Synthesis of artificial receptors as potential candidates for recognition and binding of pterin analogs

Open chain podands 2a-c and macrocycles 2d-e have been synthesized as potential candidates for 4-aminopterin recognition and binding, featuring H? bonding characteristics and “stacking interaction” 2e. Preliminary binding studies between 6, 7 , and 8 (simpler analogs of the above 2a-e ) as “bosts” and appropriate “guests”, showed that carbamates 2a and 2e are the most promising receptors for 4-aminopterin binding.     

Label‐Free Detection of Nanomolar Unmodified Single‐ and Double‐Stranded DNA by Using Surface‐Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy on Ag and Au Colloids

Unlabelled single‐ and double‐stranded DNA (ssDNA and dsDNA, respectively) has been detected at concentrations ≥10^?9 M by surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy. Under appropriate conditions the sequences spontaneously adsorbed to the surface of both Ag and Au colloids through their nucleobases; this allowed highly reproducible spectra with good signal‐to‐noise ratios to be recorded on completely unmodified samples. This eliminated the need to promote absorption by introducing external linkers, such as thiols. The spectra of model ssDNA sequences contained bands of all the bases present and showed systematic changes when the overall base composition was altered. Initial tests also showed that small but reproducible changes could be detected between oligonucleotides with the same bases arranged in a different order. The spectra of five ssDNA sequences that correspond to different strains of the Escherichia coli bacterium were found to be sufficiently composition‐dependent so that they could be differentiated without the need for any advanced multivariate data analysis techniques.     

A conformal mapping for a rectilinear congruence

In this paper we deal with oriented rectilinear congruences in a three-dimensional Euclidean space E³ establishing a conformal mapping between their middle surface and their middle envelope. We give some properties and determine a special class of them, which have a minimal middle envelope.     

On Special Classes of Rectilinear Congruences

Let Σ be an oriented rectilinear congruence in three-dimensional Euclidean space E³ and f a one-to-one mapping between the points of the middle surface and the points of the middle envelope of it. In this paper we investigate some properties of Σ, when f is equiareal or isometric.     

Thermal study of phenol–formaldehyde resin modified with cashew nut shell liquid

In this study, an experimental phenol–formaldehyde resin with 20% phenol replacement by cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) was studied and compared with a conventional phenol–formaldehyde resin synthesized totally from petrochemical raw materials. The resins were characterized with standard lab analysis for their physicochemical specifications, while their thermal properties were studied with thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). For comparison reasons pure CNSL and wood were also included in the TGA study. A DSC study conducted both for the neat resins and the system wood–resin as to examine the effect of wood on the curing performance of the resins in the real time conditions of their usage at the wood-based panels industry.The adhesion strength of these resins was investigated by their application in plywood production. The plywood panels were tested for their shear strength and wood failure performance while their free formaldehyde emissions were determined with the desiccator method. It was proved that although the neat CNSL modified PF resin (PCF) cures at longer time and higher temperature than a conventional PF resin, wood affects it more significantly, resulting in the evening of their curing performance. This is a novel finding that manifests the possibility of replacing a convention PF resin by a CNSL modified one in the plywood production, without changing any of their production conditions and with improvement to their overall properties.     

Ageing, rejuvenation and memory phenomena in a Bi-2212 superconductor showing the paramagnetic Meissner effect

A melt-cast Bi ₂ Sr ₂ CaCu ₂ O ₈ sample showing the paramagnetic Meissner effect (PME) and an ageing phenomenon has been studied by magnetic relaxation and ac-susceptibility experiments. A memory behaviour is observed in the low frequency ac-suscpetibility and in the magnetisation vs. temperature curves measured on heating after certain cooling protocols. It is also found that large enough temperature shifts and positive temperature perturbations cause rejuvenation of the ageing system. All these observations show striking similarities with the ageing behaviour of spin glasses and indicate the existence of a low temperature glassy phase in this PME material. Received 27 February 2001     

Efficient numerical solution of the generalized Dirichlet-Neumann map for linear elliptic PDEs in regular polygon domains

A new and novel approach for analyzing boundary value problems for linear and for integrable nonlinear PDEs was recently introduced. For linear elliptic PDEs, an important aspect of this approach is the characterization of a generalized Dirichlet-Neumann map: given the derivative of the solution along a direction of an arbitrary angle to the boundary, the derivative of the solution perpendicularly to this direction is computed without solving on the interior of the domain. For this computation, a collocation-type numerical method has been recently developed. Here, we study the collocation’s coefficient matrix properties. We prove that, for the Laplace’s equation on regular polygon domains with the same type of boundary conditions on each side, the collocation matrix is block circulant, independently of the choice of basis functions. This leads to the deployment of the FFT for the solution of the associated collocation linear system, yielding significant computational savings. Numerical experiments are included to demonstrate the efficiency of the whole computation.     

Nachtrag zu G. Leha: Relative Korovkin-Sätze und Ränder

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Corticosteroid decomposition via a mixed anhydride

Oxidation of dexamethasone in an aqueous suspension by air during prolonged storage produces the 17alpha-formyloxy-17beta-carboxylic acid 4. A pathway to 4 is proposed that involves Baeyer-Villiger-type oxidation of keto aldehyde 1 to mixed anhydride 5, followed by intramolecular formyl transfer. Synthetically, acid 3 was reacted with N,N'-carbonyldiimidazole followed by triethylammonium formate in order to generate the transient anhydride 5 en route to an authentic sample of 4.