derivatives

Spiraling up: Easy access to dibenzo[5]-, dibenzo[6]-, and dibenzo[7]helicenes as well as their functionalized derivatives includes Sonogashira and Suzuki-Miyaura couplings, desilylation, and [2+2+2] alkyne cycloisomerization. The simplicity of this non-photochemical approach combined with the potential for helicity control favors dibenzohelicenes over the parent helicenes for practical applications.

Intense Chiroptical Switching in a Dicationic Helicene-Like Derivative: Exploration of a Viologen-Type Redox Manifold of a Non-Racemic Helquat

Two-step redox switching in enantiopure helquat system [P-1](2+) ⇌ [P-1](•+) ⇌ [P-1](0) is demonstrated. The viologen-type electroactive unit embedded directly in the helical scaffold of 1 is responsible for the prominent chiroptical switching at 264 nm. This process is associated with a marked sign-reversal of Cotton effect ramping between Δε = +35 M(-1) cm(-1) for [P-1](2+) and Δε = -100 M(-1) cm(-1) for [P-1](0). This helically chiral system features the most intense chiroptical switch response documented in the field of helicenoids.

New potent antimicrobial peptides from the venom of Polistinae wasps and their analogs

Four new peptides of the mastoparan family, characterized recently in the venom of three neotropical social wasps collected in the Dominican Republic, Polistes major major, Polistes dorsalis dorsalis and Mischocyttarus phthisicus were synthesized and tested for antimicrobial potency against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli (E.c.) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and for hemolytic and mast cells degranulation activities. As these peptides possess strong antimicrobial activity (minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values against Bacillus subtillis and E.c. in the range of 5-40 microM), we prepared 40 of their analogs to correlate biological activities, especially antimicrobial, with the net positive charge, hydrophobicity, amphipathicity, peptide length, amino acid substitutions at different positions of the peptide chain, N-terminal acylation and C-terminal deamidation. Circular dichroism spectra of the peptides measured in the presence of trifluoroethanol or SDS showed that the peptides might adopt alpha-helical conformation in such anisotropic environments.

Anharmonic effects in IR, Raman, and Raman optical activity spectra of alanine and proline zwitterions

The difference spectroscopy of the Raman optical activity (ROA) provides extended information about molecular structure. However, interpretation of the spectra is based on complex and often inaccurate simulations. Previously, the authors attempted to make the calculations more robust by including the solvent and exploring the role of molecular flexibility for alanine and proline zwitterions. In the current study, they analyze the IR, Raman, and ROA spectra of these molecules with the emphasis on the force field modeling. Vibrational harmonic frequencies obtained with 25 ab initio methods are compared to experimental band positions. The role of anharmonic terms in the potential and intensity tensors is also systematically explored using the vibrational self-consistent field, vibrational configuration interaction (VCI), and degeneracy-corrected perturbation calculations. The harmonic approach appeared satisfactory for most of the lower-wavelength (200-1800 cm(-1)) vibrations. Modern generalized gradient approximation and hybrid density functionals, such as the common B3LYP method, provided a very good statistical agreement with the experiment. Although the inclusion of the anharmonic corrections still did not lead to complete agreement between the simulations and the experiment, occasional enhancements were achieved across the entire region of wave numbers. Not only the transitional frequencies of the C-H stretching modes were significantly improved but also Raman and ROA spectral profiles including N-H and C-H lower-frequency bending modes were more realistic after application of the VCI correction. A limited Boltzmann averaging for the lowest-frequency modes that could not be included directly in the anharmonic calculus provided a realistic inhomogeneous band broadening. The anharmonic parts of the intensity tensors (second dipole and polarizability derivatives) were found less important for the entire spectral profiles than the force field anharmonicities (third and fourth energy derivatives), except for a few weak combination bands which were dominated by the anharmonic tensor contributions.

Novel antimicrobial peptides from the venom of the eusocial bee Halictus sexcinctus (Hymenoptera: Halictidae) and their analogs

Two novel antimicrobial peptides, named halictines, were isolated from the venom of the eusocial bee Halictus sexcinctus. Their primary sequences were established by ESI-QTOF mass spectrometry, Edman degradation and enzymatic digestion as Gly-Met-Trp-Ser-Lys-Ile-Leu-Gly-His-Leu-Ile-Arg-NH2 (HAL-1), and Gly-Lys-Trp-Met-Ser-Leu-Leu-Lys–His-Ile-Leu-Lys-NH2 (HAL-2). Both peptides exhibited potent antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria but also noticeable hemolytic activity. The CD spectra of HAL-1 and HAL-2 measured in the presence of trifluoroethanol or SDS showed ability to form an amphipathic α-helical secondary structure in an anisotropic environment such as bacterial cell membrane. NMR spectra of HAL-1 and HAL-2 measured in trifluoroethanol/water confirmed formation of helical conformation in both peptides with a slightly higher helical propensity in HAL-1. Altogether, we prepared 51 of HAL-1 and HAL-2 analogs to study the effect of such structural parameters as cationicity, hydrophobicity, α-helicity, amphipathicity, and truncation on antimicrobial and hemolytic activities. The potentially most promising analogs in both series are those with increased net positive charge, in which the suitable amino acid residues were replaced by Lys. This improvement basically relates to the increase of antimicrobial activity against pathogenic Pseudomonas aeruginosa and to the mitigation of hemolytic activity.

