CINTACS Newsletter of the Cincinnati Section of the American Chemical Society  Vol. 37, No. 7 - March 2000

We are fortunate to have the opportunity to hear from a leading expert on taste biochemistry this month, Dr. Robert Margolskee. Our meeting is also sponsored by a local company with great expertise in this field, Givaudan Roure. We thank them for bringing such a fascinating topic to the section. We will utilize, for the fourth time, our Embassy Suites / social hour format which continues to be popular among the section. Please note the meeting will start a half hour later than previously (5:30 pm for discussion groups). Although we had hoped the new Givaudan site would be ready in time for a section meeting, we now anticipate it will be a candidate meeting site for next year. Thanks also to Phil Christenson for his hard work in making most of the arrangements this month.

This months meeting will also feature two excellent discussion group lectures. Anny-Odile Colson will discuss her recent work on Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone receptor modelling in the Computational Chemistry Discussion Group. Dr. Larry Wilson will present a lecture on combinatorial chemistry in the Organic Discussion group. For those of you interested in new molecule discovery, please try to find time to hear one of these lectures. These discussions will highlight excellent technologies in modern molecular design, so I expect you will find these discussions highly stimulating.

Most of my comments in the past have concerned local section activities. Another benefit of your ACS membership is the opportunity to influence important chemistry activities nationally. Recently, I received a letter from the ACS President-Elect, Attila Pavlath, who strongly stressed his interest in providing programs and services that are more relevant to the needs of the membership. For perspective you can see a nice discussion from current President, Daryle Busch on the ACS organization where he outlines many of the current programs in the Jan. 3, 2000 C&E News. Dr. Pavlath was actively soliciting suggestions at the grass roots level of the society. Please consider sending him an e-mail with your suggestions as to how ACS national could better meet the needs of the membership WWW: http://www.pavlath.org, or Attila@pavlath.org. Through the process you may also discover new resources that you didn’t even know existed in the society. I have found the ACS web page very helpful in finding out more about our professional society. (http://www.acs.org)

Another Board Meeting was held in December and I was again impressed by all of the activities that are alive and well in the section. Our education programs are some of the best of any local section. I expect that Ed Fenlon’s expansive National Chemistry Week program will again compete for a national award. This program included an impressive 26 library demonstrations by 45 volunteers reaching 799 local residents. I could fill a few more pages on the other events and contests that were coordinated through this effort. Our Women Chemist’s Committee is having a very lively year with four meetings and one joint meeting with the local section. The Younger Chemists committee is extremely active with new leadership from Ron Horwitz Rhonda Patschke and continues to reach and attract younger members to the section. Also, I cannot say enough about the extraordinary efforts going on by Ray D’Alonzo and a large group of section members to put on the regional meeting in May. I know first hand how challenging it is to put on a major conference such as this and our section is now sponsoring its third of this magnitude in the last 10 years. These and many other local section programs provide key added value to our member’s professional lives, and are the focal point to the long term success of the section.

Please note the announcement for the May Party night. Try to include this event in your schedule at least as a minimum involvement with the exciting Regional Meeting activities. It is important to register early for this Party night event in particular. By doing so you will also be supporting the members of our society who are organizers of the regional meeting in May. I look forward to celebrating another successful year with the section. Also, I am looking forward to many of us joining in with the technical and social programs of our regional meeting.

As always, it is a pleasure seeing you and meeting new members at our monthly section meetings. Please keep your suggestions coming to both myself and the incoming chair Dr. Rick Fayter. We continue to have many opportunities to join various committees this year and next. Please contact us or the committee chairs directly.

F. Hal Ebetino
Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals
ebetino.fh@pg.com

THE CINTACS NEWSLETTER
Vol. 37, No. 7 March, 2000
Editor.........................Bruce S. Ault
Advertising......Sameer Choudhary

CINTACS is published nine times a year (September through May) by the Cincinnati Section of the American Chemical Society. All changes of address should be sent to Emel Yakali at Raymond Walters College, 9555 Plainfield Road, Cincinnati, OH 45236, phone 745-5686, FAX 745-5767, or email mc.acs@uc.edu.

