Characterization of Thermostable Serine Alkaline Protease from an Alkaliphilic Strain Bacillus pumilus MCAS8 and Its Applications

This study describes the characterization and optimization of medium components for an extracellular detergent, surfactant, organic solvent and thermostable serine alkaline protease produced by alkaliphilic Bacillus pumilus MCAS8 strain isolated from Pulicat lake sediments, Tamil Nadu, India. The strain yielded maximum protease (2,214?U/ml) under optimized conditions: carbon source, citric acid??1.5?% (w/w); inducer, soyabean meal??2?% (w/w); pH?11.0; shaking condition 37?°C for 48?h. The enzyme had pH and temperature optima of 9.0 and 60?°C, respectively. The enzyme displayed the molecular mass of 36?kDa in sodium dodecyl sulphate?Cpolyacrylamide gel electrophoresis study and exhibited activity at a wide range of pH (6.0?C11.0) and thermostability (20?C70?°C). More than 70?% residual activity was observed when the enzyme was incubated with dithiothreitol, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, ethylene glycol tetraacetic acid and H₂O₂ for 30?min. The protease activity was also enhanced by divalent cations such as Ba²⁺, Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ and was strongly inhibited by Fe²⁺, Zn²⁺, Sr²⁺, Hg²⁺ and urea. The enzyme retained more than 50?% of its initial activity after pre-incubation for 1?h in the presence of 5?% (v/v) organic solvents such as dimethyl sulphoxide and acetone. The protease could hydrolyse various native proteinaceous substrates (1?%?w/v) such as bovine serum albumin, casein, skim milk, gelatine, azocasein and haemoglobin. Wash performance analysis of enzyme revealed that it could effectively remove blood stains from the cotton fabric, thus making it suitable to use as an effective detergent additive. The protease enzyme also exhibited promising result in the dehairing of goat skin. The potency of the eco-friendly enzyme without using any chemicals against washing and dehairing showed that the enzyme could be used for various industrial applications.     

Tandem Knoevenagel-[3+2] cycloaddition-elimination reactions: one-pot synthesis of 4,5-disubstituted 1,2,3-(NH)-triazoles

Sodium azide has been found to catalyse Knoevenagel condensation between aromatic aldehyde and cyano compound with active methylene hydrogens and this has led to a successful route for the one pot synthesis of 4,5-disubstituted 1,2,3-(NH)-triazoles from aldehydes through Knoevenagel-[3+2]cycloaddition-elimination sequence. In the formation of 5-aryl-2H-1,2,3-triazole-4-carbonitrile derivatives, the reaction has been found to occur efficiently in water.     

C–H bond addition and copolymerization reactions of N-arylmaleimides: Fundamentals of coagent-assisted polymer cross-linking

Solid-state rheometry and model compound reactions are used to investigate free radical reactions of N-arylmaleimide coagents with saturated and unsaturated polymers. N,N′-m-phenylene dimaleimide (BMI) is shown to provide superior cross-link densities over diacrylate and diallyl coagents for all of the polymers studied, including linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), cis-poly(butadiene) (PBD) and cis-poly(isoprene) (PIP). Studies of the N-phenylmaleimide (NPM) + cis-cyclooctane system show that C–H bond addition to yield N-aryl-2-alkylsuccimide grafts is the predominant reaction pathway, as opposed to maleimide homopolymerization. In contrast, peroxide-initiated reactions of cis-cyclooctene with small NPM concentrations generate highly alternating poly(cycloctene-alt-N-phenylmaleimide) in high yield, indicating that unsaturated mers in materials such as PBD engage maleimides in an efficient alternating copolymerization between electron-rich and electron-deficient monomer pairs. Factors that affect the reactivity of different polymers in these C–H bond additions and alternating copolymerizations are discussed.     

Vibrational resonance in biological nonlinear maps

We investigate vibrational resonance in two different nonlinear maps driven by a biharmonic force: the Bellows and the Rulkov map. These two maps possess dynamical features of particular interest for the study of these phenomena. In both maps, the resonance occurs at the low-frequency of the biharmonic signal as the amplitude of the high-frequency signal is varied. We also consider an array of unidirectionally coupled maps with the forcing signal applied to the first unit. In this case, a signal propagation with several interesting features above a critical value of the coupling strength is found, while the response amplitude of the ith unit is greater than the first one. This response evolves in a sigmoidal fashion with the system number i, meaning that at some point the amplitudes saturate. The unidirectional coupling acts as a low-pass filter for distant units. Moreover, the analysis of the mean residence time of the trajectory in a given region of the phase space unveils a multiresonance mechanism in the coupled map system. These results point at the relevance of the discrete-time models for the study of resonance phenomena, since analyses and simulations are much easier than for continuous-time models.     

Correlation of ground and excited state dissociation constants of trans -para- and ortho-substituted cinnamic acids

The ground and excited state dissociation constants oftrans- para- and ortho-substituted cinnamic acids have been determined in 50% (v/v) dioxan-water mixture at 30°C using the Forster cycle. The measured dissociation constants are analysed in the light of single and dual substituent parameter (DSP) equations. Excited state dissociation constants ofp-substituted cinnamic acids correlate well with the exalted substituent constants. The DSP method of analysis shows that resonance effect is predominant relative to inductive effect in the excited state than in the ground state for the para-substituted acids. The single parameter equation gives poor correlation for the ortho-substituted acids. However, the DSP analysis shows fairly good correlation. The inductive effect is predominant relative to the resonance effect in the excited state than in the ground state     

A facile and efficient stereoselective synthesis of highly functionalised trisubstituted alkene derivatives of ferrocenealdehyde

The reaction of the Baylis–Hillman adduct 2 of ferrocenealdehyde with various oxygen and carbon nucleophiles in the presence of montmorillonite K10 clay catalyst furnished highly functionalised trisubstituted alkene derivatives of ferrocenealdehyde in excellent yield. Synthetic use of one of products 7 has been demonstrated with the synthesis of a 1,3-diyne ether derivative of ferrocene 16 via an Eglinton coupling reaction.     

Force field calculation for inplane vibrations of ethylene usingcndo/Force method

cndo/Force method is used to evaluate redundancy-free internal valence force field (rfivff) for inplane vibrations of ethylene. The bending force constants, the stretch-band and bend-bend interaction force constants are predicted reasonably well in magnitude and sign by this method; whereas stretching force constants and stretch-stretch interactions are overestimated. Initial force field is set up by transferring stretching force constants from structurally-related molecules and including the rest of the force constants fromcndo force field. The field so constructed is subjected to refinement by the least square method. A total of 64 vibrational frequencies of C₂H₄, C₂D₄, C₂H₂D₂ and their¹³C isotopic modifications are used to determine force field containing 15 parameters. The final force field is found to be reasonable on the basis of frequency fits, potential energy distribution and band assignments.