Isolation and Identification of Two New Fungal Strains for Xylanase Production

Fungi are well known for their ability to excrete enzymes into the environment. The aim of this work was to evaluate xylanase production by fungi isolated from soil. One hundred and thirty-six fungal isolates were screened for xylanase production. Two xylanase producing isolates, FSS117 and FSS129, were identified on the basis of analyses of 5,8S gene sequencing. The closest phylogenetic neighbors according to 5,8S gene sequence data for the two isolates were Aspergillus tubingensis and Aspergillus terreus, respectively. When birchwood xylan or corn cob hulls was used as a substrate for 5 days under submerged culture cultivation, xylanase production from A. terreus FSS129 was 113 and 174 IU ml^?1, respectively. The pH and temperature for optimum xylanase activity were 8 and 65?ºC.     

Tryptophan photooxidation promoted by new hybrid materials prepared by condensation of naphthalene imides with silicate by the sol–gel process

Three novel hybrid organic/inorganic materials were synthesized from 4-substituted (NO₂, Br, H) 1,8-naphthalene imide-N-propyltriethoxysilane by the sol–gel process. These materials were obtained as a xerogel and partially characterized. The ability to photosensitize the oxidation and degradation of tryptophan indole ring by these materials was studied through photophysical and photochemical techniques. Although the derivatives containing Br and NO₂ as substituent do not cause efficient tryptophan photodamage, the hybrid material obtained from 1,8-naphthalic anhydride is very efficient to promote tryptophan photooxidation. By using laser flash photolysis it was possible to verify the presence of naphthalene imide transient radical species. The presence of oxygen causes an increase of the yield of radical formation. These results suggest that the mechanism of photodegradation of tryptophan occurs by type I, i.e. the transient radical (TrpH⁺) formed by the direct reaction of the triplet state of the naphthalene imide moiety with tryptophan. Thus a inorganic–organic hybrid material that can be used to promote the oxidation of biomolecules was obtained.     

Thermal characterization of the intermediary products of the synthesis of Zn-substituted barium hexaferrite

The focus of this work is the use of thermal analyses and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) for characterization of the gel decomposition, resulting from the formation of Y-barium hexaferrite substituted by Zn ions (Zn-Y-barium hexaferrite). Samples with Ba₂Zn₂Fe₁₂O₂₂ composition were synthesized by the citrate auto-combustion method. During the TG experiments the highest mass loss was attributed to citrate decomposition owing to the self-combustion reaction, confirmed by the disappearance of –OH band, and the drastic decrease of –CO₂ ⁻and –NO₃ ⁻ bands. Zn substitution resulted in an X-band microwave absorber material.     

White fluorescence from core-shell silica nanoparticles

Into the white: Encapsulation of a naphthalimide moiety in the core of silica nanoparticles afforded nanospheres with a strong green excimeric emission. Together with the blue emission of the monomeric naphthalimide and the yellow fluorescence of the tetrazine acceptor on the outer shell, the added contributions provide intense white fluorescence upon 330?nm UV excitation.     

Cyanamide-derived non-precious metal catalyst for oxygen reduction

Cyanamide was used in the preparation series of metal–nitrogen–carbon (M–N–C) oxygen reduction catalysts. The best catalyst, treated at 1050 °C, shows good performance versus previously reported non-precious metal catalysts with an OCV ~ 1.0 V and a current density of 105 mA/cm² (iR-corrected) at 0.80 V in H₂/O₂ fuel cell testing (catalyst loading: 4 mg cm^? 2). Although nitrogen content has been previously correlated positively with ORR activity, no such trend is observed here for any nitrogen type. The combined effects of nitrogen and sulfur incorporation into the carbon may account for the high activity of the 1050 °C catalyst.     

