Category Archives: Chemistry

Platform for cyclizing peptides promises to increase efficiency of early-stage drug discovery

BOSTON , June 18, 2012 /CNW/ - Encycle Therapeutics, a MaRS Innovation spin-off company, has created a ground-breaking chemistry platform for cyclizing peptides that promises to increase the efficiency of the early-stage drug discovery process.

Peptides have long been sought after as therapeutics due to their high specificity they can hit specific cellular targets, especially complex protein-protein interaction targets implicated in cancer, cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders.

In their linear form, however, peptides are unstable. When used as drug-delivery agents, they break down before reaching therapeutic targets or fail to permeate cell walls, presenting a long-standing challenge to medicinal chemists.

Encycle's breakthrough chemistry platform stabilizes linear peptides for drug development by cyclizing them. This process has demonstrably increased the drug-like properties of these molecules, increasing their stability in the body and providing a higher degree of cell permeability. The platform adapts to any linear peptide input and has the power to generate libraries of compounds to facilitate drug discovery and development.

This technology, discovered in Professor Andrei Yudin 's chemistry laboratory at the University of Toronto , will be developed with the collaboration of Professor Eric Marsault, specialized in medicinal chemistry at the Institut de Pharmacologie de Sherbrooke of Universit de Sherbrooke. Together, they will demonstrate that Encycle's foundational chemistry technology functions for a wide variety of peptides and that the platform can hit therapeutic targets of interest. Encycle will then be well positioned to pursue discovery-stage relationships with the pharmaceutical partners involved in the project around targets of their choosing.

"It costs over $1 billion to bring a new drug to market under the current high through-put pharmaceutical discovery model," says Yudin, professor of Chemistry at U of T and Encycle Founder. "Instead of randomly searching millions of compounds, Encycle's platform will allow us to design a peptide molecule with small molecule properties, such as stability and cell permeability, while remaining more likely to interact with a targeted therapeutic area. In theory, this approach would save time, money and reduce overhead risk."

"The approach pioneered by Andrei Yudin is remarkable for its efficiency in the synthesis of macrocycles, which are otherwise very difficult to reach and thus difficult to exploit in drug discovery," says Marsault. "This collaboration will unlock the potential of this class and provide much-needed new classes of drug candidates able to mimic the natural structural elements of proteins."

"This innovative project is a successful result of our established commitment towards technology transfer of excellent research and partnering with the private and public sectors," says Jacques Beauvais , vice-rector of research at the Universit de Sherbrooke.

The project has received $1 million in seed funding, largely derived through The Qubec Consortium for Drug Discovery's funding programs, and has attracted interest from four pharmaceutical companies.

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Encycle Therapeutics Launches Ground-Breaking Chemistry Platform

Cytec Wins EPA Presidential Green Chemistry Award

Woodland Park, New Jersey, June 18, 2012 - Today, Cytec Industries Inc. (CYT) was awarded the top honor in green chemistry, the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award. The award, created by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), recognizes companies that have pioneered sustainable technologies that incorporate the principles of green chemistry. Cytec`s MAX HT scale control technology enables greener conditions within the Bayer process, a process used for converting bauxite ore to alumina, the primary raw material for aluminum. The innovation reduces pollution at the source in addition to reducing energy use and waste generation. "Cytec has been a pioneer in developing innovative solutions for the mining industry while maintaining a focus on sustainable technologies. We are honored to receive such a prestigious award from the EPA," said Shane Fleming, Cytec`s Chairman, President, and CEO.

Today`s green chemistry award recognizes one of the many technology innovations Cytec has achieved within its In Process Separation business segment. MAX HT Bayer Sodalite Scale Inhibitor is the first scale inhibitor product in the market for this application and solves a legacy production challenge within the alumina industry. This technology provides benefits by reducing or eliminating the scale formation in heat exchangers resulting in higher heat transfer rates while reducing energy consumption and waste generation. "The realized energy saving for the combined customers currently utilizing our MAX HT technology is approximately 47 trillion Btu, which is the equivalent of up to 8 billion pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) not released to the atmosphere," said Martin Court, Cytec`s Vice President, In Process Separation business. Martin added, "Fewer cleaning cycles also result in a realized annual hazardous waste reduction of up to 200 million pounds in total for all of the current operations using this product."

Cytec`s sustainability strategy is focused on developing innovative and environmentally sustainable products that compete in a global economy; achieving the highest standards of safety, health and environmental stewardship and operational excellence. The company uses business-specific market drivers and best practices to drive the sustainability efforts.

