Laser desorption/ionization on porous silicon mass spectrometry for accurately determining the molecular weight distribution of polymers evaluated using a certified polystyrene standard.

Desorption/ionization on porous silicon-mass spectrometry (DIOS-MS) is a novel soft ionization MS technique that does not require any matrix reagent, ideally resulting in fewer obstructive peaks in the lower mass region. In this study, the etching conditions of porous silicon spots as an ionization platform of DIOS-MS were investigated for determining the molecular weight distribution (MWD) of polymers. To evaluate the accuracy of DIOS mass spectra observed using porous silicon spots prepared under various etching conditions, a certified polystyrene (PS) standard sample with an average molecular weight of ca. 2400 was used as a model sample. By optimizing the etching conditions, the MWD of the PS sample could be accurately observed by DIOS-MS using both p-type and n-type porous silicon spots. Especially, in the case of a suitable n-type spot, an accurate peak distribution with very fewer obstructive background peaks could be observed using the minimum laser power, comparable to the conventional matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS).     

Contact-impact analysis of geared rotor systems

In this paper, a finite element formulation, used to analyze the contact-impact behavior of geared rotor systems coupled with the rotational, lateral, and axial vibrations between gears at high rotational speeds, has been developed. A gear impact element to model the contact-impact behavior between gears has been developed and its numerical method is discussed. A relative displacement measurement idea has been proposed to measure vibration parameter for contrast experiment in high rotational geared system. The equations of motion are derived and solved iteratively during each time increment until the unbalanced force decrease to an acceptable tolerance level. Based on the proposed method, an analysis program, GEARS, has been developed. The contact-impact behavior of geared rotor systems is analyzed especially under high rotational speed condition as numerical examples, which are demonstrated to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Photobiological information obtained from XPA gene-deficient mice

The XPA gene-deficient mouse, an animal model of xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), develops enhanced photobiologic reactions including acute inflammation, immunosuppression and skin carcinogenesis, because of the defect in the excision repair of ultraviolet-induced DNA lesions. The results strongly suggest that nuclear DNA is an important chromophore to initiate acute and chronic skin damages. The model mouse is a useful experimental animal not only to investigate the mechanisms of photosensitivity in XP, but also to study physiological photobiology in humans, because photobiologic reactions are greatly intensified in this mouse.     

A new selective preparation of ethyl 7-aminopteridine-6- carboxylate derivatives and related compound

A series of ethyl 7-amino-2,4-dioxopteridine-6-carboxylates 4 and ethyl 7-amino-4-oxo-2-thioxopteridine-6-carboxylates 5 , of interest biologically, has been prepared in one step from the reaction of such vicinal-diamines as 1,3-dialkyl-5,6-diaminouracils 2 or 1,3-dialkyl-5,6-diamino-2-thiouracils 3 with diethyl (E)-2,3-dicyanobutenedioate ( 1 ). Moreover, ethyl 3-amino[1,2,4]triazino[2,3-a]-1H-benzimidazole-2-carboxylate ( 11 ) was also obtained from the reaction between 1,2-diamino-1H-benzimidazole ( 10 ) and 1 . The structural studies of 4, 5 , and 11 prepared were carried out by nmr experiments in some details.     

Rapid determination of fluoroquinolone residues in honey by a microbiological screening method and liquid chromatography

A rapid and efficient method was developed for the simultaneous determination of seven fluoroquinolone (FQ) residues: norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, danofloxacin, enrofloxacin, orbifloxacin, sarafloxacin, and difloxacin in honey. The samples were first screened with a microbiological method by using test plates made from metal-free purified agar seeded with Bacillus subtilis BGA. When a sample was found to contain FQ residues by using the microbiological method, it was analyzed by LC with fluorescence detection (LC/FL). FQs were extracted with Na2EDTA-McIlvaine buffer and purified by a dual SPE method in which a cation-exchange cartridge was connected to an anion-exchange cartridge. The overall recoveries of the seven FQs ranged from 70.0 to 92.1%. The intra-assay and interassay CVs were < or = 7.8 and < or = 5.1%, respectively. For the microbiological method, the LOD values ranged from 2 to 9 microg/kg. For LC/FL, the LOQ values ranged from 2 to 7 microg/kg. The developed method was used to analyze 70 honey samples. In 14 samples in which the microbiological method detected the presence of FQ residues, norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, and enrofloxacin were identified by LC/FL.     