SUBMISSION DEADLINES
The submission deadline for the May CINTACS is set for Monday, March 27, 2000. Electronic submission is strongly preferred. (except for original photos). All materials should be sent to:

Dr. Bruce Ault
Department of Chemistry
University of Cincinnati
Cincinnati, OH 45221
E-mail: bruce.ault@uc.edu

Program
 

5:30-6:15 PM	Computational Chemistry Discussion Group (Birch Room)  Dr. Anny-Odile Colson, Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals Specificity and Activity as a Basis for Biological Function: Binding and Activation Mechanisms in the Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone Receptor Organic Chemistry Discussion Group (Sycamore Room) Dr. Lawrence J. Wilson, Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals Solid Phase Organic Chemistry for Parallel Synthesis and Drug Discovery
6:00-6:30 PM	Registration ($12) and Social; when possible, please pay with exact change or by check
6:30-7:30 PM	Featured Speaker, Dr. Robert F. Margolskee  Tasteless mice and tasteful biochemistry: the roles of gustducin's subunits in taste transduction
7:30 - 8:30 PM	Mixer with Hors d’oeuvre and Open Bar

The Embassy Suites restaurant will be available for dining. Please make reservations with them directly if you would like to stay for dinner. Phone: 733-8900

Call the section answering line at (513) 622-3353 or e-mail cintacs.im@pg.com Include your name (complete with correct spelling), phone number and affiliation. Please specify if this is your first Cincinnati ACS meeting when making your reservation. All reservations must be received by noon, Monday, March 13, 2000. If you have any difficulties, please call Debbie Lewis at (513) 622-3353. As a reminder, if you decide you must miss a meeting after you have made reservations, please call to cancel. If you do not cancel, the Section will have to charge you because it will have been charged by the hotel. Payment will be received at the door. Guests are always welcome; emeritus, unemployed, new, and student members are half price.

From I-71, take Exit 15 (Pfeiffer Road), head west on Pfeiffer Road two blocks to Reed Hartman Highway. Turn right (north) on Reed Hartman, turn left on to Lake Forest Dr.

From I-275, take the Reed Hartman Exit, head south on Reed Hartman about two miles, take a right onto Lake Forest Dr.

Gustducin is a heterotrimeric transducin-like G protein selectively expressed in taste receptor cells. Transducin, a gustducin-regulated phosphodiesterase and bitter-responsive receptors that activate gustducin have also been identified in taste cells. These observations suggest that gustducin and transducin couple taste receptor activation to phosphodiesterase regulation of cyclic nucleotide levels. Other lines of evidence, however, suggest that inositol trisphosphate and Ca⁺⁺ are involved in taste cell responses to bitter and sweet compounds. To determine if gustducin’s ?? subunits activate phospholipase C we used single cell PCR and differential hybridization to identify gustducin’s components. We determined that G1 and G3 colocalized with -gustducin in taste cells and we identified a new G protein subunit (G13) that colocalized absolutely with -gustducin. Gustducin heterotrimers (-gustducin/G1/G13) were activated by taste cell membranes plus bitter denatonium. Antibodies to G13 blocked the denatonium-induced increase of inositol trisphosphate in taste tissue. To test the in vivo roles of gustducin’s subunits we generated homozygous -gustducin null mice and determined that they have reduced behavioral and electrophysiological responses to bitter and sweet compounds - G13 knockout mice are being generated. We conclude that gustducin is a principal mediator of both bitter and sweet signal transduction: -gustducin regulates phosphodiesterase and 13 activates phospholipase C.

Dr. Margolskee is an Associate Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute of Mount Sinai's School of Medicine. He is also Professor of Physiology & Biophysics, and Pharmacology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine of New York City. His research interests focus on the molecular mechanisms of taste transduction, utilizing molecular biology, biochemistry, electrophysiology and transgenesis to study the mechanisms of signal transduction in mammalian taste cells. In 1992 he discovered gustducin, a taste cell expressed G protein, his subsequent work has demonstrated that gustducin is critical to the transduction of compounds that humans consider bitter or sweet.

Dr. Margolskee received his A.B. in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from Harvard College, and his M.D.-Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics from Johns Hopkins. He carried out postdoctoral studies in Biochemistry with Dr. Paul Berg at Stanford. His first faculty appointment was in Neuroscience at the former Roche Institute of Molecular Biology, where he also held an adjunct appointment in the Department of Biological Sciences of Columbia University. In 1996 Dr. Margolskee relocated to the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and in 1997 he was selected to be an Associate Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Dr. Lawrence J. Wilson
Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals
8700 Mason Montgomery Road
Mason, OH 45040-9462
E-mail: wilsonlj@pg.com

Performing organic synthetic chemistry transformations on a solid support offers many advantages including the ability to perform multiple steps without intermediate work-up or purification processes, pushing reactions to completion via utilization of excess reagents, and automation of the chemical synthesis. Since the early 1990’s there has been an exponential growth in the number of publications from both industry and academia. There are now many examples of organic transformations beyond amide bond formation which have been successfully applied to solid supports, including the synthesis of several complex natural products. The pharmaceutical industry has been using solid phase chemistry to perform parallel synthesis in drug discovery based efforts which include lead discovery and optimization. The advent of high-through put screening as well as the "merger-mania" business environment has placed a premium on the ability to synthesize larger sets of compounds in a shorter period of time. We will discuss our general approaches towards the synthesis of parallel sets of compounds for drug discovery applications. The methods for the solid phase synthesis of several molecular types (scaffolds) will be presented in perspective to our efforts in this field. We will also show how these methods have been used to make parallel libraries of various sizes from hundreds to thousands of compounds and highlight some of the technologies that have enabled this effort.

