A new method for reversible immobilization of thiol biomolecules based on solid-phase bound thiolsulfonate groups

A new method for the reversible immobilization of thiol bimolecules, e.g., thiolpeptides and thiolproteins, to beaded agarose and other solid phases is reported. The method consists of an activation and a coupling step. The activation is based on oxidation of disulfides (or thiol groups via disulfides) present in a solid phase by hydrogen peroxide at moderately acidic pH. This oxidation leads to disulfide oxides (thiolsulfinate groups of which the majority are further oxidized to thiolsulfonate). The thiolsulfonate groups react easily with thiol compounds, which become immobilized via disulfide bonds. The pH range for thiol coupling is wide (pH 5-8), but for most thiols the reaction seems to proceed faster at pH>7. The stability of the reactive group to hydrolysis, especially at neutral and weakly acidic pH, is very high. The activated gel, therefore, can be stored as a suspension at pH 5 for extended periods. The method has been used to reversibly immobilize glutathione, β-galactosidase, alcohol dehydrogenase, urease, and papain, all with exposed thiol groups as well as thiolated bovine serum albumin and sweet-potato β-amylase. Depending on the thiol content of starting thiol-agarose, thiol-sulfonate-agarose derivatives with different binding capacities can be obtained. Thus, up to 5.0 mg (16 μmol) glutathione and 15 mg thiol-protein/mL gel derivative have been immobilized.     

Distribution of arsenic species in environmental samples collected in Northern Chile

Gradient ion chromatographic separation coupled with ICP-MS was used to resolve and determine the most common arsenic species in environmental and biological samples of carrots, trout, soil, sediment and river water from Region II of Chile. The carrot and trout samples showed a concentration of 49 and 168 µg g^?1, respectively, of total As. Both concentrations are high considering the basal level. In the carrots, percentage of 45 and 31% of total As were found for As(III) and As(V) species, respectively. In the trout, the higher concentration related to AsB at 39% of the total As. As(III) and DMA were also present in relatively high concentrations. The River Loa and the soil in which the carrots are growing also present very high As(V) concentrations of 100 and 17 µg g^?1, respectively. The ratio between the concentration for the same As species found in the living organisms (carrots and trout) and the environment in which they grow (soil and water) can provide important information about the possible absorption or biotransformation of As species in living beings. As(III) and DMA are the species in which the greatest accumulation occurs with respect to the medium in which they are present, and biotransformation also appears to take place.     

Use of decomposition of portlandite in concrete fire as indicator of temperature progression into the material

In field structures affected by fire, the temperature progress through the material. The progression of temperature in the concrete material can be determined by simultaneous differential thermal analysis and thermogravimetry. Also, the analysis of the behaviour of concrete in real concrete, by different techniques, permits the corroboration of the hypothesis of cover calculation. In this study, the analysis of concrete exposed to a very severe fire is studied in order to corroborate the calculus hypothesis and to determine the progression of the temperature inside the affected structure. In this study, the potentiality of the thermal instrumental techniques is studied to determine the situation of the concrete exposed to fire. These results can be used to calculate the residual strength of the concrete structural elements. Also, other auxiliary techniques are used to have some supplementary information about the situation of the concrete exposed to fire. The results are based in concrete samples from a real fire in the Windsor Building in Madrid. The Windsor Building in Madrid was project in 1974 and built between 1975 and 1979. This building was severely damaged by a serious fire on the 12th of February 2005, which lasted approximately 12?h.     

Strategies for spectrum slicing based on restarted Lanczos methods

In the context of symmetric-definite generalized eigenvalue problems, it is often required to compute all eigenvalues contained in a prescribed interval. For large-scale problems, the method of choice is the so-called spectrum slicing technique: a shift-and-invert Lanczos method combined with a dynamic shift selection that sweeps the interval in a smart way. This kind of strategies were proposed initially in the context of unrestarted Lanczos methods, back in the 1990’s. We propose variations that try to incorporate recent developments in the field of Krylov methods, including thick restarting in the Lanczos solver and a rational Krylov update when moving from one shift to the next. We discuss a parallel implementation in the SLEPc library and provide performance results.     

New Weighted Estimates for the Disc Multiplier on Radial Functions

Journal of Fourier Analysis and Applications - We prove a weighted estimate for the disc multiplier, acting on radial functions, at the extreme points $$p_{-}=\frac{2n}{n+1}$$ , extending the...     

Diastereoselective multicomponent Amine-Aldehyde-Dienophile (AAD) process for the synthesis of polysubstituted cyclohex-2-enylamines

The multicomponent Amine-Aldehyde-Dienophile reaction is optimized employing benzyl or 4-methoxybenzylamine. The interest of the transformation consist in the synthesis of polysubstituted cyclohex-2-enylamines. The study of the scope of this AAD process is carried out, as well as the diastereoselective version, employing commercially available chiral benzylic amines and a maleimide with the chiral information at the N-substituent. VCD spectroscopy is a very useful tool for the determination of the absolute configuration of the isolated enantiomerically enriched compounds.     

Electrochemical characterisation of a Zn/(PEO)4ZnCl2/Nb2O5 solid-state cell

The (PEO)₄ZnCl₂ electrolyte (PEO, polyethylene oxide) was studied in view of its potential application in a solid-state rechargeable zinc cell. The electrochemical stability window was established, and decomposition voltage values between 3.19 (20 °C) and 1.44 V (150 °C) were estimated. Cyclic voltammetry studies using a Pt/(PEO)₄ZnCl₂/Pt cell indicated reversibility of the Zn²⁺/Zn couple at the electrode/electrolyte interface. Laboratory cells Zn(−)/(PEO)₄ZnCl₂/Nb₂O₅(+) were assembled and studied at 55 °C, under various discharge current densities. Results of cell discharge profiles, capacity values, charge–discharge cycles and cell stabilities are reported.     

Regiospecific Addition of Alcohols to 9-Hydroxy-and 9-Methoxy-1, 4-Anthraquinone

Conjugated addition of alcohols to 9-hydroxy-and 9-methoxy-1, 4-anthraquinone, in the presence of a strong acid and an oxidant, affords the 2-alkoxy- and 3-alkoxy-substituted regioisomer, respectively.