Stoichiometric reactivity of dialkylamine boranes with alkaline earth silylamides

Reactions of β-diketiminato group 2 silylamides, [HC{(Me)CN(2,6-(i)Pr(2)C(6)H(3))}(2)M(THF)(n){N(SiMe(3))(2)}] (M = Mg, n = 0; M = Ca, Sr, n = 1), and an equimolar quantity of pyrrolidine borane, (CH(2))(4)NH·BH(3), were found to produce amidoborane derivatives of the form [HC{(Me)CN(2,6-(i)Pr(2)C(6)H(3))}(2)MN(CH(2))(4)·BH(3)]. In reactivity reminiscent of analogous reactions performed with dimethylamine borane, addition of a second equivalent of (CH(2))(4)NH·BH(3) to the Mg derivative induced the formation of a species, [HC{(Me)CN(2,6-(i)Pr(2)C(6)H(3))}(2)Mg{N(CH(2))(4) BH(2)NMe(2)BH(3)}], containing an anion in which two molecules of the amine borane substrate have been coupled together through the elimination of one molecule of H(2). Both this species and a calcium amidoborane derivative have been characterised by X-ray diffraction techniques and the coupled species is proposed as a key intermediate in catalytic amine borane dehydrocoupling, in reactivity dictated by the charge density of the group 2 centre involved. On the basis of further stoichiometric reactions of the homoleptic group 2 silylamides, [M{N(SiMe(3))(2)}(2)] (M = Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba), with (CH(3))(2)NH·BH(3) and (i)Pr(2)NH·BH(3) reactivity consistent with successive amidoborane β-hydride elimination and [R(2)N[double bond, length as m-dash]BH(2)] insertion is described as a means to induce the B-N dehydrocoupling between amine borane substrates.     

An unexpected dependence on the SnII base; reactions of Sn(NR2)2 with aromatic dithiols

Unexpectedly, the reactions of the Sn(II) base Sn(NMe(2))(2) with 1,2-benzodithiols [L(SH)(2)] do not give the stannylenes, L(S)(2)Sn, which are generated with Sn{N(SiMe(3))(2)}(2), instead the ion-separated Sn(IV) compounds [Sn{L(S)(2)}](2-) 2[R(2)NH(2)](+) are formed in high yields.     

Validated stability-indicating spectrofluorimetric methods for the determination of ebastine in pharmaceutical preparations

Two sensitive, selective, economic, and validated spectrofluorimetric methods were developed for the determination of ebastine (EBS) in pharmaceutical preparations depending on reaction with its tertiary amino group. Method I involves condensation of the drug with mixed anhydrides (citric and acetic anhydrides) producing a product with intense fluorescence, which was measured at 496 nm after excitation at 388 nm.     

Ethanol-assisted graphene oxide-based thin film formation at pentane-water interface

Graphene oxide (GO) can be viewed as an amphiphilic soft material, which form thin films at organic solvent-water interfaces. However, organic solvent evaporation provides little driving force, which results in slow GO transfer in aqueous phase, thus dawdling GO film formation processes for various potential applications. We present an ethanol-assisted self-assembly method for the quick formation of GO or GO-based composite thin films with tunable composition, transmittance, and surface resistivity at pentane-water interface. The thickness of pure GO and reduced GO (rGO) films ranging from ~1 nm to more than 10 nm can be controlled by the concentration of GO in bulk solution. The transmittance of rGO films can be tuned from 72% to 97% at 550 nm while the surface resistivity changes from 8.3 to 464.6 kΩ sq(-1). Ethanol is essential for achieving quick formation of GO thin films. When ethanol is injected into GO aqueous dispersion, it serves as a nonsolvent, compromising the stability of GO and providing driving force to allow GO sheets aggregate at the water-pentane interface. On the other hand, neither the evaporation of pentane nor the mixing between ethanol and water provides sufficient driving forces to allow noteworthy amount of GO sheets to migrate from the bulk aqueous phase to the interface. This method can also be extended to prepare GO-based composites thin films with tunable composition, such as GO/single walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) composite thin films investigated in this work. Reduced GO/SWCNT composite films show much lower surface resistivity compared to pure rGO thin films. This ethanol-assisted self-assembly method opens opportunities to design and fabricate new functional GO-based hybrid materials for various potential applications.     

