Biomedical subjects

Gregory J Gabriel

Publications and source records attributed to Gregory J Gabriel.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Altering the folding patterns of naphthyl trimers.

Proteins can adopt helical and sheet-type secondary structures that depend on their primary sequence of amino acids. Nonnatural foldamers have been developed to emulate these protein structures as well as investigate various types of noncovalent interactions. Here we report a strategy to access two distinct folding topologies in aqueous solutions using the inherent recognition properties of aromatic donor/acceptor interactions. These oligomers are constructed of electron-rich 1,5-dialkoxynaphthalene (Dan) and electron-deficient 1,4,5,8-naphthalenetetracarboxylic diimide (Ndi) units. A trimer of the sequence Dan-Ndi-Dan was shown to adopt a pleated fold in solution, while its constitutional isomer, Dan-Dan-Ndi, adopted an intercalative or turn-type fold. UV-vis and NOESY spectroscopy analyses were consistent with the two different conformations. This study illustrates the designability of folding naphthyl oligomers and encourages the use of directed aromatic interactions to construct larger and more complex assemblies in water.

Biomimetic Materials↗

PubMed2005

Ternary ligand-zinc-hydroxamate complexes.

Because of the importance of the hydroxamic acid functional group in zinc protease inhibitors, we have measured the stability constants of the ternary complex LMG, where L is series of tridentate and tetradentate ligands containing amino, carboxylate, pyridyl, and/or imidazolyl groups as enzyme models and G is the guest molecule, acetohydroxamate or N-methylacetohydroxamate. All measurements were determined by pH titration which gave reproducible and reasonable results. A general correlation between binding of LMG and that of LM showed ligands that strongly chelated zinc gave less LMG formation. Surprisingly, no correlation was observed between ligand charge and LMG formation even though the guest, acetohydroxamate, is anionic. The pH value of the maximum formation of the ternary complex is also correlated to the acidity of zinc-bound water; more acidic zinc-bound water results in a maximum ternary complex formation at lower pH value.

Binding Sites↗

PubMed2002

Aromatic oligomers that form hetero duplexes in aqueous solution.

The electron-deficient 1,4,5,8-naphthalenetetracarboxylic diimide (Ndi) and electron-rich 1,5-dialkoxynaphthalene (Dan) have been shown to complex strongly with each other in water due to the hydrophobic effect as modulated through the electrostatic complementarity of the stacked dimer. Previously, oligomers of alternating Ndi and Dan units, termed aedamers, were the first foldamers to employ intramolecular aromatic stacking to effect the formation of secondary structure of nonnatural chains in aqueous solution. Described here is the use of this aromatic-aromatic (or pi-pi) interaction, this time in an intermolecular format, to demonstrate the self-assembly of stable hetero duplexes from a set of molecular strands (1a-4a) and (1b-4b) incorporating Ndi and Dan units, respectively. A 1-to-1 binding stoichiometry was determined from NMR and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) investigations, and these experiments indicated that association is enthalpically favored with the tetra-Ndi (4a) and tetra-Dan (4b) strands forming hetero duplexes (4a:4b) with a stability constant of 350 000 M-1 at T = 318 K. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) also illustrated the strong interaction between 4a and 4b and support a 1-to-1 binding mode even when one component is in slight excess. Overall, this system is the first to utilize complementary aromatic units to drive discrete self-assembly in aqueous solution. This new approach for designing assemblies is encouraging for future development of duplex systems with highly programmable modes of binding in solution or on surfaces.

Amides↗