Coumarin-4-ylmethoxycarbonyls as phototriggers for alcohols and phenols

Caged compounds can be used to regulate the spatial and temporal dynamics of signaling molecules in live cells. Photochemical properties of coumarin-4-ylmethoxy carbonates (1a-d) are investigated to construct caged compounds of hydroxy-containing molecules. All the compounds possess desired properties as phototriggers for alcohols and phenols. The 6-bromo-7-hydroxycoumarin-4-ylmethoxycarbonyl (Bhcmoc) group has the highest photochemical efficiency and is applied to make caged compounds of 1,2-dioctanoylglycerol (diC(8)), Tyr-OMe, and adenosine. [reaction: see text]     

Synthesis of δ-thiolactams by the aza-Diels-Alder reaction of in situ generated allenyltrimethylsilylthioketenes with imines

Allenyltrimethylsilylthioketenes, generated in situ through [3,3] sigmatropic rearrangement of trimethylsilylethynyl propargyl sulfides, underwent facile [4+2] cycloaddition with imines to afford the corresponding δ-thiolactams. The resulting 2-trimethylsilyl-4-methylenetetrahydroquinolidine-2-thione, obtained by the [4+2] cycloaddition using piperideine as a dienophile, was transformed into (±)-lupinine in six steps.     

Excess polarizabilities upon excitation from the ground state to the first dipole‐allowed excited state of diphenylpolyenes

This paper discusses the excess polarizabilities upon excitation from the ground state to the first dipole‐allowed excited state (S₁) of diphenylpolyenes by using the time‐dependent density functional theory. Two hybrid exchange‐correlation (xc) potentials Becke‐3 Lee‐Yang‐Parr (B3LYP) and Perdew‐Burke‐Ernzerhof (PBE1PBE) were employed. Our calculations indicate that the magnitude of the excess polarizability will decrease while the molecule evolves from the unrelaxed S₁ state to the relaxed S₁ state. This decreasing trend is found to be independent of substituents, though substituents can change the value of the excess polarizability. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2007     

Monitoring of mechanical properties of serially passaged bovine articular chondrocytes by atomic force microscopy

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a powerful tool in imaging cells and tissues and probing their mechanical properties. Articular chondrocytes, the cells responsible for the production and maintenance of cartilaginous extracellular matrix in the knee joint, change their morphology and dedifferentiate during in vitro expansion culture. It was unclear if the mechanical properties of chondrocytes change accompanying phenotype variation. The elasticity of in vitro serially cultured bovine articular chondrocytes was investigated using AFM. The chondrocytes changed their morphology from round to spindle-like. The freeze-dried P0 chondrocytes showed significantly higher modulus than did the serially passaged (P1–P4) chondrocytes. The change of chondrocyte morphology was accompanied with a decrease of elastic modulus.     

Hard X-ray generation using femtosecond irradiation of PbO glass

We have generated hard X-rays by front- and back-side femtosecond laser irradiation of PbO-rich glass. The actual Pb content of glasses was corroborated by Pb M-line emission intensities with an uncertainty of less than 20%. The elements K and As at concentrations of a few mol% were detected. X-ray generation by back-side irradiation helped to avoid an air breakdown; however, self-focusing and filamentation limited the achievable light intensity and effectiveness of X-ray generation. Characteristics and mechanisms of X-ray generation from the front- and back-side of glasses are discussed.     

Uptake of iodine and bromine by ion-exchange resins in aqueous solution

The uptakes of molecular iodine and bromine by both strong acid cation (Dowex 50W-X4 and X8) and strong base anion (Dowex 1-X4 and X8) exchange resins have been studied in aqueous solutions at 25 degrees C. An empirical formula for the amount of solute taken up by the resin in mmol per gram of dry resin, Q, as a function of the solute concentration in M (mol dm(-3)), C, was derived. Direct proportional relationships between Q and C have been found, except for the bromine-anion exchanger system. In contrast to the cation-exchange resin, the anion exchanger exhibits extremely high affinity for I(2) and Br(2).     

Needle-type ultra micro silver/silver chloride reference electrode for use in micro-electrochemistry.

