Nanometal surface energy transfer in optical rulers, breaking the FRET barrier

Optical-based distance measurements are essential for tracking biomolecular conformational changes, drug discovery, and cell biology. Traditional Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) is efficient for separation distances up to 100 A. We report the first successful application of a dipole-surface type energy transfer from a molecular dipole to a nanometal surface that more than doubles the traditional Forster range (220 A) and follows a 1/R(4) distance dependence. We appended a 1.4 nm Au cluster to the 5' end of one DNA strand as the energy acceptor and a fluorescein (FAM) to the 5' end of the complementary strand as the energy donor. Analysis of the energy transfer on DNA lengths (15, 20, 30, 60bp), complemented by protein-induced DNA bending, provides the basis for fully mapping the extent of this dipole surface type mechanism over its entire usable range (50-250 A). Further, protein function is fully compatible with these nanometal-DNA constructs. Significantly extending the range of optical based methods in molecular rulers is an important leap forward for biophysics.     

Microwave-assisted synthesis of triazole derivatives conjugated with piperidine as new anti-enzymatic agents

The current study was aimed for the study of piperidine-based triazole compounds for their biological potential against various enzymes. A novel library of compounds, 9a-r , having piperidine, 1,2,4-triazole, and propanamides was synthesized through consecutive steps including the formation of sulfonamide, hydrazide, 1,2,4-triazole, and thio-ether. Initially, 4-methoxybenzenesulfonyl chloride ( 1 ) and ethyl isonipecotate ( 2 ) were utilized to develop ethyl 1-(4-methoxyphenylsulfonyl)-4-piperidinecarboxylate ( 3 ). The product 3 was converted into respective hydrazide ( 4 ) which was further cyclized into 1,2,4-triazole ( 5 ) nucleus. A series of propanamides, 8a-r , were synthesized from different amines, 6a-r . These electrophiles, 8a-r , were reacted with compound 5 under conventional and microwave-assisted protocols to acquire the library of hybrids, 9a-r . The structural confirmations were availed by ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR, and IR techniques. The whole series was evaluated for biological potential against acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and α-glucosidase enzymes. The biological evaluation ranges low to high in potential for different compounds based on the structural variations of synthesized compounds. Almost all the compounds remained active against both the enzymes except a few ones. The bovine serum albumin (BSA) binding study demonstrated the flow of drug in the body, and the docking study explained the interactions responsible for active behavior of synthesized compounds.     

Development and validation of a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method to determine ulifloxacin, the active metabolite of prulifloxacin in rat and rabbit plasma: application to toxicokinetic study

A simple, high‐throughput and specific high‐performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method has been developed and validated according to the FDA guidelines for quantification of ulifloxacin in rat and rabbit plasma. The analyte was separated on a Peerless basic C₁₈ column (33 × 4.6 mm, 3 µm) with an isocratic mobile phase of methanol–water containing formic acid (0.5%, v/v; 9:1, v/v) at a flow rate of 0.5 mL/min. The MS/MS detection was carried out by monitoring the fragmentation of m/z 350.500 → 248.500 for ulifloxacin and m/z 332.400 → 231.400 for ciprofloxacin (internal standard; IS) on a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. The response to ulifloxacin was linear over the range 0.010–2.500 µg/mL in both plasma. The limit of detection and lower limit of quantification of ulifloxacin were determined in both species to be 0.0025 and 0.010 µg/mL, respectively. The method was successfully applied to quantitatively assess the toxicokinetics of ulifloxacin in rat and rabbit following a single 400 mg/kg (in rat) and 200 mg/kg (in rabbit) oral dose of the prulifloxacin. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Conversion ratio to F-H center pairs from self-trapped excitons in alkali chloride crystals

Abstract

The time delayed double excitation spectroscopy has been utilized to determine the conversion ratio to F-H center pairs from self-trapped excitons(STE_L) at the lowest state (1s[sgrave]_g;a_1g). The final conversion ratios, η_F/(η_F+η_X), were 0.86, 0.49 and 0.20 for NaCl, KCl and RbCl at 14K, respectively. The conversion efficiency (η =η_F+η_X) from STE_L to F-H center pairs(η_F) and to unknown states(η_X) were 0.25, 0.90 and 0.76 for the hole excitation to π_g, while 0.03, 0.01 and 0.01 for the electron excitation to b_1u, b_2u or b_3u, in NaCl, KCl and RbCl, respectively.     

Existence and approximation of fixed points of multivalued generalized α-nonexpansive mappings in Banach spaces

Numerical Algorithms - We consider the theoretical and numerical aspects of the quadrature rules associated with a sequence of polynomials generated by a special RII recurrence relation. We also...     

