Simultaneous determination of238Pu,239+240Pu,241Pu,241Am,242Cm,244Cm,89Sr,and90Sr in vegetation samples,and application to Chernobyl-fallout contaminated grass

A radiochemical procedure is described for the simultaneous determination of²³⁸Pu,^239+240Pu,²⁴¹Pu,²⁴¹Am,²⁴²Cm,²⁴⁴Cm,⁸⁹Sr, and⁹⁰Sr in vegetation samples. The method was applied for the determination of these, radionuclides in grass, collected near Munich after the fallout from the reactor accident at Chernobyl, USSR. The specific activities observed were (in Bq kg^–1 dry weight):²³⁸Pu, 0.077;^239+240Pu, 0.15;²⁴¹Pu, 3.9;²⁴¹Am, 0.031;²⁴²Cm, 3.0;²⁴⁴Cm, 0.008;⁸⁹Sr, 2000;⁹⁰Sr, 99.     

Unexpected Silaazetidine Formation in the Thermolysis of thf‐Supported Silanimine Et2Si=N–SitBu3·thf

The silyl amide Et₂SiCl‐NLi‐SitBu₃ can be cleanly prepared from precursor silylamine Et₂SiCl‐NH‐SitBu₃ and Li[nBu]. The CF₃SO₃SiMe₃ induced LiCl elimination of Et₂SiCl‐NLi‐SitBu₃ in thf afforded a 2‐silaazetidine derivative by [2+2] cycloaddition of Et₂Si=N–SitBu₃ with Et₂Si(OCH=CH₂)–NH–SitBu₃. X‐ray quality crystals of this 2‐silaazetidine derivative (triclinic, space group P$\bar{1}$ ) were grown from benzene at room temperature. The starting material for this approach, Et₂SiCl–NH–SitBu₃, is water‐sensitive. Hydrolysis of Et₂SiCl‐NH‐SitBu₃ gave [tBu₃SiNH₃]Cl along with (Et₂SiO)_n oligomers. The hydro chloride [tBu₃SiNH₃]Cl could be isolated and was characterized by X‐ray crystallography (trigonal, space group P$\bar{3}$ ).     

Glycosylation Enhances Peptide Hydrophobic Collapse by Impairing Solvation

Post‐translational N‐glycosylation of proteins is ubiquitous in eukaryotic cells, and has been shown to influence the thermodynamics of protein collapse and folding. However, the mechanism for this influence is not well understood. All‐atom molecular dynamics simulations are carried out to study the collapse of a peptide linked to a single N‐glycan. The glycan is shown to perturb the local water hydrogen‐bonding network, rendering it less able to solvate the peptide and thus enhancing the hydrophobic contribution to the free energy of collapse. The enhancement of the hydrophobic collapse compensates for the weakened entropic coiling due to the bulky glycan chain and leads to a stronger burial of hydrophobic surface, presumably enhancing folding. This conclusion is reinforced by comparison with coarse‐grained simulations, which contain no explicit solvent and correspondingly exhibit no significant thermodynamic changes on glycosylation.