Use of slag (GBFS) generated in charcoal blast furnace as raw material in alkali-activated cement

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Alkali-activated cements are low-environmental-impact binders and can be obtained from the alkaline activation of wastes such as slags and fly ashes,...     

Correction to: Plasma processed carbon thin films applied to dye-sensitized solar cells

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - The authors regret an error in the Experimental section of the published article:     

The development of an immobilized enzyme reactor containing glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase from Trypanosoma cruzi: the effect of species' specific differences on the immobilization

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) plays an important role in the life cycle of the Trypanosoma cruzi, and an immobilized enzyme reactor (IMER) has been developed for use in the on-line screening for GAPDH inhibitors. An IMER containing human GAPDH has been previously reported; however, these conditions produced a T. cruzi GAPDH-IMER with poor activity and stability. The factors affecting the stability of the human and T. cruzi GAPDHs in the immobilization process and the influence of pH and buffer type on the stability and activity of the IMERs have been investigated. The resulting T. cruzi GAPDH-IMER was coupled to an analytical octyl column, which was used to achieve chromatographic separation of NAD(+) from NADH. The production of NADH stimulated by d-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate was used to investigate the activity and kinetic parameters of the immobilized T. cruzi GAPDH. The Michaelis-Menten constant (K(m)) values determined for d-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate and NAD(+) were K(m) = 0.5 +/- 0.05 mM and 0.648 +/- 0.08 mM, respectively, which were consistent with the values obtained using the non-immobilized enzyme.     

Crystal structure and cytotoxic activities of a bis(pyrrolyl-imine) gold(III) complex

A gold(III) complex with N,N′-ethylenebis(pyrrol-2-yl-methyleneamine) (H₂pyren) was synthesized and characterized by physicochemical and spectroscopic measurements. Density functional theory (DFT) studies and cytotoxic assays were performed. Infrared, mass spectrometry, and ¹H, ¹³C, and {¹⁵N,¹H} nuclear magnetic resonance analyses indicate that pyren is deprotonated and gold(III) is four coordinate in a square planar environment, with the pyrrole and imine nitrogens as donors. The structure was confirmed by powder X-ray diffraction and confirmed as a minimum of the potential energy surface by DFT. Cytotoxic activity of [Au(pyren)]⁺ was active against three tumorigenic cell lines with IC₅₀ values of 35 μM. Interaction studies with CT-DNA by fluorescence and competition with ethidium bromide (EB) showed a quenching of the emission band of DNA with a Stern–Volmer quenching constant value of (3.0 ± 0.1) × 10⁴ M^?1 and a decrease in fluorescence quenching of EB-DNA system, respectively, confirming that DNA is a possible target for the complex via an intercalative binding, which was confirmed by DNA conformational changes observed with circular dichroism spectroscopy.     

Synthesis and cytotoxic activity of some 3-benzyl-5-arylidenefuran-2(5H)-ones

3-Benzyl-furan-2(5H)-one (2a) and 3-(4-bromobenzyl)-furan-2(5H)-one (2b) were treated with TBDMSOTf and converted into the corresponding tert-butyldimethyl-silylfuran ethers. These furans were further condensed with several aromatic aldehydes affording compounds 5-14 with general 3-benzyl-5-arylidene-furan-2(5H)-one structures in 31% to 98% yields. Such compounds are analogues of the naturally occurring nostoclide lactones, reported to present moderate cytotoxic activity. Compounds 5-14 were submitted to an in vitro bioassay against the HL-60, HCT-8, SF295 and MDA-MB-435 cancer cell lines using the MTT cytotoxicity assay.     

Synthesis and biological evaluation of rigid polycyclic derivatives of the Diels-Alder adduct tricyclo[6.2.1.02,7]undeca-4,9-dien-3,6-dione

Part of our research program concentrates on the discovery of new bioactive compounds prepared either by total synthesis or molecular transformation of compounds with bioactivity profiles. In this work we have focused our interest on chemical transformations of the Diels-Alder adduct tricyclo[6.2.1.0(2,7)]undeca-4,9-dien-3,6-dione in order to obtain cage-like compounds and derivatives, followed by an evaluation of their biological activity.     

Regiospecific synthesis of trichloromethyl substituted 4,5‐dihydro‐1h‐1‐tosylpyrazoles

The regiospecific synthesis of a new series of eight 3‐alkyl(aryl)‐5‐hydroxy‐5‐trichloromethyl‐4,5‐dihydro‐1H‐1‐tosylpyrazoles is reported. The 1‐p‐tosyl‐2‐pyrazolines were obtained from the cyclocondensation reaction of 4‐alkyl(aryl)‐4‐alkoxy‐1,1,1‐trichloroalk‐3‐en‐2‐ones, [where alkyl = H, Me and aryl = ‐C₆H₅, 4‐CH₃C₆H₄, 4‐OCH₃C₆H₄, 4‐FC₆H₄, 4‐ClC₆H₄, 4‐BrC₆H₄,] with p‐tosylhydrazine in 64 to 92 % yields, employing anhydrous toluene at reflux or diethyl ether at room temperature as the reaction condition.     

A Categorical View to Structural Complexity

In the present work we are interested in to provide a universal language for supporting formalisms to specify the approximation hierarchy system for an abstract NP‐hard optimization problem. This work grew from the idea of providing a categorical view of structural complexity to optimization problems. The direction is aimed towards actually exploring the connections among the structural complexity aspects and categorical concepts, which may be viewed in a high‐level, in a structuralistic sense. After introducing the optimization problems categories OPTS and OPT, as well as related questions, a formal system modelling the approximation hierarchy of a given optimization problem is provided, based on categorical shape theory. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Copper and iron interactions with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. A study by fast-atom bombardment tandem mass spectrometry

Fast atom bombardment, combined with high-energy collision-induced tandem mass spectrometry, has been used to investigate gas-phase metal-ion interactions with captopril, enalaprilat and lisinopril, all angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors.Suggestions for the location of metal-binding sites are presented. For captopril, metal binding occurs most likely at both the sulphur and the nitrogen atom. For enalaprilat and lisinopril, binding preferably occurs at the amine nitrogen. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.