Room-temperature ferromagnetism in alkylamine-intercalated vanadium oxide

Electron paramagnetic resonance measurements revealed a ferromagnetic phase transition taking place near room temperature in quasi-two-dimensional dodecylamine-intercalated vanadium pentoxide with a mixed structure of coexisting lamellar and rectangular phases. It is shown that the ferromagnetism can be ascribed to the rectangular phase, whereas the paramagnetic lamellar phase undergoes no magnetic transition.     

Polybenzimidazoles for High Temperature Fuel Cell Applications

Summary: Fuel cells were designed for high temperature operations. Poly[2,2′‐(m‐phenylene)‐5,5′‐bibenzimidazole] (PBI) was synthesized in a solution of P₂O₅, CH₃SO₃H, and CF₃SO₃H. The PBI was dissolved in a mixture of CF₃CO₂H and H₃PO₄ and the solution was used for the preparation of Pt catalyst slurry for membrane electrode assembly. The single cell showed a current density of 280 mA · cm⁻² at a cell voltage of 0.5 V with feeds of H₂ and O₂ at 160 °C and without external humidification.

     

Arenesulfonylheterocycles (I): Synthesis and reactions of 2‐benzenesulfonyl‐4,5‐dichloropyridazin‐3‐ones with amines

The direct sulfonylation of 4,5‐dichloropyridazin‐3‐ones with some benzenesulfonyl chlorides in the presence of base in tetrahydrofuran gave only the corresponding N‐sulfonylated product. The reaction of 2‐benzenesulfonyl‐4,5‐dichloropyridazin‐3‐ones with some aliphatic amines under neutral conditions afforded 5‐alkylamino‐2‐benzenesulfonyl‐4‐chloropyridazin‐3‐ones and/or the corresponding N‐alkyl‐benzenesulfonamides.     

Functionalization of 4,5-dihalopyridazin-6-ones using 1-(1,1-dibromo-2-oxopropyl) derivatives

Functionalization of 4,5-dihalopyridazin-6-ones using 1-(1,1-dibromo-2-oxopropyl)-4,5-dihalopyridazin-6-ones with some nucleophiles gave regioselectively only 5-halo-4-substituted-pyridazin-6-ones.     

Purification and Refolding of Cyclodextrin Glycosyltransferase Expressed Escherichia coli

Recombinant DNA technology and protein engineering are currently utilized in the cost-effective production of pharmaceutical and industrial proteins with native conformation. Escherichia coli retains its dominant position as the first choice of host for speed, simplicity and well-established production protocols. However, protein production using recombinant E. coli occasionally encounters complex purification and refolding steps. This paper introduces an efficient scheme for purification andin vitro refolding of industrially important proteins including cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase (CGTase) expressed in recombinant E. coli employing a polycationic amino acid fusion system. Fusion of polycationic amino acids to CGTase allowed purification and refolding of CGTase to be simple and efficient. A novel CGTase production strategy will be discussed by considering recent progress in protein purification and refolding techniques.     

Prevention of TNF-induced necrotic cell death by rottlerin through a Nox1 NADPH oxidase

Previous studies have demonstrated that rottlerin, a specific PKCdelta inhibitor, potentiates death receptor- mediated apoptosis through a cytochrome c-dependent or -independent pathway. However, its ability to regulate necrotic cell death, as well as the underlying mechanism, remains unknown. We found that in murine fibrosarcoma L929 cells, treatment with rottlerin protected the cells against TNF-induced necrosis, whereas it sensitized the cells to apoptosis induced by co-treatment with Hsp90 inhibitor geldanamycin and TNF, in a manner independent of its ability to inhibit PKC-delta. TNF treatment induced rapid accumulation of mitochondrial superoxide (O2-) through the Nox1 NADPH oxidase when cells undergo necrosis. Moreover, pretreatment with rottlerin failed to induce the GTP-bound form of small GTPase Rac1 by TNF treatment, and subsequently suppressed mitochondrial O2- production and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase activation, thus inhibiting necrotic cell death. Therefore, our study suggests that Nox1 NADPH oxidase is a new molecular target for anti-necrotic activity of rottlerin upon death-receptor ligation.     

Effect of burn-up on the radioactivation behavior of cladding hull materials studied using the ORIGEN-S code

The effect of fuel burn-up on the radioactivation behavior of cladding hull materials was investigated using the ORIGEN-S code for various materials of Zircaloy-4, Zirlo, HANA-4, and HANA-6 and for various fuel burn-ups of 30, 45, 60, and 75 GWD/MTU. The Zircaloy-4 material is the only one that does not contain Nb as an alloy constituent, and it was revealed that ¹²⁵Sb, ^125mTe, and ⁵⁵Fe are the major sources of radioactivity. On the other hand, ^93mNb was identified as the most radioactive nuclide for the other materials although minor radioactive nuclides varied owing to their different initial constituents. The radioactivity of ⁹⁴Nb was of particular focus owing to its acceptance limit against a Korean intermediate-/low-level waste repository. The radioactivation calculation results revealed that only Zircaloy-4 is acceptable for the Korean repository, while the other materials required at least 4,900 of Nb decontamination factor owing to the high radioactivity of ⁹⁴Nb regardless of the fuel burn-up. A discussion was also made on the feasibility of Zr recovery methods (chlorination and electrorefining) for selective recovery of Zr so that it can be disposed of in the Korean repository.