Cell lysis on a microfluidic CD (compact disc)

Cell lysis was demonstrated on a microfluidic CD (Compact Disc) platform. In this purely mechanical lysis method, spherical particles (beads) in a lysis chamber microfabricated in a CD, cause disruption of mammalian (CHO-K1), bacterial (Escherichia coli), and yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) cells. Interactions between beads and cells are generated in the rimming flow established inside a partially filled annular chamber in the CD rotating around a horizontal axis. To maximize bead-cell interactions in the lysis chamber, the CD was spun forward and backwards around this axis, using high acceleration for 5 to 7 min. Investigation on inter-particle forces (friction and collision) identified the following parameters; bead density, angular velocity, acceleration rate, and solid volume fraction as having the most significant contribution to cell lysis. Cell disruption efficiency was verified either through direct microscopic viewing or measurement of the DNA concentration after cell lysing. Lysis efficiency relative to a conventional lysis protocol was approximately 65%. In the long term, this work is geared towards CD based sample-to-answer nucleic acid analysis which will include cell lysis, DNA purification, DNA amplification, and DNA hybridization detection.     

Molecular solutes in nematic liquid crystals: Orientational order and electric field gradients

The difference between liquid-crystal and gas-phase values for the nuclear quadrupole coupling constant in D₂ and HD is used to obtain the mean electric field gradient in various liquid crystals. Order parameters for small molecules dissolved in liquid crystals are calculated assuming that the orientational order arises from the interaction of the molecular quadrupole moment with the average field gradient. The results obtained are in good agreement with experimental values for hydrogen and several other solutes.     

The Vroman effect: a molecular level description of fibrinogen displacement

The molecular level details of the displacement of surface adsorbed fibrinogen from silica substrates were studied by atomic force microscopy, immunochemical assays, fluorescence microscopy, and vibrational sum frequency spectroscopy. The results showed that human plasma fibrinogen (HPF) can be readily displaced from the interface by other plasma proteins near neutral pH because the positively charged alpha C domains on HPF sit between the rest of the macromolecule and the underlying surface. The alpha C domains make weak electrostatic contact with the substrate, which is manifest by a high degree of alignment of Lys and Arg residues. Upon cycling through acidic pH, however, the alpha C domains are irreversibly removed from this position and the rest of the macromolecule is free to engage in stronger hydrogen bonding, van der Waals, and hydrophobic interactions with the surface. This results in a 170-fold decrease in the rate at which HPF can be displaced from the interface by other proteins in human plasma.     

Stereoelective polymerization of D,L-lactide using N-heterocyclic carbene based compounds

A new Zn alkoxide catalyst supported by an N-heterocyclic carbene rapidly polymerizes D,L-lactide (D,L-LA) to heterotactic enriched poly(lactide)(PLA), while the free carbene and analogs instead yield highly isotactic enriched PLA.     

Using second-order calibration to identify and quantify aromatic sulfonates in water by high-performance liquid chromatography in the presence of coeluting interferences

We used the Generalized Rank Annihilation Method (GRAM), a second-order calibration method, to quantify aromatic sulfonates in water with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) when interferences coeluted with the analytes of interest. With GRAM, we can quantify in only two chromatographic analyses, one for a calibration sample and one for the unknown sample. The calculated concentrations were not statistically different to those obtained when the chromatographic separation of the unknown sample was modified in order to completely separate the analyte from the interferences before univariate calibration. With GRAM, the concentrations are determined much more quickly because a complete resolution is not required.     

Ring-opening metathesis/oxy-cope rearrangement: a new strategy for the synthesis of bicyclic medium ring-containing compounds

Ring-opening/ring-closing metathesis on cyclobutene-containing substrates with angular oxygen functionality provides a stereospecific introduction of 1,5-bis-dienes required for an anion-accelerated oxy-Cope rearrangement. The reaction sequence offers generally a stereocontrolled preparation of a variety of medium ring-containing bicyclic ring systems, while rearrangement to the bicyclo[7,3,0]dodecane (9-5) system leads to a mixture of olefin isomers.     

Cooperative hydrogen-bonding effects in a water square: a single-crystal neutron and partial atomic charges and hardness analysis study

Four isomorphous complexes of formula [M(L)(4)(H(2)O)(2)]SO(4).2H(2)O (M = Co, 1a; Ni, 1b; Cu, 1c; Zn, 1d) have been isolated and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and neutron diffraction using the quasi-Laue diffractometer VIVALDI at the Institut Laue-Langevin as well as by thermogravimetric analysis. The structures contain a discrete, strongly hydrogen-bonded water tetramer which causes a significant distortion of the metal coordination sphere in each case. Partial atomic charges and hardness analysis (PACHA) calculations reveal that the shortest hydrogen bonds are not the strongest in this constrained, cyclic solid-state structure and show that the distortion at the metal center is caused by the drive to maintain the integrity of the water tetramer. The system undergoes a disorder-order transition on slow cooling that provides insight into the nature of communication between water squares.     

Stoichiometric and catalytic deuterium and tritium labeling of "unactivated" organic substrates with cationic Ir(III) complexes

[reaction: see text] Ir(III) complex [Cp(PMe(3))IrMe(CH(2)Cl(2))][BAr(f)] (1) was used to introduce deuterium stoichiometrically into substituted naphthalene/benzene templates and several "drug-like" entities. The exchange process is tolerant of a wide array of functional groups. Labeling of warfarin using subatmospheric pressures of T(2) led to specific activities and total activities rivaling current functional group directed tritium labeling methods. When paired with the appropriate deuterium donor, Cp(PMe(3))Ir(H(3))OTf (4) was found to deuterate a number of organic compounds catalytically.     

Oxidation of formic acid and carbon monoxide on gold electrodes studied by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy and DFT.

The oxidation of formic acid and carbon monoxide was studied at a gold electrode by a combination of electrochemistry, in situ surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), differential electrochemical mass spectrometry, and first-principles DFT calculations. Comparison of the SERS results and the (field-dependent) DFT calculations strongly suggests that the relevant surface-bonded intermediate during oxidation of formic acid on gold is formate HCOO- ad*. Formate reacts to form carbon dioxide via two pathways: at low potentials, with a nearby water to produce carbon dioxide and a hydronium ion; at higher potentials, with surface-bonded hydroxyl (or oxide) to give carbon dioxide and water. In the former pathway, the rate-determining step is probably related to the reaction of surface-bonded formate with water, as measurements of the reaction order imply a surface almost completely saturated with adsorbate. The potential dependence of the rate of the low-potential pathway is presumably governed by the potential dependence of formate coverage. There is no evidence for CO formation on gold during oxidation of formic acid. The oxidation of carbon monoxide must involve the carboxyhydroxyl intermediate, but SERS measurements do not reveal this intermediate during CO oxidation, most likely because of its low surface coverage, as it is formed after the rate-determining step. Based on inconclusive spectroscopic evidence for the formation of surface-bonded OH at potentials substantially below the surface oxidation region, the question whether surface-bonded carbon monoxide reacts with surface hydroxyl or with water to form carboxyhydroxyl and carbon dioxide remains open. The SERS measurements show the existence of both atop and bridge-bonded CO on gold from two distinguishable low-frequency modes that agree very well with DFT calculations.