Corporate Profile Cytec`s vision is to deliver specialty chemical and material technologies beyond our customers` imagination. Our focus on innovation, advanced technology and application expertise enables us to develop, manufacture and sell products that change the way our customers do business. Our pioneering products perform specific and important functions for our customers, enabling them to offer innovative solutions to the industries that they serve. Our products serve a diverse range of end markets including aerospace composites, structural adhesives, automotive and industrial coatings, electronics, inks, mining and plastics.

Contact: Jodi Allen Communications and Investor Relations (973) 357-3283

The owner of this announcement warrants that: (i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and (ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.

Source: Cytec Industries Inc via Thomson Reuters ONE HUG#1620380

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Cytec Wins EPA Presidential Green Chemistry Award

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Stars need to work on chemistry

The saltpetre men of the 17th century could be described as the first biochemists. But they could also be described as a ‘rowdy and undesirable’ lot, hated and feared for the disruption and distress they caused in their search for their precious namesake. Lars Ohrstrom tells the story of potassium nitrate in this week’s Chemistry in its element podcast.

                  

Source:
http://prospect.rsc.org/blogs/cw/?feed=rss2

In the June podcast, we’re cooking with science – we’ve got sun-baked solar cells, flambeed pharmaceuticals and a silicon spread, all washed down with some champagne science and a well-stirred Suzuki. Mmm… get it while it’s hot

                  

Source:
http://prospect.rsc.org/blogs/cw/?feed=rss2

LOS ANGELES UCLA psychobiology major Anantha Singarajah admits she disliked chemistry before taking professor Neil Garg's popular undergraduate organic chemistry course (Chemistry 14D) this quarter.

"Chem 14A was the first class I took as a first-year, and it was disheartening," she said. "By the end of 14C, I could not wait to get it over with. However, I had heard good things about 14D with Neil Garg and waited until spring quarter especially to take it with him. This class is just as amazing as everyone describes it, and now I enjoy chemistry. Professor Garg engages you, and he brings himself to your level so you achieve full comprehension. I can say that Chem 14D has been one of my favorite classes at UCLA."

You can see that joy in "Remember the Mechs," a music video that Singarajah and three of her classmates produced as an extra-credit assignment. As most undergraduates in the sciences know by now, students in Garg's course are given the option of making their own music videos about organic chemistry, with lyrics containing mostly technical information about chemical structure, reactions and synthesis.

Maria-Kassandra "Kassey" Coronel, a psychobiology major who helped create "Remember the Mechs" with Singarajah, said that because of this course, she now finds herself "falling back in love with learning."

"Who knew putting a chem spin on an old song could be so educational?" Coronel said. "What's funny is that after making the video, I realized every time the instrumental came up on my playlist, I found myself rapping my chem lyrics instead of the original ones by Fort Minor.

"Professor Garg is without a doubt the best professor I have had at UCLA. He finds revolutionary ways to combine what college students like music videos, technology and expressing ourselves with what they need to know: organic chemistry. His passion for teaching and dedication to students is such a breath of fresh air, and it really shows when so many students, like me, are even more inspired to learn. What I love most about organic chemistry is it combines problem-solving and deduction skills with creativity, and gives me that great feeling that I'm accomplishing something meaningful. Shhh! I'm an O-chem nerd at heart now! If UCLA had a chemistry minor, I would do it in a heartbeat."

When Garg gave his students the guidelines for the music video assignment, he first showed them "Chemistry Jock," a video produced by his students in 2010 that is now approaching 60,000 views on YouTube. (Its creators, Justin Banaga, Kimberly Bui and Yannick Goeb, are graduating from UCLA this month, and all will attend graduate school.) The classroom echoed with laughter throughout the video, and one student gasped, "How did they do that?"

Then they went to work. For Singarajah, Coronel, Oz Davis and Brian Dickey, that meant 6:30 a.m. meetings that resulted in "Remember the Mechs," which itself has a few "how did they do that?" moments. (The "mechs," Coronel explained, refer to the mechanisms that show the step-by-step occurrences of a particular reaction, given certain chemical conditions.)

A common reaction among people who watch the chemistry music videos made by Garg's students is, "I love them, but what do the lyrics mean?" The answer is that they are about various chemical reactions the undergraduates study in organic chemistry.

Garg said he is amazed by the quality and creativity of the videos. Among this year's best are "Payphone," by Karla Canizales, China Magno and Anuvir Singh, (with beautiful lead vocals by Canizales) and "Hey There Neil Garg" by Firuz Yumul, Aaron Lalehzarian, Neda Ghassemi and Tianna Wilson.

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Chemistry you can dance to