Laboratoire de Chimie

Several polycations possessing substantial buffering capacity below physiological pH, such as lipopolyamines and polyamidoamine polymers, are efficient transfection agents per se--i.e., without the addition of cell targeting or membrane-disruption agents. This observation led us to test the cationic polymer polyethylenimine (PEI) for its gene-delivery potential. Indeed, every third atom of PEI is a protonable amino nitrogen atom, which makes the polymeric network an effective "proton sponge" at virtually any pH. Luciferase reporter gene transfer with this polycation into a variety of cell lines and primary cells gave results comparable to, or even better than, lipopolyamines. Cytotoxicity was low and seen only at concentrations well above those required for optimal transfection. Delivery of oligonucleotides into embryonic neurons was followed by using a fluorescent probe. Virtually all neurons showed nuclear labeling, with no toxic effects. The optimal PEI cation/anion balance for in vitro transfection is only slightly on the cationic side, which is advantageous for in vivo delivery. Indeed, intracerebral luciferase gene transfer into newborn mice gave results comparable (for a given amount of DNA) to the in vitro transfection of primary rat brain endothelial cells or chicken embryonic neurons. Together, these properties make PEI a promising vector for gene therapy and an outstanding core for the design of more sophisticated devices. Our hypothesis is that its efficiency relies on extensive lysosome buffering that protects DNA from nuclease degradation, and consequent lysosomal swelling and rupture that provide an escape mechanism for the PEI/DNA particles.

The results of work on the preparation of aqueous magnetic liquids without using organic stabilizing agents is presented.

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVArticleNEXTChemical Strategies To Design Textured Materials: from Microporous and Mesoporous Oxides to Nanonetworks and Hierarchical StructuresGalo J. de A. A. Soler-Illia, Clément Sanchez, Bénédicte Lebeau, and Joël PatarinView Author Information Laboratoire de Chimie de la Matière Condensée, CNRS UMR 7574, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 4 Place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France, and Laboratoire de Matériaux Minéraux, CNRS UMR CNRS-A 7016, ENSCMu, 3 rue A. Werner, 68093 Mulhouse Cedex Cite this: Chem. Rev. 2002, 102, 11, 4093–4138Publication Date (Web):October 25, 2002Publication History Received6 May 2002Published online25 October 2002Published inissue 1 November 2002https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/cr0200062https://doi.org/10.1021/cr0200062research-articleACS PublicationsCopyright © 2002 American Chemical SocietyRequest reuse permissionsArticle Views16562Altmetric-Citations1757LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InRedditEmail Other access optionsGet e-Alertsclose SUBJECTS:Genetics,Materials,Mesostructures,Silica,Surfactants Get e-Alerts

This recommendation proposes a definition for the term “halogen bond”, which designates a specific subset of the inter- and intramolecular interactions involving a halogen atom in a molecular entity.

We estimate the stiffness of single-walled carbon nanotubes by observing their freestanding room-temperature vibrations in a transmission electron microscope. The nanotube dimensions and vibration amplitude are measured from electron micrographs, and it is assumed that the vibration modes are driven stochastically and are those of a clamped cantilever. Micrographs of 27 nanotubes in the diameter range 1.0--1.5 nm were measured to yield an average Young's modulus of $〈Y〉=1.25 \mathrm{TPa}.$ This value is consistent with previous measurements for multiwalled nanotubes, and is higher than the currently accepted value of the in-plane modulus of graphite.

