Minkowski's successive minima and the zeros of a convexity-function

For a convex bodyK?E ^d letV _i (K),i=0, 1,...,d denote its normalized quermassintegrals. We show that there are various inequalities between the zeros of the polynomial W(?μ K) = ∑ _i=0 ^d V_i(K)(?μ)ⁱ and Minkowski's successive minima in geometry of numbers.     

Modification and inhibition of vancomycin group antibiotics by formaldehyde and acetaldehyde

It is shown that several vancomycin group antibiotics (vancomycin, eremomycin, and avoparcin) undergo spontaneous chemical modifications when kept at room temperature at neutral pH in aqueous solutions containing traces of formaldehyde or acetaldehyde. This chemical modification predominantly results in a mass increase of 12 Da in the reaction with formaldehyde and 26 Da in the case of acetaldehyde. By using tandem mass spectrometry the modification can unambiguously be identified as originating from the formation of a ring-closed 4-imidazolidinone moiety at the N-terminus of the glycopeptide antibiotics, that is, near the receptor binding pocket of the glycopeptide antibiotics. Bioaffinity mass spectrometry shows that this ring-closure results in a dramatically decreased affinity for the peptidoglycan-mimicking D-alanyl-D-alanine receptor. Additionally, in vitro inhibition measurements on two different strains of bacteria have revealed that the modified antibiotics display reduced antibacterial activity. The ring-closure is also shown to have a dissociative effect on the dimerization of the vancomycin-analogue eremomycin. The spontaneous reaction of vancomycin with formaldehyde or acetaldehyde may have implications not only for the clinical use of this class of antibiotics, but also for the effectiveness of these antibiotics when they are used in chiral separation chromatography or capillary electrophoresis.     

Synthesis of hydroxy and methoxy perylene quinones, their spectroscopic and computational characterization, and their antiviral activity

Hydroxy and methoxy perylene quinones are synthesized in an attempt to isolate the essential spectroscopic and biological features of light-induced antiviral agents such as hypericin and hypocrellin. Unlike their naturally occurring counterparts, these synthetic quinones bear the carbonyl, hydroxyl, and methoxy groups in the "bay region." The hydroxy and methoxy compounds have rich absorption spectra with broad features in the visible (approximately 450-800 nm) and relatively more intense and narrow features at wavelengths < or = 350 nm. High-level ab initio quantum mechanical calculations assign the features in the absorption spectra to electronic transitions from S0 to S2 and to higher-lying electronic states. The calculations indicate that in the ground state the trans dihydroxy isomer is 12.5 kcal/mol lower in energy than the cis dihydroxy isomer and is thus the only species present. The lowest-energy trans methoxy ground state isomer and the lowest-energy cis methoxy ground state isomer are found to be degenerate. An additional cis methoxy isomer 6.3 kcal/mol higher in energy than the global minimum is assumed to contribute to the spectrum and is also considered. Finally, the synthetic compounds exhibit similar light-induced antiviral activity to each other, but significantly less than that of hypericin.     

A stereochemically well-defined rhodium(III) catalyst for asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of ketones

[reaction: see text] A rhodium(III) catalyst for asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of ketones has been designed. The incorporation of a tethering group between the diamino group and the cyclopentadienyl unit provides extra stereochemical rigidity. The catalyst is capable of enantioselective reduction of a range of ketones in excellent ee using formic acid/triethylamine as both the solvent and the reducing agent.     

NIR spectroscopy of jarosites

Near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy has been used to analyse a suite of synthesised jarosites of formula Mn(Fe3+)6(SO4)4(OH)12 where M is K, Na, Ag, Pb, NH4+ and H3O+. Whilst the spectra of the jarosites show a common pattern, differences in the spectra are observed which enable the minerals to be distinguished. The NIR bands in the 6300-7000 cm-1 region are attributed to the first fundamental overtone of the infrared and Raman hydroxyl stretching vibrations. The NIR spectrum of the ammonium-jarosite shows additional bands at 6460 and 6143 cm-1, attributed to the first fundamental overtones of NH stretching vibrations. A set of bands are observed in the 4700-5500 cm-1 region which are assigned to combination bands of the hydroxyl stretching and deformation vibrations. The ammonium-jarosite shows additional bands at 4730 and 4621 cm-1, attributed to the combination of NH stretching and bending vibrations. NIR spectroscopy has the ability to distinguish between the jarosite minerals even when the formula of the minerals is closely related. The NIR spectroscopic technique has great potential as a mineral exploratory tool on planets and in particular Mars.     

Thermal decomposition of natural and synthetic plumbojarosites: Importance in ‘archeochemistry’

Plumbojarosite and argentoplumbojarosite were sources of lead and silver in ancient and medieval times. The understanding of the chemistry of the thermal decomposition of these minerals is of vital importance in ‘archeochemistry’. The thermal decomposition of plumbojarosite was studied using a combination of thermogravimetric analysis coupled to a mass spectrometer. Three mass loss steps are observed at 376, 420 and 502 °C. These are attributed to dehydroxylation, loss of sulphate occurs at 599 °C, and loss of oxygen and formation of lead occurs at 844 and 953 °C. The temperatures of the thermal decomposition of the natural jarosite were found to be less than that for the synthetic jarosite. This is attributed to a depression of freezing point effect induced by impurities in the natural jarosite. Raman spectroscopy was used to study the structure of plumbojarosite. Plumbojarosites are characterised by stretching bands at 1176, 1108, 1019 and 1003 cm⁻¹ and bending modes at 623 and 582 cm⁻¹. Changes in the molecular structure during thermal decomposition were followed by infrared emission spectroscopy. The technique shows the loss of intensity in the hydroxyl stretching region attributed to dehydroxylation. Loss of sulphate only occurs after dehydroxylation. Lead is formed at higher temperatures through oxygen evolution.     

Determination of urinary prostanoids by capillary gas chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry

A stable isotope-dilution gas-chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry method for the determination of prostaglandin E₂ (PGE₂) and 6-keto-prostaglandin F_1α (6-keto-PGF_1α) in urine as their methoxime/t-butyldimethylsilyl ether/t-butyl-dimethylsilyl ester derivatives is described. The derivatives are prepared by a novel derivatization scheme in which the pentafluorobenzyl esters are formed prior to the silylation step in which the t-butyldimethylsilyl esters are formed in an apparent exchange reaction. Recoveries through the entire extraction and derivatization procedure are 70.6% for PGE₂ and 64.4% for 6-keto-PGF_1α. Quantitation at mass resolutions approaching 10 000 eliminated all interferences in the PGE₂ chromatograms while lower resolutions were sufficient for 6-keto-PGF_1α. Limits of detection of 50 pg ml^?1 for each prostanoid were obtained. For PGE₂, a lower limit of detection was obtained at a mass resolution of 10 000 (50 pg ml^?1) than was obtained at a mass resolution of 1000 (80 pg ml^?1), illustrating the selectivity of detection.