Vibrational circular dichroism of protein films

Vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) spectra in the 1800-1400 cm(-)(1) region have been measured for the first time for protein films prepared from aqueous buffer solutions. These measurements demonstrate several advantages of significant importance. First, the interference from infrared absorption of water in the amide I region, which is a serious limitation for measurements in water solutions, is eliminated. Second, the amounts of protein samples required for VCD measurements on films are approximately 2 orders of magnitude smaller than those required for the same in water solutions. In addition, the amide I absorption and VCD bands of protein films are found to be independent of film orientation. Furthermore, characteristic VCD patterns have been observed for protein films whose secondary structure is dominated by alpha-helix, beta-sheet, and alpha + beta combinations. These results demonstrate that VCD can be used to study the structure of proteins in the film state.     

An unusual oxidation-dealkylation of 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-ones mediated by Co(NO3)2·6H2O/K2S2O8 in aqueous acetonitrile

4-Aryl-6-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-one (DHPM) scaffolds of Biginelli type were oxidized using Co(II)/S₂O₈²⁻ and the reaction afforded 6-unsubstituted pyrimidin-2(1H)-ones through an unprecedented dealkylation process. 4-Alkyl DHPMs under similar conditions afforded yet another unusual product, ethyl tetrahydropyrimidin-2,4(1H,3H)-dione-5-carboxylate.     

Regioselective dehydrogenation of 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-ones mediated by ceric ammonium nitrate

Ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) has been explored for the regioselective oxidation of 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-ones (DHPMs). Interestingly, we obtained ethyl 2,4-dioxo-6-phenyl-tetrahydropyrimidin-5-carboxylates as the major products during the oxidation of DHPMs by CAN/AcOH at 80 °C. The reaction afforded a mixture of products while employing CAN in organic solvents without additives. However, the regioselective dehydrogenated product, ethyl 6-methyl-4-aryl(alkyl)-pyrimidin-2(1H)-one-5-carboxylate was obtained by performing the reaction with NaHCO₃. The single crystal X-ray crystallography of ethyl 6-methyl-4-(2-phenyl)-pyrimidin-2(1H)-one-5-carboxylate revealed that the oxidized product existed in amidic form rather than aromatized enol form of pyrimidines. The efficiency of the present protocol enabled the synthesis of structurally diverse pyrimidines in moderate to good yields under milder reaction conditions.     

Cobalt(II) Porphyrin‐Catalyzed Intramolecular Cyclopropanation of N‐Alkyl Indoles/Pyrroles with Alkylcarbene: Efficient Synthesis of Polycyclic N‐Heterocycles

A protocol on chemoselective cobalt(II) porphyrin‐catalyzed intramolecular cyclopropanation of N‐alkyl indoles/pyrroles with alkylcarbenes has been developed. The reaction enables the rapid construction of a range of nitrogen‐containing polycyclic compounds in moderate to high yields from readily accessible materials. These N‐containing polycyclic compounds can be converted into a variety of N‐heterocycles with potential synthetic and biological interest. Compared to their N‐tosylhydrazone counterparts, the use of bulky N‐2,4,6‐triisopropylbenzenesulfonyl hydrazones as carbene precursors allows cyclopropanation to occur under milder reaction conditions.     

Dip coated TiO2 nanostructured thin film: synthesis and application

TiO₂ thin film was fabricated by dip coating method using titanium IV chloride as precursor and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose as thickening as well as capping agent. Structural and morphological features of TiO₂ thin film were characterized by X-ray diffractometer and field emission scanning electron microscope, respectively. Crystallinity of the film was confirmed with high-intensity peak at (101) plane, and its average crystallite size was found to be 28 nm. The ethanol-sensing properties of TiO₂ thin film was studied by the chemiresistive method. Furthermore, various gases were tested in order to verify the selectivity of the sensor. Among the several gases, the fabricated TiO₂ sensor showed very high selectivity towards ethanol at room temperature.     

Electrochemical Biosensor Utilizing Supramolecular Association of Enzyme on Sol−gel Matrix Embedded Gold Nanoparticles Supported Reduced Graphene Oxide−cyclodextrin Nanocomposite

Herein we present β‐cyclodextrin (CD)‐functionalized reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanosheets supported on silicate sol‐gel matrix‐embedded gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) modified electrode as a new affinity binding nanocomposite. The modified electrode is fabricated through layer‐by‐layer drop casting followed by immobilization of chemically modified enzyme conjugate (horse radish peroxidase (HRP)?adamantane carboxylic acid (ADA)). This affinity system is based on the supramolecular association between CDs and HRP?ADA and is mimicking the biological avidin?biotin interactions. CDs‐functionalized RGO (RGO?CD) functions as a macrocyclic host to form stable supramolecular inclusion complexes with enzyme conjugate. Besides Au NPs improve the interfacial interaction with RGO?CD nanosheets, and thus exhibit synergistic electrocatalytic effect toward H₂O₂ reduction in the presence of 1 mM hydroquinone.     

Stability criteria for stochastic Takagi‐Sugeno fuzzy Cohen‐Grossberg BAM neural networks with mixed time‐varying delays

This article is concerned with the asymptotic stability analysis of Takagi–Sugeno stochastic fuzzy Cohen–Grossberg neural networks with discrete and distributed time‐varying delays. Based on the Lyapunov functional and linear matrix inequality (LMI) technique, sufficient conditions are derived to ensure the global convergence of the equilibrium point. The proposed conditions can be checked easily by LMI Control Toolbox in Matlab. It has been shown that the results are less restrictive than previously known criteria. They are obtained under mild conditions, assuming neither differentiability nor strict monotonicity for activation function. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of our results. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 21: 143–154, 2016     

Discrete Molecular Copper(II) Complex for Efficient Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Above Room-Temperature

Developing robust, wearable, and biocompatible energy harvesting devices with bulk oxides (ceramics and perovskites) is extremely hard to achieve due to their zero mechanical flexibility, heavy metal toxicity, and tunability of properties. Alternatively, discrete inorganic complexes can be an excellent choice to overcome the above-stated issues, thanks to appropriate molecular engineering. Herein, we report an above-room-temperature ferroelectric discrete molecular complex [Cu(L-phe)(bpy)(H₂O)]PF₆⋅H₂O ( 1 ) which is suitable for piezoelectric energy harvesting due to its large values of piezoelectric co-efficient (d₃₃=10 pm V⁻¹) and spontaneous polarization (P_s=1.3 μC cm⁻²). Among the devices prepared with the composite films of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and various weight % composition of 1 , the 10 Wt % composite shows the highest output voltage of 8 V, a power density of 0.85 μW cm⁻², and output current of 5 μA, which is highest for any discrete inorganic complex reported to date.