DIAMINOPIMELIC ACID ANALOGUES 523 bis(dimethylamino)sebacic acid, NN'-diglycyldiaminosuberic acid and NN'-diglycyldiaminosebacic acid were all readily soluble in water, but were less active than diaminosuberic acid. It is also possible that permeability considerations play an important part in the assimilation of these compounds. SUMMARY 1. Methods are described for the synthesis of six aoc'-diaminodicarboxylic acids, homologues of aoc'diaaminopimelic acid. 2. These amino acids and some of their derivatives have been tested as antibacterial agents. The author wishes to thank Miss J. Horton for performing the biological testing. The author is also indebted to the Commonwealth of Australia Scientific and Industrial Research Organization for a scholarship held during the course of this work. Dr T. S. Work is thanked for advice throughout the course ofthis work and the Medical Research Council for hospitality during the tenure of the CSIRO scholarship.
Summary.-Serum polyamine oxidase (EC 1.4.3.4) is known to react in vitro with radio-labelled spermine4+ to produce di-oxidized spermine which must incorporate the label. Di-oxidized spermine was compatible with a radio-labelled compound2+ separated from the reaction mixture by ion-exchange chromatography. The compound was measured and had a half-life of about 2-3 h in tissue culture medium. It also rapidly and tightly bound to an unidentified serum component (gel-filtration chromatography indicated a complex of mol. wt 70,000) so that dissociation required treatment with strong acid (ION HCI). Findings suggest that the di-oxidized spermine, in either its free cationic or bound form, potently arrested cell proliferation. This arrest was non-cytotoxic and was confined to the G1 phase of the cell cycle. Products of di-oxidized spermine autodegradation, including trace amounts of stable and cytotoxic acrolein (arrested S phase), were unlikely to have contributed significantly to the arrest.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.