M. Conceição Oliveira

Analysis of natural red dyes (cochineal) in textiles of historical importance using HPLC and multivariate data analysis

AbstractA new analytical approach based on high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) and multivariate data analysis was applied and assessed for analyzing the red dye extracted from cochineal insects, used in precious historical textiles. The most widely used method of analysis involves quantification of specific minor compounds (markers), using HPLC-DAD. However, variation in the cochineal markers concentration, use of aggressive dye extraction methods and poor resolution of HPLC chromatograms can compromise the identification of the precise insect species used in the textiles. In this study, a soft extraction method combined with a new dye recovery treatment was developed, capable of yielding HPLC chromatograms with good resolution, for the first time, for historical cochineal-dyed textiles. After principal components analysis (PCA) and mass spectrometry (MS), it was possible to identify the cochineal species used in these textiles, in contrast to the accepted method of analysis. In order to compare both methodologies, 7 cochineal species and 63 historical cochineal insect specimens were analyzed using the two approaches, and then compared with the results for 15 historical textiles in order to assess their applicability to real complex samples. The methodology developed here was shown to provide more accurate and consistent information than the traditional method. Almost all of the historical textiles were dyed with Porphyrophora sp. insects. These results emphasize the importance of adopting the proposed methodology for future research on cochineal (and related red dyes). Mild extraction methods and HPLC-DAD/MSn analysis yield distinctive profiles, which, in combination with a PCA reference database, are a powerful tool for identifying red insect dyes. FigureIn pursuit of a precious red dye! A new methodology has been developed for determining the precise cochineal dye used in historical textiles. Mild extraction methods and HPLC-DAD yield distinctive profiles that, in combination with a dye reference database based on PCA, creates a powerful tool for identifying the precise red dye used. Surprisingly, almost all of the historical textiles analysed were not dyed with American cochineal.

Towards the rational biosynthesis of substituted phenazines and phenoxazinones by laccases

Laccases are multi-copper oxidases that oxidise a wide range of substrates including phenol and aniline derivatives, which could be further involved in coupling reactions leading to the formation of dimeric and trimeric structures. This paper describes the enzyme-mediated dimerisation of several ortho and meta,para-disubstituted aromatic amines into phenazine (“head-to-tail” dimers) and phenoxazinone chromophores. The redox properties of substituted aromatic amines were studied by cyclic voltammetry and the kinetic constants of CotA and Trametes versicolor laccases were measured for selected aromatic amines. The structure of novel enzymatically synthesised phenazine and phenoxazinone dyes using CotA laccase was assessed by NMR and MS. Overall our data show that this enzymatic green process is an efficient alternative to the classic chemical oxidation of aromatic amines and phenols, with an impact on the broad field of applications of these heterocyclic compounds.

Bioactive Silver–Organic Networks Assembled from 1,3,5-Triaza-7-phosphaadamantane and Flexible Cyclohexanecarboxylate Blocks

Three novel bioactive silver-organic networks, namely, the 2D polymer [Ag(μ3-PTA)(chc)]n·n(Hchc)·2nH2O (1), the 3D bioMOF [Ag2(μ3-PTA)2(μ2-chdc)]n·5nH2O (2), and the 2D polymer [Ag2(μ2-PTA)2(μ4-H2chtc)]n·6nH2O (3), were constructed from 1,3,5-triaza-7-phosphaadamantane (PTA) and various flexible cyclohexanecarboxylic acids as building blocks {cyclohexanecarboxylic (Hchc), 1,4-cyclohexanedicarboxylic (H2chdc), and 1,2,4,5-cyclohexanetetracarboxylic (H4chtc) acid, respectively}. The obtained products 1-3 were fully characterized by IR and NMR spectroscopy, ESI-MS(±) spectrometry, elemental and thermogravimetric (TGA) analyses, and single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction. Their structural diversity originates from distinct coordination modes of cyclohexanecarboxylate moieties as well as from the presence of unconventional N,N,P-tridentate or N,P-bidentate PTA spacers. Topological classification of underlying metal-organic networks was performed, disclosing the hcb, 4,4L28, and a rare fsc-3,4-Pbcn-3 topology in 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Moreover, combination of aqueous solubility (S25°C ≈ 4-6 mg mL(-1)), air stability, and appropriate coordination environments around silver centers favors a release of bioactive Ag(+) ions by 1-3, which thus act as potent antibacterial and antifungal agents against Gram-positive (S. aureus) and Gram-negative (E. coli and P. aeruginosa) bacteria as well as a yeast (C. albicans). The best normalized minimum inhibitory concentrations (normalized MIC) of 10-18 (for bacterial strains) or 57 nmol mL(-1) (for a yeast strain) were achieved. Detailed ESI-MS studies were performed, confirming the relative stability of 1-3 in solution and giving additional insight on the self-assembly formation of polycarboxylate Ag-PTA derivatives and their crystal growth process.

