A simple chemical model for clathrate hydrate inhibition by polyvinylcaprolactam

A dimeric model compound gives structural insight into the mode of interaction of low dosage hydrate inhibitors with water.     

Biosynthesis of the Spermine Alkaloid Aphelandrine

Aphelandrine ( 1 ) is shown to be biosynthesized in the root cells of Aphelandra tetragona (VAHL ) NEES from labelled putrescine ( 4 ), spermidine ( 5 ), and cinnamic acid ( 3 ). Whether spermine ( 6 ) and the (p-hydroxycinnamoyl)spermidine 8 are precursors of 1 is uncertain, since the latter is hydrolysed to a large extent before incorporation, and the former is metabolized to 4 and 5 . Methionine ( 7 ) is the source of the 3-aminopropyl unit of 5 and 6 .     

Hereditarily Optimal Realizations of Consistent Metrics

One of the main problems in phylogenetics is to find good approximations of metrics by weighted trees. As an aid to solving this problem, it could be tempting to consider optimal realizations of metrics—the guiding principle being that, the (necessarily unique) optimal realization of a tree metric is the weighted tree that realizes this metric. And, although optimal realizations of arbitrary metrics are, in general, not trees, but rather weighted networks, one could still hope to obtain a phylogenetically informative representation of a given metric, maybe even more informative than the best approximating tree. However, optimal realizations are not only difficult to compute, they may also be non-unique. Here we focus on one possible way out of this dilemma: hereditarily optimal realizations. These are essentially unique, and can be described in a rather explicit way. In this paper, we recall what a hereditarily optimal realization of a metric is and how it is related to the 1-skeleton of the tight span of that metric, and we investigate under what conditions it coincides with this 1-skeleton. As a consequence, we will show that hereditarily optimal realizations for consistent metrics, a large class of phylogentically relevant metrics, can be computed in a straight-forward fashion. Received August 26, 2004     

Concomitant crystallization of two polymorphs-a ring and a helix: concentration effect on supramolecular isomerism

For the first time in Ag coordination chemistry, two supramolecular isomers, a ring and a helix, are isolated from the same mother liquor as a result of concentration effects.     

Identification of novel biomarker candidates by differential peptidomics analysis of cerebrospinal fluid in Alzheimer's disease

The objective of this work was the application of peptidomics technologies for the detection and identification of reliable and robust biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease (AD) contributing to facilitate and further improve the diagnosis of AD. Using a new method for the comprehensive and comparative profiling of peptides, the differential peptide display (DPD), 312 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from AD patients, cognitively unimpaired subjects and from patients suffering from other primary dementia disorders were analysed as four independent analytical sets. By combination with a cross validation procedure, candidates were selected from a total of more than 6,000 different peptide signals based on their discriminating power. Twelve candidates were identified using mass-spectrometric techniques as fragments of the possibly neuroprotective neuroendocrine protein VGF and another one as the complement factor C3 descendent C3f. The combination of peptide profiling and cross validation resulted in the detection of novel potential biomarkers with remarkable robustness and a close relation to AD pathophysiology.     

A hierarchy of global coupling induced cluster patterns during the oscillatory H2-electrooxidation reaction on a Pt ring-electrode

We report experimental results on spatiotemporal pattern formation during the oscillatory hydrogen electrooxidation reaction on a Pt ring-electrode under negative (desynchronizing) global coupling (GC). Spatially one-dimensional profiles of the interfacial potential drop along the angular direction of the ring electrode are recorded by means of a potential probe. The dynamics is investigated as a function of two control parameters, the applied voltage U and the strength of the global coupling. The latter is adjusted either by varying the distance between the working electrode (WE) and the reference electrode (RE) or by inserting a negative impedance device in series with the WE. In the absence of global coupling, uniform oscillations were destabilized by migration coupling, and electrochemical turbulence developed at large values of U (H. Varela, C. Beta, A. Bonnefont and K. Krischer, Phys. Rev. Lett., 2005, 94, 174104; ). Already low global coupling strengths sufficed to suppress turbulence. Instead, regular two-phase clusters formed. At higher coupling strength, a second type of two-phase cluster was observed as well as two types of irregular cluster patterns, which were connected with an irregular motion of the cluster boundaries and the emergence and disappearance of clusters through splitting and merging of the boundaries, respectively. Upon increasing the coupling strength even further, five-phase clusters were stabilized and at the highest coupling strength applied the cluster patterns transformed into strongly modulated pulses. The two types of two-phase clusters and the five-phase clusters are analyzed employing several signal processing techniques.