Thermostability of landscape phage probes

Immunoassays have traditionally relied on antibodies as diagnostic probes. Their use outside of a laboratory, however, may be problematic because antibodies are often unstable in severe environmental conditions. Environmental monitoring requires thermostable probes, such as landscape phage, that carry thousands of foreign peptides on their surfaces, are superior to antibodies, and can operate in non-controlled conditions. While parent wild-type phage are known to be extremely stable in various media at high temperatures, no work has been done to demonstrate the stability of landscape phage probes. We examined the thermostability of a landscape phage probe and a monoclonal antibody specific for -galactosidase in parallel in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) format. They were both stable for greater than six months at room temperature, but at higher temperatures the antibody degraded more rapidly than the phage probe. Phage retained detectable binding ability for more than six weeks at 63 °C, and three days at 76 °C. The activation energy of phage degradation was determined to be 1.34×10⁵ J/mol. These results confirm that phage probes are highly thermostable and can function even after exposure to high temperatures during shipping, storage and operation.     

Nonspecific interactions of a carboxylate-substituted PPE with proteins. A cautionary tale for biosensor applications

Two carboxylate-substituted, fluorescent (Phi = 0.08), water-soluble poly(p-phenyleneethynylene)s (PPE) and a water-soluble model compound were exposed to a series of proteins and bovine serum. While the anionic PPEs do not have any specific binding sites, they form stable complexes with histone, lysozyme, myoglobin, and hemoglobin. The complex formation was evidenced by fluorescence quenching. Bovine serum albumin does not quench the fluorescence of the PPEs but enhances it, probably due to its surfactant character. These results imply that the use of charged conjugated polymers as biosensors, while an attractive proposition, has to take into account strong nonspecific interactions between conjugated polymers and the host of proteins that is found in cells and complex biological fluids.     

Über die Entstehung von Oligoanthrylen bei der milden Sulfonierung von Anthracen

The sulfonation of anthracene yields a variety of products and byproducts by different reaction paths depending on the reaction conditions. While trying to reduce the number of products formed by sulfonation under mild conditions, a new reaction was found: under certain sulfonation conditions anthracene is not sulfonated but reacts to form oligoanthrylenes. The highest average molecular weight of a fraction, insoluble in benzene, is about 3,000.     

Complete cross-validation and R-factor calculation of a solid-state NMR derived structure

Cross-validation of a solid-state NMR-derived membrane polypeptide structure is demonstrated. An initial structure has been achieved directly from solid-state NMR derived orientational restraints based on a variety of anisotropic nuclear spin interactions. Refining the molecular structure involves setting up a penalty function that incorporates all available solid-state NMR experimental data and an energy function. A validation method is required to choose the optimal weighting factor for the total penalty function to balance the contribution from the experimental restraints and the energy function. Complete cross-validation has been used to avoid over-fitting the orientational restraints. Such cross-validation involves partitioning of the experimental data into a test set and a working set followed by checking the free R-value during the refinement process. This approach is similar to the method used in crystallography and solution NMR. Optimizing the weighting factor on the penalty function by cross-validation will increase the quality of the refined structure from solid-state NMR data. The complete cross-validation and R-factor calculation is demonstrated using experimental solid-state NMR data from gramicidin A, a monovalent cation channel in lipid bilayers.     

High-performance liquid chromatographic separation of gangliosides, combined with immunological detection and fast atom bombardment mass spectrometric characterization

A complete strategy for the isolation of individual mono- and disialogangliosides has been elaborated. We have used straight-phase silica gel chromatography or partitioning to obtain a crude ganglioside fraction. This fraction was then peracetylated and run through a second silica gel column. After anion-exchange chromatography the gangliosides were separated by straight-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with chloroform-methanol-water mixtures as eluting solvents. The method is suitable for preparative isolation of gangliosides and subsequent structural characterization by thin-layer chromatography-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry and/or gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, which is demonstrated by several examples, including the separation of GalNAc-II3NeuAc-GgOse4Cer from GalNAc-isoII3NeuAc-GgOse4Cer.     

Phase separation behavior of epoxy resin modified with crosslinked rubber

Low molecular weight liquid rubber (ATBN = amine terminated butadiene acrylonitrile copolymer or CTBN = carboxyl terminated butadiene acrylonitrile copolymer)–DGEBA (diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A) blends indicated upper critical solution temperature (UCST) behavior. The phase separation behavior of the neat and crosslinked rubber (ATBN, CTBN)–epoxy blends was analyzed by a laser light scattering experiment. Lauryl peroxide (LPO) was employed to crosslink the rubber during the initial annealing stage. The onset point of the phase separation in the crosslinked ATBN–epoxy system occurred later than in the case of the neat ATBN–epoxy system. However, the onset point of the phase separation process started earlier in the case of the crosslinked CTBN–epoxy system. The domain correlation length of the crosslinked rubber-added system was smaller than that of the neat rubber-added system.     

