Interaction between Cellooligosaccharides in Aqueous Solution from Molecular Dynamics Simulation: Comparison of Cellotetraose, Cellopentaose, and Cellohexaose

Unraveling the hydrolysis of β-1,4-glycosidic bonds in cello-oligosaccharides over carbon catalysts

Larger cello-oligosaccharides undergo faster hydrolysis over carbon catalysts. This is attributed to reduction in activation energy caused by conformational change in the structure of oligosaccharides as they adsorb within the micropores of carbon.

One-step synthesis of cellooligomer-conjugated gold nanoparticles in a water-in-oil emulsion system and their application in biological sensing

Monodisperse gold nanoparticles (GNPs) were synthesized in a water-in-oil emulsion system (reverse micelles) composed of 80% N-methylmorpholine N-oxide (NMMO)/20% H₂O and dodecane, stabilized with an anionic surfactant: bis(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate sodium salt. Cellooligomers with a degree of polymerization of 6 or 15 (βGlc6 or βGlc15, respectively), which were labeled at each reducing end group with thiosemicarbazide (TSC) and dissolved in the aqueous NMMO phase, were successfully conjugated to the surfaces of GNPs in situ during spontaneous NMMO-mediated gold reduction. As-synthesized βGlc6-GNPs and βGlc15-GNPs had average diameters of 11.3 ± 2.1 and 10.5 ± 0.7 nm, respectively, while their surface sugar densities were 0.21 and 0.51 chains nm^-2, respectively. Concanavalin A (ConA), a lectin that recognizes non-reducing end groups of glucose residues, aggregated with βGlc15-GNPs with higher sensitivity than it did with βGlc6-GNPs, possibly as a result of the sugar density on the GNP surfaces. The aggregates were rapidly re-suspended by adding methyl-β-d-glucopyranoside as a binding inhibitor. Other lectins and proteins showed no interaction with βGlc-GNPs. Therefore, clustering of glucose non-reducing ends on the GNP surfaces via strong intermolecular association of cellooligomers, possibly led to high affinity for ConA. This facile synthesis route to structural carbohydrate-decorated GNPs has potential applications in carbohydrate-nanometal conjugate nano-biosensor development.

Conformational properties of glucose-based disaccharides investigated using molecular dynamics simulations with local elevation umbrella sampling

Explicit-solvent molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the 11 glucose-based disaccharides in water at 300K and 1bar are reported. The simulations were carried out with the GROMOS 45A4 force-field and the sampling along the glycosidic dihedral angles phi and psi was artificially enhanced using the local elevation umbrella sampling (LEUS) method. The trajectories are analyzed in terms of free-energy maps, stable and metastable conformational states (relative free energies and estimated transition timescales), intramolecular H-bonds, single molecule configurational entropies, and agreement with experimental data. All disaccharides considered are found to be characterized either by a single stable (overwhelmingly populated) state ((1-->n)-linked disaccharides with n=1, 2, 3, or 4) or by two stable (comparably populated and differing in the third glycosidic dihedral angle omega ; gg or gt) states with a low interconversion barrier ((1-->6)-linked disaccharides). Metastable (anti-phi or anti-psi) states are also identified with relative free energies in the range of 8-22 kJ mol(-1). The 11 compounds can be classified into four families: (i) the alpha(1-->1)alpha-linked disaccharide trehalose (axial-axial linkage) presents no metastable state, the lowest configurational entropy, and no intramolecular H-bonds; (ii) the four alpha(1-->n)-linked disaccharides (n=1, 2, 3, or 4; axial-equatorial linkage) present one metastable (anti-psi) state, an intermediate configurational entropy, and two alternative intramolecular H-bonds; (iii) the four beta(1-->n)-linked disaccharides (n=1, 2, 3, or 4; equatorial-equatorial linkage) present two metastable (anti-phi and anti-psi) states, an intermediate configurational entropy, and one intramolecular H-bond; (iv) the two (1-->6)-linked disaccharides (additional glycosidic dihedral angle) present no (isomaltose) or a pair of (gentiobiose) metastable (anti-phi) states, the highest configurational entropy, and no intramolecular H-bonds. The observed conformational preferences appear to be dictated by four main driving forces (ring conformational preferences, exo-anomeric effect, steric constraints, and possible presence of a third glycosidic dihedral angle), leaving a secondary role to intramolecular H-bonding and specific solvation effects. In spite of the weak conformational driving force attributed to solvent-exposed H-bonds in water (highly polar protic solvent), intramolecular H-bonds may still have a significant influence on the physico-chemical properties of the disaccharide by decreasing its hydrophilicity. Along with previous work, the results also complete the suggestion of a spectrum of approximate transition timescales for carbohydrates up to the disaccharide level, namely: approximately 30 ps (hydroxyl groups), approximately 1 ns (free lactol group, free hydroxymethyl groups, glycosidic dihedral angleomega in (1-->6)-linked disaccharides), approximately 10 ns to 2 micros (ring conformation, glycosidic dihedral angles phi and psi). The calculated average values of the glycosidic torsional angles agree well with the available experimental data, providing validation for the force-field and simulation methodology employed.

