Microwave assisted acid cleavage for denaturation and proteolysis of intact human adenovirus

Microwave assisted acid cleavage was applied directly to intact adenovirus type 5 to achieve denaturation and proteolysis in a single reaction. The speed of the digestion, coupled with the simplicity of MALDI analysis, allowed peptide products to be profiled in less than 5 min. Identification of peptides from a range of proteins by MALDI-TOF confirms that both denaturation and proteolysis were achieved using low concentrations of acetic acid (12.5%) and short incubations (1.5 to 2 min) at high temperatures (140° C). These conditions favor production of peptides that carry Asp on their C-termini. When this cleavage reaction is carried out in highly enriched H(2) (18)O, a single atom of (18)O is introduced site-specifically into the carboxyl terminal. The labeling reaction is applied to label reporter peptides from human adenovirus type 5 harvested from HeLa cells. Small peptide products of endogenous processing were also observed.     

Towards flavour-diffusion coefficient and electrical conductivity without ultraviolet contamination

By subtracting from a recent lattice measurement of the thermal vector-current correlator the known 5-loop vacuum contribution, we demonstrate that the remainder is small and shows no visible short-distance divergence. It can therefore in principle be subjected to model-independent analytic continuation. Testing a particular implementation, we obtain estimates for the flavour-diffusion coefficient (2πTD≳0.8) and electrical conductivity which are significantly smaller than previous results. Although systematic errors remain beyond control at present, some aspects of our approach could be of a wider applicability.     

Electrochemical detection of the explosive, hexamethylene triperoxide diamine (HMTD)

A rapid electrochemical detection scheme for the improvised explosive, hexamethylene triperoxide diamine (HMTD) is demonstrated. This is based on the hydrolysis of HMTD releasing H₂O₂ and the electrochemical redox cycling of Fe^II/IIIEDTA via the following scheme:

Fe^IIIEDTA + e⁻→Fe^IIEDTA     

The sesquiterpenoid nootkatone and the absolute configuration of a di­bromo derivative

Nootkatone, or (4R,4aS,6R)‐4,4a,5,6,7,8‐hexa­hydro‐4,4a‐di­methyl‐6‐(1‐methyl­ethenyl)­naphthalen‐2(3H)‐one, C₁₅H₂₂O, a sesquiterpene with strong repellent properties against Formosan subterranean termites and other insects, has the valencene skeleton. The di­bromo derivative (1S,3R,4S,4aS,6R,8aR)‐1,3‐di­bromo‐6‐iso­propyl‐4,4a‐di­methyl‐1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8‐octa­hydro­naphthalen‐2‐one, C₁₅H₂₄Br₂O, has two independent mol­ecules in the asymmetric unit, which differ in the rotation of the iso­propyl group with respect to the main skeleton. The C—Br distances are in the range 1.950 (4)–1.960 (4) Å. Both independent molecules form zigzag chains, with very short intermolecular carbonyl–carbonyl interactions, having the perpendicular motif and O⋯C distances of 2.886 (6) and 2.898 (6) Å. These chains are flanked by intermolecular Br⋯Br interactions of distances in the range 4.067 (1)–4.218 (1) Å. The absolute configuration of the di­bromo derivative was determined, from which that of nootkatone was inferred.     

Proficiency test of pH,conductivity and dissolved oxygen concentration field measurements in river water

In 2013, Proftest SYKE organised the first proficiency test (PT) in Finland for field measurements of temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen concentration, oxygen saturation and pH value in river water. The aim was to pilot the organisation of an in situ proficiency test—particularly, how to select the test location—and how to assess the homogeneity and stability of the measurement site and the water to be tested. The focus was also to evaluate the suitability of the common field sensors used for water analysis, as well as the comparability of the results between the instruments under field conditions. The overall application of quality assurance procedures was also surveyed. This paper deals with the results, findings and recommendations for the measurement of pH, conductivity and dissolved oxygen concentration. In total, nine participants with 16 sensors took part in the proficiency test. For the evaluation of the performance of each participant, z scores were calculated allowing 3 % to 8 % deviation from the assigned value. The standard deviation of the participant’s results was lower than organiser expected, and 80 % of the results for pH, 79 % for conductivity and 69 % for dissolved oxygen concentration were regarded as satisfactory. According to the results, the most challenging measurement was for dissolved oxygen with a Clark cell-type measurement principle based on electrochemical reaction. All sensors tested in the PT were less than 5 years, old and they were calibrated according to the manufacturer’s instructions. None of the participants had estimated measurement uncertainty for their sensor measurements. In addition, internal and external quality assurance protocols were usually lacking.     

Sulfided heterogeneous,bimetallic Ru/Mo catalysts derived from mixtures of Ru3(CO)12 (or RuCl3) and a molybdenum heteropolyanion: The reactions of ethanol with tetrahydroquinoline

Efforts have been made to develop Ru/Mo bimetallic catalyst systems for hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) of tetrahydroquinoline (THQ). In the course of these studies, it was discovered that in ethanol, under hydrogen and in the presence of carbon disulfide (CS₂), precatalyst solutions containing ruthenium [as Ru₃(CO)₁₂ or RuCl₃] and molybdenum [as the H₃PMo₁₂O₄₀ heteropolyanion (HPA)] decompose to form bimetallic, sulfided particles. Particle diameters run from 0.1 to 5μm depending on the rate of stirring. Catalyst particles with sizes ranging from 0.1 to 1μm can be prepared reproducibly. BET-measured surface areas for these size particles ranged from 2 to 20m² g^?1. These sulfided particles were found to catalyze, at temperatures of 200–250°C and hydrogen pressures of 200–1000 psig (1.4–6.9 MPa) hydrogen, the N-ethylation of THQ to form N-ethyltetrahydroquinoline (N-Et-THQ), rather than the formation of propylcyclohexane or propylbenzene, reaction products expected for HDN of THQ. Monometallic heterogeneous catalysts prepared from the individual precatalyst complexes, under identical conditions, show minimal activity for N-ethylation by comparison with the bimetallic catalyst. In the absence of hydrogen, the reaction proceeds so that THQ is converted to quinoline, N-Et-THQ, N-C₄H₉-THQ and N-C₆H₁₃-THQ. The latter products appear to arise via acetaldehyde, formed as an intermediate by dehydrogenation of ethanol. Acetaldehyde either condenses with THQ to form N-Et-THQ, or self-condenses (aldol condensation) prior to reaction with THQ, thereby giving higher-homolog alkylation products.     

Anomalies in the enthalpy of freezing in alpha-phase indium—lead,due to brillouin-zone effects

The enthalpy of freezing has been measured with DTA using electrical calibration for 33 compositions of indium—lead in the range 6.9–7.9 at.% lead, at which range the electron—lattice interaction causes anomalies in several physical and structural properties. Enthalpies of mixing, ΔH_m^s, have been calculated. The results reveal three maximum and minimum pairs corresponding to partial shift of the Fermi surface to higher Brillouin zones in three steps at 7.1, 7.2 and 7.3–7.4 at.% lead. These details in the overlapping have not been found earlier. The observed change in ΔH_m^s in the steps is about 1 meV atoms^?1.