Vanillin (1) As Starting Material for the Synthesis of Isomeric Phthalides

Phthalides have bcen employed as useful intcriucdiates in tic sqrnthcsis of my condcnscld aromatic carbocyclic and heterocyclic compounds, including several natural products In this paper we report two alternative synthetic pathways for the preparation of phthalides as shown for the synthesis of the isomeric pairs of compounds 5a-d and 7a-d.     

Mn/MgAl2O4 oxygen carriers for chemical looping combustion using coal: influence of the thermal treatment on the structure and reactivity

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Mn-based solid oxygen carriers supported on MgAl2O4 were prepared by the microwave-assisted combustion method followed by wet impregnation of the...     

Simultaneous quantitation of nicorandil and its denitrated metabolite in plasma by LC-MS/MS: application for a pharmacokinetic study

A liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry method was developed and validated for the simultaneous quantitation of nicorandil and its denitrated metabolite, N-(2-hydroxyethyl)-nicotinamide, in rat plasma. After a liquid-liquid extraction step, chromatographic separation was performed on a ShinPack C(18) column with an isocratic mobile phase composed of methanol and 2 mM aqueous ammonium acetate containing 0.03% (v/v) formic acid (33:67 v/v). Procainamide was used as an internal standard (IS). Selected reaction monitoring was performed using the transitions m/z 212 → m/z 135, m/z 166 → m/z 106 and m/z 236 → m/z 163 to quantify nicorandil, its denitrated metabolite and IS, respectively. Calibration curves were constructed over the range of 5-15,000 ng.ml(-1) for both nicorandil and its metabolite. The mean relative standard deviation (RSD%) values for the intra-run precision were 5.4% and 7.3% and for the inter-run precision were 8.5% and 7.3% for nicorandil and its metabolite, respectively. The mean accuracy values were 100% and 95% for nicorandil and its metabolite, respectively. No matrix effect was detected in the samples. The validated method was successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study after per os administration of nicorandil in rats.     

Chemical and biological evaluation of essential oils from two species of Myrtaceae - Eugenia uniflora L. and Plinia trunciflora (O. Berg) Kausel

The chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of essential oils obtained from leaves of two Myrtaceae species-Eugenia uniflora L. and Plinia trunciflora (O. Berg) Kausel-were determined. Analysis by GC/MS as well as determination of Kovatz indexes indicated atractylone (26.78%) and curzerene (17.96%) as major constituents of E. uniflora oil and α-cadinol (19.15%), apiole (11.15%) and cubenol (5.43%) as main components in P. trunciflora oil. Both essential oils were tested for antimicrobial activity against yeasts and bacteria. E. uniflora and P. trunciflora essential oils were active towards two Gram-positive bacteria, Streptococcus equi and Staphylococcus epidermis. In addition, biological activity of both essential oils was detected for pathogenic yeasts of the genus Candida and Cryptococcus. E. uniflora was active towards all yeast tested and exhibited interesting minimal inhibitory concentrations (0.11 to 3.75 mg/mL) across a broad spectrum of activity.     

Behavior of Wild-type and Transfected S2 Cells Cultured in Two Different Media

An animal protein-free medium composed of IPL-41 containing 6 g L^?1 yeastolate ultrafiltrate, 10 g L^?1 glucose, 2 g L^?1 lactose, 5 g L^?1 glutamine, 1% lipid emulsion, and 0.1% Pluronic F-68 was used for producing recombinant proteins in batch mode employing two cell lines, S2AcRVGP2k expressing the G glycoprotein from rabies virus (RVGP) and S2AcHBsAgHy-9C expressing the surface antigen of hepatitis B virus (HBsAg), both obtained from Drosophila melanogaster S2 cells. Growth of wild-type S2 cells was also evaluated in the same medium. Cell behavior in the tested medium was compared to that verified in Sf900 II®. The results show that in shake flasks, S2AcRVGP2k and S2AcHBsAgHy-9C cells reached around 2?×?10⁷ cells mL^?1 in both media. In supplemented IPL-41 and Sf900 II® media, S2AcRVGP2k cells produced 367 ng RVGP mL^?1 and 638 ng RVGP mL^?1, respectively, while S2AcHBsAgHy-9C cells correspondently produced 573 ng HBsAg mL^?1 and 322 ng HBsAg mL^?1 in the mentioned media. In stirred tanks, S2AcRVGP2k cells reached 3?×?10⁷ cells mL^?1 and produced up to 758 ng RVGP mL^?1. In general, glucose was consumed by cells, while lactate and ammonia were produced.     

Partitioning of lactate dehydrogenase from bovine heart crude extract by polyethylene glycol-citrate aqueous two-phase systems

Aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) composed of polyethylene glycol (PEG)-citrate have been used for enzyme partitioning studies. The behavior of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) from bovine heart crude extract was analyzed using a two-level factorial design in which the PEG molar mass and concentration, the citrate concentration were selected as independent variables, while the purification factor, the partition coefficient (K) and the activity yield were selected as responses. The statistical analysis revealed the effect of PEG molar mass on K. LDH exhibited a better partitioning toward PEG-rich phase and the highest K value (1079.81) was obtained with 42% (w/w) PEG 400 and 7.5% (w/w) citrate concentration. PEG molar mass also influenced the purification factor of the enzyme in the top phase. Possibly these ATPS remove inhibitors present in the extract affording higher enzyme yield.     

Singular limit for a nonlinear parabolic equation with terms concentrating on the boundary

We analyze the asymptotic behavior of the attractors of a parabolic problem when some reaction and potential terms are concentrated in a neighborhood of a portion Γ of the boundary and this neighborhood shrinks to Γ as a parameter ε goes to zero. We prove that the family of attractors is upper continuous at the ε=0.     

Magnetic Eigenmaps for the visualization of directed networks

We propose a framework for the visualization of directed networks relying on the eigenfunctions of the magnetic Laplacian, called here Magnetic Eigenmaps. The magnetic Laplacian is a complex deformation of the well-known combinatorial Laplacian. Features such as density of links and directionality patterns are revealed by plotting the phases of the first magnetic eigenvectors. An interpretation of the magnetic eigenvectors is given in connection with the angular synchronization problem. Illustrations of our method are given for both artificial and real networks.