Gas-liquid chromatographic determination of major tobacco alkaloids

Polar and apolar columns were tested for the chromatographic analysis of tobacco alkaloids. Disadvantages of polar-based polyethylene glycol phases are reported, such as the adsorption of the nornicotine alkaloid and the occurrence of errors on quantitation of alkaloids due to the presence of interfering compounds in tobacco extracts. A chromatographic method using a new apolar base-modified phase was evaluated for the analysis of alkaloids in tobacco products. The nicotine and other major alkaloids were quantitated using two internal standards simultaneously.

Reactive aldehyde metabolites from the anti-HIV drug abacavir: amino acid adducts as possible factors in abacavir toxicity.

Abacavir is a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor marketed since 1999 for the treatment of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV). Despite its clinical efficacy, abacavir administration has been associated with serious and sometimes fatal toxic events. Abacavir has been reported to undergo bioactivation in vitro, yielding reactive species that bind covalently to human serum albumin, but the haptenation mechanism and its significance to the toxic events induced by this anti-HIV drug have yet to be elucidated. Abacavir is extensively metabolized in the liver, resulting in inactive glucuronide and carboxylate metabolites. The metabolism of abacavir to the carboxylate involves a two-step oxidation via an unconjugated aldehyde, which under dehydrogenase activity isomerizes to a conjugated aldehyde. Concurrently with metabolic oxidation, the two putative aldehyde metabolites may be trapped by nucleophilic side groups in proteins yielding covalent adducts, which can be at the onset of the toxic events associated with abacavir. To gain insight into the role of aldehyde metabolites in abacavir-induced toxicity and with the ultimate goal of preparing reliable and fully characterized prospective biomarkers of exposure to the drug, we synthesized the two putative abacavir aldehyde metabolites and investigated their reaction with the α-amino group of valine. The resulting adducts were subsequently stabilized by reduction with sodium cyanoborohydride and derivatized with phenyl isothiocyanate, leading in both instances to the formation of the same phenylthiohydantoin, which was fully characterized by NMR and MS. These results suggest that the unconjugated aldehyde, initially formed in vivo, rapidly isomerizes to the thermodynamically more stable conjugated aldehyde, which is the electrophilic intermediate mainly involved in reaction with bionucleophiles. Moreover, we demonstrated that the reaction of the conjugated aldehyde with nitrogen bionucleophiles occurs exclusively via Schiff base formation, whereas soft sulfur nucleophiles react by Michael-type 1,4-addition to the α,β-unsaturated system. The synthetic phenylthiohydantoin adduct was subsequently used as standard for LC-ESI-MS monitoring of N-terminal valine adduct formation, upon modification of human hemoglobin in vitro with the conjugated abacavir aldehyde, followed by reduction and Edman degradation. The same postmodification strategy was applied to investigate the products formed by incubation of abacavir with rat liver cytosol, followed by trapping with ethyl valinate. In both instances, the major adduct detected corresponded to the synthetic phenylthiohydantoin standard. These results suggest that abacavir metabolism to the carboxylate(s) via aldehyde intermediate(s) could be a factor in the toxic events elicited by abacavir administration. Furthermore, the availability of a reliable and fully characterized synthetic standard of the abacavir adduct with the N-terminal valine of hemoglobin and its easy detection in the model hemoglobin modifications support the usefulness of this adduct as a prospective biomarker of abacavir toxicity in humans.

Use of MoO2Cl2(DMF)2 as a precursor for molybdate promoted hydrolysis of phosphoester bonds

Phosphoester bond cleavage of para-nitrophenylphosphate (pNPP), a commonly used model substrate, is accelerated by using the complex MoO(2)Cl(2)(DMF)(2) (1) (DMF = dimethylformamide) as a hydrolysis promoting agent, even when catalytic amounts of 1 (10 mol% relative to pNPP) are used. The reactions were performed under mild conditions (37-75 °C) and followed by (1)H NMR spectroscopy. For assays performed with high amounts of 1 (1000 mol% relative to pNPP), a white solid (2) precipitates during the initial stages of the reaction, which subsequently dissolves, leading eventually to the precipitation of a less soluble yellow solid (3). Taken together, the characterization data for 2 (FT-IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, (1)H and (13)C NMR, and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry) indicate that it is a polymeric material with the formula Mo(2)O(6)(DMF)(n) and a structure comprising infinite isopolyoxomolybdate chains built up from edge-shared {MoO(6)} octahedra. Compound 3 was identified as the Keggin-type phosphomolybdate [(CH(3))(2)NH(2)](3)PMo(12)O(40). The formation of 3 is explained by the reaction of inorganic phosphate ions with isopolymolybdate species derived from 2, with dimethylammonium ions arising from the degradation of DMF. Both 2 and 3 are active for phosphoester bond hydrolysis with conversion profiles comparable to the ones obtained with the precursor 1.

