Supriya Das

ZnI2-Catalyzed Diastereoselective [4 + 2] Cycloadditions of β,γ-Unsaturated α-Ketothioesters with Olefins.

The potential of β,γ-unsaturated α-ketothioesters participating in hetero-Diels-Alder reaction has remained unexplored. We report herein the first study of a ZnI2-catalyzed highly diastereoselective inverse electron demand hetero-Diels-Alder reaction of β,γ-unsaturated α-ketothioesters with olefins to access highly substituted 3,4-dihydro-2H-pyrans. All the reactions proceed with cis-selectivity in moderate to excellent yields. Under similar reaction conditions, terminal alkynes undergo direct conjugate 1,4-addition to yield δ,ε-acetylenic α-ketothioesters. Furthermore, the utility of these cycloadducts has been demonstrated by an NBS-MeOH mediated stereospecific efficient access to fully substituted pyran rings. The product bromoethers undergo E2 elimination with DBU, resulting in substituted 3,6-dihydro-2H-pyrans. In addition, the thioester moiety of the products has been used for further transformations, such as amidations and Fukuyama coupling reactions.

Sequence Complexity of Amyloidogenic Regions in Intrinsically Disordered Human Proteins

An amyloidogenic region (AR) in a protein sequence plays a significant role in protein aggregation and amyloid formation. We have investigated the sequence complexity of AR that is present in intrinsically disordered human proteins. More than 80% human proteins in the disordered protein databases (DisProt+IDEAL) contained one or more ARs. With decrease of protein disorder, AR content in the protein sequence was decreased. A probability density distribution analysis and discrete analysis of AR sequences showed that ∼8% residue in a protein sequence was in AR and the region was in average 8 residues long. The residues in the AR were high in sequence complexity and it seldom overlapped with low complexity regions (LCR), which was largely abundant in disorder proteins. The sequences in the AR showed mixed conformational adaptability towards α-helix, β-sheet/strand and coil conformations.

Orientation of tyrosine side chain in neurotoxic Aβ differs in two different secondary structures of the peptide

Amyloid β (Aβ) peptide is present as a major component in amyloid plaque that is one of the hallmarks of Alzheimers disease. The peptide contains a single tyrosine residue and Aβ has a major implication in the pathology of the disease progression. Current investigation revealed that the tyrosine side chain attained two different critical stereo orientations in two dissimilar conformational states of the peptide. The extended α-helical structure of the peptide observed in an apolar solvent or methanol/water mixture became disordered in aqueous medium and the radius of gyration decreased. In aqueous medium, the torsional angle around Cα–Cβ of tyrosine group became −60°. However, in its α-helical conformation in an apolar system, the measured angle was 180° and this rotameric state may be reasoned behind stronger tyrosine fluorescence compared with the disordered state of the peptide. Molecular dynamics simulation analyses and spectroscopic studies have helped us to understand the major structural changes in the secondary structure of the peptide in the two conformational states. A conformational clustering indicated that the compact state is more stable with tyrosine residue attaining the torsion angle value of −60°, whereas the native state (in HFIP/water mixture) is prevalent at a torsion angle value of −180°. High solvent accessibility has possibly stabilized the particular rotameric state (−60°) of the tyrosine residue and could be the reason behind decrease in fluorescence of the sole tyrosine residue in an aqueous buffer solution (pH 7.4) compared with its fluorescence in the α-helical structure in the micellar environment.