Force-extension curves of dimerized polyglutamic acid

Measurement of the force-extension curve for the mechanical unfolding process of a single protein molecule is expected to provide a value for the force necessary to deform the molecule. Integration of the observed curves can then yield an accurate estimate of the intra-molecular cohesive energy of the protein. To understand the details of such force-extension curves, it is necessary to begin by understanding the mechanical properties of simple structural elements such as the !-helix and #-sheet. In a series of experiments designed to obtain force-extension curves of helical and randomly coiled polyglutamic acid, we found an interesting phenomenon in linearly cross-linked dimer samples of the polymer. The remarkable observation indicated the possibility of a lateral interaction of helical rods within molecules. Mechanical distinction of such interactions will be useful for application of atomic force microscopy in studying the nanomechanics of tertiary interactions among peptide segments in protein molecules.     

Spectrofluorometric investigation of salicylal- dithiocarbazinic acid esters

The fluorescent properties of salicylaldithiocarbazinic esters which can be described by RR¹C= N-NH-CSSR² (where R = 0HO-C₆H₄; R¹ = H or CH₃; R² =CH₃, C₆H₅-CH₂ or p-C1-C₆H₄-CH₂) have been investigated.The investigations were made in DMF, in different DMF-water mixtures, and in aqueous media. It could be stated that the change of the R² group has an unimportant effect on the intensity of fluorescence and on the excitation and emission spectra in all examined solvents. But an important effect is caused by the change of the group R¹. As in DMF solution, only the excitation spectrum changes on substituting R¹ = H by R¹ = CH₃, in DMF: water i.e. aqueous media, the change in the intensity of fluorescence, too, is very great.In the case of R¹ = H, the intensity of fluorescence is about five times greater than in R¹ = CH₃. The intensity of fluorescence can be increased, if an electrophil substituent is put into the place of group R¹.     

Analysis of structure-Caco-2 permeability relationships using a property landscape approach

Understanding the relationship between the chemical structure of bioactive compounds and Caco-2 permeability is of major importance in modern drug discovery. The purpose of this work was to characterize systematically the Caco-2 permeability landscape of a benchmark dataset of 100 molecules using a novel approach based on the emerging concept of property landscape modeling. Pairwise comparisons of the Caco-2 permeability and chemical structures were calculated for all possible combinations in the dataset. To compare the chemical structures, two distinct manners to represent the molecules were employed, namely, continuous properties previously used to derive QSPR models and molecular fingerprints with different designs. We introduce the concept of “permeability cliffs” discussing cases of compounds with high molecular similarity but large permeability difference. All permeability cliffs were regarded as shallow cliffs, since no extreme difference in Caco-2 permeability (less than two log units) was identified in the dataset. A clear dependence of Caco-2 permeability landscape with molecular representation was observed. The current approach can be further extended to model other ADME relevant landscapes.     

Ultrasound-assisted synthesis of aliphatic acid esters at room temperature

This work describes the ultrasound-assisted synthesis of saturated aliphatic esters from synthetic aliphatic acids and either methanol or ethanol. The products were isolated in good yields after short reaction times under mild conditions.     

二维电荷转移结构轮烯衍生物光学性质理论研究

以一系列轮烯衍生物为目标分子,运用MP2和TD-DFT方法在6-31G(d)基组水平上计算了分子一阶超极化率β和紫外吸收光谱, 研究了分子结构和非线性光学性能的关系. 研究发现, 本文中的二维电荷转移(2DCT)分子2—6均具有较大的β值, 且紫外吸收光谱最大吸收峰和相对应的一维电荷转移(1DCT)分子8和9相比发生蓝移, 这对解决"非线性效率-透光性的矛盾"给予了很大启示. 对于2DCT分子2—7, 分子一阶超极化率的大小和分子构型关系密切, 随着键长交替(BLA)的增加,分 关键词： 轮烯衍生物 二维电荷转移分子 一阶超极化率 紫外吸收光谱     

Self-aggregates formation of tetrachloroperylene acid esters in Langmuir and Langmuir-Blodgett films

Using Langmuir and Langmuir-Blodgett techniques molecular films of chlorinated perylene derivatives, namely tetra-n-butyl-1,6,7,12-tetrachloroperylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylate (PCn for n = 1, 5, 9) have been studied. The Langmuir films of pure compounds and mixed with liquid crystalline 4-octyl-4′-cyanobiphenyl (8CB) were characterized by surface pressure-mean molecular area isotherms. An additive rule reveals miscibility of all the dyes with 8CB but shows different types of intermolecular interaction forces. The pure and mixed Langmuir films were transferred onto quartz plates and characterized spectroscopically. Absorption and fluorescence spectra were recorded for the samples in form of diluted chloroform solution, the dye with 8CB mixtures in monomolecular Langmuir-Blodgett films and in liquid crystal cells. Different tendency to aggregation of the dye with short and long alkyl chains was observed. It is shown that the dye molecule stacking and aggregation of the chlorinated perylene dyes depend on the dye concentration and are related to the torsion of the perylene core.     

