Rhenium and technetium tricarbonyl complexes anchored by 5-HT1A receptor-binding ligands containing P,O/N donor atom sets

The (2-methoxyphenyl)piperazine pharmacophore, a part of the WAY 100635 structure, has been functionalized with phosphinoarylbenzylamide or phosphinoarylbenzylamine chelator groups using propylene or hexylene alkyl chains as linkers (L2-L4). These heterofunctionalized phosphines bearing an arylpiperazine moiety have been used to stabilize rhenium tricarbonyl complexes of the type [Re(CO)₃Br(κ²-L)] (4, L = L2; 5, L = L3; 6, L = L4), which have been fully characterized, including by X-ray crystallographic analysis in the case of compounds 4 and 5. These monomeric complexes are six-coordinate, displaying a distorted octahedral coordination geometry with a facial arrangement of the carbonyl groups. The other three remaining positions are occupied by a bromide and by the bidentate heterofunctionalized phosphine, which coordinates through the phosphorus and the oxygen atom or through the phosphorus and the nitrogen atom in 4 and 5, respectively. The ^99mTc complexes (3a-6a) were also prepared and their characterization established by comparative HPLC, using the Re complexes as surrogates. The in vitro binding affinity for the 5HT_1A receptor subtype and the selectivity against the 5HT_2A receptors for the rhenium complexes were determined. Compound 3 is the only one which presents a reasonable affinity and selectively towards 5HT_1A (IC₅₀ = 20 nM) and 5HT_2A (IC₅₀ = 4680 nM) receptors, respectively. When the spacer length between the chelate unit and receptor binding domain increased and/or the amide group in the chelator was replaced by a secondary amine unacceptable affinity values for 5HT_1A receptors (IC₅₀ = 200-1100 nM) and lost of selectivity were observed.     

2-methylfuran Oxidation in the Absence and Presence of NO

2-methylfuran (2-MF) has become of interest as biofuel because of its properties and the improvement in its production method, and also because it is an important intermediate in the conversion of 2,5-dimethylfuran. In this research, an experimental and kinetic modelling study of the oxidation of 2-MF in the absence and presence of NO has been performed in an atmospheric pressure laboratory installation. The experiments were performed in a flow reactor and covered the temperature range from 800 to 1400 K, for mixtures from very fuel-rich to very fuel-lean, highly diluted in nitrogen. The inlet 2-MF concentration was 100 ppm. In the experiments in the presence of NO, the inlet NO concentration was 900 ppm. An interpretation of the experimental results was performed through a gas-phase chemical kinetic model. A reasonable agreement between the experimental trends and the modelling data is obtained. The results of the concentration profile of 2-MF as a function of temperature indicate that, both in the absence and in the presence of NO, the onset of 2-MF consumption is shifted to lower temperatures only under fuel-lean and very fuel-lean conditions. Furthermore, under these conditions the presence of NO also shifts the onset of 2-MF consumption to lower temperatures. The effect of the 2-MF presence on the NO reduction varies with the oxygen concentration. It is seen that under very fuel-rich and stoichiometric conditions NO is reduced basically by reburn reactions, while under fuel-lean and very fuel-lean conditions, the NO-NO₂ interconversion appears to be dominant.     

On new computational local orders of convergence

Four new variants of the Computational Order of Convergence (COC) of a one-point iterative method with memory for solving nonlinear equations are presented. Furthermore, the way to approximate the new variants to the local order of convergence is analyzed. Three of the new definitions given here do not involve the unknown root. Numerical experiments using adaptive arithmetic with multiple precision and a stopping criteria are implemented without using any known root.     

Continuous flow synthesis and characterization of tailor-made bare gold nanoparticles for use in SERS

We describe a method for the synthesis of gold nanoparticles in a stainless steel continuous flow tubular reactor using tetrachloroauric acid as a precursor but without using a classical reducing agent. Gold(III) ion is reduced by stainless steel to form gold nanoparticles which are collected at the end of the coil. A single-phase system is introduced that generates dispersed nanoparticles in the absence of reducing agents on their surface. By controlling flow rates and temperature, the size of the nanoparticles can be tuned in the range from 24 nm to 36 nm. The reproducibility of the preparation was investigated, relative standard deviation of both the wavelength of the peak and the intensity of the plasmonic absorption band were determined and found to vary by 0.15 % and 6.5 %, respectively. Flow synthesis is found to be an excellent alternative to chemical methods to produce stable gold nanoparticles of varying size in an efficiently way. The particles obtained also perform very well when used as a substrate in surface enhanced Raman scattering as shown by the characterization of carboxylated single walled carbon nanotubes.

