Protein separation by nonsynchronous coil planet centrifuge with aqueous-aqueous polymer phase systems

Counter-current chromatographic separation of proteins was performed using a rotary-seal-free nonsynchronous coil planet centrifuge (CPC) fabricated in our laboratory. This apparatus has a unique feature that allows a freely adjustable rotational rate of the coiled separation column at a given revolution speed. The separation was performed using a set of stable proteins including cytochrome c, myoglobin and lysozyme with two different types of aqueous-aqueous polymer phase systems, i.e., PEG (polyethylene glycol) 1000-dibasic potassium phosphate, and PEG 8000-dextran T500 in 5 mM potassium phosphate buffer. Using a set of multilayer coiled columns prepared from 0.8 mm I.D. PTFE tubing with different volumes (11, 24, 39 ml), the effect of the column capacity on the partition efficiency was investigated under a given set of experimental conditions. Among these experiments, the best separation of proteins was attained using the 39 ml capacity column with a 12.5% (w/w) PEG 1000-12.5% (w/w) dibasic potassium phosphate system at 10 rpm of coil rotation under 800 rpm. With lower phase mobile at 0.2 ml/min in the head-to-tail elution, the resolution between cytochrome c and myoglobin was 1.6 and that between myoglobin and lysozyme, 1.9. With upper phase mobile in the head-to-tail elution, the resolution between lysozyme and myoglobin peaks was 1.5. In these two separations, the stationary phase retention was 35.0 and 33.3%, respectively. Further studies were carried out using a pair of eccentric coil assemblies with 0.8 mm I.D. PTFE tubing at a total capacity of 20 ml. A comparable resolution was obtained using both lower and upper phases as a mobile phase in a head-to-tail elution. The results of our studies demonstrate that the nonsynchronous CPC is useful for protein separation with aqueous-aqueous polymer phase systems.     

Rotation of Mo-Fibers in Directionally Solidified Ni-Al-Mo Eutectic Alloys

The interface structure of -Mo fib ers in directionally solidified Ni-Al-Mo eutectic alloys has been investigated by transmission electron microscopy and computer-aided graphical techniques. The Mo fibers have square or rectangular cross sections with well defined flat facets and fundamentally have the Bain orientation relationship with respect to the matrix lattice. The crystal lattices of the Mo fibers, however, are often rotated with respect to the matrix lattice about their longitudinal axes. Correspondingly, the facet planes deviate from the exact rational (1 1 0)//(1 0 0) relationship. A computer aided graphical plotting of the atom arrangement at the interfaces suggests that good atomic matching is kept even after the rotation of fibers. High resolution electron microscopy revealed the incorporation of single atomic structural ledges to keep the coherency of the lattices of the matrix and rotated fibers. The relation between the lattice rotation and the facet plane rotation is well explained by the moiré and O-lattice models.     

Constructing highly conducting metal-metal bonded solids by electrocrystallization of [Pt(II)2(RCS2)4] (RCS2(-) = dithiocarboxylato, R = methyl or ethyl)

Partially oxidized one-dimensional (1D) Pt-Pt chain compounds [Pt2(MeCS2)4]4ClO4.5PhCN (1) and [Pt2(EtCS2)4]5(ClO4)2 (2) were synthesized by electrocrystallization of diplatinum(II,II) complexes from different solvents. 1 and 2 consist of 1D Pt-Pt chains of stacked Pt-Pt dimers with short interdimer S...S contacts. Depending on the number of ClO4- per dimer and their positions, 1 forms a regular stack of Pt-Pt dimers, whereas 2 forms pentamer of dimers in the 1D chain. 1 exhibits high electrical conductivity (4.2-8.0 S cm-1) at 300 K and metallic behavior above 125 K. 2 is a semiconductor. 1 exhibits almost temperature independent magnetic susceptibility (ca. 1.1 x 10-4 emu mol-1) which is attributed to Pauli paramagnetism, whereas the spin degree of freedom in 2 has been lost. Although the basic structures are closely related, they exhibited different solid-state properties that depend on the valence state of the platinum atoms and the periodicity within the 1D chain.     

Optical band gap modification of single-walled carbon nanotubes by encapsulated fullerenes

We report optical band gap modifications of single-walled carbon nanotubes upon C60 insertions by using photoluminescence and the corresponding excitation spectroscopy. The shifts in optical transition energies strongly depend on the tube diameter (dt) and the "2n + m" family type, which can be explained by the local strain and the hybridization between the nanotube states and the C60 molecular orbitals. The present results provide possible design rules for nanotube-based heterostructures having a specific type of electronic functionality.     