Ultrasound-assisted enzymatic synthesis of xylitol fatty acid esters in solvent-free conditions

A commercial immobilized lipase was successfully used for the synthesis of five xylityl acyl esters by means of the esterification of free fatty acids (caprylic, capric, lauric and myristic, respectively) with xylitol under solvent-free conditions. Ultrasound-assistance was shown to be a key tool to overcome the handicap imposed by both the mutual immiscibility of fatty acids and xylitol substrates, and the semisolid character of the initial reaction mixtures. In such semisolid systems, ultrasonic irradiation may enable the transport of substrate molecules to the enzyme catalytic-site, leading to the efficient synthesis of xylityl fatty ester (e.g. up to 95% yield after 90 min at 40 °C), with xylityl monoacyl ester and xylitol diacyl ester appearing as the main products (greater than 96%), assessed by HPLC and NMR analyses. The separation of products was carried out by heating and simple centrifugation of the reaction medium, which was possible due to different densities of the resulting fractions.     

Ultrasound assisted synthesis of isopropyl esters from palm fatty acid distillate

Esterification is one of the most preferred synthesis routes for organic esters which are most frequently used as plasticizers, solvents and perfumery and flavour chemicals. The present work deals with acid catalyzed synthesis of isopropyl esters from palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) in the presence of ultrasonic irradiations operating at 25kHz frequency and 1kW of supplied power. Effect of different operating parameters such as molar ratio of reactants, catalyst quantity and operating temperature has been studied with an aim of optimization. It has been observed that ultrasound enhances the rate of reaction and the extent of equilibrium conversion. The optimum parameters for this process have been found to be 1:5 molar ratio of PFAD to isopropanol, catalyst concentration of 5% of PFAD and 60 degrees C reaction temperature. Maximum conversion levels of about 80% have been obtained in 6h of reaction time under these optimized conditions. Analysis of the kinetic data indicates that the reaction follows first order reversible path.     

Dielectric studies on binary polar mixtures of propanoic acid with esters

It is interesting to see the nature of intermolecular interactions between associative and non-associative polar liquids. Binary polar–polar liquid mixtures of ethyl acetate, ethyl benzoate, ethyl acrylate, ethyl butyrate, n-butyl acetate and benzyl benzoate, each with propanoic acid were subjected to dielectric studies at temperatures 25 °C, 35 °C and 45 °C. Static permittivity (ε_o) and dielectric constant at high frequency (ε_∞) were found through dielectric measurements for different concentrations of each system. The Bruggeman dielectric factor, Kirkwood correlation factor and the excess permittivity were determined. Deviations from the linearity of various models suggest molecular association through hydrogen bonding between the polar–polar constituents of the mixtures. The formation of cyclic and linear α-multimers in the above systems were identified. The results and their temperature dependence were interpreted accordingly.     

Structure and reactivity in the hydrolyses of aliphatic carboxylic acid esters and chlorides

For hexanoic acid and its seven isomers, relative rates have been determined for acid catalysed esterification with methanol, and compared with those for saponification of the methyl esters. A good correlation between logarithms of relative rates for the two reactions is obtained, and it is suggested that the eight isomers provide a test set of compounds in which steric effects alone act on reactivity at the acyl carbon. A full set of steric parameters ( values) are presented. Rates of solvolyses of the acid chlorides of the isomers have been determined conductometrically in 3:1 wt:wt acetonitrile water. Logarithms of relative rates show a poor correlation with , and, taking into account the solvent dependence of the rates, the pattern excludes both rate‐limiting formation of a tetrahedral intermediate and rate‐limiting dissociation of chloride to form acylium ions. The remaining possibilities, a concerted process (A_ND) and rapid reversible formation of a hydrate followed by rate‐limiting dissociation of chloride (A_N + D) are considered. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synthesis of and structure–property relationships in zinc complexes of bis‐metaphenylene semiquinone biradical species

