The Solmaz lab (Binghamton University) has published a collaborative paper with the
Wang lab (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) and the Trybus lab (University of Vermont)
in the prestigious journal eLIFE. In the paper, a cargo-recognition alpha-helix was
identified in the protein Nup358, which is required for activation of a transport
pathway that is essential for brain development. Read more here.
Angewandte Chemie
The Hirschi Lab
The Hirschi lab (Binghamton University) and the Arnold lab (Cal Tech) were recently
featured by Ben List in SynFacts for their biocatalytic study involving 'Enzymatic
Nitrene Insertion into C-H Bonds for the Synthesis of Enantioenriched Amides.'
The Fang group successfully synthesized two types of Pd-Bi nanocrystals with different
crystal structures, known as monoclinic phase and fcc phase. They further identified
that the monoclinic phase exhibits superior catalytic activity for alkaline oxygen
reduction reaction, one of the significant reactions in the fuel cell system. This
discovery has been published in J. Am. Chem. Soc.
Ming Zhou, Jiangna Guo, Bo Zhao, Can Li, Lihua Zhang and Jiye Fang, J. Am. Chem. Soc.
2021, 143, 38, 15891–15897.
Working together with collaborators, Fang group recently published a research article,
“Synthesis of Core@Shell Cu-Ni@Pt-Cu Nano-Octahedra and Their Improved MOR Activity”
in Angewandte Chemie, one of the prime chemistry journals in the world (2019 Impact
Factor: 12.959). This work demonstrated a colloidal seed‐mediated approach to prepare
octahedral CuNi@Pt‐Cu core@shell nanocrystals using CuNi octahedral cores as the template.
By precisely controlling the synthesis conditions, uniform Pt‐based thin-shells can
be achieved. The resultant carbon‐supported CuNi@Pt‐Cu core@shell nano‐octahedra showed
superior activity in electrochemical methanol oxidation reaction (MOR), indicating
that both the lattice strain and shape effects play a key role in this catalyst improvement.
Eriks Rozners and Venubabu Kotikam have published an Account “Amide-Modified RNA:
Using Protein Backbone to Modulate Function of Short Interfering RNAs”. Remarkably,
this major chemical modification has unexpectedly little effect on structure and stability
of the RNA duplex and, at certain positions of short interfering RNAs, eliminates
some of the undesired off-target activity while improving their on-target activity.
The article was chosen by Editors as the Cover Image of the September 2020 issue of
Accounts of Chemical Research.
Dimitrov and Fang groups together with a Cornell research team recently published
their development of fraction-controlled Pt-Cu-based porous film electrocatalysts
used for alkaline oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in ACS Catal. The catalysts prepared
using an electrochemical deposition-stripping synthetic approach show superb electrocatalytic
ORR activity in 0.1M KOH with control of the introduced Au composition. After a composition
optimization, the de-alloyed Pt37Cu56Au7 ternary catalyst exhibits a 7.2-fold higher
mass activity than that of the standard Pt/C and the longest durability among all
tested samples including the Pt/C. “Enhanced ORR Kinetics on Au-Doped Pt-Cu Porous Films in Alkaline Media”, Yunxiang
Xie, Yao Yang, David A. Muller, Hector D. Abruna, Nikolay Dimitrov, and Jiye Fang,
ACS Catal., 10 (xx) 9967 - 9976, (2020).
journal issue image
Bane and Tumey groups
The Bane group (Chemistry) and Tumey group (Pharmaceutical Sciences) recently reported
on an expanded repertoire of substrates that can be recognized by the microbial transglutaminase
(mTG) enzyme. Applications of mTG utilizing the noncanonical substrates are demonstrated
in providing isopeptide diversity and enabling side-chain hydrazide derivatization
on peptides and proteins. Together, the work shines light on hitherto undiscovered
capabilities of mTG and further broadens the versatility of this enzyme in biotechnology.
This publication is the second full-length paper generated from the partnership between
the Bane and Tumey groups.
T. I. Chio, B. R. Demestichas, B. M. Brems, S. L. Bane, L. N. Tumey, Expanding the
Versatility of Microbial Transglutaminase Using α-Effect Nucleophiles as Noncanonical
Substrates. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59, 13814-13820. doi: 10.1002/anie.202001830
The Dimitrov group reported on the development and application of all-electrochemically
synthesized nanoporous (np) Au-Cu-Pt alloy thin film as catalysts for formic acid
oxidation (FAO) reaction. The work emphasizes a pursuit of most efficient catalytic
routes for the production of clean energy like by smart materials design at atomic
level, involving controlled alloy electrodeposition followed by oxidative copper removal.
The unique advantage of the best performing np Au-Cu-(2.6%)Pt catalyst is associated
with its exclusive selectivity in support of the preferred direct FAO mechanism along
with unseen long-lasting no-passivation behavior in the course of wide-potential-range
cycling tests.
Ultralow Pt-loading Nanoporous Au-Cu-Pt Thin Film as Highly Active and Durable Catalyst
for Formic Acid Oxidation, Yunxiang Xie and Nikolay Dimitrov, Applied Catalysis B:
Environmental, 2019, October 31 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2019.118366) [Epub ahead of print].
A collaborative work from the Qiang group and the Vugmeyster group at CU Denver has
been published on PNAS. This work solved the very first molecular structure of a post-translational
modified beta-amyloid fibril. This site-specific modification, with the phosphorylation
at residue S8 on Abeta sequence, induces the formation of a more-ordered N-terminal
fibril structure with more thermodynamic stable core. In addition, this modification
leads to rapid cross-seeded fibrillation to the wild-type Abeta, which may accelerate
the pathological amyloid deposition.