Unraveling the properties of octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane under nanoscale confinement: atomistic view of the liquidlike state from molecular dynamics simulation

We developed an atomistic model of octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (OMCTS) liquid confined within the nanospace between two flat mica surfaces. Molecular dynamics simulation was carried out for the liquidlike state where OMCTS liquid is not frozen, while forming molecular layers parallel to the surface. With the aid of a layer by layer analysis of the intra- and interlayer microscopic structures and the dynamics, it is found that the difference in the properties of the inner layers and the bulk liquid are relatively small in spite of the clear differences in the structure. This leads to the conclusion that the layered structure itself is an appearance of the microscopic structure that already exists in the bulk liquid. The most striking difference from the bulk liquid is mainly seen in the contact layer, where characteristic molecular orientations that are not seen in the crystalline phase appeared, and the dynamics of the liquid becomes 2-3 orders of magnitude slower than that of the bulk.     

Retention Behavior of Purine-Like Compounds on Titania and the Effect of Organic Modifiers Content in the Mobile Phase

The retention behavior of purine and purine-like compounds on titania was investigated in order to elucidate the strong retention of purine on titania. It was verified that, as expected, the strong retention stemmed from the formation of a chelate ring using the two nitrogen atoms N3 and N9 with titania. Purine has two possible tautometric forms because of proton tautomerism between N7 and N9. Hence, the lone pair of either of the two nitrogen atoms could be located immediately in an sp² orbital. Therefore, it was found that the lone pairs of N3 and N9 must be located in an sp² orbital, and the location is essential to forming the chelate with titania. Moreover, the effect of the presence of methanol and acetonitrile in the mobile phase on retention was also investigated. The retention strength increased with their content, but the tendency of this increase was different for the two organic solvents. It was concluded that the difference stems from the differing degrees of strength of the ligands, which includes the analytes and the solvents, as a result of competing with each other. Water and methanol acted as ligands strong enough to compete with the analytes, but acetonitrile did not, probably because it lacks hydroxy groups, which have a strong affinity for titania.     

Palladium-catalyzed asymmetric alkylation of 2-azaallyl acetates for the synthesis of β-carboxyaspartic acid derivatives

Palladium-catalyzed asymmetric alkylation of 2-azaallyl acetate, N-(diphenylmethylene)acetoxyglycine ester with a sodium salt of malonate ester was successfully carried out. High enantioselectivities were achieved using sodium dimethyl methylmalonate (98%ee) or sodium dimethyl malonate (93%ee) as a nucleophile with t-butyl ester of 2-azaallyl acetate in the presence of (S)-BINAP in acetonitrile.     

LC–UV Methodology for Simultaneous Determination of Lamivudine and Zidovudine in Plasma by Liquid–Liquid Extraction

This study describes an accurate, sensitive, and specific chromatographic method for the simultaneous quantitative determination of lamivudine and zidovudine in human blood plasma, using stavudine as an internal standard. The chromatographic separation was performed using a C8 column (150 × 4.6 mm, 5 μm), and ultraviolet absorbency detection at 270 nm with gradient elution. Two mobile phases were used. Phase A contained 10 mM potassium phosphate and 3% acetonitrile, whereas Phase B contained methanol. A linear gradient was used with a variability of A-B phase proportion from 98–2% to 72–28%, respectively. The drug extraction was performed with two 4 mL aliquots of ethyl acetate.

     

Viscosity and lubricity of aqueous NaCl solution confined between mica surfaces studied by shear resonance measurement

We report the viscoelasticity of the thin film of aqueous NaCl solution confined between mica surfaces measured by shear resonance apparatus. The observed shear resonance curves at separations less than ca. 2 nm indicated that the solution exhibits the high lubrication effects under some loads. The effective viscosity (0.1-10 Pa s) obtained for the separations less than 1 nm from a mechanical model was 2-4 orders of magnitude larger than the bulk value. Our study employing a novel shear measurement provided a comprehensive picture for the dynamics of confined water thinner than a few nanometers.