Collagen Fibers as a Chiral Agent: A Demonstration of Stereochemistry Effects

Hydrogen bond formation may enhance RDC-based discrimination of enantiomers

The distinction of enantiomers based on residual anisotropic parameters obtained by alignment in chiral poly-γ-benzyl-L-glutamate (PBLG) is among the strongest in high-resolution NMR spectroscopy. However, large variations in enantiodifferentiation among different solutes are frequently observed. One hypothesis is that the formation of hydrogen bonds between solute and PBLG is important for the distinction of enantiomers. With a small set of three almost spherical enantiomeric pairs, for which 1DCH residual dipolar couplings are measured, we address this issue in a systematic way: borneol contains a single functional group that can act as a hydrogen bond donor, camphor has a single group that may act as a hydrogen bond acceptor, and quinuclidinol can act as both hydrogen bond donor and acceptor. The results are unambiguous: although camphor shows low enantiodifferentiation with PBLG and alignment that can be predicted well by the purely steric TRAMITE approach, the distinction of enantiomers for the other enantiomeric pairs is significantly higher with alignment properties that must involve a specific interaction in addition to steric alignment.

Chirality Bias Tissue Homeostasis by Manipulating Immunological Response

The physiological chirality of extracellular environments is substantially affected by pathological diseases. However, how this stereochemical variation drives host immunity remains poorly understood. Here, it is reported that pathology-mimetic M-nanofibrils-but not physiology-mimetic P-nanofibrils-act as a defense mechanism that helps to restore tissue homeostasis by manipulating immunological response. Quantitative multi-omics in vivo and in vitro shows that M-nanofibrils significantly inhibit inflammation and promote tissue regeneration by upregulating M2 macrophage polarization and downstream immune signaling compared with P-nanofibrils. Molecular analysis and theoretical simulation demonstrate that M-chirality displays higher stereo-affinity to cellular binding, which induces higher cellular contractile stress and activates mechanosensitive ion channel PIEZOl to conduct Ca²⁺ influx. In turn, the nuclear transfer of STAT is biased by Ca²⁺ influx to promote M2 polarization. These findings underscore the structural mechanisms of disease, providing design basis for immunotherapy with bionic functional materials.

Insight into old and new pure shift nuclear magnetic resonance methods for enantiodiscrimination

Enantiodiscrimination and their quantification using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has always been a subject of great interest. Proton is the nucleus of choice for enantiodiscrimination due to its high sensitivity and ubiquitous presence in nature. Despite its advantages, enantiodiscrimination suffers from extensive signal splitting by the proton-proton scalar couplings, which give complex multiplets that spread over a frequency range of some tens of hertz. These multiplets often overlap, further complicating interpretation of the spectra and quantifications. In the present review, we discuss some of the recent developments in the pure shift ¹ H NMR based methods for enantiomer resolution and enantiodiscrimination. We also compare various pure shift methods used for enantiodiscrimination and measurement of enantiomeric excess, considering the fact that conventional ¹ H NMR fails to provide any detailed insight.

Differentiation of enantiomers by 2D NMR spectroscopy at 1 T using residual dipolar couplings

Differentiating enantiomers using 2D bench-top NMR spectroscopy. Spectrometers working with permanent magnets at 1 T field strength allow the acquisition of 2D data sets. In conjunction with previously reported chiral alignment media, this setup allows the measurement of enantiomeric excess via residual dipolar couplings in stretched gelatine as a result of the reduced line width obtained by 2D J-resolved spectroscopy.

Q.E.COSY: determining sign and size of small deuterium residual quadrupolar couplings using an extended E.COSY principle

Residual quadrupolar couplings contain important structural information comparable with residual dipolar couplings. However, the measurement of sign and size of especially small residual quadrupolar couplings is difficult. Here, we present an extension of the E.COSY principle to spin systems consisting of a Spin 1 coupled to a spin ½ nucleus, which allows the determination of the sign of the quadrupolar coupling of the Spin 1 nucleus relative to the heteronuclear coupling between the spins. The so-called Q.E.COSY approach is demonstrated with its sign-sensitivity using variable angle NMR, stretched gels and liquid crystalline phases applied to various CD and CD3 groups. Especially the sign-sensitive measurement of residual quadrupolar couplings that remain unresolved in conventional deuterium 1D spectra is shown.

