Octahedral cobalt(III) complexes of the chloropentammine type. XVII. Association and reaction of some halogenopentamminecobalt(III) and halogenopentamminechromium(III) cations with hydroxide in aqueous dioxan

The replacement, by hydroxide ion, of the coordinated halide from some halogenopentamminecobalt(III) and -Chromium(III) cations in aqueous dioxan has been studied over a range of alkali concentrations up to 0.1 M. With excess of hydroxide ion at constant ionic strength, pseudo first-order rate constants were obtained. The results support a pre-equilibrium association of complex and hydroxide ions in these media, but do not provide distinction as to whether the resulting ion-pair subsequently reacts by direct exchange or by proton removal. The extents of ion association are found to be greater for the cobalt(III) than for the chromium(III) system, increasing with the amount of dioxin in the solvent mixture.     

Forces between a Rigid Probe Particle and a Liquid Interface

The effect of disjoining pressure between a rigid spherical probe particle (attached to an AFM cantilever) and a liquid interface (e.g., oil/water or air/water) is treated in an analytic manner to describe the total force F exerted on the probe as a function of the distance X of the probe from the rigid substrate (AFM stage) on which the liquid interface resides. Two cases (i) a flat interface under gravity and (ii) a drop whose size is sufficiently small that gravity can be neglected have been examined. A simple numerical algorithm is given for computing F(X) (the AFM observable) from a given form for the disjoining pressure. Numerical results are displayed for electrostatic probe/interface interactions which reveal the linear compliance regime experimentally observed in AFM experiments on these systems. The slope of the linear compliance regime is shown to be a function of the properties of the interface (capillary length, particle radius, drop size, contact angle of drop on rigid substrate etc.). Copyright 2001 Academic Press.     

Novel Chiral Aminophosphine Ligand:Synthesis and Application in Saymmetric Catalytic Hydrogenation Reaction

A new chiral aminophosphine ligand 6,6′-dimethoxy-2,2′-bis(diphenylphosphinoamino)biphenyl(DMBDPPABP) was prepared and its rhodium complex was found to be an effective catalyst for the asymmetric hydrogenation of amidoacrylic acid and its dervatives.The effects of solvent and reaction temperature on enantioselectivity were also studied.     

Preparation and characterization of self-assembled nanoparticles based on glycol chitosan bearing adriamycin

An anthracycline drug, adriamycin, was chemically conjugated onto the backbone of glycol chitosan via an acid-labile cis-aconityl linkage. The physicochemical characteristics of the glycol chitosan–adriamycin (GC–ADR) conjugates were investigated by dynamic light scattering, atomic force microscopy, and fluorescence spectroscopy. The GC–ADR conjugates were capable of forming nano-sized self-aggregates in an aqueous medium, when the adriamycin content in the conjugate was in the range of 2.0–5.0 wt.%. The self-aggregates were spherical in shape, and had mean diameters of 238–304 nm, depending on the adriamycin content. The critical aggregation concentrations of the conjugates, estimated by the fluorescence quenching method, were as low as 1.0–2.5×10⁻² mg/ml. The size of self-aggregates was not affected by the polymer concentration in the range from 50 to 2,000 μg/ml, and was maintained up to 8 days in phosphate-buffered saline (pH 7.4), indicating high colloidal stability. The release of adriamycin from self-aggregates was significantly dependent on the pH of the medium due to the cis-aconityl linkage; e.g., the amount of adriamycin released for 4 days was 7.3±0.3% at pH 7, whereas it was 29.3±1.9% at pH 4. The cell viability results demonstrated that free adriamycin shows more potent cytotoxicity than the conjugates, primarily attributed to the sustained release of adriamycin from self-aggregates. In conclusion, the self-aggregates, formed by GC–ADR conjugates, might be useful for the site-specific delivery of adriamycin in a sustained manner.     