The design of novel, functionalized bis‐metaphenylene semiquinone (SQ) ligands and their corresponding metal complexes which combine conformational flexibility and electron‐withdrawing, electron‐donating, and conjugating substituents enable investigation of multiple structure–property relationships. Along these lines, we report the synthesis of three new bis(Zn^II(SQ)Tp^Cum,Me) complexes containing the bis‐metaphenylene coupling fragment. Using electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, ab initio computations and superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry, we show how spin‐density is affected by the bis‐metaphenylene system substituents. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Structural, dielectric, optical and ferroelectric property of urea succinic acid crystals grown in aqueous solution containing maleic acid

Urea-succinic acid crystals have been grown at room temperature from aqueous solution in the presence of maleic acid by a slow evaporation technique. The structural parameters were determined using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and found to have monoclinic symmetry (space group P2₁/m) with a=9.902, b=17.510, c=5.555 Å and α=γ=90°, β=96.46°. The transparency and optical analysis were carried out using UV-vis analysis. The optical band gap is found to be 4.71 eV. The presence of various functional groups was confirmed by FTIR analysis. The samples have shown piezoelectric behavior with a fairly good piezoelectric charge coefficient (d₃₃) of 5 pC/N, when it is poled at 7 kV/cm. The hysteresis loop was plotted and the remnant polarization and coercive field were found to be 2.8 μC/cm² and 4 kV/cm, respectively. The dielectric analysis was carried out as a function of temperature at various frequencies and the results were also discussed.     

Preparation of magnetic polylactic acid microspheres and investigation of its releasing property for loading curcumin

In order to obtain a targeting drug carrier system, magnetic polylactic acid (PLA) microspheres loading curcumin were synthesized by the classical oil-in-water emulsion solvent-evaporation method. In the Fourier transform infrared spectra of microspheres, the present functional groups of PLA were all kept invariably. The morphology and size distribution of magnetic microspheres were observed with scanning electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering, respectively. The results showed that the microspheres were regularly spherical and the surface was smooth with a diameter of 0.55-0.75 μm. Magnetic Fe₃O₄ was loaded in PLA microspheres and the content of magnetic particles was 12 wt% through thermogravimetric analysis. The magnetic property of prepared microspheres was measured by vibrating sample magnetometer. The results showed that the magnetic microspheres exhibited typical superparamagnetic behavior and the saturated magnetization was 14.38 emu/g. Through analysis of differential scanning calorimetry, the curcumin was in an amorphous state in the magnetic microspheres. The drug loading, encapsulation efficiency and releasing properties of curcumin in vitro were also investigated by ultraviolet-visible spectrum analysis. The results showed that the drug loading and encapsulation efficiency were 8.0% and 24.2%, respectively. And curcumin was obviously slowly released because the cumulative release percentage of magnetic microspheres in the phosphate buffer (pH=7.4) solution was only 49.01% in 72 h, and the basic release of curcumin finished in 120 h.     

The kinetics of solvolysis of phosphorus acid esters in the ternary sodium dodecyl sulfate-ethylene glycol -La micellar system

By methods of conductivity measurements, micellization of sodium dodecyl sulfate in ethylene glycol at the concentration above 0.18 M is shown. The La³⁺ ion catalysis of solvolysis of phosphorus acid ester both in the absence of surfactant and in the micellar sodium dodecyl sulfate solution in ethylene glycol is found. The influence of the other lanthanide ions on the kinetics is also studied. The La³⁺ and Pr³⁺ are found to exert an identical effect while Sm³⁺ is less effective. By methods of polarizing microscopy, the formation of liquid crystalline mesophase at high lanthanum (tris(dodecyl)sulfate concentrations in ethylene glycol is revealed. The investigation of the catalytic effect of the sodium dodecyl sulfate -La³⁺ (3 : 1 molar) composition has shown a sharp acceleration of the reaction at high surfactant concentration.     

Dissociative electron attachment to phosphoric acid esters: the direct mechanism for single strand breaks in DNA

We use dibutyl phosphate to simulate the behavior of the phosphate group in DNA towards the attack of low energy electrons. We find that the compound undergoes effective dissociative electron attachment within a low energy resonant feature at 1 eV and a further resonance peaking at 8 eV. The dissociative electron attachment (DEA) reactions are associated with the direct cleavage of the C-O and the P-O bond but also the excision of the PO-, PO3-, H2PO3- units. For the phosphate group coupled in the DNA network these reactions represent single strand breaks. We hence propose that the most direct mechanism of single strand breaks occurring in DNA at subexcitation energies (< 4 eV) is due to DEA directly to the phosphate group.