NMR Spectra of Glycine Isotopomers in Anisotropic Media: Subtle Chiral Interactions

NMR spectra of deuterated glycine-2-(13)C revealed interactions between chiral anisotropic gelatin and κ-carrageenan gels and the prochiral and chiral isotopomers. The (1)H, (2)H and (13)C NMR spectra of mixtures of racemic mono- and prochiral bis-deuterated glycine-2-(13)C were resolved and well simulated using distinct dipolar coupling constants DCαH and DCαD for the enantiomers and also for the -(13)CαD2- group (DC,DA, and DC,DB). The orientation of the proton or deuteron on the (13)Cα-atom of glycine was assigned by analogy with alanine and lactate assuming that the molecular orientation of glycine isotopomers is the same. The assignment of the prochiral sites was derived from chiral analogues.

Enantiotopic discrimination in the NMR spectrum of prochiral solutes in chiral liquid crystals

Theory and applications to stereo- and bio-chemistry of the discrimination of enantiotopic elements observed in the NMR spectra of prochiral solutes dissolved in chiral liquid crystals are comprehensively discussed.

New methods to study the composition and structure of the extracellular matrix in natural and bioengineered tissues

The extracellular matrix (ECM) comprises a gel of numerous biopolymers that occurs in a multitude of biological tissues. The ECM provides the basic support and mechanical strength of skeletal tissue and is responsible for shape retention. At the same time, the ECM is responsible for the viscoelastic properties and the elasticity of soft tissues. As expected, there are several important diseases that affect and degenerate the ECM with severe consequences for its properties. Bioengineering is a promising approach to support the regenerative capacity of the body. Unfortunately, the biomechanical properties of bioengineered ECM often only poorly meet the standards of their native counterparts. Many bioengineered tissues are characterized by an increased glycosaminoglycan (GAG) but decreased collagen content. This leads to an enhanced water content that strongly alters the viscoelastic and thus the biomechanical properties. Therefore, compositional analysis is important to estimate the tissue quality. We will show that nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and soft-ionization mass spectrometry (MS) represent useful techniques for ECM research both in natural and bioengineered tissues. Both methods are strongly complimentary: while MS techniques such as matrix-assisted laser desorption and ionization (MALDI) are excellent and very sensitive analytical tools to determine the collagen and the GAG contents of tissues, NMR spectroscopy provides insight into the molecular architecture of the ECM, its dynamics and other important parameters such as the water content of the tissue as well as the diffusion of molecules within the ECM.

Quantitative Mueller matrix fluorescence spectroscopy for precancer detection

Quantitative fluorescence spectroscopic Mueller matrix measurements from the connective tissue regions of human cervical tissue reveal intriguing fluorescence diattenuation and polarizance effects. Interestingly, the estimated fluorescence linear diattenuation and polarizance parameters were considerably reduced in the precancerous tissues as compared to the normal ones. These polarimetry effects of the autofluorescence were found to originate from anisotropically organized collagen molecular structures present in the connective tissues. Consequently, the reduction of the magnitude of these polarimetric parameters at higher grades of precancer was attributed to the loss of anisotropic organization of collagen, which was also confirmed by control experiments. These results indicate that fluorescence spectral diattenuation and polarizance parameters may serve as potentially useful diagnostic metrics.

Flagella as a novel alignment medium for the measurement of residual dipolar couplings in proteins

The two flexible rod-like flagella (∼500 nm in diameter and 5-15 μm long) of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, a unicellular green alga, can weakly align molecules in an external magnetic field, thereby enabling the measurement of various residual dipolar couplings in solution NMR spectroscopy.

Noncovalently and covalently cross-linked polyurethane gels as alignment media and the suppression of residual polymer signals using diffusion-filtered spectroscopy

With polyurethane (PU), a novel alignment medium for organic solvents is introduced and characterized, which is very robust and easy to produce on a large scale. Linear PU already constitutes an elastomer gel with several solvents based on its ability to form hydrogen bonds. Covalent cross-linking of the polymer with accelerated electrons provides an alignment medium with different properties. However, PU exhibits a number of undesired polymer signals in corresponding spectra, which ideally have to be removed spectroscopically. Within this context, we demonstrate the applicability of diffusion-filtered experiments for removal of the polymer signals. Example spectra for the usefulness of PU alignment media are provided for the common test molecules strychnine and norcamphor.