Untersuchungen zur 3-Phononenabsorption in partiell kristallinen Polymeren

Zusammenfassung In dieser Arbeit wird die Dreiphononenabsorption in Polymeren, die den Hauptanteil an den dielektrischen Verlusten im Millimeterwellengebiet stellt, theoretisch und experimentell untersucht. Aus der Störungsrechnung bis zur 2. Ordnung wird die Temperaturabhängigkeit der Absorption abgeschätzt. Damit ist eine befriedigende Deutung des gesamten Temperaturverlaufs der dielektrischen Verlust-Kurven möglich. Im Hochtemperaturbereich läßt sich die Mehrphononenabsorption eindeutig gegenüber restlichen Relaxationsprozessen abgrenzen. Im Tieftemperaturgebiet konnte erstmals auch für das Millimeterwellengebiet ein temperaturunabhängiger Bestandteil fehlordnungsinduzierter Einphononenabsorption nachgewiesen werden. Im Übergangsbereich durchlaufen die Absorptionskurven einen Wendepunkt bei einer charakteristischen TemperaturT ₀, die dem Schwerpunkt der am Absorptionsprozeß beteiligten Phononenfrequenzen entspricht. Daraus konnten in Übereinstimmung mit dem Experiment die Frequenzen der niedrigsten optisch aktiven Phononen für die verschiedenen Polymeren abgeschätzt werden.

---

Summary The 3-phonon absorption in polymers, which gives the main contribution to their dielectric loss in the microwave region, is theoretically and experimentally investigated. Perturbation theory up to the second order is used for the evaluation of its temperature dependence. The theoretical results allow an interpretation of the total absorption-temperature-curves: In the high temperature region 3-phonon absorption can be distinguished from residual relaxation losses (above the glass temperature). In the low temperature region the existence of a low frequency tail of temperature independent disorderinduced one-phonon absorption became evident. At intermediate temperatures (50–150°K) the curves show an inflexion point or plateau at a characteristic temperatureT ₀, which according toT ₀= ⁰, corresponds to the frequencies of those phonons, that mainly contribute to the multiphonon absorption. The plateau gives, in good agreement with the experiment, the frequencies of the lowest optically active phonons in the various polymers.

---

---

Mit 6 Abbildungen in 8 Einzeldarstellungen

---

Vorgetragen auf der Arbeitssitzung des Fachausschusses Physik der Hochpolymeren in der Frühjahrstagung 1970 des Regionalverbandes Hessen-Mittelrhein-Saar der Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft in Darmstadt, 10.–13. März 1970.     

Structure des savons alcalins

Summary This is a systematic X-ray diffraction study of the structure of the mesomorphic phases occurring with potassium soaps ranging from C₈ to C₂₂.Four types of structure have been identified. The first is lamellar with both polar groups and paraffin chains in the crystalline state. The second is also lamellar, but with both polar groups and paraffin chains in the liquid state. The third corresponds to the localization of indefinitely long ribbons on a two-dimensional oblique lattice; polar groups are crystalline and paraffin chains desorganized. The fourth corresponds to the localization of discs on a three-dimensionnalB-faces centered orthorhombic lattice; polar groups are crystalline and paraffin chains disorganized.The structural parameters and the polymorphism of the polar groups have been discussed.

---

Zusammenfassung Wir beschreiben hier eine systematische Röntgenstrahlendiffraktionsforschung der Struktur der mesomorphen Phasen von Kalium Seifen von C₈ bis C₂₂.Vier Strukturtypen wurden gefunden. Die erste Struktur ist lamellar; beides, die polaren Gruppen und die Paraffinketten sind kristallisiert. Die zweite Struktur ist auch lamellar; aber in diesem Falle sind beides, die polaren Gruppen und Paraffinketten geschmolzen. Die dritte Struktur entspricht einer Lokalisation von Seifenbändern in einem zweidimensionalen monoklinen Gitter; die polaren Gruppen sind kristallisiert und die Paraffinketten geschmolzen. Die vierte Struktur entspricht einer Lokalisation von Seifenscheiben in einemB-flächenzentrierten orthorhombischen Raumgitter; die Polargruppen sind kristallisiert und die Paraffinketten geschmolzen.Wir haben aus den experimentellen Resultaten einige Schlußfolgerungen gezogen.

     

Determination of zinc in high purity bismuth by thermal neutron activation

A neutron activation analysis for the determination of zinc in bismuth was developed. After irradiating the samples for 44 days at 4·10¹¹n/cm²/sec, zinc was separated quantitatively by hexone extraction and precipitation as quinaldate. The sensitivity of the method was estimated as 0.05 p.p.m. No zinc could be detected in the high purity bismuth samples. An addition method of analysis showed that the precision was 1.2%.     

Convenient and High-Yielding Preparations of Mono(5-carboxy-2-ethylpentyl) Phthalate and its Ring-Deuterated Isomer – The “Third” Major Metabolite of Bis(2-ethylhexyl) Phthalate

Summary. The synthesis of an oxidative major metabolite of bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate is described. The target molecule and its ring-deuterated isomer were obtained via acylation of the appropriate -hydroxy benzyl ester or the corresponding carboxylate with phthalic anhydride or phthalic anhydride-d₄. All transformation steps proceed with high yields.