Publications

Abstract In this paper an optimized enzymatic assay for inorganic sulfate (SO4-2) detection and quantitation in freshwater, relying on adenosine-5'-triphosphate sulfurylase catalyzed reaction coupled to bioluminescent detection by firefly luciferase, is described. Inorganic sulfate is converted, by adenosine-5'-triphosphate sulfurylase, into adenosine-5'-phosphosulfate and inorganic pyrophosphate, with consumption of adenosine-5'-triphosphate. The remaining adenosine-5'-triphosphate is used as a co-factor in the reaction catalyzed by firefly luciferase generating, as a co-product, photons of visible light. The light output is inversely proportional to the inorganic sulfate content. Using sodium sulfate as a model, the assay was optimized through a statistical experimental design methodology and validated in water samples from domestic wells from two municipalities within the Metropolitan Area of Porto plus tap water as control. The optimized method requires 20 mu L of sample in a final reaction volume of 100 mu L. It is linear in the range from 14 to 134 mg L-1 of inorganic sulfate, with limits of detection and quantitation of 10 and 34 mg L-1, respectively. Repeatability, expressed as relative standard deviation, is 7.23% at 34 mg L-1, 6.87% at 68 mg L-1 and 4.67% at 96 mg L-1. The inorganic sulfate concentration in the wells is approximately 124, 182 and 182 mg L-1, whereas it was found to be a value of about 200 mg L-1 in tap water. Samples can be quantified by calibration curves without any pre-treatment other than dilution. The optimized method is fast, simple to perform and robust.

Abstract The chemiluminescence properties of firefly luciferin were studied, in a variety of chemical systems different from those in which it is usually studied. It was found that luciferin is a multifunctional chemiluminescence molecule, as it can behave as a chemiluminescence sensitizer, an emitter and a substrate. The first two roles are here reported for the first time, while we have found a novel way of obtaining excited state oxyluciferin from luciferin. Evidence was also found that does not support the newly proposed radical-mechanism of the formation of firefly dioxetanone. With this study we hope to open the way for novel chemiluminescence applications for firefly luciferin.

Abstract This work presents a new approach for estimating sublimation enthalpies and vapor pressures of substituted benzenes. Proposed estimating equations were based on a collection of selected literature results of vapor pressures of ca. 240 benzene derivatives attached with 30 different substituents. Compared to experimental results, best estimates are obtained from the equations that include the temperature of fusion. A review of the results determined for substituted benzenes using two different calorimetric techniques shows that the results of enthalpies of sublimation derived from vapor pressures seem to be more reliable than those derived from the calorimetric techniques.

Abstract The photophysical properties of four bare firefly bioluminophores were studied in vacuo by means of a density functional theory approach. The objective of this work was to fingerprint the excited-state properties of these molecules without perturbations of the microenvironment (either solution or enzyme active site). It is known that intermolecular interactions formed between the light-emitter and active site molecules govern the bioluminescence multicolor tuning mechanism. However, it is difficult to disentangle the numerous active site-oxyluciferin interactions and understand the effect exerted by each one of these interactions on the color of light emitted. Thus, the study of these isolated bioluminophores allows us to obtain their intrinsic photophysics properties, which can serve as a reference in studies aiming to understand the role of perturbations from the microenvironment.

Abstract A(2B) adenosine receptor antagonists may be beneficial in treating diseases like asthma, diabetes, diabetic retinopathy, and certain cancers. This has stimulated research for the development of potent ligands for this subtype, based on quantitative structure-affinity relationships. In this work, a new ensemble machine learning algorithm is proposed for classification and prediction of the ligand-binding affinity of A(2B) adenosine receptor antagonists. This algorithm is based on the training of different classifier models with multiple training sets (composed of the same compounds but represented by diverse features). The k-nearest neighbor, decision trees, neural networks, and support vector machines were used as single classifiers. To select the base classifiers for combining into the ensemble, several diversity measures were employed. The final multiclassifier prediction results were computed from the output obtained by using a combination of selected base classifiers output, by utilizing different mathematical functions including the following: majority vote, maximum and average probability. In this work, 10-fold cross- and external validation were used. The strategy led to the following results: 0 the single classifiers, together with previous features selections, resulted in good overall accuracy, a comparison between single classifiers, and their combinations in the multiclassifier model, showed that using our ensemble gave a better performance than the single classifier model, and our multiclassifier model performed better than the most widely used multiclassifier models in the literature. The results and statistical analysis demonstrated the supremacy of our multiclassifier approach for predicting the affinity of A(2B) adenosine receptor antagonists, and it can be used to develop other QSAR models.

