Ion beam therapy is one of the most progressive methods in cancer treatment. Studies of the water radiolysis process show that the most long-living species that occur in the medium of a biological cell under the action of ionizing irradiation are hydrogen peroxide (H$_2$O$_2$) molecules. But the role of H$_2$O$_2$ molecules in the DNA deactivation of cancer cells in ion beam therapy has not been determined yet. In the present paper, the competitive interaction of hydrogen peroxide and water molecules with atomic groups of non-specific DNA recognition sites (phosphate groups PO$_4$) is investigated. The interaction energies and optimized spatial configurations of the considered molecular complexes are calculated with the help of molecular mechanics method and quantum chemistry approach. The results show that the H$_2$O$_2$ molecule can form a complex with the PO$_4$ group (with and without a sodium counterion) that is more energetically stable than the same complex with the water molecule. Formation of such complexes can block genetic information transfer processes in cancer cells and can be an important factor during ion beam therapy treatment.
The hydrogen peroxide is present in the living cell at small concentrations that increase under the action of the heavy ion beams in the process of anticancer therapy. The interactions of hydrogen peroxide with DNA, proteins and other biological molecules are poorly understood. In the present work the competitive binding of the hydrogen peroxide and water molecules with the DNA double helix backbone has been studied using the molecular dynamics method. The simulations have been carried out for the DNA double helix in a water solution with hydrogen peroxide molecules and Na$^{+}$ counterions. The obtained radial distribution functions of counterions, H$_2$O$_2$ and H$_2$O molecules with respect to the oxygen atoms of DNA phosphate groups have been used for the analysis of the formation of different complexes. The calculated mean residence times show that a hydrogen peroxide molecule stays at least twice as long near the phosphate group (up to 7 ps) than a water molecule (about 3 ps). The hydrogen peroxide molecules form more stable complexes with the phosphate groups of the DNA backbone than water molecules do.
Sucralose is a commonly employed artificial sweetener that appears to destabilize protein native structures. This is in direct contrast to the bio-preservative nature of its natural counterpart, sucrose, which enhances the stability of biomolecules against environmental stress. We have further explored the molecular interactions of sucralose as compared to sucrose to illuminate the origin of the differences in their bio-preservative efficacy. We show that the mode of interactions of sucralose and sucrose in bulk solution differ subtly using hydration dynamics measurement and computational simulation. Sucralose does not appear to disturb the native state of proteins for moderate concentrations (<0.2 M) at room temperature. However, as the concentration increases, or in the thermally stressed state, sucralose appears to differ in its interactions with protein leading to the reduction of native state stability. This difference in interaction appears weak. We explored the difference in the preferential exclusion model using time-resolved spectroscopic techniques and observed that both molecules appear to be effective reducers of bulk hydration dynamics. However, the chlorination of sucralose appears to slightly enhance the hydrophobicity of the molecule, which reduces the preferential exclusion of sucralose from the protein-water interface. The weak interaction of sucralose with hydrophobic pockets on the protein surface differs from the behavior of sucrose. We experimentally followed up upon the extent of this weak interaction using isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) measurements. We propose this as a possible origin for the difference in their bio-preservative properties.
Context. The formation of water on the dust grains in the interstellar medium may proceed with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as an intermediate. Recently gas-phase H2O2 has been detected in {rho} Oph A with an abundance of ~1E-10 relative to H2. Aims. We aim to reproduce the observed abundance of H2O2 and other species detected in {rho} Oph A quantitatively. Methods. We make use of a chemical network which includes gas phase reactions as well as processes on the grains; desorption from the grain surface through chemical reaction is also included. We run the model for a range of physical parameters. Results. The abundance of H2O2 can be best reproduced at ~6E5 yr, which is close to the dynamical age of {rho} Oph A. The abundances of other species such as H2CO, CH3OH, and O2 can be reasonably reproduced also at this time. In the early time the gas-phase abundance of H2O2 can be much higher than the current detected value. We predict a gas phase abundance of O2H at the same order of magnitude as H2O2, and an abundance of the order 1E-8 for gas phase water in {rho} Oph A. A few other species of interest are also discussed. Conclusions. We demonstrate that H2O2 can be produced on the dust grains and released into the gas phase through non-thermal desorption via surface exothermic reactions. The H2O2 molecule on the grain is an important intermediate in the formation of water. The fact that H2O2 is over-produced in the gas phase for a range of physical conditions suggests that its destruction channel in the current gas phase network may be incomplete.
In this paper the interaction of hydrogen molecules with atomic-sized superconducting nanojunctions is studied. It is demonstrated by conductance histogram measurements that the superconductors niobium, tantalum and aluminum show a strong interaction with hydrogen, whereas for lead a slight interaction is observed, and for tin and indium no significant interaction is detectable. For Nb, Ta and Pb subgap method is applied to determine the transmission eigenvalues of the nanojunctions in hydrogen environment. It is shown, that in Nb and Ta the mechanical behavior of the junction is spectacularly influenced by hydrogen reflected by extremely long conductance traces, but the electronic properties based on the transmission eigenvalues are similar to those of pure junctions. Evidences for the formation of a single-molecule bridge between the electrodes -- as in recently studied platinum hydrogen system -- were not found.
We extended previously recorded infrared spectra of singly deuterated hydrogen peroxide (HOOD) to the submm-wavelength region and derived accurate molecular parameters and a semi-empirical equilibrium structure. In total, more than 1500 ro-torsional HOOD transitions have been assigned between 6 and 120 cm$^{-1}$. We succeeded to analyze the accidental interaction between the torsional sub-states by measuring several perturbed transitions. In addition to the set of Watsonian parameters for each tunneling component, only two interaction constants were required to describe the spectrum. The $K_a$- and $J$-dependance of the torsional splitting could be determined also for the perturbed states.