Investigation of the dissociative adsorption for cyclopropane on the copper surface by density functional theory and quantum chemical molecular dynamics method

The dissociative adsorption of cyclopropane on the copper surface was studied using quantum chemical molecular dynamics method with “Colors-Excite” code and density functional theory by Amsterdam Density Functional program (ADF2000). The excited state of cyclopropane was used as adsorbate to simulate the dissociated adsorption under an irradiation energy of ca. 10 eV. One of the C-C bonds in cyclopropane was broken and the two new bonds between cyclopropane and copper surface were formed. The electrons transferred from the copper atoms to cyclopropane with a value of about 0.2e. The shorter distances between the carbons and surface copper atoms showed the existence of strong interaction. Consistently, the results indicated metallacyclopentane was the most possible intermediate species in dissociative adsorption by ADF2000 and “Colors-Excite” method.     

Role of Arg123 in Light‐driven Anion Pump Mechanisms of pharaonis Halorhodopsin†

Halorhodopsin (HR) acts as a light‐driven chloride pump which transports a chloride ion from the extracellular (EC) to the cytoplasmic space during a photocycle reaction that includes some photointermediates initiated by illumination. To understand the chloride uptake mechanisms, we focused on a basic residue Arg123 of HR from Natronomonas pharaonis (NpHR), which is the only basic residue located in the EC half ion channel. By the measurements of the visible absorption spectra in the dark and the light‐induced inward current through the membrane, it was shown that the chloride binding and transport ability of NpHR completely disappeared by the change of arginine to glutamine. From flashphotolysis analysis, the photocycle of R123Q differed from that of wildtype NpHR completely. The response of the R123H mutant depended on pH. These facts imply that the positive charge at position 123 is essential for chloride binding in the ground state and for the chloride uptake under illumination. On the basis of the molecular structures of HR and the anion‐transportable mutants of bacteriorhodopsin, the effects of the positive charge and the conformational change of the Arg123 side chain as well as the chloride‐pumping mechanism are discussed.     

Immunoassay based on a polyclonal antibody for sex steroid hormones produced by a heterogeneous hapten-conjugated immunogen: Estimation of its potentiality and antibody characteristics

A method in which antibodies are produced by using an immunogen heterogeneously conjugated with two or more kinds of haptens having unlike chemical structures against a same carrier protein was offered as an efficient approach for development of antibody to low molecular compounds. To appreciate the potentiality of the approach, 17β-estradiol (E2) and testosterone were selected as model compounds. The I₅₀ values of antiserum developed were 6 and 8 μg L⁻¹ with the detection limits of 0.02 and 0.15 μg L⁻¹ for E2 and testosterone, respectively. Antiserum owned an interesting characteristic that it was possible to independently analyze E2 and testosterone without mutual interference by making proper use of coating antigens. When using β-estradiol 17-hemisuccuinate (EH) conjugated with bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a coating antigen, the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was very selective to E2 and some estrogen analogues. Therefore, if testosterone coexisted in the ELISA for E2 detection, it showed no interference with it. From these findings, it was suggested that the verified method was an efficient and rational approach in development of polyclonal antibody to low molecular compounds.     

Determination of Ubiquinone in Blood by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Post-Column Fluorescence Derivatization Using 2-Cyanoacetamide

It was shown that ubiquinone (CoQ₁₀) and ubiquinol (CoQ₁₀H₂) produce fluorescence products under alkaline conditions when reacted with 2-cyanoacetamide. The reaction mixture from CoQ₁₀ gave fluorescence with excitation and emission maximum wavelengths at 442 nm and 549 nm, respectively. This reaction was considered to proceed via Craven’s reaction. Moreover, 2-cyanoacetamide was shown to be a useful reagent for high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with post-column fluorescence derivatization of CoQ₁₀ and CoQ₁₀H₂ in blood. CoQ₁₀ showed a linear response in the range of 0.32–1276 ng, and the detection limit (S/N = 3) was 0.16 ng. Moreover, the sample pretreatment by deproteinization and extraction of CoQ₁₀ and CoQ₁₀H₂ from plasma using 1-propanol with potassium formate was effective for excellent separation of CoQ₁₀ and CoQ₁₀H₂ from other fluorescent substances in the blood. This simple and rapid pretreatment was considered to minimize the oxidation of CoQ₁₀H₂. On the other hand, CoQ₁₀ and CoQ₁₀H₂ in plasma samples obtained by finger prick were detected, as in venous blood obtained by venipuncture. Our method involving the simple and rapid collection of plasma by finger prick and sample pretreatment is thought to be applicable for the determination of CoQ₁₀H₂/total CoQ₁₀ ratio as a biomarker of oxidative stress.     

Design of laser interferometric system for measurement of gear tooth flank

A laser interferometric system (LIS) based on oblique incidence and phase shifting technique has been designed for the measurement of gear tooth flank. For a spur involute gear with a module of 2.0, 60 teeth, and a 20-mm facewidth, some critical parameters of the LIS are calculated, the oblique incidence angle is 84.5°, the beam diameter is 20 mm, and the focal length of imaging lens is 100 mm, and the resolution of CCD camera is 1360 × 1024 pixels. To test the capability of the designed LIS, the numerical simulation is done for the LIS. The actual LIS is built on an optical platform and the experiment is carried out. Both interference fringe patterns from the numerical simulation and the actual experiment are good and coincident with each other, which show the designed LIS is feasible.     

Comparison of reactivity on step and terrace sites of Pd (3 3 2) surface for the dissociative adsorption of hydrogen: A quantum chemical molecular dynamics study

The notion of “active sites” is fundamental to heterogeneous catalysis. However, the exact nature of the active sites, and hence the mechanism by which they act, are still largely a matter of speculation. In this study, we have presented a systematic quantum chemical molecular dynamics (QCMD) calculations for the interaction of hydrogen on different step and terrace sites of the Pd (3 3 2) surface. Finally the dissociative adsorption of hydrogen on step and terrace as well as the influence of surface hydrogen vacancy for the dissociative adsorption of hydrogen has been investigated through QCMD. This is a state-of-the-art method for calculating the interaction of atoms and molecules with metal surfaces. It is found that fully hydrogen covered (saturated) step sites can dissociate hydrogen moderately and that a monovacancy surface is suitable for significant dissociative adsorption of hydrogen. However in terrace site of the surface we have found that dissociation of hydrogen takes place only on Pd sites where the metal atom is not bound to any pre-adsorbed hydrogen atoms. Furthermore, from the molecular dynamics and electronic structure calculations, we identify a number of consequences for the interpretation and modeling of diffusion experiments demonstrating the coverage and directional dependence of atomic hydrogen diffusion on stepped palladium surface.