A needle-type ultra micro silver/silver chloride reference electrode having a micro capillary with outer and inner diameters of 1.0 microm and 0.5 +/- 0.2 microm, respectively, was constructed. This micro reference electrode can be stuck into a living cell, and is applicable to use in very small environments, such as an electrochemical cell of an electrochemical scanning tunneling microscope or the detection portion of a micro-TAS. Excellent stability and repeatability of the micro reference electrode potential could be obtained by filling the micro capillary with agar gel containing 3.33 mol/L potassium chloride as a salt bridge, by covering the bare part of the silver wire on which silver chloride was deposited, and by electromagnetic shielding of the measurement cell and wire lead from the electromagnetic waves. The electrode showed stable potential for 7 days after its fabrication using 3.3 mol/L potassium chloride aqueous solution containing silver chloride as an internal electrolyte solution. The electrode exhibited constant electrode potential and excellent stability in test solutions of pH 5-9. The electrode potential of a commercial pH glass electrode measured against the micro reference electrode in standard pH buffer solutions was in good accordance with the Nernst equation.     

Tuning the Properties of Tetracene-Based Nanoribbons by Fluorination and N-Doping

The structural stabilities and electronic properties are studied for the recently synthesized one-dimensional (1-D) tetracene-based nanoribbons with four-membered rings by using first-principles calculation. All three configurations (named as straight, zigzag, and armchair) are stable and exhibit an indirect band gap of 1.46, 0.73, and 0.32 eV, respectively. The band gaps can be effectively tuned by substituting hydrogen with fluorine atoms and by doping with nitrogen atoms. Substituting hydrogen with fluorine atoms leads to gradual decrease of the electronic band gaps of all configurations. Nitrogen doping changes the band gap from indirect to direct, displaying flexibility of tuning the band structure.     

Controlled Release of Model Drug from Biodegradable Segmented Polyurethane Ureas: Morphological and Structural Features

Segmented polyurethane ureas (SPUUs), which are being used in implant devices, were evaluated as drug delivery matrices using theophylline as a model drug without much sacrificing the mechanical properties of films after drug doping. SPUUs were synthesized from aliphatic diisocyanate (lysine methyl ester diisocyante (LDI)), poly(caprolactone) diol with molecular weights 530, 1250 and 2000 and 1,4-butanediamine. Three series of segmented SPUUs were prepared with various soft segment lengths and were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, dynamic viscoelastic measurements and tensile testing. A single tanδ peak was observed in dynamic viscoelastic measurements, which revealed phase mixing of hard and soft segments. Low elongation at break was observed in case of PCL 2000 based SPUUs, may be due to partial cystallization of PCL segment. The degradation of SPUUs in alkaline solution and in vitro drug release of theophylline in pH 7.4 buffer were also investigated. The drug release behavior from these films were analyzed by the exponent relation M_t/M_∞ = ktⁿ, where k and n are constants and M_t/M_∞ is the fraction of drug released until time, t. The constant n was found to be close to 0.5 in all samples, which suggests the release of drug from these polymers can be explained by the Fickian diffusion model.     

Evolution of the electronic structure of Be clusters

Using a modified symbiotic genetic algorithm approach and many-body interatomic potential derived from first principles, we have calculated equilibrium geometries and binding energies of the ground-state and low-lying isomers of Be clusters containing up to 41 atoms. Molecular-dynamics study was also carried out to study the frequency of occurrence of the various geometrical isomers as these clusters are annealed during the simulation process. For a selected group of these clusters, higher-energy isomers were more often found than their ground-state structures due to large catchment areas. The accuracy of the above ground-state geometries and their corresponding binding energies were verified by carrying out separate ab initio calculations based on molecular-orbital approach and density-functional theory with generalized gradient approximation for exchange and correlation. The atomic orbitals were represented by a Gaussian 6-311G** basis, and the geometry optimization was carried out using the GAUSSIAN 98 code without any symmetry constraint. While the ground-state geometries and their corresponding binding energies obtained from ab initio calculations do not differ much from those obtained using the molecular-dynamics approach, the relative stability of the clusters and the energy gap between the highest occupied and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals show significant differences. The energy gaps, calculated using the density-functional theory, show distinct shell closure effects, namely, sharp drops in their values for Be clusters containing 2, 8, 20, 34, and 40 electrons. While these features may suggest that small Be clusters behave free-electron-like and, hence, are metallic, the evolution of the structure, binding energies, coordination numbers, and nearest-neighbor distances do not show any sign of convergence towards the bulk value. We also conclude that molecular-dynamics simulation based on many-body interatomic potentials may not always give the correct picture of the evolution of the structure and energetics of clusters although they may serve as a useful tool for obtaining starting geometries by efficiently searching a large part of the phase space.