Particle circulation and oxygen mass transfer in an immobilized cell bioreactor

Two important considerations in the design of an aerobic particulate immobilized cell bioreactor are the provision of sufficient oxygen to maintain the desired metabolism of the immobilized organism, and the biomass holdup (which is proportional to the number of immobilized cell particles in the reactor). The Circulating Bed Reactor, a reactor developed for use with those forms of immobilization that result in particles of essentially neutral buoyancy, operates with an expanded bed of circulating particles. The particle number density attainable in such a reactor has been found to be dependent upon the circulation cell aspect ratio, the individual particle properties, the static bed voidage of the particles, and the superficial gas velocity. The oxygen mass transfer characteristics have been found to be dependent upon the circulatory nature of the system, the particle (solids) holdup, the particle porosity, and the superficial gas velocity.     

Estrogen receptor microarrays: subtype-selective ligand binding

We present the first example of a nuclear hormone receptor microarray, using for illustration the ligand-binding domains of the two estrogen receptors, ERalpha-LBD and ERbeta-LBD. The proteins are printed and allowed to attach to aldehyde slides; the efficiency of attachment depends on whether the LBD is liganded with agonists (low attachment) versus liganded with antagonists or unliganded (high attachment). This suggests that attachment is orientation specific and involves principally a single lysine residue. The attached ERs retain good ligand-binding activity that can be assessed using an estradiol-fluorophore conjugate, and specific and ER subtype-selective binding of ligands can be determined conveniently in competitive binding assays. This powerful new, high-throughput technique to study ligand binding to ER-LBDs can be extended to other nuclear hormone receptors and adapted to assay the recruitment of coregulator proteins.     

A cell model of a liquid droplet

An expression for the free energy of a droplet composed of attracting hard spheres is found using a simple cell model. The hard-sphere repulsion is assumed to act only between molecules in the same cell, whereas attraction extends over many cells. A maximum term analysis gives rise to a mean-field free energy which includes terms proportional to the first and second power of the droplet radius R with coefficients which can be related to the planar surface tension and Tolman length. Certain Gaussian fluctuations about the maximum term are also considered, corresponding to droplet translation and capillary wave fluctuations. Inclusion of these fluctuations is necessary to ensure that the nucleation rate is proportional to the system volume. They also reduce the planar surface tension and introduce a logarithmic term, -4/3 ln R, into the free energy. The inclusion of other fluctuations and the relationship between these equations and those arising in density-functional theories of nucleation is discussed.     

Metallaborane reaction chemistry. A facile and reversible dioxygen capture by a B-frame-supported bimetallic: structure of [(PMe2Ph)4(O2)Pt2B10H10

[(PMe2Ph)4Pt2B10H10] reversibly takes up atmospheric dioxygen to give the fluxional dioxygen-dimetallaborane complex [(PMe2Ph)4(O2)Pt2B10H10], which has Pt-Pt 2.7143(3), Pt-O 2.141(4) and 2.151(4) and O-O 1.434(6)A.     

Stereocontrol in Organic Synthesis Using the Diphenylphosphoryl Group

In 1959, Horner showed that metalated alkyldiphenylphosphane oxides react with aldehydes or ketones to give alkenes. With this reaction, the diphenylphosphoryl (Ph₂PO) group made its entrance into synthetic organic chemistry. In the thirty-six years since that date, extensive research has shown that this olefination, the Horner–Wittig reaction, has unique properties that make it much more than simply the phosphane oxide cousin of the more famous phosphorus-based olefinations—the Wittig reaction (based on phosphonium salts) and the Wadsworth–Emmons reaction (based on phosphonate esters). Early work on the Horner–Wittig reaction concentrated on the reactivity of phosphane oxides and the regioselectivity of their reactions, but more recently the power of the Ph₂PO group to control the stereochemistry of alkenes, and to produce “on demand” either stereoisomer in high stereochemical purity, has emerged. From the study of these stereocontrolled Horner–Wittig reactions arose the realization that the Ph₂PO group is useful not only for the control of the two-dimensional stereochemistry of alkenes, but also of three-dimensional stereochemistry in general. After a brief introduction to phosphane oxide chemistry, this review will examine the Horner–Wittig reaction, in both its original and “stereocontrolled” varieties. From there, we will move on to an account of the stereoselective construction of molecules containing the Ph₂PO group, concentrating on the stereochemical directing effects of the Ph₂PO group and on the role of its unique combination of attributes—steric bulk, electronegativity, and Lewis basicity—in controlling these reactions. Finally, we will present what is intended as a practical guide to this chemistry, covering the type of functionalized alkenes that have been made with the help of the Ph₂PO group and giving guidelines that we hope will help the organic chemist to make the most of the chemistry the Ph₂PO group has to offer.     

