2 research outputs found
Mechanistic Studies of Electrode-Assisted Catalytic Oxidation by Flavinium and Acridinium Cations
Electrochemical
behavior of flavinium (Et-Fl<sup>+</sup>) and acridinium
(Acr<sup>+</sup>) cations is presented, in order to investigate their
activity toward catalytic water oxidation. Cyclic voltammograms of
Acr<sup>+</sup> and Et-Fl<sup>+</sup> in acetonitrile are qualitatively
similar, with oxidation peaks at highly positive potentials, and these
oxidation peaks depend strongly on the type of the working electrode
being used. However, the two model compounds exhibit different behaviors
in the presence of water: while Et-Fl<sup>+</sup> facilitates electrocatalytic
water oxidation through an electrode-assisted mechanism, water oxidation
is not accelerated in the presence of Acr<sup>+</sup>. A comparative
study of variable scan-rate cyclic voltammetry, concentration dependence,
and spectroelectrochemical behavior of two model compounds suggest
that Et-Fl<sup>+</sup> and Acr<sup>+</sup> exhibit different reaction
pathways with the electrode surface. On the basis of the experimental
results, a mechanism is proposed to account for the observed differences
in electrocatalysis
Structure-Based Optimization of a Peptidyl Inhibitor against Calcineurin-Nuclear Factor of Activated T Cell (NFAT) Interaction
Calcineurin
inhibitors such as cyclosporine A and FK506 are effective
immunosuppressants but produce severe side effects. Rational modification
of a previously reported peptide inhibitor, GPHPVIVITGPHEE (<i>K</i><sub>D</sub> ∼ 500 nM), by replacing the two valine
residues with <i>tert</i>-leucine and the C-terminal proline
with a <i>cis</i>-proline analogue, gave an improved inhibitor
ZIZIT-<i>cis</i>Pro, which binds to calcineurin with a <i>K</i><sub>D</sub> value of 2.6 nM and is more resistant to proteolysis