Dendrimers and combinatorial chemistry—tools for fluorescent enhancement in protease assays

FRET based systems are some of the best methods available to detect and monitor proteolytic activity. To enhance fluorescent signals and hence assay sensitivity, two different systems were developed using two different dendrimeric constructs. In the first case, a triple branched dendrimer bearing three dansyl groups was used to enhance assay sensitivity and showed a significant enhancement of fluorescence following enzymatic cleavage. In another example, a tris-fluorescein probe, that undergoes self-quenching, was utilized in a combinatorial library synthesis to map the substrate specificity of proteases.     

Construction of nonanuclear supramolecular structures from simple modular units

A porphyrazine based supramolecule with a nonanuclear structure has been prepared by the ready coordination of pyridine donor sites in octakis(4-pyridoxyethylthio)porphyrazinatomagnesium with vanadyl bis(acetylacetonate) and characterized by EPR spectroscopy.     

The Rate Constant for Dissociative Electron Attachment to Ozone Revisited

The rate constant for dissociative electron attachment to ozone has been derived over the energy range from about 0 to 10 eV using recently measured and also corrected cross section data. The new rate constant data sets for two partial dissociative channels, as well as for the total dissociative electron attachment, are compared with previously reported values, and existing discrepancies are discussed.     

Contractibility of Efficient Frontier of Simply Shaded Sets

In finite dimensional Euclidean space, we prove the contractibility of the efficient frontier of simply shaded sets. This work extends the result of Peleg [7], which confirms the contractibility of the efficient frontier in the convex case.     

Fracture strength of class II slot cavities restored with polymerizable restorative materials

This study compared the fracture strength of Class II slot cavities restored with polymerizable restorative materials. Sixty, caries-free, posterior teeth were divided into five groups of 12 teeth. The Class II slot cavities were prepared. The teeth were restored with two packable composites (Filtek P60, Surefil), a microhybrid composite (Filtek Z250)and two ormocer (Definite, Admira). The restorations were then subjected to fracture resistance tests. The marginal ridges of the restorations were loaded at an angle of 13.5° to the long axis of the tooth in an Universal Testing Machine until failure. Analysis of mean forces indicated that, Filtek P60, Surefil and Filtek Z250 exhibited better performance than Definite and Admira. The tested resin composites differed in their mechanical properties. This study suggested that fracture behavior were highly influenced by the filler system. Overall, Filtek P60, Surefil, Filtek Z250, demonstrated good fracture resistance. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

R-Matrices for Leibniz Algebras

Leibniz agebras are a generalization of Lie algebras, where no symmetry properties of the bracket are required. In this Letter we introduce a notion of R-matrices for this structure and the related Yang–Baxter equations, and discuss some of their basic properties.     

Quantification of Secondary Fe-Phases Formed During Sorption Experiments on Chlorites

Hyperfine Interactions - During batch sorption experiments of heavy metals on chlorite not only sorption reactions take place, but also reactions of chemical weathering leading to mineral...     

Introduction to Hardy Spaces

Basic material from the theory of Hardy spaces is presented. The principle of positive energy representations is used as motivation to introduce these spaces.     

Adsorption of cyclic hydrocarbons on Pt and the interaction of the adsorbed species with hydrogen

The adsorption of six-membered hydrocarbon cycles and cyclopentane and the interaction of hydrogen with the adsorbed layer on polycrystalline Pt-foil have been studied. The work function change (Δφ) was followed by a Kelvin probe and the C/Pt peak ratio was determined by Auger electron spectroscopy. Combining these two techniques made it possible to distinguish between chemisorption via σ-bonds and π-complex formation. Benzene and toluene adsorbed first as π-complex while cyclohexane showed initially a partial aromatization and a π-complex-like bonding to the surface. Excess hydrocarbon or addition of hydrogen transformed the π-complex into σ-bonded species. Cyclopentane adsorbed via σ-bonds and showed no significant hydrogen effect.     

Structural characterization of nanopatterned surfaces

In this work, chemically and topographically nanopatterned surfaces were produced by a top-down processing approach for biosensing devices. The nanopatterning was the result of the combination of plasma polymerisation (pp) of biofunctional materials and colloidal lithography techniques. The morphological and chemical properties induced by the plasma deposition-etching treatment were characterised by optical method combining ellipsometry and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy studies. This method supported by atomic force microscopy measurements, allowed the full optical characterization of each step of the top-down process. The optical characterization of the end-up nanopatterned samples demonstrated that the chosen process is able to produce well-defined nanostructured surfaces with controlled chemical and morphological properties.