Mitochondria are recognized as one of the most important targets for new drug design in cancer, cardiovascular, and neurological diseases. Currently, the most effective way to deliver drugs specifically to mitochondria is by covalent linking a lipophilic cation such as an alkyltriphenylphosphonium moiety to a pharmacophore of interest. Other delocalized lipophilic cations, such as rhodamine, natural and synthetic mitochondria-targeting peptides, and nanoparticle vehicles, have also been used for mitochondrial delivery of small molecules. Depending on the approach used, and the cell and mitochondrial membrane potentials, more than 1000-fold higher mitochondrial concentration can be achieved. Mitochondrial targeting has been developed to study mitochondrial physiology and dysfunction and the interaction between mitochondria and other subcellular organelles and for treatment of a variety of diseases such as neurodegeneration and cancer. In this Review, we discuss efforts to target small-molecule compounds to mitochondria for probing mitochondria function, as diagnostic tools and potential therapeutics. We describe the physicochemical basis for mitochondrial accumulation of lipophilic cations, synthetic chemistry strategies to target compounds to mitochondria, mitochondrial probes, and sensors, and examples of mitochondrial targeting of bioactive compounds. Finally, we review published attempts to apply mitochondria-targeted agents for the treatment of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.

Dendritic cells constitutively secrete a population of small (50-90 nm diameter) Ag-presenting vesicles called exosomes. When sensitized with tumor antigenic peptides, dendritic cells produce exosomes, which stimulate anti-tumor immune responses and the rejection of established tumors in mice. Using a systematic proteomic approach, we establish the first extensive protein map of a particular exosome population; 21 new exosomal proteins were thus identified. Most proteins present in exosomes are related to endocytic compartments. New exosomal residents include cytosolic proteins most likely involved in exosome biogenesis and function, mainly cytoskeleton-related (cofilin, profilin I, and elongation factor 1alpha) and intracellular membrane transport and signaling factors (such as several annexins, rab 7 and 11, rap1B, and syntenin). Importantly, we also identified a novel category of exosomal proteins related to apoptosis: thioredoxin peroxidase II, Alix, 14-3-3, and galectin-3. These findings led us to analyze possible structural relationships between exosomes and microvesicles released by apoptotic cells. We show that although they both represent secreted populations of membrane vesicles relevant to immune responses, exosomes and apoptotic vesicles are biochemically and morphologically distinct. Therefore, in addition to cytokines, dendritic cells produce a specific population of membrane vesicles, exosomes, with unique molecular composition and strong immunostimulating properties.

A Gaussian solvent-exclusion model for the solvation free energy is developed. It is based on theoretical considerations and parametrized with experimental data. When combined with the CHARMM 19 polar hydrogen energy function, it provides an effective energy function (EEF1) for proteins in solution. The solvation model assumes that the solvation free energy of a protein molecule is a sum of group contributions, which are determined from values for small model compounds. For charged groups, the self-energy contribution is accounted for primarily by the exclusion model. Ionic side-chains are neutralized, and a distance-dependent dielectric constant is used to approximate the charge-charge interactions in solution. The resulting EEF1 is subjected to a number of tests. Molecular dynamics simulations at room temperature of several proteins in their native conformation are performed, and stable trajectories are obtained. The deviations from the experimental structures are similar to those observed in explicit water simulations. The calculated enthalpy of unfolding of a polyalanine helix is found to be in good agreement with experimental data. Results reported elsewhere show that EEF1 clearly distinguishes correctly from incorrectly folded proteins, both in static energy evaluations and in molecular dynamics simulations and that unfolding pathways obtained by high-temperature molecular dynamics simulations agree with those obtained by explicit water simulations. Thus, this energy function appears to provide a realistic first approximation to the effective energy hypersurface of proteins.

Abstract Various platinum-free electrocatalysts have been explored for hydrogen evolution reaction in acidic solutions. However, in economical water-alkali electrolysers, sluggish water dissociation kinetics (Volmer step) on platinum-free electrocatalysts results in poor hydrogen-production activities. Here we report a MoNi 4 electrocatalyst supported by MoO 2 cuboids on nickel foam (MoNi 4 /MoO 2 @Ni), which is constructed by controlling the outward diffusion of nickel atoms on annealing precursor NiMoO 4 cuboids on nickel foam. Experimental and theoretical results confirm that a rapid Tafel-step-decided hydrogen evolution proceeds on MoNi 4 electrocatalyst. As a result, the MoNi 4 electrocatalyst exhibits zero onset overpotential, an overpotential of 15 mV at 10 mA cm −2 and a low Tafel slope of 30 mV per decade in 1 M potassium hydroxide electrolyte, which are comparable to the results for platinum and superior to those for state-of-the-art platinum-free electrocatalysts. Benefiting from its scalable preparation and stability, the MoNi 4 electrocatalyst is promising for practical water-alkali electrolysers.

