High-selectivity,high-flexibility glass hollow-fiber membrane for gas separation

A high gas selectivity, high flexibility glass hollow-fiber membrane based on spinodal phase separation has been prepared by direct winding from glass melt, followed by acid leaching processing.     

Peptide Cyclization Mediated by Metal-Free S-Arylation: S-Protected Cysteine Sulfoxide as an Umpolung of the Cysteine Nucleophile

Covalent linking of side chains provides a method to produce cyclic or stapled peptides that are important in developing peptide-based drugs. A variety of crosslinking formats contribute to fixing the active conformer and prolonging its biological activity under physiological conditions. One format uses the cysteine thiol to participate in crosslinking through nucleophilic thiolate anions or thiyl radicals to form thioether and disulfide bonds. Removal of the S-protection from an S-protected Cys derivative generates the thiol, which functions as a nucleophile. S-Oxidation of a protected Cys allows the formation of a sulfoxide that operates as an umpolung electrophile. Herein, the applicability of S-p-methoxybenzyl Cys sulfoxide (Cys(MBzl)(O)) to the formation of a thioether linkage between tryptophan and Cys has been investigated. The reaction of peptides containing Cys(MBzl)(O) and Trp with trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (TFMSA) or methanesulfonic acid (MSA) in TFA in the presence of guanidine hydrochloride (Gn ⋅ HCl) proceeded to give cyclic or stapled peptides possessing the Cys-Trp thioether linkage. In this reaction, strong acids such as TFMSA or MSA are necessary to activate the sulfoxide. Additionally, Gn ⋅ HCl plays a critical role in producing an electrophilic Cys derivative that combines with the indole by aromatic electrophilic substitution. The findings led us to conclude that the less-electrophilic Cys(MBzl)(O) serves as an acid-activated umpolung of a Cys nucleophile and is useful for S-arylation-mediated peptide cyclization.     

Microporous Silica Xerogel Membrane with High Selectivity and High Permeance for Carbon Dioxide Separation

The asymmetric microporous silica xerogel membrane was prepared by sol-gel method. A multi-layer (asymmetric) structure was obtained by silica xerogel layer on top of mesoporous silica layer (mean pore diameter of 4 nm), supported by porous alumina tube (mean pore diameter of 0.1 m). The ratio of the permeances, CO₂/N₂ for this membrane attained more than 60 at 298 K. This value is considerably higher than the theoretical Knudsen value (CO₂/N₂ = 0.8). The gas permeances of this membrane were about 5–10 times higher than the previous membrane. Application of the membrane to an enrichment of CO₂ from air was also investigated. CO₂ in the air (about 300 ppm) was concentrated to more than 1000 ppm by using the membrane at 298 K.