The g values of ESR spectra of superoxide-metal ion complexes (O2(*-)-Mn+, n = 1, 2, 3) are determined in acetonitrile at 143 K. The binding energies (deltaE) of metal ions with O2*- have been evaluated from deviation of the gzz values from the free spin value. The deltaE values are well correlated with the catalytic reactivities of metal ions in electron transfer from cobalt(II) tetraphenylporphyrin to O2 and p-benzoquinone, which does not occur in the absence of metal ions under otherwise the same experimental conditions. The deltaE values can thereby be used as the first quantitative measure for Lewis acidity of metal ions in relation with the catalytic reactivities in electron transfer reactions.

A novel molecular photocatalytic system with not only high reduction ability of CO but also high capture ability of CO has been developed using a Ru(II)-Re(I) dinuclear complex as a photocatalyst. By using this photocatalytic system, CO of 10% concentration could be selectively converted to CO with almost same photocatalysis to that under a pure CO atmosphere (TON > 1000, ΦCO > 0.4). Even 0.5% concentration of CO was reduced with 60% initial efficiency of CO formation by using the same system compared to that using pure CO (TON > 200). The Re(I) catalyst unit in the photocatalyst can efficiently capture CO, which proceeds CO insertion to the Re-O bond, and then reduce the captured CO by using an electron supplied from the photochemically reduced Ru photosensitizer unit.

Moyamoya disease (MMD) is a cerebrovascular disorder characterized by occlusive lesions of the circle of Willis. To date, both environmental and genetic factors have been implicated for pathogenesis of MMD. Allelic variations in RNF213 are known to confer the risk of MMD; however, functional roles of RNF213 remain to be largely elusive. We herein report that pro-inflammatory cytokines, IFNG and TNFA, synergistically activated transcription of RNF213 both in vitro and in vivo. Using various chemical inhibitors, we found that AKT and PKR pathways contributed to the transcriptional activation of RNF213. Transcriptome-wide analysis and subsequent validation with quantitative PCR supported that endogenous expression of cell cycle-promoting genes were significantly decreased with knockdown of RNF213 in cultured endothelial cells. Consistently, these cells showed less proliferative and less angiogenic profiles. Chemical inhibitors for AKT (LY294002) and PKR (C16) disrupted their angiogenic potentials, suggesting that RNF213 and its upstream pathways cooperatively organize the process of angiogenesis. Furthermore, RNF213 down-regulated expressions of matrix metalloproteases in endothelial cells, but not in fibroblasts or other cell types. Altogether, our data illustrate that RNF213 plays unique roles in endothelial cells for proper gene expressions in response to inflammatory signals from environments.