Electronic communication in linear oligo(azobenzene) radical anions.

The radical anions of five bis(azobenzene) and one tris(azobenzene) compounds were studied by optical and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopies in polar aprotic solvents. The radicals with planar or almost-planar bridges are charge-delocalized mixed-valence species. Localization of charge occurs only on radicals with highly twisted biphenyl bridges. The electronic coupling between the azobenzene charge-bearing units, calculated as half the energy of the intervalence band for the charge-delocalized and by the Hush equation for the charge-localized radicals, decreases with the distance and torsion angle between azobenzene units. These radicals have smaller electronic couplings between charge-bearing units than other mixed-valence organic radicals with similar bridges. However, the application of a three-stage model to the tris(azobenzene) radical anion intervalence band yields an electronic coupling between consecutive azobenzenes that is higher than in any of the bis(azobenzene) radicals studied.

Application of an indenyl molybdenum dicarbonyl complex in the isomerisation of α-pinene oxide to campholenic aldehyde

The complex [{(η5-Ind)Mo(CO)2(μ-Cl)}2] (1) has been tested for the industrially relevant catalytic isomerisation of α-pinene oxide (PinOx) to campholenic aldehyde (CPA) in the liquid phase. PinOx conversion and CPA selectivity are strongly influenced by the solvent employed. Complete conversion of PinOx was achieved within 1 min at 55 °C or 30 min at 35 °C using 1,2-dichloroethane as solvent, giving CPA in 68% yield. Other products included trans-carveol, iso-pinocamphone and trans-pinocarveol. The stability of 1 under the reaction conditions used was investigated by using FT-IR spectroscopy and electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) to characterise recovered solids. In the presence of air/moisture 1 undergoes oxidative decarbonylation upon dissolution to give oxomolybdenum species that are proposed to include a tetranuclear oxomolybdenum(V) complex. Conversely, ESI-MS studies of 1 dissolved in dry acetonitrile show mononuclear species of the type [IndMo(CO)2(CH3CN)n]+. The crystal structure of the ring-slipped dicarbonyl complex [(η3-Ind)Mo(CO)2Cl(CH3CN)2] (2) (obtained after dissolution of 1 in acetonitrile) is reported.

Synthesis of glucopyranos-6′-yl purine and pyrimidine isonucleosides as potential cholinesterase inhibitors. Access to pyrimidine-linked pseudodisaccharides through Mitsunobu reaction

Abstract The synthesis of new isonucleosides comprising purine and pyrimidine-derived systems linked to methyl glucopyranosidyl units at C-6 and evaluation of their cholinesterase inhibitory profiles is reported. Their access was based on the Mitsunobu coupling of partially acetylated and benzylated methyl glucopyranosides with purine and pyrimidine derivatives. While the reactions with purines and theobromine proceeded with complete regioselectivity, affording exclusively N9- or N1-linked 6′-isonucleosides, respectively, the use of pyrimidine nucleobases led to N1 and/or N3-glucopyranosid-6′-yl pyrimidines and/or to N1,N3/2-O,4-O-pyrimidine-linked pseudodisaccharides through bis-coupling, depending on the substitution pattern of the sugar precursor and on the nature of the nucleobase. From this series of compounds, four were shown to be effective and selective inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase with inhibition constants in the micromolar concentration range. A tri-O-acetylated N1-glucopyranosid-6′-yl theobromine and a benzylated N1,N3-bis-glucopyranosid-6-yl thymine were the most active molecules with Ki values of 4 μM. A tri-O-benzylated glucopyranosid-6′-yl uracil displayed good and selective inhibition of butyrylcholinesterase (Ki=8.4±1.0 μM), similar to that exhibited by the standard galantamine. Molecular docking simulations, performed with the two most effective acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, showed interactions with key amino acid residues located at the enzyme’s active site gorge, which explain the competitive component of their inhibitory activities.

Antioxidant capacity and identification of bioactive compounds of Myrtus communis L. extract obtained by ultrasound-assisted extraction

Abstract Ultrasound-assisted extraction was used to investigate the polyphenolic compounds, particularly anthocyanins, present in myrtle alcoholic extracts. This type of extract is typical in the making of liqueurs obtained from herbs or plants, especially medicinal plants. The leaf extracts were found to contain flavonoids from the quercetin and myricetin families. Besides these, the berry extracts also showed the presence of anthocyanins, hydrolysable tannins and quinic acid. The antioxidant capacity was studied using the ORAC and TEAC methods and the polyphenol content was measured using the Folin–Ciocalteu method. The results showed that the values produced by the ORAC and TEAC methods were in agreement and that the antioxidant capacity correlated with the polyphenol content. The results showed that the leaf extracts exhibited higher antioxidant capacity than the berry extracts. The extraction method was easily implementable, and proved to be a swift method for obtaining bioactive compounds from vegetable matrices.