Salt-catalyzed addition reaction of monoepoxides with philosamia cynthia ricini and bombyx mori silk fibroins

The heterogeneous addition reaction of various monoepoxides with silk fibroins of Philosamia cynthia ricini and Bombyx mori was investigated at 45–75°C by use of aqueous solutions of various salts as padding catalysts. The effects of salt on the epoxide–silk fibroin reactions were attributed mainly to the nucleophilicity of the anions and also to the acidity or the electronegativity of the cations. The effect of the substituent of the epoxide on the add-ons was elucidated by the modified Taft equation, (log W ? log W₀)/σ* = ρ_p + ρ_sE_s/σ*, where W₀ and W are the add-ons for the reaction of a given compound and of its substituted derivatives, σ* and E_s are the polar and the steric substituent constants, ρ_p and ρ_s are the polar and the steric reaction constants, respectively. Histidine, lysine, arginine, tyrosine, serine, and acidic amino acids were found to react. The reactivity difference between Philosamia cynthia ricini and Bombyx mori fibroins towards the epoxide was discussed in the light of the observed phenomena.     

Thermal properties of bombyx mori and several wild silkworm silks Phase transition of liquid silk

The thermal properties of liquid silk from domestic and wild silkworms are investigated. Liquid silks obtained from the silk gland of the domesticated silkworm, Bombyx mori and four wild silkworms, Samia cynthia ricini, Dictyoploca japonica, Antheraea pernyi and Antheraea yamamai were used. The DSC curves for the liquid silk from the domestic silkworm have weak endothermic peaks corresponding to the breaking of hydrogen bonds in the β-form or to the untangling of physical network. The DSC curves for the wild silkworm silks, however, show clear exothermic peaks corresponding to a phase transition from the α-helix conformation to the β-form. Liquid silk from all the different silkworms undergoes a characteristic irreversible phase transition. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

1H pulsed NMR study of bombyx mori silk fibroin: Dynamics of fibroin and of absorbed water

The dynamical behavior of the Bombyx mori silk fibroin chain and of absorbed water in silk fiber, film, and powder has been studied by ¹H pulsed nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Segmental motions do not occur and only the rapid rotation of the methyl groups of alanine residues is observed from ?120 to 130°C. This is independent of the conformation or form of the silk fibroin samples. Magnetization of dry silk fibroin by the solid-echo method shows a single Gaussian decay, while two components are observed in the solid-echo signals of films containing 6–10 w/w% water. An immobile component with a T₂ value of 11 μs is attributed to silk fibroin, and the mobile component to bound water. The T₂ of the latter varies from 50 to 200 μs, depending on the sample. The dynamical behavior of water trapped in the film is discussed on the basis of these T₂ values.     

Structure determination of lepidopteran c,self-defence substance produced by silkworm (bombyx mori)

Lepidopteran C is a minor component in a group of lepidopterans which are self-defence substances produced in haemolymph of silkworm. Its structure was determined by the Edman degradation of the whole molecule as well as the fragments obtained by digestion of Staphylococcus aureus V8 protease, proline specific endopeptidase, and trypsin. Although lepidopteran C is similar to A in amino acid sequence, 11 amino acids of A are substituted in the sequence of C.     

Microstructure elucidation of historic silk (Bombyx mori) by nuclear magnetic resonance

¹H NMR cryoporometry and solid-state ¹³C cross-polarization (CP) magic-angle spinning (MAS) NMR spectroscopy were used to characterize the microstructure of historic and fresh silk samples. Silk is a polymeric bicomponent material composed of fibroin and water located in micropores. According to the ¹H NMR cryoporometry method, the intensity of the water resonance as a function of the temperature was used to obtain the pore size distribution, which was strongly asymmetric with a well-defined maximum at 1.1 nm. Compared with the fresh silk samples, the volume of pores around 1.1 nm decreased distinctly in the historic silk, and more pores larger than 2 nm emerged accordingly. In addition, these results correlated well with solid-state ¹³C CP/MAS NMR spectroscopy as the percentage of random coil in the historic silk sample was much less than that in the fresh silk samples. Therefore, it is suggested that the water-filled microvoids grow larger as the random coil conformation fades away in the degradation process.

Crystal structure of poly(p-benzamide)

Redetermination of the crystal structure of poly(p-benzamide) was made by using newly collected intensity data. The molecular conformation is TCTC, where the internal rotation angles about the N? C bond of the amide group and about the virtual bond of N-phenyl-C are T (trans) and C (cis) conformations, respectively. Two molecular chains pass through a rectangular unit cell with dimension, a = 7.75 Å, b = 5.30 Å, c (fiber axis) = 12.87 Å, and the space group, P2₁2₁2₁-D. The reflection observed at the spacing of 010 may be attributed to the reflection due to another crystal polymorph or the diffuse scattering due to disorder. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Atomic force microscopy: Bombyx mori silk fibroin molecules and their higher order structure

We performed atomic force microscopy measurements on fibroin molecules from the domestic silkworm, Bombyx mori. At low concentrations, we could observe single protein molecules. The shape of the observed molecules is a rod with long smaller chains extending from the ends. The size of the rod is 60 nm in length and 15 nm in width. At high concentrations, we observed long threadlike aggregates of fibroin molecules, their chains entangled with one another. These results provide insight into the microscopic mechanism of silk‐fiber formation. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 38: 1436–1439, 2000     