Low-frequency mode activity of heme: femtosecond coherence spectroscopy of iron porphine halides and nitrophorin

The low-frequency mode activity of metalloporphyrins has been studied for iron porphine-halides (Fe(P)(X), X = Cl, Br) and nitrophorin 4 (NP4) using femtosecond coherence spectroscopy (FCS) in combination with polarized resonance Raman spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT). It is confirmed that the mode symmetry selection rules for FCS are the same as for Raman scattering and that both Franck-Condon and Jahn-Teller mode activities are observed for Fe(P)(X) under Soret resonance conditions. The DFT-calculated low-frequency (20-400 cm (-1)) modes, and their frequency shifts upon halide substitution, are in good agreement with experimental Raman and coherence data, so that mode assignments can be made. The doming mode is located at approximately 80 cm (-1) for Fe(P)(Cl) and at approximately 60 cm (-1) for Fe(P)(Br). NP4 is also studied with coherence techniques, and the NO-bound species of ferric and ferrous NP4 display a mode at approximately 30-40 cm (-1) that is associated with transient heme doming motion following NO photolysis. The coherence spectra of three ferric derivatives of NP4 with different degrees of heme ruffling distortion are also investigated. We find a mode at approximately 60 cm (-1) whose relative intensity in the coherence spectra depends quadratically on the magnitude of the ruffling distortion. To quantitatively account for this correlation, a new "distortion-induced" Raman enhancement mechanism is presented. This mechanism is unique to low-frequency "soft modes" of the molecular framework that can be distorted by environmental forces. These results demonstrate the potential of FCS as a sensitive probe of dynamic and functionally important nonplanar heme vibrational excitations that are induced by the protein environmental forces or by the chemical reactions in the aqueous phase.     

Millisecond treatment of cells using microfluidic devices via two-step carrier-medium exchange

We present herein a simple but versatile microfluidic system for the treatment of cells with millisecond chemical stimulus, by rapidly exchanging the carrier-medium of cells twice in a microchannel. A technique we refer to as 'hydrodynamic filtration' has been employed for the exchange of medium, in which the virtual width of flow in the microchannel determines the size of filtered cells/particles. The treatment time of cells could be rigidly adjusted by controlling the inlet flow rates and by changing the volume of the stimulating area in the microchannel. In the experiment, two types of microdevices were designed and fabricated, and at first, the ability for carrier-medium exchange was confirmed. As an application of the presented system, we examined the influence of the treatment time of HeLa cells with Triton X-100, a non-ionic surfactant used to solubilize the cellular membrane, on cell viability, varying the average treatment time from 17 to 210 ms. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were performed to estimate the damage on cell membrane, demonstrating that the cell viability dramatically decreased when the treatment time was longer than approximately 40 ms. The obtained results demonstrated the ability of the presented system to conduct the rapid stimulation of cells, which would be useful for the analysis of biochemical reactions at the cell surface.     

Continuous and precise particle separation by electroosmotic flow control in microfluidic devices

A new scheme has been described for continuous particle separation using EOF in microfluidic devices. We have previously reported a method for particle separation, called "pinched flow fractionation (PFF)", in which size-dependent and continuous particle separation can be achieved by introducing pressure-driven flows with and without particles into a pinched microchannel. In this study, EOF was employed to transport fluid flows inside a microchannel. By controlling the applied voltage to electrodes inserted in each inlet/outlet port, the flow rates from both inlets, and flow rates distributed to each outlet could be accurately tuned, thus enabling more effective separation compared to the pressure-driven scheme. In the experiment, the particle behaviors were compared between EOF and pressure-driven flow schemes. In addition, micrometer- and submicrometer-sized particles were accurately separated and individually collected using a microchannel with multiple outlet branch channels, demonstrating the high efficiency of the presented scheme.     

A new efficient synthetic strategy for N-(dialkylamino)azacycle as a tetrasubstituted hydrazine derivative using sodium triacyloxyborohydride

A new efficient and convergent method has been developed to construct a N-(dialkylamino)azacyclic system as a tetrasubstituted hydrazine via reductive alkylation of the corresponding hydrazone using sodium triacyloxyborohydride [NaBH(OCOR)₃], which is tolerant of various substituents (e.g., phenol, conjugated olefin, amide, and thioamide) on the substrate and useful for organization of the N-aminoazacycle array.     

Crossover Sorption of C2H2/CO2 and C2H6/C2H4 in Soft Porous Coordination Networks

Porous sorbents are materials that are used for various applications, including storage and separation. Typically, the uptake of a single gas by a sorbent decreases with temperature, but the relative affinity for two similar gases does not change. However, in this study, we report a rare example of “crossover sorption,” in which the uptake capacity and apparent affinity for two similar gases reverse at different temperatures. We synthesized two soft porous coordination polymers (PCPs), [Zn₂(L1)(L2)₂]_n (PCP-1) and [Zn₂(L1)(L3)₂]_n (PCP-2) (L1= 1,4-bis(4-pyridyl)benzene, L2=5-methyl-1,3-di(4-carboxyphenyl)benzene, and L3=5-methoxy-1,3-di(4-carboxyphenyl)benzene). These PCPs exhibits structural changes upon gas sorption and show the crossover sorption for both C₂H₂/CO₂ and C₂H₆/C₂H₄, in which the apparent affinity reverse with temperature. We used in situ gas-loading single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD) analysis to reveal the guest inclusion structures of PCP-1 for C₂H₂, CO₂, C₂H₆, and C₂H₄ gases at various temperatures. Interestingly, we observed three-step single-crystal to single-crystal (sc-sc) transformations with the different loading phases under these gases, providing insight into guest binding positions, nature of host–guest or guest-guest interactions, and their phase transformations upon exposure to these gases. Combining with theoretical investigation, we have fully elucidated the crossover sorption in the flexible coordination networks, which involves a reversal of apparent affinity and uptake of similar gases at different temperatures. We discovered that this behaviour can be explained by the delicate balance between guest binding and host–guest and guest-guest interactions.