Design and synthesis of pyrrolidine-containing sphingomimetics

Based on the structures of natural sphingolipids, we designed heterocyclic sphingoid base mimetics in which the conformational restriction is introduced by incorporation of a pyrrolidine moiety between the 2-amino group and the C-4 carbon atom of the sphingoid base. Our synthesis features a regioselective nucleophilic ring opening of a cyclic sulfate with cyanide and subsequent manipulation of the cyanide group. During the course of synthesis, Staudinger-type reductive cyclization of 1,3-azido carboxylic acid and 1,4-azido alcohol offers a direct route to the five-membered pyrrolidone and pyrrolidine products. The preliminary biological evaluation indicates that the designed pyrrolidine analog is biologically active and its cytotoxic effect is associated with the induction of apoptosis.     

Characterization of bioactive RGD peptide immobilized onto poly(acrylic acid) thin films by plasma polymerization

Plasma surface modification can be used to improve the surface properties of commercial pure Ti by creating functional groups to produce bioactive materials with different surface topography. In this study, a titanium surface was modified with acrylic acid (AA) using a plasma treatment and immobilized with bioactive arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) peptide, which may accelerate the tissue integration of bone implants. Both terminals containing the -NH₂ of RGD peptide sequence and -COOH of poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) thin film were combined with a covalent bond in the presence of 1-ethyl-3-3-dimethylaminopropyl carbodiimide (EDC). The chemical structure and morphology of AA film and RGD immobilized surface were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). All chemical analysis showed full coverage of the Ti substrate with the PAA thin film containing COOH groups and the RGD peptide. The MC3T3-E1 cells were cultured on each specimen, and the cell alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity were examined. The surface-immobilized RGD peptide has a significantly increased the ALP activity of MC3T3-E1 cells. These results suggest that the RGD peptide immobilization on the titanium surface has an effect on osteoblastic differentiation of MC3T3-E1 cells and potential use in osteo-conductive bone implants.     

Diffusion-influenced reversible geminate ABCD reaction in the presence of an external field

We investigate a diffusion-influenced ground-state reversible geminate ABCD reaction in the presence of a constant external field in one dimension. In the Laplace domain, we first obtain the nonreactive Green function from which the reactive Green function is derived. Analytic asymptotic expressions of the survival probability are obtained in the time domain for both short and long time regions. There exist four regimes for the equilibrium survival probability according to the signs of the field intensities a1 and a2 that reactant and product states feel, respectively. Analysis of the long-time asymptotic behavior of the survival probability shows two regimes depending on the sign of a parameter K( identical with a(2)(2)D(2) -a(2)(1)D(1)), where D(1) and D(2) are the relative diffusion constants of corresponding states, respectively. Combining these two results, we predict a total of eight regimes for the long-time asymptotic behavior of the survival probability. We find that the long-time asymptotic behavior of the deviation of the effective survival probability shows the t(-3/2) power law when m( identical with min {a(2)(1)D(1), a(2)(2)D(2)}) not equal 0, whereas it shows t(-1/2) power law when m = 0. When one of the fields is turned off, the long-time asymptotic behavior of the survival probability shows a kinetic transition as the sign of the remaining field changes.     

Discovery of Terminal Oxazole-Bearing Natural Products by a Targeted Metabologenomic Approach

A targeted metabologenomic method was developed to selectively discover terminal oxazole-bearing natural products from bacteria. For this, genes encoding oxazole cyclase, a key enzyme in terminal oxazole biosynthesis, were chosen as the genomic signature to screen bacterial strains that may produce oxazole-bearing compounds. Sixteen strains were identified from the screening of a bacterial DNA library (1,000 strains) using oxazole cyclase gene-targeting polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers. The PCR amplicon sequences were subjected to phylogenetic analysis and classified into nine clades. ¹H−¹³C coupled-HSQC NMR spectra obtained from the culture extracts of the hit strains enabled the unequivocal detection of the target compounds, including five new oxazole compounds, based on the unique ¹J_CH values and chemical shifts of oxazole: lenzioxazole ( 1 ) possessing an unprecedented cyclopentane, permafroxazole ( 2 ) bearing a tetraene conjugated with carboxylic acid, tenebriazine ( 3 ) incorporating two modified amino acids, and methyl-oxazolomycins A and B ( 4 and 5 ). Tenebriazine displayed inhibitory activity against pathogenic fungi, whereas methyl-oxazolomycins A and B ( 4 and 5 ) selectively showed anti-proliferative activity against estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer cells. This metabologenomic method enables the logical and efficient discovery of new microbial natural products with a target structural motif without the need for isotopic labeling.     

