Formation of left-handed helices in hybrid peptide oligomers with cis beta-sugar amino acid and L-Ala as building blocks

Residue based control of specific helical folding is explored in hybrid peptide oligomers consisting of alternating L-Ala and cis-beta-furanoid sugar amino acid (FSAA) residues as building blocks; two series of these hybrid oligomers are designed, synthesized and extensively characterized by using NMR, CD, FT-IR and MD simulation studies; results show the co-existence of left-handed 11- and 14/15-helical conformations in these short oligomers of Boc-(alpha/beta) and Boc-(beta/alpha) series.     

Design and Evaluation of an Optimal Controller for Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation Process

Ethanol from corn is produced using dry grind corn process in which simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) is one of the most critical unit operations. In this work an optimal controller based on a previously validated SSF model was developed by formulating the SSF process as a Bolza problem and using gradient descent methods. Validation experiments were performed to evaluate the performance of optimal controller under different process disturbances that are likely to occur in practice. Use of optimal control algorithm for the SSF process resulted in lower peak glucose concentration, similar ethanol yields (13.38±0.36% v/v and 13.50±0.15% v/v for optimally controlled and baseline experiments, respectively). Optimal controller improved final ethanol concentrations as compared to process without optimal controller under conditions of temperature (13.35±1.28 and 12.52±1.19% v/v for optimal and no optimal control, respectively) and pH disturbances (12.65±0.74 and 11.86±0.49% v/v for optimal and no optimal control, respectively). Cost savings due to lower enzyme usage and reduced cooling requirement were estimated to be up to $1 million for a 151 million L/yr (40 million gal/yr) dry grind plant.     

Transport Properties of Macromolecules by Brownian Dynamics Simulation: Vectorization of Brownian Dynamics on the Cyber-205

Time consuming portions in the computation of transport properties of rigid and flexible molecules are the evaluation of subunit hydrodynamic interaction tensors Q and σ, and the procedure for satisfying subunit-subunit distance constraints. Vector algorithms to speed up these parts of the computation are given. Using these algorithms, a vector version of the Ermak-McCammon Brownian dynamics code has been developed on a Cyber-205. To demonstrate the order of speedups that can be achieved, the code was tested on a rigid “trimer” system comprising 24 spherical subunits with a fixed geometry. A speedup of about 14 times for the whole program, and of 45, 6, and 18 times for the computation of Q , σ, and for the procedure to enforce the constraints, respectively, were obtained.     

Pharmacokinetic application of a bio‐analytical LC‐MS method developed for 5‐fluorouracil and methotrexate in mouse plasma,brain and urine

In the past we have reported significant cognitive deficits in mice receiving 5‐fluorouracil in combination with low‐dose methotrexate. To explain such interactions, a pharmacokinetic study was designed. A sensitive bio‐analytical method was therefore developed and validated for 5‐fluorouracil and methotrexate in mouse plasma, brain and urine with liquid chromatography coupled to a single quadrupole mass spectrometer. Chromatographic separation was accomplished by Agilent® Zorbax® SB‐C₁₈ column, with isocratic elution (5 mM ammonium acetate and methanol, 70:30, %v/v) at a flow rate of 300 μL/min. The limit of quantitation for both drugs was 15.6 ng/mL (plasma and brain) and 78.1 ng/mL (urine), with interday and intraday precision and accuracy ≤15% and a total run time of 6 min. This bio‐analytical method was used for the pharmacokinetic characterization of 5‐fluorouracil and methotrexate in mouse plasma, brain and urine over a period of 24 h. This method allowed characterization of the brain concentrations of 5‐fluorouracil over a period of 24 h. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Beta-sugar aminoxy peptides as rigid secondary structural scaffolds

Short homo-oligomers of a new building block, cis-beta(2,3)-furanoid sugar aminoxy acid, are designed, characterized, and found to exhibit rigid ribbon-like secondary structures composed of 5/7 bifurcated intramolecular hydrogen bonds.     

Development of a honeycomb gas proportional counter array for photon multiplicity measurements in high multiplicity environment

A novel gas-based detector using large arrays of honeycomb cells has been developed and tested for use as a pre-shower photon multiplicity detector (PMD) for STAR and ALICE experiments. The appropriate cell design was arrived at using GARFIELD simulations. Prototype chambers with cell dimensions corresponding to STAR and ALICE were fabricated and tested at CERN PS and SPS. The charged particle detection efficiency and the pre-shower characteristics have been studied using pion and electron beams.     

Quantum tunnelling of muonium reactions in solutions

Muonium spin rotation experiments have been performed in a system of benzene in liquid isopentane solutions in the temperature range between 136 K and 295 K. The observed chemical reaction rate constants show a concave curve in an Arrhenius plot. These results are interpreted in terms of to a significant quantum tunnelling effect for muonium reaction in solutions. The oscillating frequency and the width of barrier for such reactions were found to be 400 cm^?1 and 2.1 Å respectively by curve-shape analysis. The reaction barrier (6.0 kJ/mol) is found to be less than the activation energy due to viscous flow of the solvent.     

Interlaboratory quality audit program for potable water – assessment of method validation done on inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES)

In an effort to assess the method validation done using ICP-AES in our laboratory for potable water, an Environmental Laboratory Approval Program organized by New York State Department of Health, Wadsworth Center providing the reference material has been undertaken for 14 trace elements and seven other chemical constituents. The certified means for the reference material and the results obtained in our laboratory are compared. The comparisons helped us assess the quality of our work. All the data from the inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES) fall into the ranges specified. These data are intended to depict the quality of chemical analysis being conducted in our laboratory and to increase the level of confidence of our clientele in accepting our test reports. It should be further noted that while the technique may not be new, the model is new and the simultaneous detection of elements required validation for those of our clientele who are only familiar with sequential AAS and AES. Received: 3 April 2002 Accepted: 4 September 2002     

Complexes of AgI with cationic ligands: bis[(pyridylmethyl)ammonio]silver(I) salts

Bis­[(2-pyridyl­methyl)­ammonio]silver(I) trinitrate, [Ag(C₆H₉N₂)₂](NO₃)₃, (I), and bis{bis­[(4-pyridyl­methyl)­ammonio]silver(I)} hexakis­(perchlorate) dihydrate, [Ag(C₆H₉N₂)₂]₂(ClO₄)₆·2H₂O, (II), are rare examples of complexes with cationic ligands. In (I), the Ag⁺ cation has a T-shaped [2+1] coordination involving the pyridine N atoms and a nitrate O atom, while in (II) there are three independent two-coordinate Ag complex cations (two with the Ag atoms on independent inversion centres) and disordered ClO₄⁻ ions. The crystal structures reveal the role of hydrogen bonding in stabilizing these complexes.