The Hemolytic Properties of Chemically Modified Cyclodextrins

The hemolytic properties of naturalcyclodextrins, especially of the more commoncyclomaltoheptaose entity, severely hamper theirpotential use as carriers in pharmaceuticalapplications where parenteral administration isconcerned. A systematic investigation on the role ofchemical modifications with regard to the hemolyticcharacter was carried out involving C-6 branchedneutral, anionic, cationic and amphoteric derivatives.From these data, conclusions have been drawnabout the charge and the geometry of the modification: (i)Substitution at primary hydroxyl groups usuallydecreases the hemolytic character and the geometry ofthe substituent affects the hemolytic property; (ii)introduction of an amino group, resulting in apositive charge at physiological pH, decreases thehemolytic character; (iii) negative charges arecomparatively less effective in reducing the hemolyticcharacter; (iv) zwitterionic groups seem to enhancethe hemolytic character of the cyclodextrin molecule.     

An arithmetic-algebraic work space for the promotion of arithmetic and algebraic thinking: triangular numbers

ZDM – Mathematics Education - This paper presents an experiment that attempts to mobilise an arithmetic-algebraic way of thinking in order to articulate between arithmetic thinking and the...     

Capillary columns in series for GC analysis of volatile organic pollutants in atmospheric and alveolar air

Analysis of volatile organic compounds in air samples requires high resolution capillary gas chromatography. When the sample contains both polar and non-polar compounds, use of only one type of stationary phase can be unsuitable if it leads to the preferential separation of one kind of component having the same polarity at the expense of the separation of other classes of component. This paper describes the coupling of fused silica capillary columns of different polarity and length in order to achieve the separation of such complex mixtures. The combination is evaluated with a 42 component standard mixture and then applied to various atmospheric air samples and alveolar air of exposed subjects to demonstrate the capabilities of the complete sampling and separation technique.     

Pyrolyse eclair de polyacrylonitriles entre 400 et 800°

Flash pyrolysis of radical and anionic polyacrylonitriles between 400 and 800° and in the absence of oxygen leads to various degradation products, the most characteristic being cyanhydric acid,. cyanogen, acrylonitrile and two dimers α-methyleneglutaronitrile and a cyanopicoline. Two important parameters have been studied: molecular weight ($\text{4 × 10}{}^3\text{<}\text{M}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>w</mtext>}}\text{< 1·6 × 10}{}^6$) and branching density (0 < N/X < 0·6). At 400°, the yields in acrylonitrile and α-methylene glutaronitrile increase with branching density. All the experimental results may be interpreted on the basis of random chain scission, hydrogen transfer reactions and cyclization of the nitrile groups.     

Incorporation of Non‐canonical Amino Acids into 2,5‐Diketopiperazines by Cyclodipeptide Synthases

The manipulation of natural product biosynthetic pathways is a powerful means of expanding the chemical diversity of bioactive molecules. 2,5‐diketopiperazines (2,5‐DKPs) have been widely developed by medicinal chemists, but their biological production is yet to be exploited. We introduce an in vivo method for incorporating non‐canonical amino acids (ncAAs) into 2,5‐DKPs using cyclodipeptide synthases (CDPSs), the enzymes responsible for scaffold assembly in many 2,5‐DKP biosynthetic pathways. CDPSs use aminoacyl‐tRNAs as substrates. We exploited the natural ability of aminoacyl‐tRNA synthetases to load ncAAs onto tRNAs. We found 26 ncAAs to be usable as substrates by CDPSs, leading to the enzymatic production of approximately 200 non‐canonical cyclodipeptides. CDPSs constitute an efficient enzymatic tool for the synthesis of highly diverse 2,5‐DKPs. Such diversity could be further expanded, for example, by using various cyclodipeptide‐tailoring enzymes found in 2,5‐DKP biosynthetic pathways.     

Electronic structure of Li− and F− calculated directly in momentum space

Summary A self-consistent field method is applied to compute directly in momentum space the electronic structures of the bound anions Li^– and F^– at the Hartree-Fock level. The convergence towards the Hartree-Fock limit, starting from STO-3G, 3–21G, 3–21+G and 6–311+G AO's, is stable and monotonous. Substantial improvement in the quality of the anion orbitals is noted already after one iteration. Particularly interesting is the efficiency with which the method modifies and improves the shape of the trial functions.     

Chiral discrimination of phenoxypropionic acid herbicide enantiomers on teicoplanin phase: methanol dependence and eluent pH consideration

The chiral recognition mechanism for a series of d,l phenoxypropionic acid herbicides (PPAs) on a teicoplanin stationary phase was investigated in reversed phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) over a wide range of mobile phase pH and column temperature. The effect of methanol on the enantiomeric separation was studied by varying its fraction (v/v) in the mobile phase. The thermodynamic data indicated that the chiral recognition was controlled by the interaction between the anionic form of the solute and the teicoplanin phase while those with the neutral form played a minor role. In addition, it was demonstrated that the enhancement of the separation factor observed as the methanol fraction increased in the mobile phase was enthalpically controlled owing to stereoselective binding interactions. Such behavior was used to optimize the chromatographic conditions for separation of PPAs herbicides on teicoplanin.     

Effect of branching on two-photon absorption in triphenylbenzene derivatives.

The photophysical and linear and nonlinear spectral properties of octupolar compounds with a triphenylbenzene core are investigated and compared with properties of corresponding dipolar branches. A correlation is found between the solvatochromic behavior and the two-photon absorption cross section. Moreover, the nature of the core is found to be responsible for the nature of the coupling between branches; in the studied case only (weak) electrostatic interactions are effective, while other cores, like the triphenylamine moiety, are able to promote coherent coupling between the branches, leading to strongly nonadditive properties.     

Tunable resonance hyper-Raman spectroscopy of second-order nonlinear optical chromophores

Two-photon-resonant hyper-Raman spectra are reported for three "push-pull" conjugated organic chromophores bearing -NO(2) acceptor groups, two dipolar and one octupolar. The excitation source is an unamplified picosecond mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser tunable from 720 to 950 nm. The linear resonance Raman spectra of the same molecules are measured using excitation from the laser second harmonic. Excitation on resonance with the lowest-lying band in the linear absorption spectrum yields nearly identical resonance Raman and resonance hyper-Raman spectra. However, excitation into a region that appears to contain more than one electronic transition gives rise to different intensity patterns in the linear and nonlinear spectra, indicating that different transitions contribute differently to the one-photon and two-photon oscillator strength. The promise of the hyper-Raman technique for examining electronic transitions that are both one- and two-photon allowed is discussed.