Eight new biotinylated, mechanism-based isocoumarin serine protease inhibitors have been designed and synthesized to detect, localize, and isolate serine proteases. Isocoumarins that contain a 4-chloro group, a biotinylated substituent at the 7-position, and different 3-alkoxy groups are inhibitors of various serine proteases including human leukocyte elastase (HLE), porcine pancreatic elastase (PPE), trypsin, human recombinant granzyme A, chymotrypsin, and cathepsin G. Insertion of spacers between the isocoumarin moiety and the biotin moiety enhanced enzyme inhibitory potency and may also promote binding of the enzyme-inhibitor complex to avidin. The 3-alkoxy groups conferred selectivity toward different serine proteases with chymotrypsin being inhibited effectively by compounds with 3-phenylethoxy groups while derivatives with 3-methoxy, ethoxy, or propoxy groups were potent inhibitors of HLE and moderate inhibitors of PPE. Full enzymatic activity was regained after the immediate addition of hydroxylamine to the inactivated chymotrypsin and PPE derivatives, which indicated that a simple acyl enzyme derivative is formed initially in the inhibition reaction. Egg avidin did not effect the rate of spontaneous enzyme reactivation rate while streptavidin accelerated the reactivation reaction. PPE inhibited by 7-[[6-(biotinylamino)caproyl]amino]-4-chloro-3- ethoxyisocoumarin (BIC 5) or 7-[[6-[[6-(biotinylamino)caproyl]amino] caproyl]amino]-4-chloro-3-methoxyisocoumarin (BIC 7) was bound to immobilized avidin columns. Most of inhibited PPE could be eluted from the monomeric or tetrameric avidin columns but only a portion (40-70%) of the enzyme was active due to the partial formation of a stable alkylated enzyme derivative during the isolation process.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Three fluorescein- and one Texas Red-labeled derivatives of [1-(N-dipeptidylamino)alkyl]phosphonate diphenyl esters were synthesized and evaluated as inhibitors of serine proteases. The two fluorophores, FITC and TXR, were attached to the peptide phosphonates via an epsilon-aminocaproyl unit that acts as a spacer group and facilitates the binding of the phosphonate inhibitor to the targeted enzymes. These derivatives are potent and specific inhibitors of chymotrypsin, porcine pancreatic elastase (PPE), and human leukocyte elastase (HLE). FTC-Aca-Phe-Leu-PheP(OPh)2 (3) inhibited chymotrypsin very potently (k(obsd)/[I] = 9500 M-1 s-1) and 600-fold better than it did PPE (k(obsd)/[I] = 16 M-1 s-1). FTC-Aca-Ala-Ala-MetP(OPh)2 (1) was a more effective inhibitor of chymotrypsin (k(obsd)/[I] = 190 M-1 s-1) than PPE and HLE (k(obsd)/[I] = 13 and 22 M-1 s-1, respectively). Only HLE and PPE were inhibited by FTC-Aca-Ala-Ala-AlaP(OPh)2 (2) (k(obsd)/[I] = 41 and 22 M-1 s-1, respectively). The specificity of these inhibitors toward the targeted serine proteases depends on the sequence of the tripeptide portion and was not affected by the presence of the fluorescent label. Trypsin, for instance, was not inhibited by any of these compounds. In some cases, the inhibitory potency was increased by the fluorescent label. For example, chymotrypsin was inhibited by the fluorescent compounds, FTC-Aca-Ala-Ala-MetP(OPh)2 (1) and FTC-Aca-Phe-Leu-PheP(OPh)2 (3), more potently than by the nonfluorescent compounds, Boc-Ala-Ala-MetP(OPh)2 (5) and Z-Phe-Leu-PheP(OPh)2 (7).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

To reduce shrinkage stress which arises during the polymerization of crosslinked polymers, allyl sulfide functional groups were incorporated into methacrylate polymerizations to determine their effect on stress relaxation via addition-fragmentation chain transfer (AFCT). Additionally, stoichiometrically balanced thiol and allyl sulfide-containing norbornene monomers were incorporated into the methacrylate resin to maximize the overall functional group conversion and promote AFCT while also enhancing the polymer’s mechanical properties. Shrinkage stress and reaction kinetics for each of the various functional groups were measured by tensometry and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, respectively. The glass transition temperature (Tg) and elastic moduli (E′) were measured using dynamic mechanical analysis. When the allyl sulfide functional group was incorporated into dimethacrylates, the polymerization-induced shrinkage stress was not relieved as compared with analogous propyl sulfide-containing resins. These analogous propyl sulfide containing monomers are incapable of undergoing AFCT while having similar chemical structure and crosslink density to the allyl sulfide containing methacrylates. Here, a monomethacrylate monomer that also contains a cyclic allyl sulfide (PAS) was found to increase the crosslinking density nearly 20 times as compared to an analogous monomethacrylate in which the allyl sulfide was replaced with an ethyl sulfide. Despite the much higher crosslink density, the PAS formulation exhibited no concomitant increase in stress. Thiol-norbornene resins were copolymerized in PAS to promote AFCT as well as to synergistically combine the ring opening benefits associated with the thiol-ene reaction. AFCT resulted in a 63% reduction of polymerization stress and a 45°C enhancement of the glass transition temperature in the allyl sulfide-containing thiol-norbornene-methacrylate system compared with rubbery dimethacrylates. When compared with conventional glassy dimethacrylates, this combined system has less than 10% of the typical shrinkage stress level while having similarly excellent mechanical properties.

No abstract

Objectives To produce a reduced stress dental restorative material while simultaneously maintaining excellent mechanical properties, we have incorporated an allyl sulfide functional group into norbornene-methacrylate comonomer resins. We hypothesize that the addition-fragmentation chain transfer (AFCT) enabled by the presence of the allyl sulfide relieves stress in these methacrylate-based systems while retaining excellent mechanical properties owing to the high glass transition temperature of norbornene-containing resins. Methods An allyl sulfide-containing dinorbornene was stoichiometrically formulated with a ring-containing allyl sulfide-possessing methacrylate. To evaluate the stress relaxation effect as a function of the allyl sulfide concentration, a propyl sulfide-based dinorbornene, not capable of addition-fragmentation, was also formulated with the methacrylate monomer. Shrinkage stress, the glass transition temperature and the elastic modulus were all measured. The composite flexural strength and modulus were also measured. ANOVA (CI 95%) was conducted to determine differences between the means. Results Increasing the allyl sulfide content in the resin dramatically reduces the final stress in the norbornene-methacrylate systems. Both norbornene-methacrylate resins demonstrated almost zero stress (more than 96% stress reduction) compared with the conventional BisGMA/TEGDMA 70/30 wt% control. Mechanical properties of the allyl sulfide-based dental composites were improved to the point of being statistically indistinguishable from the control BisGMA-TEGDMA by changing the molar ratio between the methacrylate and norbornene functionalities. Significance The allyl sulfide-containing norbornene-methacrylate networks possessed super-ambient Tg, and demonstrated significantly lower shrinkage stress when compared with the control (BisGMA/TEGDMA 70 to 30 wt%). Although additional development remains, these low stress materials exhibit excellent mechanical properties which are appropriate for use as dental restorative materials.