Sulfur is present in several nucleosides within tRNAs. In particular, thiolation of the universally conserved methyl-uridine at position 54 stabilizes tRNAs from thermophilic bacteria and hyperthermophilic archaea and is required for growth at high temperature. The simple nonredox substitution of the C2-uridine carbonyl oxygen by sulfur is catalyzed by tRNA thiouridine synthetases called TtuA. ...

The first naturally occurring split intein was found in the dnaE gene of Synechocystis sp. PCC6803 and belongs to a subclass of inteins without a penultimate histidine residue. We describe two high-resolution crystal structures, one derived from an excised Ssp DnaE intein and the second from a splicing-deficient precursor protein. The X-ray structures indicate that His147 in the conserved block...

Of all the nonbonded interactions, hydrogen bond, because of its geometry involving polar atoms, is the most easily recognizable. Here we characterize two interactions involving the divalent sulfur of methionine (Met) residues that do not need any participation of proton. In one an oxygen atom of the main-chain carbonyl group or a carboxylate side chain is used. In another an aromatic atom inte...

Organoselenium compounds have recently been the experimentalists' delight due to their broad applications in organic synthesis, medicinal chemistry, and material sciences. Selenium atom replacement of carbonyl oxygen the...

A theoretical exploration about hydrogen bonding in a series of synthetic regioisomeric antitumor tricyclic hydroquinones is presented. The stabilization energy for the intramolecular hydrogen bond (IHB) formation in four structurally different situations were evaluated: (a) IHB between the proton of a phenolic hydroxyl group and an ortho-carbonyl group (forming a six-membered ring); (b) betwee...

The synthesis of novel acetal thia-cage compounds has been accomplished by the direct substitution for the oxygen atom by the sulfur atom in the reaction of the acetal groups of oxa-cages with Lawesson reagent (LR). Reaction of the tetraoxa-cage compound 2 with LR in dichloromethane at 25 degrees C sequentially gave the monothia-, dithia-, trithia-, and tetrathia-cage compounds 3, 6, 7, and 9. ...