Separation and determination of arsenic(V) and arsenic(III) in sea-water by solvent extraction and atomic-absorption spectrophotometry by the hydride-generation technique

Arsenic(V) and arsenic(III) in sea-water have been separated by complexing the arsenic(III) with ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate (APDC) in the range 4.0-4.5 and extracting the complex with chloroform. The organic phase is then wet-ashed with a 1:1 mixture of concentrated nitric acid and perchloric acid to get rid of all organics, and the arsenic(III) is determined by hydride generation and atomic-absorption spectrophotometry. Total arsenic is determined by first reducing arsenic(V) to arsenic(III) with potassium iodide and then applying the method used for arsenic(III). The arsenic(V) content is determined by difference. The low detection limit of 0.031 ng ml and the high sensitivity and precision make the method suitable for analysis of open ocean waters.     

Yeast protein farnesyltransferase. Binding of S-alkyl peptides and related analogues

[reaction: see text] Protein farnesyltransferase (PFTase) catalyzes alkylation of cysteine residues by farnesyl diphosphate (FPP). The dissociation constants for the PFTase-peptide analogue complexes for the series of analogues fl-RTRC(X)VIA (X = H, methyl, dodecyl, farnesyl) were measured by fluorescence anisotropy. The results indicate that an ionizable sulfhydryl moiety is important for substrate binding and the farnesyl group in the product facilitates binding.     

Hydroformylation and hydrocarbethoxylation of 1,2-dicarbethoxy-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridazine and 1,2-dicarbethoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyridazine

The unsaturated compounds 1,2-dicarbethoxy-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridazine 1 and 1,2-dicarbethoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyridazine 2 have been hydroformylated and hydrocarbethoxylated in the presence of some well known cobalt, rhodium, palladium and platinum catalysts. The hydroformylation reaction can be tuned by a suitable choice of the catalyst precursor and reaction conditions, thus allowing the synthesis with high selectivity of one of the two possible isomeric aldehydes. The carbonylation reaction is less synthetically useful, since it shows low activity and unsatisfactory chemo- and regio-selectivity. However, the ester 1,2,4-tricarbethoxyhexahydropyridazine 10 can be prepared in good yield from olefin 1 by using the complex [PdCl₂(PPh₃)₂] as the catalyst precursor.     

A CNDO/INDO crystal orbital model for transition metal polymers of the 3d series—basis equations

The crystal orbital formalism in the tight-binding approximation is combined with a recently developed CNDO/INDO model for transition metal species of the 3d series in order to allow band structure calculations on the Hartree-Fock (HF) SCF level for one-dimensional (1D) chains with organometallic unit cells. The band structure approach based on the CNDO and INDO approximation can be used for any atom combination up to bromine under the inclusion of the 3d series. The matrix elements for the tight-binding Hamiltonian are derived for an improved CNDO and INDO framework. The total energy of the 1D chain is partitioned into one-center contributions and into two-center increments of the intracell and intercell type. Semiempirical band structure calculations on simple model systems are compared with available ab initio data of high quality.     

Isomerisation in the chemistry of platinacyclobutane complexes

The platinacyclobutane complexes PtCl₂L₂(C₃H₅Me)], L  pyridine, CD₃CN, or tetrahydrofuran, exist as mixtures of isomers containing P$\text{tCH}{}_2\text{CHMeC}$H₂ or P$\text{tCHMeCH}{}_2\text{CH}{}_2$ groups in rapid equilibrium. Decomposition occurs in some cases to give [PtCl₂L(CH₃CH₂CHCH₂)]. Stereospecific skeletal isomerisation also occurs in metallocyclobutanes containing the groups P$\text{tCHRCHRC}$H₂  P$\text{tCHRCH}{}_2\text{C}$HR, when R  aryl further decomposition gives ν-allylplatinum complexes.     

Polymers for DNA delivery

Nucleic acid delivery has many applications in basic science, biotechnology, agriculture, and medicine. One of the main applications is DNA or RNA delivery for gene therapy purposes. Gene therapy, an approach for treatment or prevention of diseases associated with defective gene expression, involves the insertion of a therapeutic gene into cells, followed by expression and production of the required proteins. This approach enables replacement of damaged genes or expression inhibition of undesired genes. Following two decades of research, there are two major methods for delivery of genes. The first method, considered the dominant approach, utilizes viral vectors and is generally an efficient tool of transfection. Attempts, however, to resolve drawbacks related with viral vectors (e.g., high risk of mutagenicity, immunogenicity, low production yield, limited gene size, etc.), led to the development of an alternative method, which makes use of non-viral vectors. This review describes non-viral gene delivery vectors, termed "self-assembled" systems, and are based on cationic molecules, which form spontaneous complexes with negatively charged nucleic acids. It introduces the most important cationic polymers used for gene delivery. A transition from in vitro to in vivo gene delivery is also presented, with an emphasis on the obstacles to achieve successful transfection in vivo.     

Enthalpimetric and thermometric determination of some nitrogen containing bases and some physiologically active alkaloids

Summary The enthalpimetric determination of a series of bases by using the reaction of the bases and sodium tetraphenylboron is described. The accuracy of the method is analytically acceptable, over the range 3×10^–5 moles to 7.5×10^–4 moles. The upper limit is determined by the bulk of the precipitate.Dosage forms of some physiologically active alkaloids contain more than the upper limit of analyte. Yet, preliminary investigations using silicotungstic acid indicate that this is suitable for thermometric titrations.

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Enthalpimetrische und thermometrische Bestimmung stickstoffhaltiger Basen und physiologisch aktiver Alkaloide

Zusammenfassung Die enthalpimetrische Bestimmung einiger N-haltiger Basen erfolgte aufgrund der Reaktion mit Natriumtetraphenyloborat. Die Genauigkeit ist im Bereich von 3 · 10^–5-7,5 · 10^–4 Mol befriedigend. Eine obere Grenze der Anwendbarkeit ergibt sich aus der Menge des anfallenden Niederschlags. Diese wird bei der Bestimmung von Formulierungen einiger physiologisch aktiver Alkaloide überschritten. Jedoch ist in diesem Fall eine thermometrische Titration mit Hilfe von Silicowolframsäure möglich.

Lecture presented at Euroanalysis I Conference, 28. 8.–1. 9. 1972 in Heidelberg, Germany.     

Synthesis of(E)7-[[2-[4-(m-trifluoromethylphenoxy)-3α and 3β-hydroxy-1-butenyl]-5-oxo-1 -pyrrolidinyl]]heptanoic acids

The synthesis of an 8-aza-PGE₁ analog, (E)-7-[[2-[4-(m-trifluoromethylphenoxy)-3α and 3β-hydroxy-1-butenyl]-5-oxo-pyrrolidinyl]]heptanoic acids is reported.     

Overlapping spheres multiple scattering Xα calculations of the ionization potentials and electron affinities of nitrogen oxides

The ionization potentials and electron affinities of a series of nitrogen oxygen compounds have been calculated by the overlapping spheres MS Xα method to assess its applicability on a series for which good experimental data is available. The results for the ionization potentials were satisfactory although a straightforward matching of calculated and experimental IP's without consideration of other criterion would have led to some misassignments. The results for the electron affinities are in excellent agreement with experiment.