Engineering thermal and mechanical properties of flexible fiber-reinforced aerogel composites

Flexible aerogel was successfully supported onto 4-layer-aligned glass fibers through impregnation, followed by drying at atmospheric pressure. The prepared nanocomposites can achieve a low thermal conductivity of 0.026?W/(m·K), which holds great promising for their use in thermal insulation applications. By choosing different designs of the four fiber layers, in the terms of LLLL, LTLL, LLTT, LTLT, LTTL and LTTT, the laminated structures of aerogel composites can be accordingly controlled. Further microstructure characterization of the composites revealed the homogeneous dispersion of nanoporous structure through the aerogel matrix, as well as highly-aligned fibers to reinforce the structure. Detailed investigation on the thermal and mechanical properties of the prepared fiber-aerogel composites showed that their performances were highly related to the laminated design of fiber layers. The introduction of fibers as the backbone of the aerogel and the suitable design of their laminated structure can greatly improve the mechanical properties of the aerogel composites while maintaining a low thermal conductivity.     

Conformational changes of α-lactalbumin adsorbed at oil-water interfaces: interplay between protein structure and emulsion stability

The conformation and structural dimensions of α-lactalbumin (α-La) both in solution and adsorbed at oil-water interfaces of emulsions were investigated using synchrotron radiation circular dichroism (SRCD) spectroscopy, front-face tryptophan fluorescence (FFTF) spectroscopy, and dual polarization interferometry (DPI). The near-UV SRCD and the FFTF results demonstrated that the hydrophobic environment of the aromatic residues located in the hydrophobic core of native α-La was significantly altered upon adsorption, indicating the unfolding of the hydrophobic core of α-La upon adsorption. The far-UV SRCD results showed that adsorption of α-La at oil-water interfaces created a new non-native secondary structure that was more stable to thermally induced conformational changes. Specifically, the α-helical conformation increased from 29.9% in solution to 45.8% at the tricaprylin-water interface and to 58.5% at the hexadecane-water interface. However, the β-sheet structure decreased from 18.0% in solution to less than 10% at both oil-water interfaces. The DPI study showed that adsorption of α-La to a hydrophobic C18-water surface caused a change in the dimensions of α-La from the native globule-like shape (2.5-3.7 nm) to a compact/dense layer approximately 1.1 nm thick. Analysis of the colloidal stability of α-La stabilized emulsions showed that these emulsions were physically stable against droplet flocculation at elevated temperatures both in the absence and in the presence of 120 mM NaCl. In the absence of salt, the thermal stability of emulsions was due to the strong electrostatic repulsion provided by the adsorbed α-La layer, which was formed after the adsorption and structural rearrangement. In the presence of salt, although the electrostatic repulsion was reduced via electrostatic screening, heating did not induce strong and permanent droplet flocculation. The thermal stability of α-La stabilized emulsions in the presence of salt is a combined effect of the electrostatic repulsion and the lack of covalent disulfide interchange reactions. This study reports new information on the secondary and tertiary structural changes of α-La upon adsorption to oil-water interfaces. It also presents new results on the physical stability of α-La stabilized emulsions during heating and at moderate ionic strength (120 mM NaCl). The results broaden our understanding of the factors controlling protein structural change at emulsion interfaces and how this affects emulsion stability.     

