Exploitation of plant lignocellulosic biomass is hampered by our ignorance of the molecular basis for its properties such as strength and digestibility. Xylan, the most prevalent non-cellulosic polysaccharide, binds to cellulose microfibrils. The nature of this interaction remains unclear, despite its importance. Here we show that the majority of xylan, which forms a threefold helical screw in solution, flattens into a twofold helical screw ribbon to bind intimately to cellulose microfibrils in the cell wall. 13C solid-state magic-angle spinning (MAS) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, supported by in silico predictions of chemical shifts, shows both two- and threefold screw xylan conformations are present in fresh Arabidopsis stems. The twofold screw xylan is spatially close to cellulose, and has similar rigidity to the cellulose microfibrils, but reverts to the threefold screw conformation in the cellulose-deficient irx3 mutant. The discovery that induced polysaccharide conformation underlies cell wall assembly provides new principles to understand biomass properties.

Detailed insight into the internal structure of drug‐loaded polymeric micelles is scarce, but important for developing optimized delivery systems. We observed that an increase in the curcumin loading of triblock copolymers based on poly(2‐oxazolines) and poly(2‐oxazines) results in poorer dissolution properties. Using solid‐state NMR spectroscopy and complementary tools we propose a loading‐dependent structural model on the molecular level that provides an explanation for these pronounced differences. Changes in the chemical shifts and cross‐peaks in 2D NMR experiments give evidence for the involvement of the hydrophobic polymer block in the curcumin coordination at low loadings, while at higher loadings an increase in the interaction with the hydrophilic polymer blocks is observed. The involvement of the hydrophilic compartment may be critical for ultrahigh‐loaded polymer micelles and can help to rationalize specific polymer modifications to improve the performance of similar drug delivery systems.

Polymeric micelles are typically characterized as core-shell structures. The hydrophobic inner core is considered as depot for hydrophobic molecules such as drugs or catalysts and the corona forming block acts as protective, stabilizing and solubilizing interface between the hydrophobic core and the external aqueous milieu. Tremendous efforts have been made to tune the hydrophobic block to increase the drug loading and stability of the micelles, while the role of hydrophilic blocks regarding drug loading and stability of micelles is rarely studied in detail. To do so, we investigated a small library of structurally similar A-B-A type amphiphiles based on poly(2-oxazoline)s and poly(2oxazine)s by varying the hydrophilic block A utilizing poly(2-methyl-2-oxazoline) (A) or poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) (A*), both excellently water-soluble polymers that are able to provide beneficial stealth properties. Surprisingly, major differences in loading capacities from A-B-A > A*-B-A > A*-B-A* highlight the impact of the hydrophilic corona of the polymer micelles on drug loading and stability.1 H-NMR spectroscopy revealed that the hydrophilic pEtOx exhibits a stronger interaction with the cargo compared with its more hydrophilic counterpart pMeOx, reducing colloidal stability of the drug loaded micelles at lower drug loading. To gain more insights, formulations were also characterized by diffusion ordered and nuclear Overhauser effect NMR spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering and (micro) differential scanning calorimetry. Our findings suggest that the interaction between the hydrophilic block and the guest molecule should be considered an important but previously largely ignored factor for the rational design of polymeric micelles.

Largazole 4a and analogues with modifications at the C7 position, as well as 2,4'-bithiazole 5a, have been synthesized using an acyclic cross-metathesis of the corresponding depsipeptide structures assembled by N-C6(O) or C15(O)-N lactam formation. Similar to the parent system 4a, the series of largazole depsipeptides 4b-d, but not 2,4'-bithiazole 5a, showed a marked inhibition of recombinant HDAC1 and selectivity over HDAC4, as well as strong pro-apoptotic effects on the NB4 leukemia cell line, but they failed to induce differentiation to mature granulocytes. Functional assays of the analogues correlated with the in vitro activities, as shown by increased H3 and alpha-tubulin acetylation levels and p21(WAF1/CIP1) up-regulation in NB4 cells. The activity of the natural product HDACi largazole 4a is not significantly altered by the presence of groups of different size (H, Et, Ph) at C7 on the dihydrothiazole ring.