Patenting computer-designed peptides

The problem of designing new peptides that possess specific properties, such as bactericidal activity, is of wide interest. Recently, attention has focused on the use of Computer-Aided Molecular Design techniques in parallel with more traditional 'synthesise and test' methods. These techniques may typically use Genetic Algorithms to optimise molecules based on Neural Network models that predict activity. In this paper we describe a successful application of this Molecular Design methodology that has resulted in novel bactericidal peptides of real value. A key issue for commercial utilisation of such results is the ability to protect the intellectual property rights associated with the discovery of new molecules. Typically peptide patents use structural templates of amino acid hydrophobicity-hydrophilicity that define highly regular peptide patent spaces. In an extension of established patenting practice we describe a patent application that uses a Neural Net predictive model to define the regions of peptide space that we claim within the patent. This formalism makes no a priori assumptions about the regularity of the patent space. A preliminary comparative investigation of the shape and size of this and other bactericidal peptide patent spaces is conducted.     

Introducing Intellectual Property in an Undergraduate Chemistry Curriculum

An exercise that introduces undergraduate chemistry majors to concepts associated with intellectual property is outlined. The assignment includes an introduction to the terminology associated with starting a company based on intellectual property and to nondisclosure agreements. After this, the students write a draft patent application. With over 150,000 United States patents issued annually, the role of intellectual property is prominent and becoming increasingly important in current corporations and in the formation of new businesses, as well as in government and academic settings.     

如何撰写高质量化学领域专利申请文件

本文根据笔者在专利审查工作中的实际经验,对我国高等院校和科研机构在专利申请文件撰写中容易出现的问题进行了梳理,重点阐述了化学领域专利申请中常见的说明书公开不充分、权利要求中的非必要技术特征限定、技术术语缺少定义等问题,并分析了问题产生的原因,提出了相应的应对策略,以期能够帮助科研人员更加合理地撰写发明专利申请文件,使申请人的利益得到更好的保护。     

Quality assurance in analytical chemical laboratories: Towards harmonization and integration of current standards

This article presents the results of a comparative study of the main quality assurance (QA) and good laboratory practice (GLP) regulation systems and standards for analytical chemical laboratories currently being applied in Europe. A growing number of laboratories are being confronted with the need to cope with two or more of these systems, which involves separate audits and inspections for certification and accreditation. As these regulatory systems have essentially the same aims, there is an increasing interest in harmonization of QA and GLP guidelines. As a first step in exploring the possibilities of harmonization, similarities and differences of the current systems, compiled in the form of cross reference tables, have been analyzed (from a laboratory practice point of view) by a study group of EURACHEM, The Netherlands. The conclusions of this study have recently been endorsed by the Committee of EURACHEM Europe.     

International Atomic Energy Agency's contributions to advances in nutritional and environmental metrology

For more than three decades the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has supported projects on food, nutrition and environment for strengthening the analytical capabilities in developing countries (DCs). Over time, such efforts have led to the development of proper study designs, harmonization of sampling protocols, adequate contamination control and evaluation of the suitability of competing analytical techniques for the determination of specific analytes. Collectively, these consistent IAEA initiatives have promoted harmonization of chemical measurements thus facilitating comparability of results of filed investigations. Importantly, the Agency's efforts have infused a measure of metrological awareness in measurements carried out in field studies, including physiological measurements. Nuclear and isotopic techniques have played an important role in reaching these goals by establishing reliable measurement processes for application in health care studies.     

光敏异构化智能生物开关的进展

引出光敏异构化智能生物开关的概念。介绍了可逆光敏异构化生物物质的机制和特点, 并结合这个领域的研究和发展对其进行了较全面的讨论。探讨了可逆异构化开关物质在光记忆、电化学控制、生物传感器等方面的应用, 并对它的未来前景作出展望。     

Legal pitfalls of CRM production and distribution

The huge market of commercially traded chemical substances and their subsequent deliberate or accidental diffusion into the environment has triggered an increase in environmentally related legislation regarding chemical substances. In this context, laboratories require suitable calibration standards and matrix certified reference materials (CRMs) for method development, validation and quality control in order to survey related threshold and limit values. Unfortunately, CRMs are subject to the same technical trade barriers as they should help to overcome. Similar problems exist when the production of a CRM touches intellectual property rights (IPR), e.g. in case of GMOs, or when regionally banned veterinary drugs have to be monitored. Another often under-estimated problem is the liability and legal responsibility of the CRM-producer. This paper discusses different aspects of these legal pitfalls and suggests some approaches to overcome these difficulties.Presented at BERM-9, the 9th International Symposium on Biological and Environmental Reference Materials, 15–19 June 2003, Berlin, Germany     

The PHARMSEARCH database

PHARMSEARCH, a database produced by the French Patent and Trademark Office (INPI), covers pharmaceutical patents issued by the Europeans, French, and United States patent offices from November 1986 onward. PHARMSEARCH is composed of MPHARM, a structure file searchable using Markush DARC software, and PHARM, the companion bibliographic file. Markush structures claimed in the patent documents are entered into the database as variable generic structures. Specific structures are also included in the database, when they are not part of a Markush structure in the patent document. Chemical index terms describe all moieties of the structure. Indexing also describes the therapeutic activities and preparation processes for the compounds. The indexing policies used in the production of this database are described.     