Effect of aspect ratio and deformability on nanoparticle extravasation through nanopores

We describe the fabrication of filamentous hydrogel nanoparticles using a unique soft lithography based particle molding process referred to as PRINT (particle replication in nonwetting templates). The nanoparticles possess a constant width of 80 nm, and we varied their lengths ranging from 180 to 5000 nm. In addition to varying the aspect ratio of the particles, the deformability of the particles was tuned by varying the cross-link density within the particle matrix. Size characteristics such as hydrodynamic diameter and persistence length of the particles were analyzed using dynamic light scattering and electron microscopy techniques, respectively, while particle deformability was assessed by atomic force microscopy. Additionally, the ability of the particles to pass through membranes containing 0.2 μm pores was assessed by means of a simple filtration technique, and particle recovery was determined using fluorescence spectroscopy. The results show that particle recovery is mostly independent of aspect ratio at all cross-linker concentrations utilized, with the exception of 96 wt % PEG diacrylate 80 × 5000 nm particles, which showed the lowest percent recovery.     

Catalytic contributions of key residues in the adenine glycosylase MutY revealed by pH-dependent kinetics and cellular repair assays

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Highlights? Asp 138 must be deprotonated to stabilize the transition state for maximal activity ? Consequences of altering catalytic amino acids in MutY on cellular mismatch repair ? Correlation of MutY enzymatic parameters with ability to mediate cellular repair ? Importance of high affinity binding of MutY to the OG:A mismatch for high levels of repair     

Complexation Equilibria and Determination of Stability Constants of Binary and Ternary Nickel(II) Complexes with Amino Acids (Glycine, α-Alanine, β-Alanine and Proline) and Dipicolinic Acid as Ligands

In this paper we report the formation of binary and ternary nickel(II) complexes involving dipicolinic acid (H₂Dipic) as the primary ligand and some selected amino acids {glycine (HGly), ?-alanine (H?-Ala), ??-alanine (H??-Ala) and proline (HPro)} as secondary ligands. These complexes were studied at 25?°C by means of electromotive force measurements, emf(H), using 1.0?mol?dm^?3 NaCl as the ionic medium. The experimental data were analyzed by means of the computational least-squares program LETAGROP, taking into account hydrolysis of the nickel(II) cation and the acid/base reactions of the ligands whose equilibrium constants were kept fixed during the analysis. In the study of the binary nickel(II)?Camino acids systems the species [NiL]⁺, NiL₂ and [NiL₃]^? were observed, and in the case of the ternary nickel(II)?Cdipicolinic acid?Camino acids systems the complexes Ni(Dipic)HL, [Ni(Dipic)L] ^? and [Ni(Dipic)L(OH)]^2? were observed. The respective stability constants were determined, and the species distribution diagrams, as a function of pH, are briefly discussed.     

Identification of a lipid‐related peak set to enhance the interpretation of TOF‐SIMS data from model and cellular membranes

Principal component analysis (PCA) of time‐of‐flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF‐SIMS) data enables differentiating structurally similar molecules according to linear combinations of multiple peaks in their spectra. However, in order to use PCA to correctly identify variations in lipid composition between samples, the discrimination achieved must be based on chemical differences that are related to the lipid species, and not sample‐associated contamination. Here, we identify the positive‐ion TOF‐SIMS peaks that are related to phosphatidylcholine lipid headgroups and tail groups by PCA of spectra acquired from lipid isotopologs. We demonstrate that restricting PCA to a contaminant‐free lipid‐related peak set reduces the variability in the spectra acquired from lipid samples that is due to contaminants, which enhanced differentiating different lipid standards, but adversely affected the contrast in PC scores images of phase‐separated lipid membranes. We also show that PCA of a restricted data set consisting of the peaks related to lipids and amino acids increases the likelihood that the discrimination of TOF‐SIMS data acquired from intact cells is based on differences in the lipids and proteins on the cell surface, and not sample‐specific contamination without compromising sample discrimination. We expect that the lipid‐related peak database established herein will facilitate interpreting the TOF‐SIMS data and PCA results from studies of both model and cellular membranes, and enhance identifying the origins of the peaks that contribute to discriminating different types of cells. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.