About the Organic Discussion Group Leader

Larry Wilson received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Emory University in 1992 under the direction of Dennis C. Liotta. His thesis involved the invention and elaboration of stereoselective methods to construct nucleosides, including nitrogen glycosylation reactions. In 1992, he joined the laboratory of professor Paul A. Wender at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA as a post-doctoral associate, where he worked in the area of enediynes and DNA cleaving agents. He joined the Procter & Gamble company in 1994 as a medicinal chemist in the Pharmaceuticals Division. He is currently working in the development of combinatorial and parallel synthetic methods useful in drug discovery applications.

Anny-Odile Colson
Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals
8700 Mason-Montgomery Road
Mason, Ohio 45040

The thyrotropin releasing hormone receptor (TRHR) is a member of a large family of transmembrane proteins (GPCR). Guided by mutagenesis and simulation studies, we have identified the transmembrane binding pocket of the ligand TRH. An extracellular view of the model however suggests that the ligand is fully buried, raising the question of the mechanism by which TRH accesses its transmembrane binding pocket. In today’s presentation I will be discussing results from molecular dynamics simulations and propose a role for the extracellular domain of the receptor in the binding mechanism of TRH. A mechanism of activation for TRHR elicited upon binding of the ligand will also be discussed.

• Unemployed?
• Thinking about a change?
• Seeking chemists?
• Aware of the need to be current on career opportunities?

Contact Jan Strobel at jds@smbimilk.com

Oh, the weather outside was frightful but the chemistry inside so delightful! That was the refrain of twelve teachers attending the meeting on January 19^th at St. Henry’s High School in northern Kentucky. While some St. Henry’s students led tours of the laboratories of their new building, our host, Cathy Fike, gifted everyone with a packet of 50 "glitter" bonds for molecular model building. Frank Huss countered with a gift of a Canadian nickel and a demo on Curie point. But this was a make-and-take night. Ed Escudero gave each teacher an old Apple IIe drive to disassemble and convert into a magnetic stirrer. It was easy, cheap and demystifies the device for students. Mike Geyer and Linda Ford provided all the materials for making small-scale gas generators, think tubes, and the magic arrow card for reversible reactions. Linda also shared her videotape of the demonstration of cleaning up an oil spill with human hair which was published in Chem13 News. If this short paragraph has got you thinking, "I wish I had been there!", you have another chance to become a part of this professional sharing.

Our next meeting is on Tuesday, March 28, at St. Xavier High School (600 W. North Bend Road). We will tour the new science facilities and then share favorite software and audiovisual materials. The science classrooms are equipped with large monitors linked to computers, VCR, LD, and DVD. Our hosts are Sally Vonderbrink (svonderbri@aol.com) and Julie Hust (jhust@stxavier-cincy.org). We always begin with a social time at 6:30 PM and the meeting begins at 7 PM. For new teachers, it is a great way to meet colleagues and to pick up some very "cool" teaching ideas.

Teachers should seriously consider attending the 16^th Biennial Conference on Chemical Education from July 30 through August 3 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This conference is inexpensive to attend (approximately $500 will cover registration, lodging, food and workshop fees) and delivers a rich professional experience. The local section through its grants’ committee could help fund your attendance. Contact Ginger Tannenbaum (tannenbaum@fuse.net) for more information on grant application procedures.

Please address any questions and comments for the chemical educators’ discussion group to Linda Ford (lkford@fuse.net).

Sign up now for the Local Section Party Night to be held in conjunction with the 32nd Central Regional Meeting. Please note the registration deadline is April 20th. Come meet many of the CMACS 2000 participants as well as your local section colleagues!

Newport Aquarium Tour
4:00-6:00 PM, Thursday, May 18, 2000
Cost: $14/person, includes transportation from meeting site and back

Meeting Reception at Marriott Hotel, Covington, KY
6:00-8:00 PM, Thursday, May 18, 2000
Cost: $16/person, includes open bar and pasta station

Reservations: E-mail your reservations to cintacs.im@pg.com Include your name (complete with correct spelling), phone number and affiliation. Please specify if this is your first Cincinnati ACS meeting when making your reservation. All reservations must be received by noon, April 20th, 2000. If you have any difficulties, please call Debbie Lewis at (513) 622-3353. As a reminder, if you decide you must miss a meeting after you have made reservations, please call to cancel. If you do not cancel, the Section will have to charge you because it will have been charged by the hotel. Payment will be received at the door. Guests are always welcome; emeritus, unemployed, new, and student members are half price.