peer reviewed

Exosomes are membrane vesicles secreted by hematopoietic cells upon fusion of late multivesicular endosomes with the plasma membrane. Dendritic cell (DC)-derived exosomes induce potent antitumor immune responses in mice, resulting in the regression of established tumors (Zitvogel, L., A. Regnault, A. Lozier, J. Wolfers, C. Flament, D. Tenza, P. Ricciardi-Castagnoli, G. Raposo, and S. Amigorena. 1998. Nat. Med. 4:594-600). To unravel the molecular basis of exosome-induced immune stimulation, we now analyze the regulation of their production during DC maturation and characterize extensively their protein composition by peptide mass mapping. Exosomes contain several cytosolic proteins (including annexin II, heat shock cognate protein hsc73, and heteromeric G protein Gi2alpha), as well as different integral or peripherally associated membrane proteins (major histocompatibility complex class II, Mac-1 integrin, CD9, milk fat globule-EGF-factor VIII [MFG-E8]). MFG-E8, the major exosomal component, binds integrins expressed by DCs and macrophages, suggesting that it may be involved in exosome targeting to these professional antigen-presenting cells. Another exosome component is hsc73, a cytosolic heat shock protein (hsp) also present in DC endocytic compartments. hsc73 was shown to induce antitumor immune responses in vivo, and therefore could be involved in the exosome's potent antitumor effects. Finally, exosome production is downregulated upon DC maturation, indicating that in vivo, exosomes are produced by immature DCs in peripheral tissues. Thus, DC-derived exosomes accumulate a defined subset of cellular proteins reflecting their endosomal biogenesis and accounting for their biological function.

Surface organometallic chemistry is an area of heterogeneous catalysis which has recently emerged as a result of a comparative analysis of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis. The chemical industry has often favored heterogeneous catalysis, but the development of better catalysts has been hindered by the presence of numerous kinds of active sites and also by the low concentration of active sites. These factors have precluded a rational improvement of these systems, hence the empirical nature of heterogeneous catalysis. Catalysis is primarily a molecular phenomenon, and it must involve well-defined surface organometallic intermediates and/or transition states. Thus, one must be able to construct a well-defined active site, test its catalytic performance, and assess a structure-activity relationship, which will be used, in turn-as in homogeneous catalysis-to design better catalysts. By the transfer of the concepts and tools of molecular organometallic chemistry to surfaces, surface organometallic chemistry can generate well-defined surface species by understanding the reaction of organometallic complexes with the support, which can be considered as a rigid ligand. This new approach to heterogeneous catalysis can bring molecular insight to the design of new catalysts and even allow the discovery of new reactions (Ziegler-Natta depolymerization and alkane metathesis). After more than a century of existence, heterogeneous catalysis can still be improved and will play a crucial role in solving current problems. It offers an answer to economical and environmental problems faced by industry in the production of molecules (agrochemicals, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, polymers, basic chemicals).

This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction General Properties of Fine Particles: Superparamagnetic Behavior Anisotropies in Fine Particles Relaxatin Time Calculation Interparticle Interactions Experimental Properties and Modeling Quantum Tunneling of the Magnetization Antiferromagnetic Particles Conclusion