A sequential molecular mechanics/quantum mechanics study of the electronic spectra of amides

We report gas-phase electronic spectra of formamide, N-methyformamide, acetamide, and N-methylacetamide at 300 K calculated using a combination of classical molecular dynamics and time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). In comparison to excitation energies computed using the global minima structures, the valence npi* and pi(nb)pi* states show a significant red-shift of 0.1-0.35 eV, while smaller shifts are found for the n3s and pi(nb)3s Rydberg states. In this work, we have identified the physical origin of these shifts arising from variations of the molecular structure. We present simple relationships between key geometrical parameters and spectral shifts. Consequently, electronic spectra can be generated directly from ground-state structures, without additional quantum chemical calculations. The electronic spectrum of formamide in aqueous solution is computed using TDDFT using an explicit solvent model. This provides a quantitative determination of the condensed-phase spectrum. In general, this study shows that temperature effects can change the predicted excitation energies significantly and demonstrates how electronic spectra at elevated temperatures can be computed in a computationally efficient way.     

Experimental measurement and prediction of hydrate forming conditions in the nitrogen-propane-water system

Experimental data on initial hydrate formation conditions have been obtained for the nitrogen-propane-water system in the L₁HG, L₁L₂H, and L₁L₂HG regions, where L₁ is the water rich liquid phase, L₂ is the hydrocarbon rich liquid phase, H is the hydrate and the G is the vapor phase. The measurements covered a range of temperatures from about 275 to 293 K and pressures from about 0.3 to 17.0 MPa. The concentrations covered for the L₁HG region extended from 0.94 to 75.0 mole percent propane in the gas phase, and for the L₁L₂H region they extended from 83.1 to 99.0 mole percent in the condensed liquid phase. Four-phase measurements were made at concentrations of propane from 18.1 to 71.1 mole percent in the gas phase.The experimental data were used to find a fitted binary interaction parameter for predicting hydrate formation in systems containing nitrogen and propane.     

Application of the energy gap law to the decay of charge transfer excited states,solvent effects

Values of non-radiative decay rate constants (k_nr) and emission energies (E_cm) have been obtained for Os(Phen₃)²⁺ in a series of solvents and the results are consistent with the energy gap law. For hydroxylic solvents like water or methanol related studies suggest the existence of strong, specific contributions to the vibrational trapping energy of the solvent.     

An Education in Robustness

A case study is presented of the application of robustness analysis to the choice of examination subjects to be made by a 14-year-old girl. The analysis is conducted in terms of the desirable future career options which may be preserved by different combinations of subjects, and also of the balance with topics selected for their intrinsic interest. The approach, which employs very limited technical apparatus, is justified on a number of grounds-in particular, the crucial importance of uncertainty, and the need for understanding and acceptance by a "client" very unlike the corporate manager. Some tentative conclusions are reached on the extension of such methods to other cases of decision-makers with little, if any, resources to control except their own lives.     

The reactions of ground state Cu+ and Fe+ with the 20 common amino acids

A systematic investigation of the gas-phase reactions of Cu⁺ and Fe⁺ with the 20 common amino acids is reported. Metal ions are formed by laser ablation of a metal target and are trapped in the analyzer cell of a Fourier transform mass spectrometer. By using quadrupolar excitation to axialize the metal ions, tens of thousands of thermalizing collisions occur prior to their reactions with laser-desorbed amino acid neutral molecules. Amino acids with nonpolar side chains are found to be more reactive toward Cu⁺ and Fe⁺ than amino acids with polar side chain. Many of the nonpolar amino acids are found to undergo dissociative metal attachment with a neutral loss of 46 u. A ¹³C-labeling experiment shows that the carboxyl group is lost during dissociative metal attachment to amino acids. Together these results suggest that these metal ions interact primarily with the carboxyl functional group in these molecules.