Adsorption-enhanced hydrolysis of beta-1,4-glucan on graphene-based amorphous carbon bearing SO3H, COOH, and OH groups

The reaction mechanism of the hydrolysis of cellulose by a carbon-based solid acid, amorphous carbon containing graphene sheets bearing SO(3)H, COOH, and phenolic OH groups, has been investigated in detail through the hydrolysis of water-soluble beta-1,4-glucan. Whereas a range of solid strong Brønsted acid catalysts (inorganic oxides with acidic OH groups, SO(3)H-bearing resins, and the carbon-based solid acid) can hydrolyze the beta-1,4-glycosidic bonds in cellobiose (the shortest water-soluble beta-1,4-glucan), the tested solid acids except for the carbon material, consisting of conventional solid acids, cannot function as effective catalysts for the hydrolysis of cellohexaose (a long-chain water-soluble beta-1,4-glucan). However, the carbon material exhibits remarkable catalytic performance for the hydrolysis of cellohexaose: the turnover frequency (TOF) of SO(3)H groups in the carbon material exceeds ca. 20 times those of the conventional solid acids, reaching that of sulfuric acid, which is the most active catalyst. Experimental results revealed that inorganic oxides with acidic OH groups are not acidic enough to decompose the hydrogen and beta-1,4-glycosidic bonds in cellohexaose molecules aggregated by strong hydrogen bonds as well as cellulose and that the SO(3)H groups of the resins that do not adsorb beta-1,4-glucan are unable to attack the hydrogen and beta-1,4-glycosidic bonds in cellohexaose molecules effectively. In contrast, the carbon material is capable of adsorbing beta-1,4-glucan by phenolic OH or COOH groups in the carbon material, and SO(3)H groups bonded to the carbon therefore function as effective active sites for both decomposing the hydrogen bonds and hydrolyzing the beta-1,4-glycosidic bonds in the adsorbed long-chain water-soluble beta-1,4-glucan aggregate. These results suggest that the synergetic combination of high densities of the functional groups bonded to amorphous carbon causes the efficient hydrolysis of beta-1,4-glucan, including cellulose, on the carbon material.

Quantum mechanics studies of cellobiose conformations

Three regions of the conformation space that describes the relative orientations of the two glucose residues of cellobiose were analyzed with quantum mechanics. A central region, in which most crystal structures are found, was covered by a 9 × 9 grid of 20° increments of the linkage torsion angles ϕ and ψ. Besides these 81 constrained minimizations, we studied two central subregions and two regions at the edges of our maps of complete ϕ,ψ space with unconstrained minimization, for a total of 85 target geometries. HF/6-31G(d) and single-point HF/6-311+G(d) calculations were used to find the lowest energies for each geometry. B3LYP/6-31G+G(d) and single point B3LYP/6-11+G(d) calculations were also used for all unconstrained minimizations. For each target, 181 starting geometries were tried (155 for the unconstrained targets). Numerous different starting geometries resulted in the lowest energies for the various target structures. The starting geometries came from five different sets that were based on molecular mechanics energies. Although all five sets contributed to the adiabatic map, use of any single set resulted in discrepancies of 3–7 kcal/mol (1 cal = 4.184 J) with the final map. For most of the targets, the starting geometry that gave the lowest energy depended on the basis set and whether the HF or B3LYP method was used. However, each of the above four calculations gave the same overall lowest energy structure that was found previously by Strati et al. This global minimum, stabilized by highly cooperative hydrogen bonds, is in a region that is essentially not populated by crystal structures. HF/6-31G(d) energy contours of the mapped central region were compatible with the observed crystal structures. Observed structures that lacked O3···O5′ hydrogen bonds were about 1 kcal/mol above the map's minimum, and observed structures that have a pseudo twofold screw axis ranged from about 0.4 to 1.0 kcal/mol. The HF/6-311+G(d) map accommodated the observed structures nearly as well.Key words: cellulose, carbohydrate, conformation, energy, flexibility, folding, helix, shape.