A new polymorph of phenylselenium trichloride

A second polymorph of phenylselenium trichloride, PhSeCl3 or C6H5Cl3Se, is disclosed, which is comprised of asymmetric chlorine-bridged noncovalent dimer units rather than polymeric chains. These dimers are each weakly bound to an adjacent dimer through noncovalent Se...Cl bonding interactions. Phenyl rings within each dimer are oriented in a syn fashion. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the putative anti isomer is within 5 kJ mol-1 of the experimentally observed form. This structure represents the first additional polymorph discovered for an organoselenium trihalide compound.https://doi.org/10.1107/S205322961901301

Synthesis and coordination chemistry of cyclic seleno- and telluroureas

Chalcogenated derivatives of N-heterocyclic carbene ligands have received increasing attention due to their diverse chemical reactivity and potential applications in fields such as medicine and materials chemistry. This chapter summarizes the synthetic methods for the preparation of cyclic heavy chalcogenoureas featuring heterocyclic cores and explores their diverse coordination chemistry with p- and d-block metals.Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Discovery Development Grant (DDG-2017-00041)).https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/psr-2017-0128/htm

Crystal structure and computational study of an oxo-bridged bis-titanium(III) complex

The solid-state structure of the new compound mu-oxido-bis[dichloridotris(tetrahydrofuran-kappa-O)titanium(III)], [Ti2Cl4O(C4H8O)6], at 150 K has been determined. The crystal has monoclinic (C2/c) symmetry and the complex features C2 symmetry about the bridging O atom. Positional disorder is evident in one of the three tetrahydrofuran environments. A post-Hartree–Fock computational analysis indicates that the complex has nearly degenerate triplet and singlet spin states, with the former favoured slightly by ca 2 kJ mol-1.Funding for this research was provided by: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (grant No.RGPIN-2019-06725).https://doi.org/10.1107/S205322962100609

Diverse silver(I) coordination chemistry with cyclic selenourea ligands

The coordination chemistry of two selenourea ligands (SeIMes and SeIPr) towards silver(I) triflate and silver(I) nitrate was investigated. Two aggregation modes were observed in the solid state, strongly influenced by the size of the aromatic substituents on the ligand. With mesityl groups, selenium-bridged bimetallic motifs [AgX(SeIMes)]2 were obtained, while for the bulkier diisopropylphenyl groups ion-separated species of formulae [Ag(SeIPr)2]+[X]− were obtained. Recrystallization of [Ag(NO3)(SeIMes)]2 from hot methanol resulted in the formation of a unique coordination polymer featuring three silver environments. Characterization of the complexes by NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry suggested all complexes adopt the ionic aggregation mode in methanol solution.Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Discovery Development Grant (DDG-2017-00041))https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2018/DT/C7DT04243D#!divAbstrac

Systems genetics identifies a role for Cacna2d1 regulation in elevated intraocular pressure and glaucoma susceptibility

Glaucoma is a multi-factorial blinding disease in which genetic factors play an important role. Elevated intraocular pressure is a highly heritable risk factor for primary open angle glaucoma and currently the only target for glaucoma therapy. Our study helps to better understand underlying genetic and molecular mechanisms that regulate intraocular pressure, and identifies a new candidate gene, Cacna2d1, that modulates intraocular pressure and a promising therapeutic, pregabalin, which binds to CACNA2D1 protein and lowers intraocular pressure significantly. Because our study utilizes a genetically diverse population of mice with kno

Testosterone Pathway Genetic Polymorphisms in Relation to Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma: An Analysis in Two Large Datasets

