The reactions of 3-Butyl-1,2-diphenylphosphindole with dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate

Unlike 1,2,5-triphenylphosphole, 3-butyl-1,2-diphenylphosphindole reacts smoothly with two molecules of dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate to give the phosphindole oxide, a yellow adduct and a colourless adduct. The case of the reaction is taken to indicate less lone pair interaction with the π-system in phosphindoles than in phospholes. The yellow adduct is shown to be a phosphindolium cyclopentadienylide, i.e. an adduct of the phosphindole and two molecules of the ester less one oxygen atom. The colourless adduct is shown to be a 1:2:1 adduct of the phosphindole, the ester and water and has a benzodihydrophosphonin structure. Mechanisms for the formation of both adducts are proposed. Adducts of this general type were previously unknown in organophosphorus chemistry.     

Restricted diffusion in silica particles measured by pulsed field gradient NMR

The restricted diffusion coefficient of water through porous silica is measured by pulsed field gradient (PFG) NMR as a function of loading in order to develop a model for self-diffusion at full pore filling in sol-gel-made porous silica particles. This model describes the pore or intraparticle diffusion coefficient as a function of particle porosity, tortuosity, and the steric hindrance applied on the molecules by the pore space. The particle morphology is characterized by nitrogen adsorption and an appropriate tortuosity model is chosen in comparison with literature data. To characterize the material, NMR relaxation and diffusion studies at different degrees of pore filling were carried out in relation to the silica/water adsorption isotherm.     

Off-Diagonal hypervirial relations

A generalization of a theorem on off-diagonal hypervirial relations is obtained and is used to demonstrate when to expect exact solutions of eigenvalue problems using the hypervirial method. Links are established between the hypervirial method and other approximation methods. The harmonic oscillator and hydrogen atom problems are given as examples.     

Observation of Na(+)-bound oligomers of quercetin in the gas phase

While developing a liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry method for the analysis of the flavonoid quercitin, it was observed that quercetin (3,3',4',5,7-pentahydroxyflavone) exhibited clustering in both the positive and negative ion mode. Two series of positive ion clusters were observed; the first series corresponds to singly charged [2M + Na](+) at m/z 627.2 to [13M + Na](+) at m/z 3947.5, while the second series corresponds to doubly charged [7M + 2Na](2+) at m/z 1080.4 to [25M + 2Na](2+) at m/z 3798.5. In the negative ion mode, the behavior of quercetin parallels that of apigenin (4',5,7-trihydroxyflavone) in that [M + NO(3)](-), [2M + NO(3)](-), and [3M + NO(3)](-) were observed at m/z 364.1, 666.0, and 968.9, respectively; in addition, quercitin clusters with chloride ions ([2M + Cl](-) at m/z 638.9 and [3M + Cl](-) at m/z 940. 9) were observed. The results of tandem mass spectrometric examination of several cluster ions are reported.     

Synthesis of the branched-chain sugar aceric acid: a unique component of the pectic polysaccharide rhamnogalacturonan-II

Described herein is the synthesis of 3-C-carboxy-5-deoxy-L-xylose (aceric acid), a rare branched-chain sugar found in the complex pectic polysaccharide rhamnogalacturonan-II. The key synthetic step in the construction of aceric acid was the stereoselective addition of 2-trimethylsilyl thiazole to 5-deoxy-1,2-O-isopropylidene-alpha-L-erythro-pentofuran-3-ulose (2), which was prepared from L-xylose. The thiazole group was efficiently converted into the required carboxyl group via conventional transformations. Aceric acid was also synthesized by dihydroxylation of a 3-C-methylene derivative of 2 followed by oxidation of the resulting hydroxylmethyl group. The C-2 epimer of aceric acid was also synthesized using thiazole addition chemistry, starting from L-arabinose.     

On the ring of invariants ofF_{2^n }^*

In [1] the first and last authors studied a decomposition ofH ^*(R P ^∞×…×R P ^∞;F ₂) into modules over the Steenrod algebra obtained from an action of the cyclic group . Here a minimal set of generators for the ring of invariants is characterized and counted by analyzing the associated ring of Laurent polynomials. A structure theorem for the ring of invariant Laurent polynomials is given and a ‘destabilisation cancels localisation’ theorem is obtained. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of NSERC. 1980 Mathematics Subject classification, 13F20, 55. Keywords: Invariant theory, Steenrod algebra.     

