Chemoenzymatic synthesis of both enantiomers of cispentacin

Based on the lipase-catalysed kinetic resolution of the silyloxyalcohol (1RS,2SR)-5 by transesterification with vinyl acetate in the presence of lipase from Pseudomonas cepacia a synthesis of both enantiomers of the β-amino acid cispentacin (1R,2S)-1 and (1S,2R)-1 using simple functional group interconversions is described.     

Equivalence of Ensembles,Condensation and Glassy Dynamics in the Bose–Hubbard Hamiltonian

Journal of Statistical Physics - We study mathematically the equilibrium properties of the Bose–Hubbard Hamiltonian in the limit of a vanishing hopping amplitude. This system conserves the...     

A method for C(alpha) direct-detection in protonless NMR

Attempts are made to efficiently decouple (13)C nuclei without significant loss of coherence during the application of the decoupling package. Such attempts are based on the S(3)E spin-state selection method. A newly developed double S(3)E (DS(3)E) is particularly efficient for C(alpha) detection for proteins as large as 480 kDa.     

Oxidation of guanines in the iron-responsive element RNA: similar structures from chemical modification and recent NMR studies

Background: The translation or stability of the mRNAs from ferritin, m-aconitase, erythroid aminoevulinate synthase and the transferrin receptor is controlled by the binding of two iron regulatory proteins to a family of hairpin-forming RNA sequences called iron-responsive elements (IREs). The determination of higher-solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) structures of IRE variants suggests an unusual hexaloop structure, leading to an intra-loop G-C base pair and a highly exposed loop guanine, and a special internal loop/bulge in the ferritin IRE involving a shift in base pairing not predicted with standard algorithms.Results: Cleavage of synthetic 55- and 30-mer RNA oligonucleotides corresponding to the ferritin IRE with complexes based on oxoruthenium(IV) shows enhanced reactivity at a hexaloop guanine and at a guanine adjacent to the internal loop/bulge with strong protection at a guanine in the internal loop/bulge. These results are consistent with the recent NMR structures. The synthetic 55-mer RNA binds the iron-regulatory protein from rabbit reticulocyte lysates. The DNA analogs of the 55- and 30-mers do not show the same reactivity pattern.Conclusions: The chemical reactivity of the guanines in the ferritin IRE towards oxoruthenium(IV) supports the published NMR structures and the known oxidation chemistry of the metal complexes, The results constitute progress towards developing stand-alone chemical nucleases that reveal significant structural properties and provide results that can ultimately be used to constrain molecular modeling.     

Phase transitions in cellulose solutions. The kinetics of precipitation of cellulose from diluted cadoxen solutions

Solutions of cellulose (degree of polymerization: 296 ± 16) in tris(ethylenediamine)cadmium(II)hydroxide-ethylenediamine-water (cadoxen), 1.015% (weight per volume) were diluted 1:1.5 with water. The ensuing isothermal precipitations were followed dilatometrically at temperatures ranging from 27.50 to 48.45°C. The precipitation data were characterized by a positive temperature coefficient. They generally conformed to a one-dimensional nucleation rate law; the Avrami exponents were close to unity. Alternatively, they fit a first-order reaction rate expression with respect to cellulose concentration. The low crystallinity of the precipitated cellulose leads to the interpretation of the kinetics in terms of the dissociation of a cellulose-cadoxen complex, rather than phase separation, as the rate-determining step. The nucleation rate law suggests a one-dimensional nonrandom cooperative chemical process, while the first-order rate law suggests a random process.     

Measuring the effect of demagnetization in stacks of gadolinium plates using the magnetocaloric effect

The effect of demagnetization in a stack of gadolinium plates is determined experimentally by using spatially resolved measurements of the adiabatic temperature change due to the magnetocaloric effect. The number of plates in the stack, the spacing between them and the position of the plate on which the temperature is measured are varied. The orientation of the magnetic field is also varied. The measurements are compared to a magnetostatic model previously described. The results show that the magnetocaloric effect, due to the change in the internal field, is sensitive to the stack configuration and the orientation of the applied field. This may have significant implications for the construction of a magnetic cooling device.     

Minimum information estimation of allocation models of different sizes

For allocation models consisting of n = 10, 6 and 4 equations, constrained generalized least squares coefficient estimates are compared with those obtained from the minimum information (MI) criterion in the sense of statistical information theory. The MI estimates are more efficient for n = 10. The bootstrap procedure is illustrated for the assessment of the variability of these estimates.