Hypervalent radical formation probed by electron transfer dissociation of zwitterionic tryptophan and tryptophan‐containing dipeptides complexed with Ca2+ and 18‐crown‐6 in the gas phase

The relationship between peptide structure and electron transfer dissociation (ETD) is important for structural analysis by mass spectrometry. In the present study, the formation, structure and reactivity of the reaction intermediate in the ETD process were examined using a quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer equipped with an electrospray ionization source. ETD product ions of zwitterionic tryptophan (Trp) and Trp‐containing dipeptides (Trp‐Gly and Gly‐Trp) were detected without reionization using non‐covalent analyte complexes with Ca²⁺ and 18‐crown‐6 (18C6). In the collision‐induced dissociation, NH₃ loss was the main dissociation pathway, and loss related to the dissociation of the carboxyl group was not observed. This indicated that Trp and its dipeptides on Ca²⁺(18C6) adopted a zwitterionic structure with an NH₃⁺ group and bonded to Ca²⁺(18C6) through the COO^? group. Hydrogen atom loss observed in the ETD spectra indicated that intermolecular electron transfer from a molecular anion to the NH₃⁺ group formed a hypervalent ammonium radical, R‐NH₃, as a reaction intermediate, which was unstable and dissociated rapidly through N–H bond cleavage. In addition, N–C_α bond cleavage forming the z₁ ion was observed in the ETD spectra of Trp‐GlyCa²⁺(18C6) and Gly‐TrpCa²⁺(18C6). This dissociation was induced by transfer of a hydrogen atom in the cluster formed via an N–H bond cleavage of the hypervalent ammonium radical and was in competition with the hydrogen atom loss. The results showed that a hypervalent radical intermediate, forming a delocalized hydrogen atom, contributes to the backbone cleavages of peptides in ETD. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Preparation of monodisperse polymer particles from 4-vinylpyridine

Dispersion polymerization of 4-vinylpyridine was performed by using polystyrene-block-polybutadiene as stabilizer in a mixture of N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) and toluene to produce polymer particles. The weight ratio of the solvents affects the particle size and dispersity. In the range of DMF content from 5 to 20 wt.-%, uniform particles of a diameter of ca. 1 μm were obtained. The present system was expanded to the preparation of monodisperse particles of poly[(4-vinylpyridine)-co-(methacrylic acid)].     

Effect of filler shape on mechanical properties of rigid polyurethane composites containing plant particles

The effect of types of fillers on mechanical properties of rigid polyurethane composite samples was investigated. Polyurethane (PU) composites were prepared using a molasses polyol (MP, a mixture of molasses and polyethylene glycol, Mw=200) diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) and fillers. The following plant particles, bamboo powder, roast bamboo powder, wood meal, coffee grounds, ground coffee bean parchment and cellulose powder, were used as fillers. The mixture of MP and fillers was reacted with MDI by adding an adequate amount of acetone as a solvent. The content of fillers was defined as the ratio of filler weight to total weight of polyol and fillers. The filler content was varied from 10 to 90 wt%. Polyurethane (PU) composites were prepared using fillers with MP. Lengths of major axis and minor axis for each particle regarded as an ellipse were measured using an optical microscope. Averages of diameter and aspect ratio were derived for each plant particle. The relationships between these average values and the mechanical properties, such as strength and elastic modulus, determined by the compression tests were investigated. The effect of filler content was estimated using the apparent volume ratio which is determined as the ratio of the apparent volume of fillers to the reciprocal values of the apparent density of samples. The master curves of the relationships between the specific values of mechanical properties and the apparent volume ratio were obtained. It was found that the compression strength and the elastic modulus for composite samples with different fillers showed maximum values at average aspect ratio around 3. It was also found that the apparent volume ratio, where the mechanical properties showed maximums, decreases with increasing aspect ratio. Using master curves, it is possible to evaluate the mechanical properties of plant particle filled polyurethane composites are described.