Determination of trace and minor elements in coal: A comparison between instrumental photon and thermal neutron activation analysis

Instrumental photon and neutron activation techniques have been compared through the determination of sixteen major, minor and trace constituents in two British Columbian coals and a standard coal. Between the two techniques, the results generally agreed to within one standard deviation with replicate precision being maintained, for both techniques, below twenty percent at worst and down to five percent or better for several elements. Almost all of the elements having environmental, industrial or economic significance in fossil fuels can be determined with good sensitivity by either of these two methods, both of which share the advantages of being non-destructive and multi-element in nature and sufficiently accurate as demonstrated in this paper.     

β-secretase 1 inhibitory activity and AMP-activated protein kinase activation of Callyspongia samarensis extracts

Abstract

The methanolic extract of Callyspongia samarensis (MCS) significantly inhibited β-secretase 1 (IC₅₀ 99.82?µg/mL) in a dose-dependent manner and demonstrated a noncompetitive type of inhibition. Furthermore, it exhibited the highest AMPK activation (EC₅₀ 14.47?μg/mL) as compared with the standard, Aspirin (EC₅₀ >100?μg/mL). HPLC/ESI-MS analysis of MCS extract revealed 15 peaks, in which nine peaks demonstrated similar fragmentation pattern with the known compounds in literature and in database library: 5-aminopentanoic acid (1), 4-aminobutanoic acid (3), Luotonin A (4), (E)-3-(1H-imidazol-5-yl) prop-2-enoic acid (8), Galactosphingosine (10), D-sphingosine (11), 5,7,4′-trihydroxy-3′,5′-dimethoxyflavone (12), hydroxydihydrovolide (13), and 3,5-dibromo-4-methoxyphenylpyruvic acid (14); and 6 peaks are not identified (2, 5–7, 9, and 15). Acute oral toxicity test of MCS extract revealed that it is nontoxic, with an LD₅₀ of >2000?mg/kg. Assessment of BBB permeability of MCS extract showed that compound 15 was able to cross the BBB making it a suitable candidate for developing CNS drugs.     

Crystal Structure of 1-nitro-2-phenylcycloprop-2-enecarbonitrile

The synthesis and x-ray crystal structure of 1 -nitro-2-phenylcycloprop-2-enecarbonitrile [1] is reported. The C-NO₂ bond length in1 is similar to but slightly shorter than that reported for 1, 2-diphenyl-3-nitrocyclopropene (2). Unlike2, 1 shows no tendency to ionize to the corresponding cyclopropenium ion in solution. This result is further supported by ab initio calculations.     

Photochemical reactions of allyl and crotyl halides with cyclopentadienyl-chromium, -molybdenum and -tungsten complexes

[MoCl(CO)₃(η⁵-C₅H₅)] on photolysis with allyl or crotyl halides C₅H₄RX gives Mo^IV complexes [MoX₂(CO)(η³-C₃H₄R)(η⁵-C₅H₅)] (R = H, X = Cl, Br, I; R = Me, X = Cl, Br). [WCl(CO)₃(η⁵-C₅H₅)] under similar conditions gives trihalides [WX₃(CO)₂(η⁵-C₅H₅)] (X = Cl, Br) on reaction with C₃H₅Cl and C₃H₅Br while [WCl(CO)₃(η⁵-C₅H₄SiMe₃)] and [CrI(CO)₃(η⁵-C₅H₅)] react with allyl chloride to give [WCl₃(CO)₂(η⁵-C₅H₄SiMe₃)] and [CrCl₂(η⁵-C₅H₅)] respectively.     

