Direct determination of absolute configuration: a vibrational circular dichroism study on dimethyl-substituted phenyloxiranes synthesized by Shi epoxidation

The three possible dimethylsubstituted phenyloxiranes (cis, trans and geminal) were synthesized in both racemic (mCPBA) and enantiomerically enriched forms (Shi epoxidation) and subjected to a vibrational circular dichroism study. The experimental spectra were compared to theoretical spectra obtained using DFT/B3LYP calculations, and the differences between experiment and theory are discussed. The absolute configuration at the benzylic position was established as being (R), (S) and (R) for the cis, trans and geminal dimethylsubstituted phenyloxiranes, respectively. In all three cases the configuration of the major enantiomer was in accordance with a simple transition state model based on the spiro reaction mode

Classification of protein fold classes by knot theory and prediction of folds by neural networks: A combined theoretical and experimental approach

We present different means of classifying protein structure. One is made rigorous by mathematical knot invariants that coincide reasonably well with ordinary graphical fold classification and another classification is by packing analysis. Furthermore when constructing our mathematical fold classifications, we utilize standard neural network methods for predicting protein fold classes from amino acid sequences. We also make an analysis of the redundancy of the structural classifications in relation to function and ligand binding. Finally we advocate the use of combining the measurement of the VA, VCD, Raman, ROA, EA and ECD spectra with the primary sequence as a way to improve both the accuracy and reliability of fold class prediction schemes