Physicochemical properties and natural occurrences

Walker, J.D., M. Enache, and J.C. Dearden. 2007. Quantitative cationic-activity relationships for predicting toxicity of metal ions from physicochemical properties and natural occurrence levels. QSAR Combin. Sci. 26 522-527. 

QICARs use the metal-Iigand bonding characteristics to predict metal ion toxicity (Newman et al., 1998). In general, the models developed for metals with the same valence were better than those combining mono-, di-, and trivalent metals. The metal ion characteristics included a softness parameter and the absolute value of the log of the first hydrolysis constant. The first stable reduced state also contributed to several two-variable models. Since most metals can interact in biological systems as cations and because toxicity of metals depends on cationic activity, the term (quantitative) cationic-activity relationships or (Q)CARs also describes the qualitative and quantitative relationships for predicting the bioconcentration, biosorption, or toxicity of metals, from their physicochemical properties and natural occurrence levels. 

This chapter focuses on the occurrence and the physicochemical properties of glycolipids in Nature. Owing to space limitations, the presented overview must be incomplete, and, thus, mainly publications of the past 15 years are included. However, all review articles cited herein inform the interested reader about earlier work. Although lipopolysaccharides (LPS), lipoara-binomannan (LAM), lipomannan, lipoglycans, and lipoteichoic acids are not understood as glycolipids per definition, their occurrence and properties are also described in this chapter. GPI-anchored lipids is a main topic ofO Chap. 7.4. 

Nevertheless, it is now understood that HLB essentially depends on the surfactant, while the phase behavior and emulsion properties are also related to the water and oil phase nature, as well as to the temperature (100). The temperature was the preferred variable in the case of nonionic surfactants which are very sensitive to it, and an experimentally based concept was first introduced by Shinoda to quantify the formulation, i.e., the phase inversion temperature (PIT) (105, 106). It is known that the hydrophilicity of a nonionic surfactant decreses when temperature decreases. In water solution there exists a temperature at which the surfactant is no longer soluble and thus produces a separate phase. This so-called cloud point occurrence is related to the Shinoda PIT, which is essentially the same phenomenon, but in the presence of an oil phase whose nature could facilitate this separation and make it happen at a lower temperature. Although the PIT is limited to the liquid water temperature range of nonionic surfactants, its introduction was an important milestone because it was related not only to the surfactant, but also to the whole physicochemical environment (107), a feature that was shown to be essential by Winsor. 

The most characteristic property of lipids from a physicochemical point of view is their amphiphilic behaviour resulting from the occurrence of a water-repelling (hydrophobic) part and a water-attracting (hydrophilic) part of the molecule. Our environment is full of interfaces dominated by lipids - Nature s most surface-active compounds - from the envelope of every living cell to the surface of the sea. Numerous biological functions and technical applications are based on the amphiphilic properties of lipids. Impor-... 

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