Understanding in-cylinder soot reduction in the use of high pressure fuel injection in a small-bore diesel engine

This study shows how soot particles inside the cylinder of the engine are reduced due to high pressure fuel injection used in a light-duty single-cylinder optical diesel engine fuelled with methyl decanoate, a selected surrogate fuel for the diagnostics. For various injection pressures, planar laser induced incandescence (PLII) imaging and planar laser-induced fluorescence of hydroxyl (OH-PLIF) imaging were performed to understand the temporal and spatial development of soot and high-temperature flames. In addition, a thermophoresis-based particle sampling technique was used to obtain transmission electron microscope (TEM) images of soot aggregates and primary particles for detailed morphology analysis. The OH-PLIF images suggest that an increase in the injection pressure leads to wider distribution of high-temperature flames likely due to better mixing. The enhanced high-temperature reaction can promote soot formation evidenced by both a faster increase of LII signals and larger soot aggregates on the TEM images. However, the increased OH radicals at higher injection pressure accelerates the soot oxidation as shown in a higher decreasing rate of LII signals as well as dramatic reduction of the sampled soot aggregates at later crank angles. The analysis of nanoscale carbon layer fringe structures also shows a consistent trend that, at higher injection pressure, the soot particles are more oxidized to form more graphitic carbon layer structures. Therefore, it is concluded that the in-cylinder soot reduction at higher injection pressure conditions is due to enhanced soot oxidation despite increased soot formation.     

In-flame soot particle structure on the up- and down-swirl side of a wall-interacting jet in a small-bore diesel engine

This study shows how the structure of soot particles within the flame changes due to the relative direction of the swirl flow in a small-bore diesel engine in which significant flame–wall interactions cause about half of the flame travelling against the swirl flow while the other half penetrating in the same direction. The thermophoresis-based particle sampling method was used to collect soot from three different in-flame locations including the flame–wall impingement point near the jet axis and the two 60° off-axis locations on the up-swirl and down-swirl side of the wall-interacting jet. The sampled soot particle images were obtained using transmission electron microscopes and the image post-processing was conducted for statistical analysis of size distribution of soot primary particles and aggregates, fractal dimension, and sub-nanoscale parameters such as the carbon layer fringe length, tortuosity, and spacing. The results show that the jet-wall impingement region is dominated by many small immature particles with amorphous internal structure, which is very different to large, fractal-like soot aggregates sampled from 60° downstream location on the down-swirl side. This structure variation suggests that the small immature particles underwent surface growth, coagulation and aggregation as they travelled along the piston-bowl wall. During this soot growth, the particle internal structure exhibits the transformation from amorphous carbon segments to a typical core–shell structure. Compared to those on the down-swirl side, the soot particles sampled on the up-swirl side show much lower number counts and more compact aggregates composed of highly concentrated primary particles. This soot aggregate structure, together with much narrower carbon layer gap, indicates higher level of soot oxidation on the up-swirl side of the jet.     

Correlation of Spatial and Temporal Filtering Methods for Turbulence Quantification in Spark-Ignition Direct-Injection (SIDI) Engine Flows

High-speed particle image velocimetry (HSPIV) was applied to an optical spark-ignition direct-injection engine in order to analyse various turbulent properties of the flow-field. The engine was motored at 1200 RPM with an intake pressure of 100 kPa, while HSPIV images were acquired at a sampling frequency of 5 kHz on both a vertical (tumble) plane and a horizontal (swirl) plane. The flow was decomposed in mean and fluctuating components via three different methods — ensemble averaging, spatial filtering, and temporal filtering. It was found that the velocity fluctuations calculated via the ensemble average method were more closely linked to low-frequency rather than high-frequency fluctuations, suggesting that they are more representative of cycle-to-cycle variation rather than true turbulence. Visual inspection of the high-frequency fluctuating flow-fields derived through the two filter based approaches revealed turbulent structures of similar size, shape and distribution. To equate the two filtering methods quantitatively, a spatial filter was designed with a mean flow speed scaled cut-off length, which was tuned in order to match the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) of a 300 Hz temporal filter. A brief case study was then performed on a fuel-injected operating condition, run at the same 1200 RPM engine speed and 100 kPa intake pressure. A 1:1 split ratio dual-injection strategy was employed, with the first injection at 300°CA bTDC and the second injection at 110°CA bTDC. The relatively late second injection was found to significantly increase both the mean and turbulent velocities present in the flow-field in comparison to the motored condition, with TKE magnitudes being ～5 to 10 fold higher, depending on the choice of cut-off length.     

Synthesis and Photophysical Properties of Some PEG Substitued Titanyl Phthalocyanine Derivatives

Summary: Polyethylene glycol substituted titanyl phthalocyanine was prepared in two steps starting from phthalonitrile and characterized by FT-IR, UV-vis spectrophotometry, and fluorescence spectrophotometry. The titanyl phthocyanine derivatives (TiOPcs) showed high solubility in common organic solvents, such as, CH₃Cl and DMF. These compounds decreased in absorbance intensity with increase of molecular weight of polyethylene glycol at maxima wavelength of visible range. The fluorescence spectra showed a fluorescence emission near 690 nm with a quantum yield of 0.05–0.32 (λ_ex = 625 nm).