Ruthenium‐catalyzed synthesis of quinolines via reductive heteroannulation of nitroarenes with 3‐amino‐1‐propanols

Nitroarenes are reductively cyclized with 3‐amino‐1‐propanols in dioxane/H₂O in the presence of a ruthenium catalyst and tin(II) chloride dihydrate together with isopropanol to afford the corresponding quinolines. A reaction pathway involving initial reduction of nitroarenes to anilines, propanol group transfer from 3‐amino‐1‐propanols to anilines, N‐alkylation of anilines by 3‐anilino‐1‐propanols and heteroannulation of 1,3‐dianilinopropanes is proposed.     

Multidimensional high performance liquid chromatography--capillary electrophoresis separation of a protein digest: an update

The trypsin digest of a mixture of two proteins, namely cytochrome c and myoglobin, was first separated in the first dimension by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Fractions from the HPLC were collected every 30s with the aid of a fraction collector into a 96-well microtiter plate. After concentration, all the collected fractions were analyzed simultaneaosly in the second dimension by a 96-array capillary electrophoresis system. The labeled peptides were detected by laser-induced fluorescence. An internal standard, allura red, was added to all the fractions, prior to capillary electrophoretic analysis. The internal standard serves two functions, migration time correction and signal intensity correction. The data are presented in two different formats, as an electropherogram of all the fractions and in a two-dimensional (2-D) format. The 2-D plot of the data shows the density of each spot, which corresponds to the concentration of the migrating peptides. The total experimental time for the HPLC and capillary electrophoretic analyses ist less than 1 h, which ist much faster than using 2-D slab-gel electrophoresis or single-capillary capillary electrophoresis.     

Self-assembled morphologies of monotethered polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane nanocubes from computer simulation

Self-assembly of functionalized nanoscale building blocks is a promising strategy for "bottom-up" materials design. Recent experiments have demonstrated that the self-assembly of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) "nanocubes" functionalized with organic tethers can be utilized to synthesize novel materials with highly ordered, complex nanostructures. We have performed molecular simulations for a simplified model of monotethered POSS nanocubes to investigate systematically how the parameters that control the assembly process and the resulting equilibrium structures, including concentration, temperature, tether lengths, and solvent conditions, can be manipulated to achieve useful structures via self-assembly. We report conventional lamellar and cylindrical structures that are typically found in block copolymer and surfactant systems, including a thermotropic order-order transition, but with interesting stabilization of the lamellar phase caused by the bulkiness and cubic geometry of the POSS nanocubes.     

Application of solid phase microextraction in the determination of paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins

A SPME-HPLC-post-column fluorescent derivatization method for the direct determination of saxitoxin (STX), the most potent paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) toxin, in water has been developed. Commercially available SPME devices with 50 microm Carbowax templated resin (CW/TPR) coating was found to be able to pre-concentrate STX from aqueous media. A special pre-conditioning treatment of soaking the SPME coating in 0.1 M NaOH solution significantly improved the extraction efficiency. The optimal pH for the SPME process is 8.1 and the equilibration time is 40 min. The partition coefficient, K, of the distribution of STX between the SPME coating and the aqueous media was measured to be 2.99 +/- 0.04 x 10(3). Extracted toxin on the SPME stationary phase was difficult to be desorbed by the HPLC mobile phase under dynamic desorption mode. A static ion-pairing desorption technique using a desorption solvent mixture of 20 mM sodium 1-heptanesulfonate in 30% aqueous acetonitrile acidified with 50 mM sulfuric acid was developed to overcome this problem. The method detection limit and repeatability achieved by this SPME-HPLC method were 0.11 ng ml(-1) and 3.7%, respectively, with a sample volume of just 5 ml of water. This analytical method is adequate for the monitoring of the PSP toxin in fresh/drinking waters. However, serious interference was observed when this technique was applied to saline water samples. This is probably due to competition of sodium ions with the cationic STX for absorption into the SPME stationary phase.     

Ionic-liquid-supported peptide synthesis demonstrated by the synthesis of Leu(5)-enkephalin

A new strategy for the synthesis of oligopeptides was developed using an ionic liquid as a soluble support. The efficiency of this ionic liquid-phase approach was demonstrated by the synthesis of a bioactive pentapeptide, Leu(5)-enkephalin, in good yield and reasonable purity. The structures and purities of the reaction intermediates in each step were verified easily by routine spectroscopic analysis, and no chromatographic procedures were needed during the synthesis.