Simultaneous estimation of six anti-diabetic drugs--glibenclamide, gliclazide, glipizide, pioglitazone, repaglinide and rosiglitazone: development of a novel HPLC method for use in the analysis of pharmaceutical formulations and its application to human plasma assay

This paper describes a convenient method for the separation and simultaneous determination of six anti-diabetic drugs viz., glibenclamide (GLB), gliclazide (GLC), glipizide (GLZ), pioglitazone (PGL), repaglinide (RPG) and rosiglitazone (RGL) in pharmaceutical formulations. Also, the assay has been shown applied to support quantification of the six anti-diabetic drugs in human plasma. The analytes were either injected directly onto the column after suitable dilution (pharmaceutical formulation analysis) or a simple extraction procedure, using acetonitrile, from human plasma spiked with anti-diabetic drugs and internal standard (IS). Ternary gradient elution at a flow rate of 1 mL/min was employed on an Intertisl ODS 3V column (4.6 x 250 mm, 5 microm) at ambient temperature. The mobile phase consisted of 0.01 m formic acid (pH 3.0), acetonitrile, Milli Q water and methanol. Celecoxib was used as an IS. The six anti-diabetic drugs were monitored at a wavelength of 260 nm. The nominal retention times of RGL, PGL, GLZ, GLC, GLB, IS and RGL were 11.4, 13.3, 14.8, 17.6, 20.78, 22.1 and 25.4 min, respectively. The assay developed for formulation analysis was found to be accurate and precise. The calibration curves ranged from 0.1 to 100 microg/mL for all analytes with the exception of GLB, where the range was 0.3-100 microg/mL. The plasma assay was validated for parameters such as specificity, accuracy and extraction recovery. The proposed method is simple, selective and can be extended for routine analysis of anti-diabetics in pharmaceutical preparations and in biological matrices.     

Detection of Hg2+ ion using highly selective fluorescent chemosensor in real water sample and in-vitro cell study upon breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7)

A novel rhodamine-based chemosensor (R) was designed and synthesised for selective recognition of Hg²⁺ ion in real water samples collected from different places. The chemosensor was prepared in green condition with high yield. The selectivity of R was examined with various metal ions, among which only Hg²⁺ was identified selectively with off–on mechanism along with enhancement of fluorescence. Metal ions recognition has been carried out using UV–vis and fluorescence studies taking µM concentration of chemosensor R in HEPES buffer. The detection limit of R was calculated and found to be 4.4 × 10^–9 M. Quantum chemical (DFT) calculation was carried out in order to acquire knowledge about the stability of R in presence of Hg²⁺ ions. Cell viability and fluorescence microscopic experiments showed R as cytocompatible and can be used as a fluorescent probe for detecting Hg²⁺ in living cells.     

基于混合自组装单分子层的可控分子整流

基于自组装单分子层(SAM)的分子器件的性能取决于分子层的超分子结构. 而混合自组装单分子层是一种简便易行的调控单分子层组成和结构的方法. 将具有整流特性的11-二茂铁基-1-十一烷基硫醇(FUT)和惰性1-十一烷硫醇(C11-SH)通过溶液共混制备了混合单分子层, 并用液态EGaIn作为顶电极研究了SAM器件的性质. C11-SH与FUT分子的比例可以调节器件的整流性能: 随着惰性C11-SH分子比例增高, SAM器件的整流比逐渐降低. 有趣的是, 当惰性C11-SH的比例小于20%时, 器件的整流性能反而随C11-SH的加入而得到了提升. 这是由于少量C11-SH分子减弱了由二茂铁分子的排列缺陷引起的漏电流, 改善了分子器件的稳定性和重现性, 为单分子层器件的性能调控提供了一种简便有效的方法.     

A novel acid-catalyzed rearrangement of cyclobutanols

Under acid-catalysis 7-arylbicyclo[3.2.0]hept-2-en-6-ols rearrange to diarylmethanes and cyclopenteno-annelated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.     

Effect of temperature variation on Grüneisen parameters of F.C.C. metals

The Grüneisen parameters of noble metals (Cu, Ag and Au) and Aluminium have been computed at various temperatures from the available experimental pressure derivatives of elastic constants, using improved CGW (Clark-Gazis-Wallis) non central force model for their lattice dynamics. The calculation is carried out by a modified Houston's method in which the integral is evaluated by a six term approximation. The Grüneisen parameters computed in our present study show reasonably satisfactory agreement with experimental measure ments.