On the complexity of solving quadratic Boolean systems

A fundamental problem in computer science is that of finding all the common zeros of m$m$ quadratic polynomials in n$n$ unknowns over _F2${\mathbb{F}}_2$. The cryptanalysis of several modern ciphers reduces to this problem. Up to now, the best complexity bound was reached by an exhaustive search in 4_log2n2ⁿ$4{log}_{2}n{2}^n$ operations. We give an algorithm that reduces the problem to a combination of exhaustive search and sparse linear algebra. This algorithm has several variants depending on the method used for the linear algebra step. We show that, under precise algebraic assumptions on the input system, the deterministic variant of our algorithm has complexity bounded by O(2^0.841n)$O\left(2^{0.841n}\right)$ when m=n$m=n$, while a probabilistic variant of the Las Vegas type has expected complexity O(2^0.792n)$O\left(2^{0.792n}\right)$. Experiments on random systems show that the algebraic assumptions are satisfied with probability very close to 1. We also give a rough estimate for the actual threshold between our method and exhaustive search, which is as low as 200, and thus very relevant for cryptographic applications.     

Controlled association in suspensions of charged nanoparticles with a weak polyelectrolyte

The properties of high-pH suspensions of mixtures of silica with low-molecular-weight samples of the water-soluble polymer polyethylenimine (PEI) have been studied. At pH > 10 and low ionic strength, silica nanoparticles are stabilized by a negative surface charge, and PEI has only a very low positive charge. The adsorption of PEI induces a localized positive charge on the segments of polymer closest to the silica surface. The parts of the molecule furthest away from the surface have little charge because of the high pH of the medium. The polymer-covered particle remains negatively charged, imparting some electrostatic stabilization. Suspensions of silica and low-molecular-weight PEI are low-viscosity fluids immediately after mixing, but aggregation occurs leading to the eventual gelation (or sedimentation at lower concentrations) of these mixtures, indicating colloidal instability. The gelation time passes through a minimum with increasing surface coverage. The rate of gelation increases exponentially with molecular weight: for molecular weight > or = 10,000 Da PEI, the instability is so severe that uniform suspensions cannot be produced using simple mixing techniques. The gelation rates increase rapidly with temperature, ionic strength, and reduction in pH. The rate of gelation increases with increasing particle concentration at low surface coverage but decreases at high coverage as a consequence of a small increase in pH. Gels are broken by application of high shear into aggregates that re-gel more rapidly than the original discrete coated particles.     

Structural control of the electronic properties of photodynamic azobenzene-derivatized pi-conjugated oligothiophenes

Quaterthiophenes containing a median 3,3'-dimethoxybithiophene (4MTZ) or bis(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (4ETZ) block and an azobenzene group attached at two internal beta-positions of the end thiophene rings have been synthesized. The analysis of the crystal structure of the two compounds by X-ray diffraction shows that, for 4MTZ, the quaterthiophene chain adopts a syn-anti-syn conformation similar to the parent system based on unsubstituted quaterthiophene. In contrast, 4ETZ presents an all-anti conformation stabilized by noncovalent intramolecular interactions between oxygen atoms and thiophenic sulfur atoms. The effect of the photoisomerization of the azobenzene group on the electronic properties of the attached pi-conjugated quaterthiophene chain has been analyzed by UV-vis spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry. The results obtained for 4MTZ suggest very limited geometrical changes due to the restricted rotation around the central interannular single bond caused by steric interactions between the methoxy groups. In contrast, upon trans to cis photoisomerization of the attached azobenzene group of 4ETZ, the quaterthiophene chain undergoes a reversible conformational switch to a final state with a lower HOMO level and a larger HOMO-LUMO gap than the initial state.     

A new total synthesis of porritoxin

A concise and efficient total synthesis of the phytotoxin porritoxin is described. The key step of the synthesis is based upon a Parham cyclization methodology which enables the creation of the lactam unit embedded in the title compound framework with the concomitant formation of the tethered hydroxyakyl chain.     

Dual signaling system with an extended-tetrathiafulvalene-phenanthroline dyad acting as an electrooptical cation chemosensor

An efficient synthesis of unprecedented fused extended-tetrathiafulvalene-dipyridoquinoxaline (exTTF-dpq) dyad is described through the Horner-Wardsworth-Emmons olefination methodology from the dipyrido[3,2-a:2',3'-c]-benzo[3,4]phenazine-11,16-quinone (NqPhen) ligand starting material. This exTTF-dpq dyad is demonstrated to act as a dual redox and colorimetric sensor for cations exploiting the proximity between the redox tetrathiafulvalene and the optical phenanthroline detecting sites. Its ability for sensing cations from the d-group metal transitions (Fe(2+), Ni(2+), and Zn(2+)) and also with varied cations such as Ca(2+) and Pb(2+) is presented.