Evaluation of solid and submerged fermentations for the production of cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase by Paenibacillus campinasensis H69-3 and characterization of crude enzyme

Cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase (CGTase) is an enzyme that produces cyclodextrins from starch by an intramolecular transglycosylation reaction. Cyclodextrins have been shown to have a number of applications in the food, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries. In the current study, the production of CGTase by Paenibacillus campinasensis strain H69-3 was examined in submerged and solid-state fermentations. P. campinasensis strain H69-3 was isolated from the soil, which grows at 45°C, and is a Gramvariable bacterium. Different substrate sources such as wheat bran, soybean bran, soybean extract, cassava solid residue, cassava starch, corn starch, and other combinations were used in the enzyme production. CGTase activity was highest in submerged fermentations with the greatest production observed at 48–72 h. The physical and chemical properties of CGTase were determined from the crude enzyme produced from submerged fermentations. The optimum temperature was found to be 70–75°C, and the activity was stable at 55°C for 1 h. The enzyme displayed two optimum pH values, 5.5 and 9.0 and was found to be stable between a pH of 4.5 and 11.0.     

Ruthenium(III) ion complexes with nucleotides

Summary Complexes of adenosine-5-monophosphate (5-AMP), guanosine-5-monophosphate (5-GMP), inosine-5-monophosphate (5-IMP) and cytidine-5-monophosphate (5-CMP) with ruthenium trichloride have been prepared and studied by i.r. spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance spectra and magnetochemical measurements.All complexes are probably polymeric as indicated by their insolubility in polar solvents.The i.r. spectra suggest that the ruthenium(III) ion interacts with the ligands through N(7) of the purine mononucleotides and through N(3) of the pyrimidine mononucleotide from one side and with the phosphate group of another mononucleotide molecule from another side. The formation of hydrogen bonds reinforces the interaction.The complexes have normal magnetic moments close to the spin-only value. The electronic spectra confirm their octahedral structure.     

Single-drop liquid-phase microextraction for the determination of hypericin, pseudohypericin and hyperforin in biological fluids by high performance liquid chromatography

The analysis of hypericin, pseudohypericin (collectively called in this study hypericins) and hyperforin in biological fluids is reported using single-drop liquid-phase microextraction in conjunction with HPLC-UV-fluorescence detection. A new option for analysis of the active principle constituents in biological samples is proposed, reducing the steps required prior to analysis. There are several parameters which determine the mass transfer such as the extraction solvent, drop and sample volumes, extraction time and temperature, pH and ionic strength, stirring rate and depth of needle tip in the bulk solution. These parameters were chosen to optimize the performance in the current study. The method was validated with respect to precision, accuracy and specificity. The intra-day precision values were below 2.3% for the high concentration level of control samples and 6.2% for the low level. The respective inter-day precision values were calculated to be below 4.4 and 7.1%, respectively, for the two concentration levels. Accuracy of the method, calculated as relative error, ranged from -2.6 to 7.0%. It was demonstrated that as long as the extraction procedure is consistently applied, quantitative analysis is performed accurately and reproducibly in human urine and plasma samples. Limits of quantitation (LOQs) in urine were calculated to be 3, 6 and 12 ng/ml for pseudohypericin, hypericin and hyperforin, respectively. Slightly higher limits were measured in plasma, i.e. 5, 12 and 20 ng/ml, for the respective analytes.     

Bijections between generalized Catalan families of types A and C

Motivated by the relation ${\mathsf{N}}^m\left(C_n\right)=(mn+1){\mathsf{N}}^m\left(A_{n?1}\right)$, holding for the $m$-generalized Catalan numbers of type $A$ and $C$, the connection between dominant regions of the $m$-Shi arrangement of type $A_{n?1}$ and $C_n$ is investigated. More precisely, it is explicitly shown how $mn+1$ copies of the set of dominant regions of the $m$-Shi arrangement of type $A_{n?1}$, biject onto the set of type $C_n$ such regions. This is achieved by exploiting two different viewpoints of the representative alcove of each region: the Shi tableau and the abacus diagram. In the same line of thought, a bijection between $mn+1$ copies of the set of $m$-Dyck paths of height $n$ and the set of $N?E$ lattice paths inside an $n\times mn$ rectangle is provided.     

