MSRC

The Molecular Structure Research Center of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia was founded in 1994.

The Molecular Structure Research Center of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia carries out studies in two directions:

• spectral and structural study of biologically active compounds,
• development of instrumental and methodological methods of structural and spectral methods (nuclear magnetic resonance, optical spectroscopy and X-ray structural analysis).
  The reliability and accuracy of low-temperature diffraction experiments have significantly increased in X-ray structural laboratory research. Methods and software have been developed for the calculation of adjustments for the dynamic scattering and absorption of X-rays in crystals of any shape. The application of the developed methods in the study of the structure of CMR manganites made it possible to detect a weak correlation between structural parameters and magnetic phase transitions.
  Structural and conformational features of new 2-aryl and heteroproline derivatives were also investigated. Based on these studies and QSAR studies, high activity against HIV-1 reverse transcriptase enzyme and MYCOBACTERIUM TUBERCULOSIS bacterium nctamab was found for some compounds.
  As a result of the interaction of previously discovered nitrocomplexes of iron porphyrins with sulfides in the laboratory of optical spectroscopy, 6-coordinated nitro-complexes with a trans sulfide group were obtained for the first time, which are stable in the presence of sulfide vapors at room temperatures. In those systems, an atomic oxygen transfer reaction from the nitro group to the sulfide was found, leading to the formation of the corresponding sulfoxides and nitrosyl-iron porphyrins. The system models hemaproteins in which the iron ion is coordinated to a methionine amino acid residue.
  In the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Laboratory, the possibility of determining the dielectric permeability of the medium, as well as the magnitudes of electric fields in molecules, based on the spin-spin interaction constants of nuclei separated by a single bond, was demonstrated. The algorithm for determining the three-dimensional structure of molecules has been improved, which takes into account the difference in SSFS in homogeneous and liquid states. As a result, the accuracy of determining the structural parameters of molecules has increased by one order.

The main scientific direction.

1. Determination of the structure of organic compounds by various physicochemical methods, study of physical property-structure relationship, studies of structural phase transitions, biomimetic interactions and transitions in the coordination sphere of metalloporphyrins.

Main scientific achievements.

1. Mechanisms of biologically important reactions of nitric oxide with various oxygen-binding metalloporphyrins are elucidated;
2. The phenomenon of X-ray stimulated recrystallization of silver-porphyrins was discovered and explained;
3. It was shown for the first time that the dielectric constant of different solutions can be determined from the MMR spectrum and the magnitudes of electric fields present near atoms or chemical groups in molecules can be estimated.