Synthesis of diazadibenzo‐18‐crown‐6 ligands with appended chromophoric and fluorophoric groups as potential metal ion chemosensors

Six new diazadibenzo‐18‐crown‐6 ligands substituted with two each of 8‐hydroxyquinoline (7), 8‐amino‐quinoline (attached through its C‐2 or C‐7 position) ( 12 and 13 ), 8‐methoxyquinoline ( 18 ), 5‐chloro‐8‐methoxyquinoline ( 19 ), and dansylamidoethyl ( 21 ) side arms were synthesized as potential metal ion chemosensors and potential reagents for the selective extraction of certain metal ions from aqueous solutions. Ligands 7, 12, 13, 18 , and 19 were synthesized by reductive amination of diazadibenzo‐18‐crown‐6 ( 5 ) and the appropriate quinolinecarboxaldehydes. Bis(dansylamidoethyl)‐substituted ligand 21 was synthesized by treating diazacrown ether 5 with N‐dansylaziridine ( 20 ).     

Interferometric profiling of microcantilevers in liquid

Silicon micro cantilevers are used as highly sensitive transducers for a wide range of physical, chemical and biochemical stimuli. Vibrating the cantilevers at higher-order resonant modes can achieve extra sensitivity, but the difficulty lies in determining exactly which modes are excited in the cantilever. This problem is exacerbated for cantilever sensors operating in liquid where the computational analysis of the resonance modes is very challenging. Using strobed interferometric microscopy, we are able to image the dynamic behavior of individual (100×500×1 μm³) cantilevers in an eight cantilever array over frequencies from 0–1 MHz. We show how some modifications to the interferometric microscope allow for the spatial visualization of 16 longitudinal modes of cantilevers working in liquid with nanometer-scale amplitudes. We also compare the shift in frequency response and reduction in quality factor for cantilevers resonating in liquid versus in air and simulations in vacuum. Because the resonant frequency spectrum is fairly complex and does not follow simple intuition, our work maps the actual behavior of cantilevers without having any specific knowledge of the sample and environment parameters and without the necessity of involved simulations and calculations.     

Recent results from PHOBOS on particle production at high p T

A selection of experimental results from the PHOBOS Collaboration relevant for probing high-energy nuclear collisions with high transverse momentum particles is presented. The inclusive yields of charged particles and comparisons between nuclear and elementary collisions already reveal a large amount of parton energy loss in the hot and dense medium created in heavy ion collisions. Remarkable scaling and factorization features are observed, unifying the data taken at various collision energies, centralities and nuclear sizes. To further analyze the nature of the energy loss, a measurement of pseudorapidity (Δη) and azimuthal angle (Δφ) correlations between high transverse momentum charged hadrons (p _T >2.5 GeV/c) and all associated charged particles is presented at both short-range (small Δη) and long-range (large Δη) over a continuous detector acceptance covering −4<Δη<2. Various near- and away-side features of the correlation structure are discussed as a function of centrality in Au + Au collisions at  GeV. The results provide new information about the longitudinal (Δη) extent of the near-side ‘ridge’ structure, first observed by the STAR Collaboration over a narrower η range. In central Au + Au collisions the ridge structure extends to at least Δη=4, and its strength completely diminishes as collisions become more peripheral. Presenter of the paper on the 3rd International Conference on Hard and Electromagnetic Probes of High-Energy Nuclear Collisions, 8–14 June 2008, Illa da Toxa (Galicia-Spain).     

Tailoring the spectral response of add/drop single and multiple resonators in silicon-on-insulator Invited Paper

Channel dropping waveguide filters based on single and multiple resonators in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology are of great interest due to their compactness and high wavelength selectivity, which is a desir- able feature for photonic modulators, detectors, and other optically integrated components in telecommu- nication systems, in particular for wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) systems. Particular advantage of these filters is that they are capable of producing relatively large free spectral range (FSR) as well as narrow 3-dB bandwidth of the filter resonances. Herein we report experimental results and discuss the pos- sibility of designing mono-mode and (nearly) polarization independent SOI ring and racetrack resonators with the FSR in excess of 30 nm.     