Intersystem crossing (ISC), formally forbidden within nonrelativistic quantum theory, is the mechanism by which a molecule changes its spin state. It plays an important role in the excited state decay dynamics of many molecular systems and not just those containing heavy elements. In the simplest case, ISC is driven by direct spin-orbit coupling between two states of different multiplicities. This coupling is usually assumed to remain unchanged by vibrational motion. It is also often presumed that spin-allowed radiationless transitions, i.e. internal conversion, and the nonadiabatic coupling that drives them, can be considered separately from ISC and spin-orbit coupling owing to the vastly different time scales upon which these processes are assumed to occur. However, these assumptions are too restrictive. Indeed, the strong mixing brought about by the simultaneous presence of nonadiabatic and spin-orbit coupling means that often the spin, electronic, and vibrational dynamics cannot be described independently. Instead of considering a simple ladder of states, as depicted in a Jablonski diagram, one must consider the more complicated spin-vibronic levels. Despite the basic ideas being outlined in the 1960s, it is only with the advent of high-level theory and femtosecond spectroscopy that the importance of the spin-vibronic mechanism for ISC in both fundamental as well as applied research fields has been revealed with significant impact across chemistry, physics, and biology. In this review article, we present the theory and fundamental principles of the spin-vibronic mechanism for ISC. This is followed by empirical rules to estimate the rate of ISC within this regime. The most recent developments in experimental techniques, theoretical methods, and models for the spin-vibronic mechanism are discussed. These concepts are subsequently illustrated with examples, including the ISC mechanisms in transition metal complexes, small organic molecules, and organic chromophores.

Abstract Owing to its earth abundance, low kinetic overpotential, and superior stability, NiFe‐layered double hydroxide (NiFe‐LDH) has emerged as a promising electrocatalyst for catalyzing water splitting, especially oxygen evolution reaction (OER), in alkaline solutions. Unfortunately, as a result of extremely sluggish water dissociation kinetics (Volmer step), hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity of the NiFe‐LDH is rather poor in alkaline environment. Here a novel strategy is demonstrated for substantially accelerating the hydrogen evolution kinetics of the NiFe‐LDH by partially substituting Fe atoms with Ru. In a 1 m KOH solution, the as‐synthesized Ru‐doped NiFe‐LDH nanosheets (NiFeRu‐LDH) exhibit excellent HER performance with an overpotential of 29 mV at 10 mA cm −2 , which is much lower than those of noble metal Pt/C and reported electrocatalysts. Both experimental and theoretical results reveal that the introduction of Ru atoms into NiFe‐LDH can efficiently reduce energy barrier of the Volmer step, eventually accelerating its HER kinetics. Benefitting from its outstanding HER activity and remained excellent OER activity, the NiFeRu‐LDH steadily drives an alkaline electrolyzer with a current density of 10 mA cm −2 at a cell voltage of 1.52 V, which is much lower than the values for Pt/C–Ir/C couple and state‐of‐the‐art overall water‐splitting electrocatalysts.

Black carbon (BC), the product of incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass (called elemental carbon (EC) in atmospheric sciences), was quantified in 12 different materials by 17 laboratories from different disciplines, using seven different methods. The materials were divided into three classes: (1) potentially interfering materials, (2) laboratory‐produced BC‐rich materials, and (3) BC‐containing environmental matrices (from soil, water, sediment, and atmosphere). This is the first comprehensive intercomparison of this type (multimethod, multilab, and multisample), focusing mainly on methods used for soil and sediment BC studies. Results for the potentially interfering materials (which by definition contained no fire‐derived organic carbon) highlighted situations where individual methods may overestimate BC concentrations. Results for the BC‐rich materials (one soot and two chars) showed that some of the methods identified most of the carbon in all three materials as BC, whereas other methods identified only soot carbon as BC. The different methods also gave widely different BC contents for the environmental matrices. However, these variations could be understood in the light of the findings for the other two groups of materials, i.e., that some methods incorrectly identify non‐BC carbon as BC, and that the detection efficiency of each technique varies across the BC continuum. We found that atmospheric BC quantification methods are not ideal for soil and sediment studies as in their methodology these incorporate the definition of BC as light‐absorbing material irrespective of its origin, leading to biases when applied to terrestrial and sedimentary materials. This study shows that any attempt to merge data generated via different methods must consider the different, operationally defined analytical windows of the BC continuum detected by each technique, as well as the limitations and potential biases of each technique. A major goal of this ring trial was to provide a basis on which to choose between the different BC quantification methods in soil and sediment studies. In this paper we summarize the advantages and disadvantages of each method. In future studies, we strongly recommend the evaluation of all methods analyzing for BC in soils and sediments against the set of BC reference materials analyzed here.