Abstract Although a few groups have recently published transport properties for extensive sets of imidazoliumand pyridinium-based room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) and their solutions, there are still no prediction techniques for the conductivity maximum in these systems. We contribute to the discussion by reporting own conductometric data and establishing implicit empirical correlations between ionic structure, concentration and temperature. Our analysis is based on binary systems containing ionic (RTIL) and molecular (acetonitrile) co-solvent. The molar fraction of RTIL in each system ranges from 0 to 50% whereas temperature ranges from 278.15 to 328.15 K. Imidazolium-based RTILs are sampled by 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium and 1-hexyl-3- methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborates, 1-n-butyl-3- methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate, and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide. 1-butyl-4-methylpyridinium tetrafluoroborate is employed to distinguish a role of aromatic ring. Ionic association in all RTIL-AN systems poorly correlates with the cation structure, although strongly depends on the anion size and structure. Cation and anion of RTILs form the 'contact ion pairs' (CIPs) where anion is coordinated by imidazole and pyridine rings. Notably, all binary systems exhibit conductivity maximum between χ(RTIL) = 10 and 20%. This maximum slightly shifts towards smaller χ(RTIL), as counterion gets larger. Smaller cations and anions lead to substantial conductivity growth. Conductivity maximum can be boosted and observed at larger χ(RTIL) even at insignificant temperature increase. Our observations provide novel insights into a complicated functional dependence of ionic conductivity versus ionic concentration and temperature. The results may be of extensive practical application, particularly for construction of high-performance electrolyte systems. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Abstract Phenolic compounds constitute a diverse group of secondary metabolites which are present in both grapes and wine. The phenolic content and composition of grape processed products (wine) are greatly influenced by the technological practice to which grapes are exposed. During the handling and maturation of the grapes several chemical changes may occur with the appearance of new compounds and/or disappearance of others, and consequent modification of the characteristic ratios of the total phenolic content as well as of their qualitative and quantitative profile. The non-volatile phenolic qualitative composition of grapes and wines, the biosynthetic relationships between these compounds, and the most relevant chemical changes occurring during processing and storage will be highlighted in this review. (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Abstract The addition of surfactants to lipid bilayers is important for the modulation of lipid bilayer properties (e.g., in protein reconstitution and development of nonviral gene delivery vehicles) and to provide insight on the properties of natural biomembranes. In this work, the thermal behavior, organization, and nanomechanical stability of model cationic lipid-surfactant bilayers have been investigated. Two different cationic surfactants, hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and a novel derivative of the amino acid serine (Ser16TFAc), have been added (up to 50 mol %) to both liposomes and supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) composed by the zwitterionic phospholipid DPPC. The thermal phase behavior of mixed liposomes has been probed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and the morphology and nanomechanical properties of mixed SLBs by atomic force microscopy based force spectroscopy (AFM-FS). Although DSC thermograms show different results for the two mixed liposomes, when both are deposited on mica substrates similar trends on the morphology and the mechanical response of the lipid-surfactant bilayers are observed. DSC thermograms indicate microdomain formation in both systems, but while CTAB decreases the degree of organization on the liposome bilayer, Ser16TFAc ultimately induces the opposite effect. Regarding the AFM-FS studies, they show that microphase segregation occurs for these systems and that the effect is dependent on the surfactant content. In both SLB systems, different microdomains characterized by their height and breakthrough force F-b are formed. The molecular organization and composition is critically discussed in the light of our experimental results and literature data on similar lipid-surfactant systems.

Abstract Betula pendula pollen, under laboratory conditions, was exposed to three atmospheric pollutants: carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O-3) and sulphur dioxide (SO2). Two levels of each pollutant were used; the first level corresponds to a concentration on the atmospheric hour-limit value acceptable for human health protection in Europe, the second level to a higher, at least more than double of the first, concentration level. Experiments were done under artificial solar light with controlled temperature and relative humidity. Our results indicate that, in urban areas, concentrations of CO, O-3 and SO2 on the limits established for human protection, can affect pollen fertility. We verified a decrease in the viability and germination of the pollen, indicating damage to the pollen membrane system. Also, a general decreasing trend in the total protein content of the exposed samples when compared with the control samples was observed, which suggests alterations in the antigenic characteristics of pollen.