Heterogeneous structure of silk fibers from Bombyx mori resolved by 13C solid-state NMR spectroscopy

The molecular conformation of silk fibrion is characterized by solid-state 13C NMR before spinning (silk I structure) and after spinning (silk II structure). We compare native silk fibers with the quasi-crystalline Cp-fraction and a synthetic model peptide (Ala-Gly)15, both of which can be converted either into silk I by dialysis from 9 M LiBr or into silk II by treatment with formic acid. Our results demonstrate that silk II fibers are intrinsically heterogeneous, consisting of beta-sheets, distorted beta-turns, and distorted beta-sheets. This higher-order heterogeneity is revealed by the 13C-NMR Cbeta-peak of Ala, indicating that the Ala side chains are stacked partially in parallel and partially face-to-face, at a ratio of 1:2.     

Crystal structure of diammine(malonato)palladium(II)

Diammine(malonato)palladium(II) is synthesized by the reaction of [Pd(NH₃)₄](NO₃)₂ with malonic acid, and its crystal structure is determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. Distorted coordination square of the Pd(II) atom is formed by two N atoms of two ammonia molecules and two O atoms of bidentate malonate ligand. The average Pd-N and Pd-O distances are 2.018(7) ? and 2.014(2) ?, respectively. The molecules are stacked in such a way that the planes of coordination squares are parallel with the Pd...Pd distances between the nearest neighbors in a stack of 4.039 ?.     

Crystal structure of oxo(diperoxo)bipyridylmolybdenum(VI)

Yellow oxo(diperoxo)bipyridylmolybdenum(VI), C₁₀H₈MoN₂O₅, M_r = 332.1 crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P2₁/n, a = 6.261(3), b = 12.726(1) c = 13.752(3)A, β = 91.84(2)°, V = 1095.2(5)A³, Z = 4, D_c = 2.014(1) g/cm³, MoKα(λ = 0.7107A), μ = 11.8 cm^?1, T = 22(1)°C, R = 0.034, ωR = 0.040, number of reflections in least squares (F₀ > 2σ(F₀)) = 1125. The molybdenum coordination (distorted trigonal bipyramidal) is as in the corresponding chromium complex, C₁₀H₈CrN₂O₅ which has closely similar bond angles but is not isomorphous. The difference in MoN_apex and MoN_eq bond distances (2.312(5) and 2.199(5)A) is similar to that in the CrN_apex and CrN_eq distances (2.23(2) and 2.11(2)A). The MO distances for each peroxo ligand (ave. 1.910(2) and 1.950(2)A) are significantly different and slightly longer than those in the chromium complex as is the OO distance of 1.459(6)A. The latter is indicative of greater negative charge on the O₂ ligands, approaching that of O^2?₂ in the molybdenum complex.     

Crystal structure of (acetylacetonato) (dicarbonyl)iridium(I)

The structure of Ir(CO)₂(acac) is determined by XRD at room temperature. Crystallographic data for C₇H₇IrO₄ are: a = 6.4798(5) ?, b = 7.7288(5) ?, c = 9.1629(10) ?, α = 105.738(2)°, β = 90.467(3)°, γ = 100.658(2)°, space group 1, P , V= 433.24(6) ?³, Z = 2, d _calc = 2.662 g/cm³, R = 0.0167. The structure is built of isolated mononuclear molecules. The central iridium atom has a square coordination environment formed by two oxygen atoms that belong to the acetylacetonate ligand and two carbon atoms of carbonyl groups. The average Ir-O and Ir-C bond lengths are 2.045(3) ? and 1.832(6) ? respectively. Molecules are stacked in such a way that the planes of coordination squares turn out to be parallel to the Ir...Ir distances between the nearest neighbors in the stack of 3.242 ? and 3.260 ?. Original Russian Text Copyright ? 2009 by K. V. Zherikova, N. V. Kuratieva, and N. B. Morozova __________ Translated from Zhurnal Strukturnoi Khimii, Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 595–597, May–June, 2009.     

Crystal structure of (ethoxycarbonylmethyl)triphenylphosphonium tetrafluoroborate

The crystal structure of (ethoxycarbonylmethyl)triphenylphosphonium tetrafluoroborate, Ph₃P⁺CH₂C(O)OEt · BF ₄ ^? (space group P2₁/n, a = 12.727 Å, b = 13.983 Å, c = 12.833 Å, β = 108.83°, Z = 4) is studied by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The structure was solved by a direct method and refined by full-matrix least squares in the anisotropic approximation to R = 0.056 by 3200 independent reflections (CAD-4 automated diffractometer, λMoK _α). In the phosphonium cation the P atom has a distorted tetrahedral coordination and the P-C-C=O torsion angle is 14.3°. The tetrahedral anion is slightly disordered over two orientations with site occupancies for all atoms of 0.875 and 0.125. The crystal contains unusual interionic hydrogen bonds of the P⁺-C-H…F-B^? type.