Naturally Occurring Biodegradable Polymers as the Basis of Chiral Gels for the Distinction of Enantiomers by Partially Oriented Nmr Spectroscopy

Introduction

In modern, high resolution NMR spectroscopy, anisotropic parameters play an important role. They can be measured with the help of liquid crystalline mesophases or stretched polymer gels as so-called alignment media. Biologically occurring chiral polymers are of special interest as alignment media for this technique because they allow enantiomers to be distinguished.

Methods

Biopolymers have been studied by deuterium 1D and J-BIRDd,X-HSQC NMR experiments with respect to their ability to distinguish enantiomers and a summary of existing biopolymers for the task is given.

Results

Gelatin is shown to distinguish D-proline from L-proline and next to already known biopolymers, gellan gum is introduced as a novel biologically derived polymer that is able to partially align solute molecules.

Conclusions

Biologically occurring and biodegradable polymers are well suited as alignment media and in many cases are able to distinguish enantiomers. As the orienting properties are different for different media and solute molecules, the bandwidth of corresponding polymers will be further increased in the future.

Variable angle NMR spectroscopy and its application to the measurement of residual chemical shift anisotropy

The successful measurement of anisotropic NMR parameters like residual dipolar couplings (RDCs), residual quadrupolar couplings (RQCs), or residual chemical shift anisotropy (RCSA) involves the partial alignment of solute molecules in an alignment medium. To avoid any influence of the change of environment from the isotropic to the anisotropic sample, the measurement of both datasets with a single sample is highly desirable. Here, we introduce the scaling of alignment for mechanically stretched polymer gels by varying the angle of the director of alignment relative to the static magnetic field, which we call variable angle NMR spectroscopy (VA-NMR). The technique is closely related to variable angle sample spinning NMR spectroscopy (VASS-NMR) of liquid crystalline samples, but due to the mechanical fixation of the director of alignment no sample spinning is necessary. Also, in contrast to VASS-NMR, VA-NMR works for the full range of sample inclinations between 0° and 90°. Isotropic spectra are obtained at the magic angle. As a demonstration of the approach we measure ¹³C-RCSA values for strychnine in a stretched PDMS/CDCl₃ gel and show their usefulness for assignment purposes. In this context special care has been taken with respect to the exact calibration of chemical shift data, for which three approaches have been derived and tested.

Application of z-COSY experiment and its variant for accurate chiral discrimination by (1)H NMR

We report the application of z-COSY experiment and a band selected version of it by employing a selective 90 degrees pulse entitled BASE-z-COSY for precise chiral discrimination, quantification of enantiomeric excess and the analyses of the (1)H NMR spectra of chiral molecules aligned in the chiral liquid crystalline solvent poly-gamma-benzyl-l-glutamate (PBLG). We have demonstrated their applicability for obtaining very high resolution in the (1)H NMR spectra of small organic molecules. It is well known that the commonly employed z-COSY experiment disentangles the spectral complexity, provides pure phase spectra with high resolution, aids in the complete spectral analyses, in addition to yielding information on relative signs of the couplings. The BASE-z-COSY experiment possesses all these properties, permits the measure of enantiomeric excess, in addition to large saving of instrument time.

Visualization of enantiomers using natural abundant (13)C-filtered single and double quantum selective refocusing experiments: Application to small chiral molecules

The routine use of proton NMR for the visualization of enantiomers, aligned in the chiral liquid crystal solvent poly-gamma-benzyl-l-glutamate (PBLG), is restricted due to severe loss of resolution arising from large number of pair wise interaction of nuclear spins. In the present study, we have designed two experimental techniques for their visualization utilizing the natural abundance (13)C edited selective refocusing of single quantum (CH-SERF) and double quantum (CH-DQSERF) coherences. The methods achieve chiral discrimination and aid in the simultaneous determination of homonuclear couplings between active and passive spins and heteronuclear couplings between the excited protons and the participating (13)C spin. The CH-SERF also overcomes the problem of overlap of central transitions of the methyl selective refocusing (SERF) experiment resulting in better chiral discrimination. Theoretical description of the evolution of magnetization in both the sequences has been discussed using polarization operator formalism.