Montmorillonite incorporated with magnesium oxide

MgO was incorporated into montmorillonite (MMT) though the controlled formation of Mg(OH)₂ followed by calcination. The evidence for Mg²⁺ in MMT before calcination was concluded from TG curves where two different temperature ranges for Mg(OH)2 dehydroxylation suggested that the location of Mg²⁺ at its internal and external surfaces. FTIR by diffuse reflectance technique of calcined sample showed a typical MgO band. XRD indicated a decrease in structural order and no collapse of clay structure. The organic compounds adsorption to MMT modified with MgO as suggested by increased degradation temperatures occurred at internal and external clay surfaces besides in an area formed probably by MgO and MMT layers.     

Synthesis, characterization and evaluation of sulfonic resins as catalysts

Ion-exchange resins have been often used as catalysts especially those based on styrene-divinylbenzene copolymers with sulfonic acid groups in the aromatic rings of polymer chains. That is due to the advantages of heterogenous catalysis over the homogeneous acid catalysis. Moreover, resin catalysts can often lead to high selectivity in organic reactions due to the matrix effects. Therefore, the study of copolymers synthesis conditions to determine the type of polymer structure produced as well as the characterization of sulfonic resins obtained thereof are of great interest. The current paper describes the synthesis, characterization and evaluation as catalysts of sulfonic resins derived from polymer supports synthesized by aqueous suspension polymerization of styrene and divinylbenzene. The reaction conditions were varied and polymer supports with different physical properties and morphological characteristics were obtained. The polymer supports were chemically modified by sulfonation. The resultant sulfonic resins had their catalyst activity evaluated in the esterification of acetic acid with n-butanol.     

Ring current effects on nuclear magnetic shielding of carbon in the benzene molecule

The differential Biot-Savart law of classical electrodynamics was applied to develop a ring current model for the magnetic shielding of the carbon nucleus in benzene. It is shown that the local effect of the pi currents, induced by a magnetic field normal to the molecular plane, on the sigmaC out-of-plane shielding tensor component vanishes. However, approximately 10% of sigmaC is due to the shielding contributions from pi current density in the region of the other carbon atoms. Magnetic shielding density maps obtained via quantum mechanical procedures confirm the predictions of the classical model. Copyright (c) 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A homogeneous quenching resonance energy transfer assay for the kinetic analysis of the GTPase nucleotide exchange reaction

A quenching resonance energy transfer (QRET) assay for small GTPase nucleotide exchange kinetic monitoring is demonstrated using nanomolar protein concentrations. Small GTPases are central signaling proteins in all eukaryotic cells acting as a “molecular switches” that are active in the GTP-state and inactive in the GDP-state. GTP-loading is highly regulated by guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs). In several diseases, most prominently cancer, this process in misregulated. The kinetics of the nucleotide exchange reaction reports on the enzymatic activity of the GEF reaction system and is, therefore, of special interest. We determined the nucleotide exchange kinetics using europium-labeled GTP (Eu-GTP) in the QRET assay for small GTPases. After GEF catalyzed GTP-loading of a GTPase, a high time-resolved luminescence signal was found to be associated with GTPase bound Eu-GTP, whereas the non-bound Eu-GTP fraction was quenched by soluble quencher. The association kinetics of the Eu-GTP was measured after GEF addition, whereas the dissociation kinetics could be determined after addition of unlabeled GTP. The resulting association and dissociation rates were in agreement with previously published values for H-Ras^Wt, H-Ras^Q61G, and K-Ras^Wt, respectively. The broader applicability of the QRET assay for small GTPases was demonstrated by determining the kinetics of the Ect2 catalyzed RhoA^Wt GTP-loading. The QRET assay allows the use of nanomolar protein concentrations, as more than 3-fold signal-to-background ratio was achieved with 50 nM GTPase and GEF proteins. Thus, small GTPase exchange kinetics can be efficiently determined in a HTS compatible 384-well plate format.

Universal inequalities for eigenvalues of a system of elliptic equations of the drifting Laplacian

Let \(\Omega \) be a bounded domain in a n-dimensional Euclidean space \(\mathbb {R}^{n}\). We study eigenvalues of an eigenvalue problem of a system of elliptic equations of the drifting Laplacian

$$\begin{aligned} \left\{ \begin{array}{ll} \mathbb {L_{\phi }}\mathbf{{u}} + \alpha (\nabla (\mathrm {div}{} \mathbf{{u}}) - \nabla \phi \mathrm {div}{} \mathbf{{u}})= -\bar{\sigma }\mathbf{{u}}, &{} \hbox {in} \,\Omega ; \\ \mathbf{{u}}|_{\,\partial \Omega }=0. \end{array} \right. \end{aligned}$$

Estimates for eigenvalues of the above eigenvalue problem are obtained. Furthermore, a universal inequality for lower order eigenvalues of the problem is also derived. Finally, we prove an universal inequality type Ashbaugh and Benguria for the drifting Laplacian on Riemannian manifold immersed in an unit sphere or a projective space.