Purpose Sex hormones may be associated with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), although the mechanisms are unclear. We previously observed that gene variants involved with estrogen metabolism were collectively associated with POAG in women but not men; here we assessed gene variants related to testosterone metabolism collectively and POAG risk. Methods: We used two datasets: one from the United States (3853 cases and 33,480 controls) and another from Australia (1155 cases and 1992 controls). Both datasets contained densely called genotypes imputed to the 1000 Genomes reference panel. We used pathway- and gene-based approaches with Pathway Analysis by Randomization Incorporating Structure (PARIS) software to assess the overall association between a panel of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in testosterone metabolism genes and POAG. In sex-stratified analyses, we evaluated POAG overall and POAG subtypes defined by maximum IOP (high-tension [HTG] or normal tension glaucoma [NTG]). Results: In the US dataset, the SNP panel was not associated with POAG (permuted P = 0.77), although there was an association in the Australian sample (permuted P = 0.018). In both datasets, the SNP panel was associated with POAG in men (permuted P ≤ 0.033) and not women (permuted P ≥ 0.42), but in gene-based analyses, there was no consistency on the main genes responsible for these findings. In both datasets, the testosterone pathway association with HTG was significant (permuted P ≤ 0.011), but again, gene-based analyses showed no consistent driver gene associations. Conclusions: Collectively, testosterone metabolism pathway SNPs were consistently associated with the high-tension subtype of POAG in two datasets

Analysis combining correlated glaucoma traits identifies five new risk loci for open-angle glaucoma

Open-angle glaucoma (OAG) is a major cause of blindness worldwide. To identify new risk loci for OAG, we performed a genome-wide association study in 3,071 OAG cases and 6,750 unscreened controls, and meta-analysed the results with GWAS data for intraocular pressure (IOP) and optic disc parameters (the overall meta-analysis sample size varying between 32,000 to 48,000 participants), which are glaucoma-related traits. We identified and independently validated four novel genome-wide significant associations within or near MYOF and CYP26A1, LINC02052 and CRYGS, LMX1B, and LMO7 using single variant tests, one additional locus (C9) using gene-based tests, and two genetic pathways - “response to fluid shear stress” and “abnormal retina morphology” - in pathway-based tests. Interestingly, some of the new risk loci contribute to risk of other genetically-correlated eye diseases including myopia and age-related macular degeneration. To our knowledge, this study is the first integrative study to combine genetic data from OAG and its correlated traits to identify new risk variants and genetic pathways, highlighting the future potential of combining genetic data from genetically-correlated eye traits for the purpose of gene discovery and mapping

Multi-trait genome-wide association study identifies new loci associated with optic disc parameters

A new avenue of mining published genome-wide association studies includes the joint analysis of related traits. The power of this approach depends on the genetic correlation of traits, which reflects the number of pleiotropic loci, i.e. genetic loci influencing multiple traits. Here, we applied new meta-analyses of optic nerve head (ONH) related traits implicated in primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG); intraocular pressure and central corneal thickness using Haplotype reference consortium imputations. We performed a multi-trait analysis of ONH parameters cup area, disc area and vertical cup-disc ratio. We uncover new variants; rs11158547 in PPP1R36-PLEKHG3 and rs1028727 near SERPINE3 at genome-wide significance that replicate in independent Asian cohorts imputed to 1000 Genomes. At this point, validation of these variants in POAG cohorts is hampered by the high degree of heterogeneity. Our results show that multi-trait analysis is a valid approach to identify novel pleiotropic variants for ONH

Multi-trait genome-wide association study identifies new loci associated with optic disc parameters.

Funder: All funders per study are acknowledged in the Supplementary FileA new avenue of mining published genome-wide association studies includes the joint analysis of related traits. The power of this approach depends on the genetic correlation of traits, which reflects the number of pleiotropic loci, i.e. genetic loci influencing multiple traits. Here, we applied new meta-analyses of optic nerve head (ONH) related traits implicated in primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG); intraocular pressure and central corneal thickness using Haplotype reference consortium imputations. We performed a multi-trait analysis of ONH parameters cup area, disc area and vertical cup-disc ratio. We uncover new variants; rs11158547 in PPP1R36-PLEKHG3 and rs1028727 near SERPINE3 at genome-wide significance that replicate in independent Asian cohorts imputed to 1000 Genomes. At this point, validation of these variants in POAG cohorts is hampered by the high degree of heterogeneity. Our results show that multi-trait analysis is a valid approach to identify novel pleiotropic variants for ONH