Urea and guanidinium induced denaturation of a Trp-cage miniprotein.

Using a combination of experimental techniques (circular dichroism, differential scanning calorimetry, and NMR) and molecular dynamics simulations, we performed an extensive study of denaturation of the Trp-cage miniprotein by urea and guanidinium. The experiments, despite their different sensitivities to various aspects of the denaturation process, consistently point to simple, two-state unfolding process. Microsecond molecular dynamics simulations with a femtosecond time resolution allow us to unravel the detailed molecular mechanism of Trp-cage unfolding. The process starts with a destabilizing proline shift in the hydrophobic core of the miniprotein, followed by a gradual destruction of the hydrophobic loop and the α-helix. Despite differences in interactions of urea vs guanidinium with various peptide moieties, the overall destabilizing action of these two denaturants on Trp-cage is very similar.

Melectin: a novel antimicrobial peptide from the venom of the cleptoparasitic bee Melecta albifrons.

A novel antimicrobial peptide designated melectin was isolated from the venom of the cleptoparasitic bee Melecta albifrons. Its primary sequence was established as H‐Gly‐Phe‐Leu‐Ser‐Ile‐Leu‐Lys‐Lys‐Val‐Leu‐Pro‐Lys‐Val‐Met‐Ala‐His‐Met‐Lys‐NH2 by Edman degradation and ESI‐QTOF mass spectrometry. Synthetic melectin exhibited antimicrobial activity against both Gram‐positive and ‐negative bacteria and it degranulated rat peritoneal mast cells, but its hemolytic activity was low. The CD spectra of melectin measured in the presence of trifluoroethanol and sodium dodecyl sulfate showed a high content α‐helices, which indicates that melectin can adopt an amphipathic α‐helical secondary structure in an anisotropic environment such as the bacterial cell membrane. To envisage the role of the proline residue located in the middle of the peptide chain on biological activity and secondary structure, we prepared several melectin analogues in which the Pro11 residue was either replaced by other amino acid residues or was omitted. The results of biological testing suggest that a Pro kink in the α‐helical structure of melectin plays an important role in selectivity for bacterial cells. In addition, a series of N‐ and C‐terminal‐shortened analogues was synthesized to examine which region of the peptide is related to antimicrobial activity.

An Ultimate Stereocontrol in Asymmetric Synthesis of Optically Pure Fully Aromatic Helicenes.

The role of the helicity of small molecules in enantioselective catalysis, molecular recognition, self-assembly, material science, biology, and nanoscience is much less understood than that of point-, axial-, or planar-chiral molecules. To uncover the envisaged potential of helically chiral polyaromatics represented by iconic helicenes, their availability in an optically pure form through asymmetric synthesis is urgently needed. We provide a solution to this problem present since the birth of helicene chemistry in 1956 by developing a general synthetic methodology for the preparation of uniformly enantiopure fully aromatic [5]-, [6]-, and [7]helicenes and their functionalized derivatives. [2 + 2 + 2] Cycloisomerization of chiral triynes combined with asymmetric transformation of the first kind (ultimately controlled by the 1,3-allylic-type strain) is central to this endeavor. The point-to-helical chirality transfer utilizing a traceless chiral auxiliary features a remarkable resistance to diverse structural perturbations.

Comparison of Quantitative Conformer Analyses by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Raman Optical Activity Spectra for Model Dipeptides

Interpretation of the Raman optical activity (ROA) of peptides is difficult because of molecular flexibility and interaction with the solvent. Typically, simulations and experiments are compared in terms of a qualitative agreement between the spectra. However, on a series of the Pro-Gly, Gly-Pro, Pro-Ala, and Ala-Pro dipeptides more precise conformer ratios could be obtained with the aid of the density functional computations and numerical decomposition of the spectral shapes. All observed transitions were assigned, and the computed transition frequencies were scaled accordingly. Then the populations predicted by the optical spectroscopy agreed within a few percent with an analysis of the spin-spin coupling constants based on the Karplus equations, which was confirmed also by a comparison of calculated and experimental NMR couplings. The results are supported by molecular dynamics simulations and related to the previous conformational studies of similar molecules.