Recognizing Planar Strict Quasi-Parity Graphs

 A graph is a strict-quasi parity (SQP) graph if every induced subgraph that is not a clique contains a pair of vertices with no odd chordless path between them (an “even pair”). We present an O(n ³) algorithm for recognizing planar strict quasi-parity graphs, based on Wen-Lian Hsu's decomposition of planar (perfect) graphs and on the (non-algorithmic) characterization of planar minimal non-SQP graphs given in [9]. Received: September 21, 1998 Final version received: May 9, 2000     

Screening for sarin in air and water by solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

A method of screening air and water samples for the chemical-warfare agent Sarin is developed using solid-phase microextraction (SPME)-gas chromatography (GC)-mass spectrometry (MS). The SPME field kit sampler is ideal for collecting air and water samples in the field and transporting samples safely to the laboratory. The sampler also allows the sample to be introduced into the GC-MS system without further sample preparation. Results of the tests with Sarin using the SPME technique indicate that a sample collection time of 5 min is sufficient to detect 100 ng/L of Sarin in air. For water samples, Sarin is detected at a concentration of 12 microg/mL or higher. This method is ideal for screening samples for quick response situations.     

A Genetically Encoded,Phage‐Displayed Cyclic‐Peptide Library

Superior to linear peptides in biological activities, cyclic peptides are considered to have great potential as therapeutic agents. To identify cyclic‐peptide ligands for therapeutic targets, phage‐displayed peptide libraries in which cyclization is achieved by the covalent conjugation of cysteines have been widely used. To resolve drawbacks related to cysteine conjugation, we have invented a phage‐display technique in which its displayed peptides are cyclized through a proximity‐driven Michael addition reaction between a cysteine and an amber‐codon‐encoded N^?‐acryloyl‐lysine (AcrK). Using a randomized 6‐mer library in which peptides were cyclized at two ends through a cysteine–AcrK linker, we demonstrated the successful selection of potent ligands for TEV protease and HDAC8. All selected cyclic peptide ligands showed 4‐ to 6‐fold stronger affinity to their protein targets than their linear counterparts. We believe this approach will find broad applications in drug discovery.     

Pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance experiments identify the paramagnetic intermediates in the pyruvate ferredoxin oxidoreductase catalytic cycle

Pyruvate ferredoxin oxidoreductase (PFOR) is central to the anaerobic metabolism of many bacteria and amitochondriate eukaryotes. PFOR contains thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP) and three [4Fe-4S] clusters, which link pyruvate oxidation to reduction of ferredoxin. In the PFOR reaction, TPP reacts with pyruvate to form lactyl-TPP, which undergoes decarboxylation to form a hydroxyethyl-TPP (HE-TPP) intermediate. One electron is then transferred from HE-TPP to one of the three [4Fe-4S] clusters to form an HE-TPP radical and a [4Fe-4S]1+ intermediate. Pulsed EPR methods have been used to measure the distance between the HE-TPP radical and the [4Fe-4S]1+ cluster to which it is coupled. Computational analysis including the PFOR crystal structure and the spin distribution in the HE-TPP radical and in the reduced [4Fe-4S] cluster demonstrates that the distance between the HE-TPP radical and the medial cluster B matches the experimentally determined dipolar interaction, while one of the other two clusters is too close and the other is too far away. These results clearly demonstrate that it is the medial cluster (cluster B) that is reduced. Thus, rapid electron transfer occurs through the electron-transfer chain, which leaves an oxidized proximal cluster poised to accept an electron from the HE-TPP radical in the subsequent reaction step.     

Superdeformation in Pb: Observation of three additional excited bands

The superdeformed nucleus ¹⁹³Pb has been studied following a heavy-ion fusion-evaporation reaction with the Gammasphere spectrometer array. Three new superdeformed bands, two of them probably signature partners, have been observed, bringing the total number of superdeformed bands known in this nucleus to nine. An estimate of the g-factor associated with one of the previously known pairs of strongly coupled excited bands has been made, confirming their configuration. The properties of the bands are compared with the results of cranked shell model calculations; good agreement is found and configurations are assigned to each band. The two new signature partner bands are suggested to be based on the two signatures of the [512]5/2 neutron orbital. The third new band is probably based on the 7₃ intruder orbital. In addition, the high-energy region of the spectrum in coincidence with the yrast superdeformed bands has been carefully studied. The current data provide no evidence for the previously reported transitions linking the superdeformed and normal-deformed states with energies around 2.2–2.4 MeV.