Flexible working arrangements in context: An empirical investigation through self-organizing maps

This is one of the first studies to utilize Kohonen’s self-organizing maps on flexible work arrangements (FWAs), employee turnover and absenteeism within different national contexts and an array of organizational factors. While the majority of FWAs did not reduce significantly employee turnover or absenteeism, country and industry were significant contextual variables in FWA use: we deciphered six main country regions, where service and manufacturing organizations were important to FWA preferences. We found a curvilinear relationship between turnover and shift-work among manufacturing firms regardless of country: turnover decreases at low levels and increases at high levels of shift-work. We also found strong positive relationships between weekend work and turnover among manufacturing firms regardless of country and firms in the region comprising of Germany, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Czech Republic and Belgium. Finally, we found consistently high concentration of organizations with low absenteeism throughout certain industries and countries: noteworthy are service organizations in the Netherlands and manufacturing organizations in Australia. The results demonstrate the contextuality of FWA use across countries and industries, and the usefulness of SOMs for research within human resource management.     

Uranium determination in water samples by liquid scintillation counting after cloud point extraction

The aim of this study is the radiometric determination of uranium in waters by liquid scintillation counting (LSC) after pre-concentration of the element by cloud point extraction (CPE). For CPE, tributyl phosphate (TBP) is used as the complexing agent and (1,1,3,3-Tetramethylbutyl)phenyl-polyethylene glycol (Triton X-114) as the surfactant. The measurement is performed after phase separation by mixing of the surfactant phase with the liquid scintillation cocktail. The effect of experimental conditions such as pH, reactant ratio (e.g. m(TBP)/m(Triton), ionic strength (e.g. [NaCl]) and the presence of other chemical species (e.g. Ca²⁺ and Fe³⁺ ions as well as humic acid and silica colloids) on CPE has been investigated. According to the experimental results the total method efficiency is (13 ± 2)% and the chemical recovery (50 ± 10)% at pH 4 and reactant ratio (V(TBP)/V(Triton) = 0.1). Regarding the other parameters, generally Ca²⁺ and Fe³⁺ ions as well as the presence of colloidal species in solution (even at low concentrations) results in significant decrease of the chemical recovery of uranium. On the other hand increasing NaCl concentration leads to enhancement of chemical recovery. The detection limit under optimum experimental conditions has been found to be 0.5 Bq L^?1 indicating that the method could be applied only to waters samples with increased uranium concentration. Moreover, the negative effect of the chemical species found in natural waters limits the applicability of the method with the respect to environmental radioactivity measurements.     

β‐Lactam functionalized poly(isoprene‐b‐ethylene oxide) amphiphilic block copolymers

Amphiphilic block copolymers containing β‐lactam groups on the polyisoprene block were synthesized from poly(isoprene‐b‐ethylene oxide) (IEO) diblock copolymer precursors, prepared by anionic polymerization. β‐Lactam functionalization was achieved via reaction of the polyisoprene (PI) block with chlorosulfonyl isocyanate and subsequent reduction. The resulting block copolymers were molecularly characterized by SEC, FTIR, and NMR spectroscopies and DSC. Functionalization was found to proceed in high yields, altering the solubility properties of the PI block and those of the functionalized diblocks. Hydrogen bond formation is assumed to be responsible for the decreased crystallinity of the poly(ethylene oxide) block (PEO) in the bulk state as indicated by DSC measurements. The self‐assembly behavior of the β‐lactam functionalized poly(isoprene‐b‐ethylene oxide) copolymers (LIEO) in aqueous solutions was studied by dynamic light scattering (DLS), static light scattering (SLS), fluorescence spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Nearly spherical loose aggregates were formed by the LIEO block copolymers, having lower aggregation numbers and higher cmc values compared to the IEO precursors, as a result of the increased polarity of the β‐lactam rings incorporated in the PI blocks. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 24–33, 2010     

Reduction of pentafluorophenyl esters to the corresponding primary alcohols using sodium borohydride

Primary alcohols and chiral N-protected 2-amino alcohols can be obtained in high yields from the reaction of pentafluorophenyl esters of the corresponding carboxylic acids with sodium borohydride in THF under mild conditions. This reductive method is rapid and compatible with various functional groups as well as with the most common N-protective groups Z, Boc and Fmoc.