Analysis of citrate-capped gold and silver nanoparticles by thiol ligand exchange capillary electrophoresis

We report on the capillary electrophoretic behavior of citrate-capped gold and silver nanoparticles in aqueous medium when applying a ligand-exchange surface reaction with thiols. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) of similar size (39?±?6 and 41?±?7 nm, respectively) and shape were synthesized, covered with a citrate shell, and characterized by microscopic and spectroscopic techniques. The analysis of these NPs by CE was accomplished by using a buffer solution (pH 9.7; 40 mM SDS, 10 mM CAPS; 0.1 % methanol) containing the anions of thioctic acid or thiomalic acid. These are capable of differently interacting with the surface of the AuNPs and AgNPs and thus introducing additional negative charges. This results in different migration times due to the formation of differently charged nanoparticles. Figure

Capillary electrophoretic behavior of citrate-capped gold and silver nanoparticles (NPs) in aqueous medium when applying a ligand-exchange surface reaction with thiols (thioctic and thiomalic acids), which introduces additional negative charges, has been studied     

Alcoholic Fermentation with Flocculant Saccharomyces cerevisiae in Fed-Batch Process

Studies have been conducted on selecting yeast strains for use in fermentation for ethanol production to improve the performance of industrial plants and decrease production costs. In this paper, we study alcoholic fermentation in a fed-batch process using a Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast strain with flocculant characteristics. Central composite design (CCD) was used to determine the optimal combination of the variables involved, with the sucrose concentration of 170 g/L, a cellular concentration in the inoculum of 40 % (v/v), and a filling time of 6 h, which resulted in a 92.20 % yield relative to the theoretical maximum yield, a productivity of 6.01 g/L h and a residual sucrose concentration of 44.33 g/L. With some changes in the process such as recirculation of medium during the fermentation process and increase in cellular concentration in the inoculum after use of the CCD was possible to reduce the residual sucrose concentration to 2.8 g/L in 9 h of fermentation and increase yield and productivity for 92.75 % and 9.26 g/L h, respectively. A model was developed to describe the inhibition of alcoholic fermentation kinetics by the substrate and the product. The maximum specific growth rate was 0.103 h^?1, with K _I and K _s values of 109.86 and 30.24 g/L, respectively. The experimental results from the fed-batch reactor show a good fit with the proposed model, resulting in a maximum growth rate of 0.080 h^?1.     

Effect of chromatographic conditions and plasmid DNA size on the dynamic binding capacity of a monolithic support

DNA therapies are becoming recognized alternatives for the treatment and prevention of severe pathologies. Although most current trials have used plasmids <10 kbp, in the future larger plasmids would be required. The purpose of this work was to study the chromatographic behavior of nongrafted carbonyldiimidazole monolithic disks using plasmids with different sizes under hydrophobic conditions. Thereunto, the purification of several plasmids was performed. Higher size plasmids needed lower ammonium sulfate concentration, due to the greater number of interactions between the plasmids and monolith. The dynamic binding capacity experiments for the different plasmids revealed a lower capacity for bigger plasmids. It was also verified that the increase of salt concentration from 2.5 to 3 M of ammonium sulfate increased the capacity. At the highest salt concentration, a slight improvement in the capacity using lower flow rate was observed, possibly due to compaction of plasmid molecules and its better organization on the monolith channels. Finally, a low pH also had a positive effect on the capacity. So, this monolithic support proved to be appropriate to purify the supercoiled isoform of different plasmids with different sizes, providing a valuable instrument as a purification technique.     

Disentangling Excimer Emission from Chiral Induction in Nanoscale Helical Silica Scaffolds Bearing Achiral Chromophores

The synthesis and characterization of diketopyrrolopyrroles and perylenemonoimidodiesters linked to a substituted benzoic acid in the ortho, meta, and para positions, are reported. Grafting of these dyes on the surface of chiral silica nanohelices is used to probe how the morphology of the platform at the mesoscopic level affects the induction of chiroptical properties onto achiral molecular chromophores. The grafted structures are weakly (diketopyrrolopyrroles) or strongly (perylenemonoimidodiesters) emissive, exhibiting both locally-excited state emission and a broad, structureless emission assigned to excimers. The dissymmetry factors obtained using circular dichroism highlight optimized supramolecular organization between the chromophores for enhancing the chiroptical properties of the system. In the ortho- derivatives, poor organization due to steric hindrance is reflected in a low density of chromophores on walls of the silica-nanostructures (<0.1 vs. >0.3 and up to 0.6 molecules/nm² for the ortho and meta or para derivatives, respectively) and lower g_abs values than in the other derivatives (g_abs<2×10⁻⁵ vs 6×10⁻⁵ for the ortho and para derivatives, respectively). The para derivatives presented a better organization and increased values of g_abs. All grafted chromophores evidence varying degrees of excimer emission which was not found to directly correlate to their grafting density.