0000000000060043
AUTHOR
José Luis Bourdelande
Modelling electrocatalysis of hydroquinone oxidation by nicotinamide adenine dinucleaotide coenzyme encapsulated within SBA-15 and MCM-41 mesoporous aluminosilicates
The electrochemical response of NADH associated to two mesoporous aluminosilicates, MCM-41 and SBA-15, is described upon attachment of such materials into polymer-film electrodes. The studied materials display a significant electrocatalytic activity towards the oxidation of 1,4-dihydrobenzoquinone, H2Q. Two models for describing the electrocatalytic process, based on the general theory of mediated electrocatalysis and the Lovric and Scholz formulation of the voltammetry of microparticles are discussed. Voltammetric and chronoamperometric data indicate that the electrocatalytic process involves the formation of a surface-confined NADH–H2Q adduct in the case of SBA-15, while a surface reactio…
Anionic Organic Guests Incorporated in Zeolites: Adsorption and Reactivity of a Meisenheimer Complex in Faujasites
Zeolites are suitable microporous hosts for positively charged organic species, but it is believed that they cannot adsorb organic anions. Pure Meisenheimer complex, derived from reduction of 2,4-dinitroaniline with NaBH4, was adsorbed inside faujasite cavities. Evidence for the internal incorporation of this negatively charged reaction intermediate comes from 1) XPS elemental analysis as a function of the depth of penetration into the particle, 2) the remarkable blue shift in lambda(max) of the Meisenheimer complex adsorbed on zeolite (ca. 470 nm) as compared to that in acetonitrile (580 nm) and 3) from the lack of reactivity with size-excluded hydride-acceptor reagents. Evidence is provid…
Probing a Polar Cluster in the Retinal Binding Pocket of Bacteriorhodopsin by a Chemical Design Approach
Bacteriorhodopsin has a polar cluster of amino acids surrounding the retinal molecule, which is responsible for light harvesting to fuel proton pumping. From our previous studies, we have shown that threonine 90 is the pivotal amino acid in this polar cluster, both functionally and structurally. In an attempt to perform a phenotype rescue, we have chemically designed a retinal analogue molecule to compensate the drastic effects of the T90A mutation in bacteriorhodopsin. This analogue substitutes the methyl group at position C(13) of the retinal hydrocarbon chain by and ethyl group (20-methyl retinal). We have analyzed the effect of reconstituting the wild-type and the T90A mutant apoprotein…