Trapping Radial Electric Field Optimization in Compensated FTICR Cells

Herein, we present the theoretical and experimental study of the recently introduced FTICR cell designs. We developed an approach that determines the electric field inside the cell, based on the measurement of calibration coefficients as a function of post-excitation radius and other conditions. Using the radial electric field divided by radius (E _r /r) as a criterion of the cell harmonization, we compare the compensated cell approach with alternative designs and discuss practical implications of the cell compensation.     

The EC4 European Register for Clinical Chemists in relation to quality aspects

 The European Register for Clinical Chemists is founded and guarded by the European Communities Confederation of Clinical Chemistry (EC4). This register fits the current mind set of harmonization and globalization of occupations within the European Community. But in addition it enables and serves the continuing quest for quality assessment and improvement within the field of laboratory medicine. The content and position of clinical chemists in the European Union is described and the European Register outlined. Received: 10 July 2000 / Accepted: 20 July 2000     

Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance cell with dynamic harmonization of the electric field in the whole volume by shaping of the excitation and detection electrode assembly

A new principle of formation of the effective electric field distribution in a Penning trap is presented. It is based on the concept of electric potential space averaging via charged particle cyclotron motion. The method of making hyperbolic-type field distribution in the whole volume of a cylindrical Penning trap is developed on the basis of this new principal. The method is based on subdividing the cell cylindrical surface into segments with shapes producing quadratic dependence on axial coordinate of an averaged (along cyclotron motion orbit) electric potential at any radius of cyclotron motion. The cell performance is compared in digital experiments with the performance of a Gabrielse-type cylindrical cell with four compensation electrodes and is shown to be more effective in ion motion harmonization at higher cyclotron radii and axial oscillation amplitude.     

Recent Advances in Photoconductive and Photosensitive Polymers

Abstract

The synthesis and evaluation of photoconductive and photosensitive polymers have received considerable attention during recent years because of the increasing demand for such materials in electrophotography and related processes. By now, a wide variety of polymers, unmodified as well as modified chemically or otherwise, has been explored with regard to their potentialities in this field. An authoritative review by Stolka and Pai discussed the basic concepts in photoconductivity, summarizing the experimental techniques commonly employed in this context along with a review of original and patent literature on these systems available through 1976. In a contemporary article, Pen-well, Ganguly, and Smith reviewed the literature on N-vinyl -carbazole polymer systems with specific regard to synthesis, physicochemical property evaluation vis-a-vis their theoretical implications, and related topics. More recently, Biswas and Das reviewed the developments in carbazole-based polymer systems throusrh 1979.     

The quest for comparability: Calibration 2000

 Most efforts in quality control have been focussed on the reduction of intralaboratory variation and the assessment of interlaboratory variation. Over the last few years, the importance of bias in interlaboratory variation and intralaboratory shifts has become clear. Small shifts can sometimes have a large impact on the number of treated patients, particularly in assays where cut off values are used. For example in cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, HbA1c and TSH assays. There is an obvious need for adequate calibration material. However, the process of development of international primary reference materials and reference methods takes time, and even if reference materials exist and are used by in vitro diagnostics manufacturers, there still remains significant and clinically relevant interlaboratory variance and intralaboratory shifts, as is seen, e.g. in protein chemistry. The harmonization of inter laboratory and intralaboratory results needs an impulse from professional organizations to convince individual laboratories of the importance and significance of bias. This applies to all subdisciplines of laboratory medicine. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Foundation for External Quality Assessment (SKZL), a large interdisciplinary harmonization project called Calibration 2000 was launched in The Netherlands The strategy and first results are reported in this paper. The project aims at harmonization of laboratory data of several disciplines, using secondary calibration materials, leading to common reference ranges throughout The Netherlands. Received: 15 April 2000 · Accepted: 15 April 2000     

25 years of Science Citation Index--some experiences

Science Citation Index (SCI) depends for intellectual content entirely on citations by authors, who are sometimes prodded by editors and referees. Its patchiness is therefore not surprising, but frequently it gives access to relevant and up-to-date documents not easily accessible by other means. Two contrasting "citation families" are described. The first family, dealing with the various ascorbic acid derivatives having C substitution at C-2, actually retrieved very nearly all the relevant documents (other than patent specifications) that were retrieved by a CAS ONLINE substructure search. Organic chemists are clearly careful authors. The second family, dealing with amino acid residues covalently bound in soil organic matter, yielded documents having surprisingly little overlap with those retrieved by using a carefully devised Boolean "profile" on the general subject index of Chemical Abstracts. This was only partly because SCI is beset by language-barrier problems to which Chemical Abstracts is immune. The SCI management might extend its journal coverage, but otherwise improvement can only come from a more serious attitude to placing references in primary publications. SCI remains a complement to, not a substitute for, other data-bases.     