Abstract Functional hybrids are nanocomposite materials lying at the interface of organic and inorganic realms, whose high versatility offers a wide range of possibilities to elaborate tailor‐made materials in terms of chemical and physical properties. Because they present several advantages for designing materials for optical applications (versatile and relatively facile chemistry, easy shaping and patterning, materials having good mechanical integrity and excellent optical quality), numerous silica or/and siloxane based hybrid organic–inorganic materials have been developed in the past few years. The most striking examples of functional hybrids exhibiting emission properties (solid‐state dye lasers, rare‐earth doped hybrids, electroluminescent devices), absorption properties (photochromic), nonlinear optical (NLO) properties (second‐order NLO properties, photochemical hole burning (PHB), photorefractivity), and sensing are summarized in this review.

Topological characteristics of multidimensional potential energy surfaces are explored and the full conformation space is mapped on the set of local minima. This map partitions conformation space into energy-dependent or temperature-dependent “attraction basins’’ and generates a “disconnectivity’’ graph that reflects the basin connectivity and characterizes the shape of the multidimensional surface. The partitioning of the conformation space is used to express the temporal behavior of the system in terms of basin-to-basin kinetics instead of the usual state-to-state transitions. For this purpose the transition matrix of the system is expressed in terms of basin-to-basin transitions and the corresponding master equation is solved. As an example, the approach is applied to the tetrapeptide, isobutyryl-(ala)3-NH-methyl (IAN), which is the shortest peptide that can form a full helical turn. A nearly complete list of minima and barriers is available for this system from the work of Czerminiski and Elber. The multidimensional potential energy surface of the peptide is shown to exhibit an overall “funnel’’ shape. The relation between connectivity and spatial proximity in dihedral angle space is examined. It is found that, although the two are similar, closeness in one does not always imply closeness in the other. The basin to basin kinetics is examined using a master equation and the results are interpreted in terms of kinetic connectivity. The conformation space of the peptide is divided up in terms of the surface topography to model its “folding’’ behavior. Even in this very simple system, the kinetics exhibit a “trapping’’ state which appears as a “kinetic intermediate,’’ as in the folding of proteins. The approach described here can be used more generally to classify multidimensional potential energy surfaces and the time development of complex systems.

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVArticleNEXTTransition Metal-Containing Rotaxanes and Catenanes in Motion: Toward Molecular Machines and MotorsJean-Pierre SauvageView Author Information Laboratoire de Chimie Organo-Minérale, UMR 7513 du CNRS, Université Louis Pasteur, Faculté de Chimie, 4, rue Blaise Pascal, 67070 Strasbourg Cedex, France Cite this: Acc. Chem. Res. 1998, 31, 10, 611–619Publication Date (Web):June 9, 1998Publication History Received20 November 1997Published online9 June 1998Published inissue 1 October 1998https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ar960263rhttps://doi.org/10.1021/ar960263rresearch-articleACS PublicationsCopyright © 1998 American Chemical SocietyRequest reuse permissionsArticle Views4844Altmetric-Citations762LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InRedditEmail Other access optionsGet e-Alertsclose SUBJECTS:Catenanes,Molecules,Rearrangement,Redox reactions,Rotaxanes Get e-Alerts

Fluorescence is increasingly used for in vivo imaging and has provided remarkable results. Yet this technique presents several limitations, especially due to tissue autofluorescence under external illumination and weak tissue penetration of low wavelength excitation light. We have developed an alternative optical imaging technique by using persistent luminescent nanoparticles suitable for small animal imaging. These nanoparticles can be excited before injection, and their in vivo distribution can be followed in real-time for more than 1 h without the need for any external illumination source. Chemical modification of the nanoparticles' surface led to lung or liver targeting or to long-lasting blood circulation. Tumor mass could also be identified on a mouse model.