     

Separation and determination of molybdenum by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry using quercetin immobilization on silica gel

A new method is described for the separation of molybdenum based on its chelation in a column packed with quercetin, immobilized on silica gel in a slightly acidic medium (pH 5.0). Recovery ranged from 95% (NIST 1515 apple leaves) to 99% (deionized, distilled water; DDW) with an absolute blank of 27.5±1.6 pg obtained for the analysis of DDW. Detection limits, absolute and relative, based on a 5.0-ml sample volume were 4.8 pg and 1 ng l⁻¹, respectively. Results are presented for molybdenum determination in two standard reference materials, NIST 1515 and NIST 1547 peach leaves, using simple calibration curves for quantification. α-Benzoinoxime was used as the eluent.     

The leap-frog effect of ring currents in benzene

Symmetry arguments show that the ring-current model proposed by Pauling, Lonsdale, and London to explain the enhanced diamagnetism of benzene is flawed by an intrinsic drawback. The minimal basis set of six atomic 2p orbitals taken into account to develop such a model is inherently insufficient to predict a paramagnetic contribution to the perpendicular component of magnetic susceptibility in planar ring systems such as benzene. Analogous considerations can be made for the hypothetical H(6) cyclic molecule. A model allowing for extended basis sets is necessary to rationalize the magnetism of aromatics. According to high-quality coupled Hartree-Fock calculations, the trajectories of the current density vector field induced by a magnetic field perpendicular to the skeletal plane of benzene in the pi electrons are noticeably different from those typical of a Larmor diamagnetic circulation, in that (i) significant deformation of the orbits from circular to hexagonal symmetry occurs, which is responsible for a paramagnetic contribution of pi electrons to the out-of-plane component of susceptibility, and (ii) a sizable component of the pi current density vector parallel to the inducing field is predicted. This causes a waving motion of pi electrons; streamlines are characterized by a "leap-frog effect".     

Solid-state C NMR and molecular modeling studies of acetyl aleuritolic acid obtained from Croton cajucara Benth

Solid-state ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (¹³C NMR) with magic-angle spinning (MAS) and with cross-polarization and magic-angle spinning (CP/MAS) spectra, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) techniques were used to obtain structural data from a sample of acetyl aleuritolic acid (AAA) extracted from the stem bark of Croton cajucara Benth. (Euphorbiaceae) and recrystallized from acetone. Since solid-state ¹³C NMR results suggested the presence of more than one molecule in the unitary cell for the AAA, DSC analysis and molecular modeling calculations were used to access this possibility. The absence of phase transition peaks in the DSC spectra and the dimeric models of AAA simulated using the semi-empirical PM3 method are in agreement with that proposal.     

Flavonoids and other compounds from Ouratea ferruginea (Ochnaceae) as anticancer and chemopreventive agents

The chemical study of the extracts from leaves and stems of Ouratea ferruginea allowed the identification of a new isoflavone, 5-hydroxy-7,3'4'5'-tetramethoxyisoflavone, and twenty two known compounds, including friedelin, 3β-friedelinol, lupeone, a mixture of sitosterol, stigmasterol and campesterol, sitosteryl- and stigmasteryl-3-O-b-D-glucopyranosides, 5,4'-dihydroxy-7,5',3'-trimethoxyisoflavone, 5,4'-dihydroxy-7,3'-di-methoxyisoflavone (7,3'-di-O-methylorobol), 5,7,4'-trihydroxy-3',5'-dimethoxyisoflavone (piscigenin), 2R,3R-epicatechin, syringic acid, 2,6-dimethoxybenzoquinone, 2,6-dimethoxyhydroquinone, syringic and ferulic aldehyde, a mixture of vanillic acid, 1-hydroxy-2-methoxy-4-(1E-3-hydroxy-1-propenyl)-benzene and 3,5-dimethoxy-4-hydroxy-dihydrocinamaldehyde, besides amenthoflavone and 7-O-methylamenthoflavone (sequoiaflavone) which are considered as chemotaxonomic markers of Ouratea. The structures were identified by IR, (1)H- and (13)C-NMR and GC-MS, HPLC-MS, besides comparison with literature data. The inhibitory effects of 5,4'-dihydroxy-7,5',3'-trimethoxyisoflavone, 7,3'-di-O-methylorobol, piscigenin and 7-O-methylamenthoflavone on cytochrome P450-dependent 7-ethoxycoumarin O-deethylase (ECOD) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) were evaluated in vitro. The 5,4'-dihydroxy-7,5',3'-trimethoxy-isoflavone was the best inhibitor, inhibiting almost 75% of GST activity. Sequoiaflavone was the most potent inhibitor, inhibiting ECOD assay in 75%. These activities allow us to consider both these flavonoids as potential anticancer and chemopreventive agents.