SEC–MALLS analysis of cellulose using LiCl/1,3-dimethyl-2-imidazolidinone as an eluent

The lithium chloride/1,3-dimethyl-2-imidazolidinone (LiCl/DMI) solvent system for cellulose was adopted as a mobile phase of size-exclusion chromatographic (SEC) analysis of cellulose, and the applicability of this system was examined using multi-angle laser light scattering and ¹³C-NMR analysis. The results indicate that 8% (w/v) LiCl/DMI ID a true solvent for cellulose, and that cellulose molecules dissolving ID 1% (w/v) LiCl/DMI are separated orderly depending on their molecular mass (MM) or root-mean-square (RMS) radius by the SEC system. Practically, no aggregates were detected ID the dilute cellulose/LiCl/DMI solutions. Furthermore, high stability of cellulose/LiCl/DMI solutions has been demonstrated; only a few percent of decline ID average MM was observed even after storage for 6 months at room temperature. Relationships between RMS radius and MM for hardwood bleached kraft pulp ID 1% LiCl/DMI was estimated as the following equation: _g^0.59, corresponding to a Mark–Houwink–Sakurada exponent of 0.77.     

A new Zn(II) coordination polymer with 4-pyridylthioacetate: assemblies of homo-chiral helices with sulfide sites

A coordination polymer [Zn(pyta)(OH)] (pyta = 4-pyridylthioacetate), was synthesized and structurally characterized; it is constructed by an alternating assembly of two types of homo-chiral helices, [Zn-OH] and [Zn-pyta], in which the sulfide moieties are fastened in the latter columns.     

Two-dimensional Monte Carlo simulations of a colloidal dispersion composed of polydisperse ferromagnetic particles in an applied magnetic field

We have investigated aggregation phenomena in a polydisperse colloidal dispersion of ferromagnetic particles simulated by employing the cluster-moving Monte Carlo method in an applied magnetic field. The influence of both particle-particle and particle-field interactions on the aggregate structures is analyzed in terms of a pair correlation function. The results obtained in this study are summarized as follows: Under a strong magnetic field, chainlike clusters are formed along the magnetic field direction, and they become thickly clustered with an increase in the strength of the external magnetic field. Moreover, the thickly clustered chains are formed for a polydisperse system that has a large standard deviation of particle diameters. In contrast, for a very weak magnetic field, the strong interaction between the larger particles gives rise to the formation of various shapes in the chainlike clusters, including bending, looping, and branching. With an increase in the external magnetic field, these structures reorganize to form straight chainlike clusters. Furthermore, the thickness of the chainlike clusters for the polydisperse system is found to depend on the standard deviation of the particle-size distribution but is found to be independent of the magnetic field strength.     

Prediction of measurement precision of apparatus using a chemometric tool in electrochemical detection of high-performance liquid chromatography

The relative standard deviation (RSD) of measurements in high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (HPLC-ECD) was predicted by a chemometric tool based on the 1/f fluctuation model which is made up of white noise and a Markov process, called the Function of Mutual Information (FUMI) theory. FUMI theory can provide aprecise and reliable detection limit from a single measurement of noise and signal in HPLC-ECD. To obtain RSD (n = 5) for determination of (-)-epicatechin at five concentrations required 12.5 h, while the predicted RSD by FUMI theory required only 0.5 h (one measurement). Moreover, to trace the source of instrumental noise, power spectra of chromatographic baseline were used. Selection of a suitable apparatus in HPLC-ECD system, acquisition of RSD, and detection limits for determination of catechins by HPLC-ECD were simply and easily made by this chemometric tool within a very short time. The use of the FUMI theory for the prediction of measuring precision was more efficient and the optimization was less time-consuming to be suited for determination.     

Ketene formation in benzdiyne chemistry: ring cleavage versus Wolff rearrangement

In the chemistry toward generating benzdiyne from five benzenetetracarboxylic dianhydride derivatives, ketene formation was exclusively observed in the photolysis of difluorobenzenetetracarboxylic dianhydride in a nitrogen matrix at 13 K. Two ketenes were formed concomitantly with difluorobenzdiyne. These ketenes were identified on the basis of good agreement between the observed and calculated (B3LYP/6-31G level) IR spectra. Neither ketene contained the five-membered-ring moiety as cyclopentadienylideneketene, which is formed by Wolff rearrangement in the benzyne chemistry. The first generated ketene was assigned to a ketene with a cyclopropene moiety, and the second, to a ketene with a butadiyne moiety. The first generated ketene was a major product in the photolysis and was formed by cleavage of the bond connecting the ketene group and the C-F carbon and not the bond connecting the ketene group and the carbene moiety. Thus the structures of these ketenes indicated that a unprecedented ring cleavage, rather than Wolff rearrangement, is the dominant process in the benzdiyne chemistry.     

