Ricerc@Sapienza

Anionic adducts of 1,3,5-trinitrobenzene (TNB) with deprotonated pyrrolidine (Pyr), imidazole (Im), acetone (Ac) and acetylacetone (Acac) have been delivered into the gas phase by electrospray ionization.The so-formed ions, TNB-Nu?(Nu = Pyr, Im, Ac, Acac), have been interrogated by IRMPD spectroscopy inthe fingerprint range. DFT calculations at B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level have been performed for a survey of candidate structures. All adducts conform to anionic sigma-complexes (Meisenheimer complexes).

Anthocyanins are widespread in plants and flowers, being responsible for their different colouring. Two representative members of this family have been selected, cyanidin 3-O-β-glucopyranoside and 3-O-β-galactopyranoside, and probed by mass spectrometry based methods, testing their performance in discriminating between the two epimers.

Kinetically inert platinum(IV) complexes are receiving growing attention as promising candidates in the effort to develop safe and valid alternatives to classical square-planar Pt(II) complexes currently used in antineoplastic therapy. Their antiproliferative activity requires intracellular Pt(IV)–Pt(II) reduction (activation by reduction).

The chemical properties accounting for the operation of a valuable matrix used in matrix assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) to perform mass spectrometry imaging (MSI), namely 3-(4,5-bis(dimethylamino)napthalen-1-yl)furan-2,5-dione (4-maleicanhydridoproton sponge, MAPS), have been elucidated also by comparison with the parent molecule 1,8-Bis(dimethylamino)naphthalene (so-called Proton Sponge, PS). Both compounds present the bis(dimethylamino) groups, apt to efficiently trap a proton imparting positive charge.

Many plants of the genus Allium are widely cultivated and consumed for their nutraceutical and health-enhancing bioactive components effective in many metabolic and infectious diseases. In particular, Allium sativum L. (garlic), the most economically important Allium species, is known to present volatile, comparatively polar sulfur-containing compounds responsible for both the typical garlic aroma and antimicrobial property.

The monofunctional primary complexes cis-[PtCl(NH3)2(L)]+, formed by the reaction of cisplatin, a major chemotherapeutic agent, with four nucleobases L, i.e., uracil (U), 2-thiouracil (2SU), 4-thiouracil (4SU), and 2,4-dithiouracil (24dSU), have been studied by a combination of infrared multiple photon dissociation (IRMPD) action spectroscopy in both the fingerprint (900-1900 cm-1) and the N-H/O-H stretching (3000-3800 cm-1) ranges, energy-resolved collision-induced dissociation (CID) mass spectrometry, and density functional calculations at the B3LYP/LACVP/6-311G** level.

Celery is a widely used vegetable known for its peculiar sensorial and nutritional properties. Here, the white celery (Apium graveolens L.) “sedano bianco di Sperlonga” PGI ecotype was investigated to obtain the metabolic profile of its edible parts (blade leaves and petioles) also related to quality, freshness and biological properties. A multi-methodological approach, including NMR, MS, HPLC-PDA, GC–MS and spectrophotometric analyses, was proposed to analyse celery extracts.