Salmonella in foods: new enrichment procedure for TECRA Salmonella Visual Immunoassay using a single rv(R10) only, TT only, or dual rv(R10) and TT selective enrichment broths (AOAC official method 998.09): collaborative study

A collaborative study was conducted to compare a new enrichment procedure for the TECRA Salmonella Visual Immunoassay (TSVIA) with the reference method given in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Bacteriological Analytical Manual (7th Ed.). Three food types (milk powder, pepper, and soy flour) were analyzed in Australia and 3 food types (milk chocolate, dried egg, and raw turkey) were analyzed in the United States. Thirty-eight collaborators participated in the study. The TECRA method was evaluated using both Rappaport-Vassiliadis R10 (RV(R10)) and tetrathionate (TT) broths for selective enrichment. M broth cultures arising from each of the 2 selective enrichment broths were tested in the TSVIA using 2 individual wells, one for each selective broth, and a single well to test the pooled selective enrichment broths. The results for the pooled enrichment broths were reported elsewhere. This study presents the results for the use of single enrichment broths, i.e., RV(R10) only or TT only, with the TSVIA. No significant differences (p > 0.05) were observed for the pairwise comparison of the proportion of positive samples for either RV(R10) or TT used as a single enrichment broth for the TSVIA with that for the reference method.     

Trajectory approach to dissipative quantum phase space dynamics: Application to barrier scattering

The Caldeira-Leggett master equation, expressed in Lindblad form, has been used in the numerical study of the effect of a thermal environment on the dynamics of the scattering of a wave packet from a repulsive Eckart barrier. The dynamics are studied in terms of phase space trajectories associated with the distribution function, W(q,p,t). The equations of motion for the trajectories include quantum terms that introduce nonlocality into the motion, which imply that an ensemble of correlated trajectories needs to be propagated. However, use of the derivative propagation method (DPM) allows each trajectory to be propagated individually. This is achieved by deriving equations of motion for the partial derivatives of W(q,p,t) that appear in the master equation. The effects of dissipation on the trajectories are studied and results are shown for the transmission probability. On short time scales, decoherence is demonstrated by a swelling of trajectories into momentum space. For a nondissipative system, a comparison is made of the DPM with the "exact" transmission probability calculated from a fixed grid calculation.     

Nitric oxide photorelease from ruthenium salen complexes in aqueous and organic solutions

The complexes [Ru(salen)(NO)Cl] and [Ru(salen)(NO)(H(2)O)](+) were shown to release the nitrosyl ligand as nitric oxide upon exposure to visible light in organic and aqueous solutions respectively, by means of UV-visible, EPR, and FTIR spectroscopies. The former was prepared by a new synthetic route and had its structure determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. A crystal of the dichloromethane solvate is orthorhombic, space group Fdd2 (No. 43) and formula C(16)H(14)ClN(3)O(3)Ru.CH(2)Cl(2), with Z = 16 and cell parameters a = 25.489(4), b = 33.435(4), and c = 9.3716(9) A. The electronic absorption spectra of the complexes were calculated using the INDO/S method. The water-soluble complex is a potential drug for antitumoral phototreatment.     

Capillary electrophoretic approach to screen for enzyme inhibitors in natural extracts

This paper demonstrates development of electrophoretically mediated micro analysis (EMMA), for screening protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) inhibitors in natural extracts. It is demonstrated that capillary electrophoresis (CE) separation of the substrate and the product allows for using the assay in an on-column format to monitor the reaction without typically used fluorogenic substrates. Michaelis-Menten kinetics parameters calculated based on the EMMA results (Km = 1.2-1.5 microM) were in a good agreement (Km = 1.0-1.5 microM) obtained using an off-line CE functional assay (CE FA). EMMA of PTP titrated with different concentrations of ligand demonstrated the peak-shift phenomenon normally seen in affinity capillary electrophoresis. This feature of EMMA gives an indication of the binding affinity of the ligand in addition to its functional activity, providing another dimension in characterization of the protein-inhibitor interaction. It was demonstrated that simultaneous screening of the primary PTP target and a secondary, counter target (PTP-C) using the EMMA format can be used to prioritize hits based on their specificity.