Breaking the Link Between Negative Emotion and Unhealthy Eating: the Role of Emotion Regulation

Stressful experiences frequently lead to increased consumption of unhealthy foods, high in sugar and fat yet low in nutrients. Can emotion regulation help break this link? In a laboratory experiment (N = 200), participants were encouraged to ruminate on a current, distressing personal problem, followed by instruction to use a specific emotion regulation strategy for managing feelings around that problem (challenge appraisal, relaxation/distraction, imagined social support, no-instruction control). Participants then spent 15 min on an anagram task in which 80% of items were unsolvable-a frustrating situation offering a second, implicit opportunity to use the regulation strategy. During the anagram task they had free access to a snack basket containing various options. Analyses revealed significant differences among regulation conditions in consumption of candy versus healthy snack options; challenge appraisal led to the healthiest snack choices, imagined social support to the least healthy snack choices.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-023-00190-5.

Structure-Activity Relationship-based Optimization of Small Temporin-SHf Analogs with Potent Antibacterial Activity

Short antimicrobial peptides represent attractive compounds for the development of new antibiotic agents. Previously, we identified an ultrashort hydrophobic and phenylalanine-rich peptide, called temporin-SHf, representing the smallest natural amphibian antimicrobial peptide known to date. Here, we report on the first structure-activity relationship study of this peptide. A series of temporin-SHf derivatives containing insertion of a basic arginine residue as well as residues containing neutral hydrophilic (serine and α-hydroxymethylserine) and hydrophobic (α-methyl phenylalanine and p-(t)butyl phenylalanine) groups were designed to improve the antimicrobial activity, and their α-helical structure was investigated by circular dichroism and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Three compounds were found to display higher antimicrobial activity with the ability to disrupt (permeabilization/depolarization) the bacterial membrane while retaining the nontoxic character of the parent peptide toward rat erythrocytes and human cells (THP-1 derived macrophages and HEK-293). Antimicrobial assays were carried out to explore the influence of serum and physiological salt concentration on peptide activity. Analogs containing d-amino acid residues were also tested. Our study revealed that [p-(t)BuF(2), R(5)]SHf is an attractive ultrashort candidate that is highly potent (bactericidal) against Gram-positive bacteria (including multidrug resistant S. aureus) and against a wider range of clinically interesting Gram-negative bacteria than temporin-SHf, and also active at physiological salt concentrations and in 30% serum.

Z-Selective olefin metathesis on peptides: investigation of side-chain influence, preorganization, and guidelines in substrate selection

Olefin metathesis has emerged as a promising strategy for modulating the stability and activity of biologically relevant compounds; however, the ability to control olefin geometry in the product remains a challenge. Recent advances in the design of cyclometalated ruthenium catalysts has led to new strategies for achieving such control with high fidelity and Z selectivity, but the scope and limitations of these catalysts on substrates bearing multiple functionalities, including peptides, remained unexplored. Herein, we report an assessment of various factors that contribute to both productive and nonproductive Z-selective metathesis on peptides. The influence of sterics, side-chain identity, and preorganization through peptide secondary structure are explored by homodimerization, cross metathesis, and ring-closing metathesis. Our results indicate that the amino acid side chain and identity of the olefin profoundly influence the activity of cyclometalated ruthenium catalysts in Z-selective metathesis. The criteria set forth for achieving high conversion and Z selectivity are highlighted by cross metathesis and ring-closing metathesis on diverse peptide substrates. The principles outlined in this report are important not only for expanding the scope of Z-selective olefin metathesis to peptides but also for applying stereoselective olefin metathesis in general synthetic endeavors.

Carboxylate-assisted C(sp³)-H activation in olefin metathesis-relevant ruthenium complexes

The mechanism of C-H activation at metathesis-relevant ruthenium(II) benzylidene complexes was studied both experimentally and computationally. Synthesis of a ruthenium dicarboxylate at a low temperature allowed for direct observation of the C-H activation step, independent of the initial anionic ligand-exchange reactions. A first-order reaction supports an intramolecular concerted metalation-deprotonation mechanism with ΔG(‡)(298K) = 22.2 ± 0.1 kcal·mol(-1) for the parent N-adamantyl-N'-mesityl complex. An experimentally determined ΔS(‡) = -5.2 ± 2.6 eu supports a highly ordered transition state for carboxylate-assisted C(sp(3))-H activation. Experimental results, including measurement of a large primary kinetic isotope effect (k(H)/k(D) = 8.1 ± 1.7), agree closely with a computed six-membered carboxylate-assisted C-H activation mechanism where the deprotonating carboxylate adopts a pseudo-apical geometry, displacing the aryl ether chelate. The rate of cyclometalation was found to be influenced by both the electronics of the assisting carboxylate and the ruthenium ligand environment.

Enthalpy/entropy contributions to conformational KIEs: theoretical predictions and comparison with experiment

Previous theoretical studies of Mislow’s doubly-bridged biphenyl ketone 1 and dihydrodimethylphenanthrene 2 have determined significant entropic contributions to their normal (1) and inverse (2) conformational kinetic isotope effects (CKIEs). To broaden our investigation, we have used density functional methods to characterize the potential energy surfaces and vibrational frequencies for ground and transition structures of additional systems with measured CKIEs, including [2.2]-metaparacyclophane-d (3), 1,1'-binaphthyl (4), 2,2'-dibromo-[1,1'-biphenyl]-4,4'-dicarboxylic acid (5), and the 2-(N,N,N-trimethyl)-2'-(N,N-dimethyl)-diaminobiphenyl cation (6). We have also computed CKIEs in a number of systems whose experimental CKIEs are unknown. These include analogs of 1 in which the C=O groups have been replaced with CH₂ (7), O (8), and S (9) atoms and ring-expanded variants of 2 containing CH₂ (10), O (11), S (12), or C=O (13) groups. Vibrational entropy contributes to the CKIEs in all of these systems with the exception of cyclophane 3, whose isotope effect is predicted to be purely enthalpic in origin and whose Bigeleisen-Mayer ZPE term is equivalent to ΔΔH^‡. There is variable correspondence between these terms in the other molecules studied, thus identifying additional examples of systems in which the Bigeleisen-Mayer formalism does not correlate with ΔH/ΔS dissections.