The Panetier group, in collaboration with the Jurss group at the University of Mississippi,
reported a joint experimental and computational study on the use of three novel cobalt
catalysts for electrochemical CO2 reduction in aqueous solutions. This study shows
that as the rigidity of the macrocycle is increased, selectivity and activity for
CO2 reduction over the competing hydrogen evolution reaction is enhanced. As such
the most rigid catalyst performs CO2 reduction in water with an overpotential of 420
mV and a Faradaic yield of 93%.
X. Su, K.M. McCardle, L. Chen, J.A. Panetier and J.W. Jurss, Robust and Selective
Cobalt Catalysts Bearing Redox-Active Bipyridyl-N-heterocyclic Carbene Frameworks
for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction in Aqueous Solutions, ACS Catal. 2019, 9, 7398−7408Chem
Biol. 2019 May 6. doi: 10.1021/acschembio.9b00194 [Epub ahead of print].
Laura Zielewicz from the Grewer laboratory published her research on the mechanism
of inhibition of glutamate transporters in ACS Chemical Biology. This work shows that
binding of negatively-charged inhibitors occurs within the transmembrane electric
field, resulting in voltage dependence of inhibitor binding and dissociation. This
finding is important for our understanding of how glutamate interacts with the transporter
at the excitatory synapse in the mammalian brain.
Transient Kinetics Reveal Mechanism and Voltage Dependence of Inhibitor and Substrate
Binding to Glutamate Transporters. Zielewicz L, Wang J, Ndaru E, Grewer CT ACS Chem
Biol. 2019 May 6. doi: 10.1021/acschembio.9b00194 [Epub ahead of print].
The Panetier group, in collaboration with researchers from Texas A&M University and
DePaul University, reported a joint experimental and computational study on the use
of imidazolium-functionalized manganese tricarbonyl bipyridine complexes for CO2reduction.
This study, which was published in JACS, suggests that imidazolium groups in the secondary
coordination sphere promote the formation of a local hydration shell that facilitates
the protonation of CO2 reduction intermediates.
S. Sung, X. Li, L.M. Wolf, J.R. Meeder, N.S. Bhuvanesh, K.A. Grice, J.A. Panetier,
and M. Nippe, Synergistic Effects of Imidazolium-Functionalization on fac-Mn(CO)3 Bipyridine
Catalyst Platforms for Electrocatalytic Carbon Dioxide Reduction, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141,
6569-6582.
In collaboration with colleagues from University of Rochester and Elizabethtown College,
Rozners group has published a paper “Synthetic, Structural, and RNA Binding Studies
on 2-Aminopyridine-Modified Triplex-Forming Peptide Nucleic Acids” in Chemistry: A
European Journal. The study was designated as Very Important Paper by the reviewers
and featured as a Cover Picture of the March 21 issue of Chemistry: A European Journal.
Kotikam, V., Kennedy, S. D., MacKay, J. A., and Rozners, E. Synthetic, Structural,
and RNA Binding Studies on 2-Aminopyridine-Modified Triplex-Forming Peptide Nucleic
Acids. Chem. Eur. J. 2019, 25,4367- 4372.
Elias Ndaru published work on the synthesis and characterization of novel inhibitors
of alanine cysteine serine transporter ASCT2, in collaboration with the laboratory
of Dr. Avner Schlessinger from Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Amino acid derivatives
with sulfonic acid ester and sulfonamide linkages were identified as ASCT2 inhibitors
with the most potent compound displaying an affinity in the low microM range.
A collaborative work from the Qiang and An groups has recently been published on PNAS.
This work describes the studies of thermodynamic intermediate states of interactions
between pH-Low insertion (pHLIP) peptides and membrane bilayers, using advanced solid-state
NMR spectroscopy. A multi-stage pH-modulated membrane insertion model for pHLIP peptides
was proposed. Graduate and undergraduate students S. Otieno, S. Hanz, B. Chakravorty
from the Qiang group, and graduate students A. Zhang and L. Klees from the An group
contributed to this work.
S.A. Otieno, S.Z. Hanz, B. Chakravorty, A. Zhang, L.M. Klees, M. An, and W. Qiang,
pH-dependent thermodynamic intermediates of pHLIP membrane insertion determined by
solid-state NMR spectroscopy. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 2018, 115(48), 12194-12199.
The Fang group, in collaboration with researchers from Cornell and NTU, recently reported
their observation of phase transitions of formamidinium lead iodide (FAPbI3) under
pressure. The article was just accepted by J. Am. Chem. Soc. FAPbI3 is a hybrid compound,
consisting of a perovskite alpha-phase and hexagonal (non-perovskite) delta-phase.
Study on the pressure-induced structural evolution of this organic-inorganic compound
is a hot topic. For the first time, the authors determined that the pressure could
accelerate the alpha- to delta-FAPbI3 transformation.
Shaojie Jiang, Yiliang Luan, Joon I. Jang, Tom Baikie, Xin Huang, Ruipeng Li, Felix
O. Saouma, Zhongwu Wang, Timothy J. White and Jiye Fang, Phase Transitions of Formamidinium
Lead Iodide Perovskite under Pressure, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2018, 140(42), 13952-13957.
The honor thesis research of an undergraduate student Vladislav Roytman is the subject
of a recent publication in Chem. Eur. J. from the Vetticatt group at Binghamton University.
This paper details the use of 13C kinetic isotope effects and DFT calculations as
a novel probe to distinguish between of enol and enamine mechanisms in aminocatalysis.
Roytman, V. A.; Karugu, R. W.; Hong, Y.; Hirschi, J. S.; Vetticatt, M. J. 13C Kinetic
Isotope Effects as a Quantitative Probe To Distinguish between Enol and Enamine Mechanisms
in Aminocatalysis Chem. Eur. J. 2018, 24(32), 8098-8102.