Plan now to attend the 32nd Central Regional Meeting, to be held May 16-19 at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington. The advance registration form is available on the meeting Web site (www.cmacs2000.org) and will also appear with the meeting program in the March 27 issue of C&E News. The meeting offers something for everyone! Highlighted below is just a small sampling.

As part of a two-day symposium on Chemical Sensors, the CMACS 2000 Award in Chemical Sensors will be presented to Leland C. Clark, Jr., Professor Emeritus, University of Cincinnati. Sponsored by YSI, Inc., the award recognizes Prof. Clark's pioneering work in the field of chemical sensors, especially in the development of the oxygen sensor and the first biosensor. Prof. Clark will kick off the sensor symposium with a talk entitled, "When Necessity Was the Father of Invention."

Procter & Gamble scientists will present their acclaimed, daylong workshop, "Professional Analytical Chemists in Industry: A Problem-Solving Course." Participants will learn about industrial careers in analytical chemistry and practice problem-solving approaches applicable to all chemical subdisciplines. We encourage undergraduates to make this course part of their meeting schedule; it is free with sign-up via the advance registration form. For more information, see www.pg.com/about/rnd/ashort.htm.

Three high-quality, reasonably priced short courses/workshops are scheduled for the Monday and/or Tuesday preceding the meeting. Cost information is on the meeting Web site and sign-up will be via the advance registration form. They are:

This widely acclaimed 2-day ACS course will be offered locally at a substantial discount (over 50% savings!!) to what you would pay at Pittcon or at the ACS National Meeting. For further information and registration materials, send an e-mail, write, or telephone to (REGISTRATION DEADLINE March 24):

white.dr.2@pg.com
D. Richard White
The Procter & Gamble Company
Winton Hill Technical Center
6210 Center Hill Ave.
Cincinnati, OH 45224

Who Should Attend This Course

Researchers, practitioners, technicians, and others who are currently using LC, LC/MS, or plan to use LC/MS in the future, and those dealing with data produced by LC/MS. Chromatographers just embarking on the technique will gain insight to select the appropriate instrument for different applications, and those currently using LC/MS and its data will develop an appreciation for, and an understanding of, the complexities of the data generated.

Key Topics You’ll Learn:

• Solvent delivery systems, columns, interfaces, ionization methods, and mass analyzers; methods; and data evaluation
• What types of instruments are available for various types of analytes
• What are the latest developments in instrumentation
• How to get structural information from LC/MS
• How to deal with multiple-charge ions
• What changes may have to be made when porting an LC method to an LC/MS method
• Types of mass analyzers, and which is most suitable for a given analysis by LC/MS
• Steps in the interpretation of collision-induced dissociation (CID) data
• How ions are formed in an LC/MS analysis
• Approaches to problem solving with LC/MS

ACS Members: $400 (as compared to $845 at an ACS National Meeting)
Nonmembers: $500 (as compared to $945 at an ACS National Meeting)

O. David Sparkman has been teaching ACS Short Courses in mass spectrometry since 1978 and is consistently one of the highest rated ACS instructors in the program. He has numerous publications in computer applications to mass spectrometry and has been involved in the development of a number of several different data systems for hyphenated techniques in mass spectrometry.

Frederick E. Klink, currently a consultant in LC, LC/MS, and other scientific instrumentation has worked with a variety of industrial clients. He has 16 years of experience in the analytical instrument industry, where he held a variety of technical and management positions.

Minimum Age to attend: 21
RSVP by Friday March 24.
by email to henry.irving@mbco.com

For further information please contact Irving Henry by e-mail.

Contact Jeni Thomas (hodgesjr@email.uc.edu) or Mike Haven (havenm@email.uc.edu) about van transportation from/to UC campus, if interested.

Directions to Miller Brewing Co. posted on the Cincinnati ACS website: http://www.che.uc.edu/acs/cinacs.html

The Section Awards Committee request nominations for the Outstanding Service Award. This award is to be presented annually to a member of the Section in recognition of outstanding service to the Cincinnati Section and the field of chemistry. Nominees for this award must be members or affiliates of the Cincinnati Section. The 1999 Outstanding Service Award will be presented at the Party Night Section meeting in May. The deadline for nominations is April 1, 2000.

Nominations for this award should be sent to:

Henry R. Greeb, Awards Chair
e-Mail:hgreeb@one.net

Calling all chemists - Senior Professionals and Graduate Students - to apply for one of the two American Chemical Society Congressional Fellowships and a Science Policy Fellowship. Work in the Congress or ACS using your scientific and technical expertise. Gain first-hand knowledge of the government and contribute to decision-making. For a brochure contact: ACS Office of Society Services, 1155 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036. Phone: 1-800-227-5558; E-mail: help@acs.org; Information on the Internet: http://www.acs.org/government