Optimization of HPLC-ECD conditions for determination of catechins with precision and efficiency based on the FUMI theory.

A chemometric tool based on the Function of Mutual Information (FUMI) theory can provide a relative standard deviation (RSD) without repetitive measurements in high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (HPLC-ECD). Two parameters: precision (= information content) phi and efficiency (= information content/time) theta, which were calculated from predicted RSD based on the FUMI theory, were used to optimize HPLC-ECD conditions, such as applied potential, flow rate, column length, and size of ODS porous packing. We selected catechins as analytes, and found that the most optimum applied potential and flow rate were +600 mV vs. SCE and 0.9 mL/min, respectively, because they gave the largest phi and theta values. Buffer concentration in mobile phase is less effective for giving large phi and theta values. Since the FUMI theory makes it possible to predict RSD without repetitive measurements, the present method saves considerable amounts of chemicals and experimental time, and was found to be useful for the optimization of experimental conditions for determination by HPLC-ECD.     

Triple hydrogen bonds direct crystal engineering of metal-assembled complexes: the effect of a novel organic-inorganic module on supramolecular structure

Novel triply hydrogen bonded suprastructures based on [M(tdpd)2(L)2]2- (H2tdpd=1,4,5,6-tetrahydro-5,6-dioxo-2,3-pyrazinedicarbonitrile, L=solvent) and melamine-analogous cations have been synthesized and characterized. The use of anions containing two AAA sets from [M(tdpd)2(L)2]2- together with cations containing one DDD set (A=hydrogen-bond acceptor, D=hydrogen-bond donor) leads to the formation of complementary triply hydrogen bonded modules in the solid state. In all cases, the building module is further extended via additional hydrogen-bonding interactions to produce a tape, and tapes are assembled into sheets. These results show that a hydrogen-bonded module consisting of different kinds of building blocks, one of which is a metal complex that includes hydrogen-bond acceptor sites and the other is a hydrogen-bond donor molecule, will be attractive for constructing metal-containing supramolecular systems by the self-assembly technique.     

NMR assignment methods for the aromatic ring resonances of phenylalanine and tyrosine residues in proteins

The unambiguous assignment of the aromatic ring resonances in proteins has been severely hampered by the inherently poor sensitivities of the currently available methodologies developed for uniformly 13C/15N-labeled proteins. Especially, the small chemical shift differences between aromatic ring carbons and protons for phenylalanine residues in proteins have prevented the selective observation and unambiguous assignment of each signal. We have solved all of the difficulties due to the tightly coupled spin systems by preparing regio-/stereoselectively 13C/2H/15N-labeled phenylalanine (Phe) and tyrosine (Tyr) to avoid the presence of directly connected 13C-1H pairs in the aromatic rings. The superiority of the new labeling schemes for the assignment of aromatic ring signals is clearly demonstrated for a 17 kDa calcium binding protein, calmodulin.     

Saccharide-branched Cyclodextrins as Targeting Drug Carriers

A synthetic series of heptakis-galactose-branched cyclodextrins (termed CDs) having a longer spacer arm using two amino-caproic acids as an enlarging unit were prepared. Starting with heptakis-amino-β-CD or heptakis-amino-caproic-amide-β-CD, treated with galactosyl-glucono-amide-caproic acid, the new compounds heptakis (Gal-cap1)-CD (4) or heptakis (Gal-cap2)-CD (5) were obtained. The longer galactose spacer arm extremely favors the PNA association. The effect of branch length on K with PNA was enhanced up to 138-fold 3 as well as with DXR enhanced up to 81-fold. Hexakis (Gal-cap2)-CD (6) was prepared and the association constants with rat liver cells were observed to be 2.5 × 10¹⁰ M⁻¹. A multi-high mannose type oligosaccharide branched CD (7) showed a large association constant with DXR up to 1.1 × 10⁹ M⁻¹. The two-dimensional map for the association constants of newly synthesized oligosaccharide-branched CDs toward lectin or liver cells versus the association constants toward a drug (doxorubicin) suggested a method of finding a better targeting drug carrier. The structural effect of the oligosaccharide-CDs showed that the number and length of the branch were dominant factors in designing for enhanced dual recognition.