功能材料在蛋白质组研究中的应用进展

随着对蛋白质组鉴定深度、定量准确性及分析速度越来越高的要求,对蛋白质组学方法的研发提出了新的挑战。为了应对这些挑战,传统的蛋白质组学方法因其灵敏度低、准确性差以及耗时长等不足已经难以满足蛋白质组学研究领域不断提出的新需求。而将通过光、电、磁、热、化学、生化等作用合成具有特定功能的材料用于蛋白质组的研究,可以克服传统蛋白质组学分析技术的局限性,为蛋白质组学研究起到促进作用。该文对功能材料在蛋白质组研究中应用的新进展进行综述。     

Predicting key example compounds in competitors' patent applications using structural information alone

In drug discovery programs, predicting key example compounds in competitors' patent applications is important work for scientists working in the same or in related research areas. In general, medicinal chemists are responsible for this work, and they attempt to guess the identity of key compounds based on information provided in patent applications, such as biological data, scale of reaction, and/or optimization of the salt form for a particular compound. However, this is sometimes made difficult by the lack of such information. This paper describes a method for predicting key compounds in competitors' patent applications by using only structural information of example compounds. Based on the assumption that medicinal chemists usually carry out extensive structure--activity relationship (SAR) studies around key compounds, the method identifies compounds located at the centers of densely populated regions in the patent examples' chemical space, as represented by Extended Connectivity Fingerprints (ECFPs). For the validation of the method, a total of 30 patents containing structures of launched drugs were selected to test whether or not the method is able to predict key compounds (the launched drugs). In 17 out of the 30 patents (57%), the method was able to successfully predict the key compounds. The result indicates that our method could provide an alternative approach to predicting key compounds in cases where the conventional medicinal chemist's approach does not work well. This method could also be used as a complement to the traditional medicinal chemist's approach.     

聚氨酯类反应型高分子表面活性剂的研究进展

反应型高分子表面活性剂兼有反应型表面活性剂可以以牢固的共价键键合到聚合物粒子上,有效避免了表面活性剂在聚合物膜中迁移的优点和高分子表面活性剂性质稳定、耐水性好、低毒或无毒的优点,是一种备受关注的新型表面活性剂,其中含有双键的聚氨酯类可聚合型高分子表面活性剂因其软硬度可调、反应活性高等优点而成为此类研究的一个新热点。本文综述了国内外聚氨酯类反应型高分子表面活性剂最新研究概况,简述了其合成路线和应用性能,并对未来的研究方向进行了预测。     

An evaluation of the leading patent equivalents services

Patent equivalent services are useful tools for identifying patent families. A patent family consists of a group of patents in various countries which cover the same invention. The patent equivalents services provided by the three leading suppliers--Chemical Abstracts Service, Derwent Publications Ltd., and INPADOC--have been tested and evaluated for coverage, recall, and accuracy. Results are reported for a test sample consisting of 75 pharmaceutical patent families.     

近年来OLED中双极性主体材料的研究进展在专利中的反映

双极性主体材料是目前提高电致发光器件发光效率的关键材料.本文从双极性主体材料的构造原理出发,提出了一种独到的结构特征分类方式,以结构特征及其演变过程为主线梳理了近年来这个领域的专利技术,并归纳提炼出目前这类材料在结构设计方面的主要构思,文末还对该领域的发展前景进行了展望.     

2,3,3,3-四氟丙烯的合成研究

本文综述了目前2,3,3,3-四氟丙烯（HFO-1234yf）的合成路线,包括氟-氯交换、脱卤化氢、脱卤、脱卤醇、脱次氯酸乙酰酯、脱水、加氢脱卤、脱氢、高温热解、SF₄参与的氟化反应、脱羧等。其中,以2-氯-3,3,3-三氟丙烯（HCFO-1233xf）为原料的氟-氯交换路线、以1,1,1,2,3-五氟丙烷（HFC-245eb）为原料的脱氟化氢路线和2-氯-1,1,1,2-四氟丙烷（HCFC-244bb）为原料的脱氯化氢路线均具有原料容易合成得到、容易实现气相连续化大规模生产的优势,具有工业化价值。另外,分析对这些路线拥有独立知识产权的氟化工企业现状,提出今后HFO-1234yf领域的研究重点。