Pressure Induced Topological Phase Transitions in Membranes

Some highly unusual features of a lipid-water liquid crystal are revealed by high pressure x-ray diffraction, light scattering and dilatometric studies of the lamellar (bilayer $L_{\alpha}$) to nonlamellar inverse hexagonal ($H_{II}$) phase transition. (i) The size of the unit cell of the $H_{II}$ phase increases with increasing pressure. (ii) The transition volume, $\Delta V_{bh}$, decreases and appears to vanish as the pressure is increased. (iii) The intensity of scattered light increases as $\Delta V_{bh}$ decreases. Data are presented which suggest that this increase is due to the formation of an intermediate cubic phase, as predicted by recent theoretical suggestions of the underlying universal phase sequence.Comment: 12 pages, typed using REVTEX 2.

A Dicarboxylic Fatty Acid Derivative of Paclitaxel for Albumin-Assisted Drug Delivery

Paclitaxel is a potent chemotherapy for many cancers but it suffers from very poor solubility. Consequently the TAXOL formulation uses copious amounts of the surfactant Cremophor EL to solubilize the drug for injection resulting in severe hypersensitivity and neutropenia. In contrast to Cremophor EL, presented is a way to solubilize paclitaxel (PTX) by conjugation of a dicarboxylic fatty acid for specific binding to the ubiquitous protein, serum albumin. The conjugation chemistry was simplified to a single step using the activated anhydride form of 3-pentadecylglutaric (PDG) acid which is reactive to a variety of nucleophiles. The PDG derivative is less cytotoxic than the parent compound and was found to slowly hydrolyze to PTX (~5% over 72 h) in serum, tumor cytosol, and tumor tissue homogenate. When injected intravenously to tumor bearing mice, [3H]-PTX in the TAXOL formulation was cleared rapidly with a half-life of 7 hours. In the case of the PDG derivative of PTX, the drug is quickly distributed and approximately 20% of the injected dose remained in the vasculature experiencing a 23-h half-life. These improvements from modifying PTX with the PDG fatty acid present the opportunity for PDG to become a generic modification for the improvement of many therapeutics

Fine structure of the amide I band in acetanilide.

Their absorption spectrum of both single crystals and powdered samples of acetanilide (a model system for proteins) has been studied in the amide i region, where a narrow band has been identified as a highly trapped soliton state. The powder-sample spectra have been decomposed using four Lorentzian bands. A strong temperature dependence has been found for the intensity of two of the subbands, which also show a complementary behavior. Polarization studies performed on thin crystals have shown that the subbands have the same polarization. Low-temperature spectra of partially deuterated samples show the presence of the subbands at the same absorption frequencies found using the fitting procedure in the spectra of nondeuterated samples. The soliton model currently proposed to explain the origin of the anomalous amide i component at 1650 cm-1 still holds, but some modification of the model is required to account for the new features revealed by this study. © 1988 The American Physical Society

Fine structure of the amide I band in acetanilide.

Their absorption spectrum of both single crystals and powdered samples of acetanilide (a model system for proteins) has been studied in the amide i region, where a narrow band has been identified as a highly trapped soliton state. The powder-sample spectra have been decomposed using four Lorentzian bands. A strong temperature dependence has been found for the intensity of two of the subbands, which also show a complementary behavior. Polarization studies performed on thin crystals have shown that the subbands have the same polarization. Low-temperature spectra of partially deuterated samples show the presence of the subbands at the same absorption frequencies found using the fitting procedure in the spectra of nondeuterated samples. The soliton model currently proposed to explain the origin of the anomalous amide i component at 1650 cm-1 still holds, but some modification of the model is required to account for the new features revealed by this study. © 1988 The American Physical Society

ir overtone spectrum of the vibrational soliton in crystalline acetanilide.

The self-trapping (soliton) theory which was recently developed to account for the anomalous amide-I band at 1650 cm-1 in crystalline acetanilide (a model system for protein) has been extended to predict the anharmonicity constant of the overtone spectrum. These infrared-active overtones which have been detected at 3250, 4803, and 6304 cm-1 yield an anharmonicity constant that is in good agreement with the theory. © 1985 The American Physical Society

ir overtone spectrum of the vibrational soliton in crystalline acetanilide.

The self-trapping (soliton) theory which was recently developed to account for the anomalous amide-I band at 1650 cm-1 in crystalline acetanilide (a model system for protein) has been extended to predict the anharmonicity constant of the overtone spectrum. These infrared-active overtones which have been detected at 3250, 4803, and 6304 cm-1 yield an anharmonicity constant that is in good agreement with the theory. © 1985 The American Physical Society

Spectroscopic evidence for Davydov-like solitons in acetanilide

Detailed measurements of infrared absorption and Raman scattering on crystalline acetanilide [(CH3CONHC6H5)x] at low temperature show a new band close to the conventional amide I band. Equilibrium properties and spectroscopic data rule out explanations based on a conventional assignment, crystal defects, Fermi resonance, and upon frozen kinetics between two different subsystems. Thus we cannot account for this band using the concepts of conventional molecular spectroscopy, but a soliton model, similar to that proposed by Davydov for -helix in protein, is in satisfactory agreement with the experimental data. © 1984 The American Physical Society