Syntheses, structural, electrochemical and optical studies of heterobinuclear ruthenium-osmium alkynyl complexes

The complexes trans-[Os(CCC₆H₄-4-CCR)Cl(dppe)₂] (R = SiPrⁱ₃1, H 2), trans,trans-[(dppe)₂ClOs(CCC₆H₄-4-CC)RuX(dppe)₂] (X = Cl 3, CCC₆H₄-4-CCSiPrⁱ₃4), trans-[Os(CCC₆H₄-4-CCC₆H₄-4-CCR)Cl(dppe)₂] (R = SiPrⁱ₃5, H 6), and trans,trans-[(dppe)₂ClOs(CCC₆H₄-4-CCC₆H₄-4-CC)RuCl(dppe)₂] (7) have been synthesized, and the identities of 1, 2, and 6 confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies. Cyclic voltammetry shows that the mononuclear complexes 1, 2, 5, and 6 are oxidized at potentials within a narrow range (0.45-0.49 V), in processes centered on the osmium ethynyl neighbourhood and for simplicity assigned as Os^II/III, while the heterobinuclear complexes 3, 4, and 7 exhibit lower oxidation potentials for Os^II/III and a second oxidation process assigned in a similar fashion to Ru^II/III; the difference in potential between the Os- and Ru-localized processes decreases as the π-bridge is lengthened. UV-vis-NIR spectroelectrochemical studies on 1 and 5 reveal the appearance on oxidation of a low-energy band ascribed to chloro to metal-ethynyl charge transfer. Osmium-centered oxidation at the heterobinuclear complexes 4 and 7 results in appearance of a low-energy band, which blue-shifts and increases in intensity on further oxidation to 4²⁺ and 7²⁺.     

Probing small molecule binding to amyloid fibrils

Much effort has focussed in recent years on probing the interactions of small molecules with amyloid fibrils and other protein aggregates. Understanding and control of such interactions are important for the development of diagnostic and therapeutic strategies in situations where protein aggregation is associated with disease. In this perspective article we give an overview over the toolbox of biophysical methods for the study of such amyloid-small molecule interactions. We discuss in detail two recently developed techniques within this framework: linear dichroism, a promising extension of the more traditional spectroscopic techniques, and biosensing methods, where surface-bound amyloid fibrils are exposed to solutions of small molecules. Both techniques rely on the measurement of physical properties that are very directly linked to the binding of small molecules to amyloid aggregates and therefore provide an attractive route to probe these important interactions.     

Spectroelectrochemistry of cytochrome c and azurin immobilized in nanoporous antimony-doped tin oxide

Stable immobilization of two redox proteins, cytochrome c and azurin, in a thin film of highly mesoporous antimony-doped tin oxide is demonstrated via UV-vis spectroscopic and electrochemical investigation.     

Group 4 initiators for the stereoselective ROP of rac-β-butyrolactone and its copolymerization with rac-lactide

In this paper we demonstrate the utility of Group 4 metals for the well-controlled and stereoselective (syndiotactic) ring opening polymerization (ROP) of rac-β-butyrolactone (BBL) and their ability to form copolymers.     

Chemical mimicry: hierarchical 1D TiO2@ZrO2 core-shell structures reminiscent of sponge spicules by the synergistic effect of silicatein-α and silintaphin-1

In nature, mineralization of hard tissues occurs due to the synergistic effect of components present in the organic matrix of these tissues, with templating and catalytic effects. In Suberites domuncula, a well-studied example of the class of demosponges, silica formation is mediated and templated by an axial proteinaceous filament with silicatein-α, one of the main components. But so far, the effect of other organic constituents from the proteinaceous filament on the catalytic effect of silicatein-α has not been studied in detail. Here we describe the synthesis of core-shell TiO(2)@SiO(2) and TiO(2)@ZrO(2) nanofibers via grafting of silicatein-α onto a TiO(2) nanowire backbone followed by a coassembly of silintaphin-1 through its specifically interacting domains. We show for the first time a linker-free, one-step funtionalization of metal oxides with silicatein-α using glutamate tag. In the presence of silintaphin-1 silicatein-α facilitates the formation of a dense layer of SiO(2) or ZrO(2) on the TiO(2)@protein backbone template. The immobilization of silicatein-α onto TiO(2) probes was characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM), optical light microscopy, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The coassembly of silicatein-α and silintaphin-1 may contribute to biomimetic approaches that pursue a controlled formation of patterned biosilica-based biomaterials.