Directly acting mutagens formed from N-nitroso-N-(formylmethyl)alkylamines (3) were isolated and identified as N-nitroso-N-alkyl-1-hydroxyimino-2-oxoethylamines (4). Their structures were elucidated on the basis of nuclear magnetic resonance spectra and confirmed by derivatization to the crystalline 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones (5). Compounds 4 (alkyl =ethyl and butyl) were strongly mutagenic to...

Euonymus alatus diacylglycerol acetyltransferase ( Ea DAcT) synthesizes the unusually structured 3-acetyl-1,2-diacylgylycerols (acetyl-TAGs) found in the seeds of a few plant species. A member of the membrane-bound O-acyltransferase (MBOAT) family, Ea DAcT transfers the acetyl group from acetyl-CoA to sn -1,2 diacylglycerol (DAG) to produce acetyl-TAGs. In vitro assays demonstrated that the enz...

Self-assembling heparin nanoparticles have attracted much attention as promising drug carriers for various drugs, genes and imaging agents. In the present investigation, we found that heparin nanoparticles are selective Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) antagonists and have a much greater anti-inflammatory effect than native heparin. More specifically, we developed self-assembling nanoparticles comp...